Helping ordinary people learn to study the Bible
A few more articles from this blog have been translated and posted in Spanish. Thanks to Armando Valdez for taking on this work!
I created a new page that links to all the articles on Armando’s Spanish site. I’ll keep that page updated as he posts more. You can navigate to that page right from the bottom of the Resources page if you ever want to check back for more.
Check it out!
Erik Raymond writes of “A Couple Phrases I Wish Preachers Would Stop Saying So Often.” And though Raymond directs his comments at pastors, Bible study leaders would be wise to listen in:
In recent years I’ve noticed an uptick in a couple of phrases from preachers and teachers. I don’t want to go so far as to mark them as homiletical cuss words, but I do want to draw a circle around them and ask why we are saying them so much. These two phrases are “I think” and “I feel.”
Let me explain. Suppose someone is preaching through Colossians and they come to chapter 3. They then read the following words aloud:
“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.” (Col. 3:1–2)
Then they say, “I think what Paul is saying here is that we need to be seeking the things above.” After a pause, he goes on to say, “I feel like this is especially hard for us today because of all of our temptations for distractions.” Later he says, “I feel like too many of us, myself included, are really susceptible to this. I think it can really hinder our walk with Christ.”
Now what’s wrong with this phrasing? On one level, nothing. He is not saying anything wrong. But, at the same time, he is not saying it like he could. If he is not completely declawing the passage he is at least filing down its nails. He is saying it in a less authoritative and offensive way. And while he may still be bouncing the ball to his congregation for application it is a bit of a deflated ball, or at least not as pumped up as it could be.
To see how Raymond would revise such comments to sharpen their claws, you’ll have to read the full article. Check it out!
However, I will make one disclaimer. When we are not (or cannot be) certain about the meaning of a passage, “I think” would be a perfectly reasonable thing to say. Or if we move off the main point into the sub-sub-sub-points of the passage, we should also avoid confident bluster and bravado. Remember, the main points are the ones worth fighting for. And they are the points whose claws must never be pared.
Tim Challies writes of “One Very Good Reason to Read Your Bible.” And he’s absolutely right. This is about the best reason I can think of.
One of the great dangers in the Christian life is living first for self. One of the associated dangers, then, is seeing personal devotion as a practice that goes no further than my own mind, my own heart. But nothing could be farther from the truth. Your intimacy with God, your knowledge of God, your time with God, works its way outward to everyone around you. The good you can do them every day is the good of spending time with God.
Challies expands on how your daily Bible reading will benefit your spouse, your children, your neighbors, and your fellow church members. If you think you are not smart enough, or you are too busy—or if you ever struggle with finding the Bible too boring or Bible study too complicated—please lift your eyes off yourself and consider the good God would have you do for those around you. There is too much to lose if you don’t read your Bible.
Challies’s article is excellent and worth full consideration. Check it out!
Armando Valdez has taken Ryan’s recent article, “The Bible is Not Boring,” and translated it into Spanish for his blog Evangelio Segun Jesuchristo. If you know any folks or churches who would benefit from material about Bible study translated into Spanish, please share it around. We’ll also let you know if Armando gets more resources translated and posted.
This week, I’m taking off from writing to take my family on our annual trip to the Little League World Series in Williamsport, PA. In honor of the season, I have two brief posts to recommend:
Check it out!
Writing at For the Church, Godwin Sathianathan has some great ideas for making the most of your Bible reading.
Sathianathan’s article has more explanation for each point. Check it out!
I remain much impressed by the videos being produced by The Bible Project. If you haven’t seen these videos, you really should check them out. I’ve begun having longer out-loud Bible reading times with my children (30-60 minutes at a time), and when we start a new book we always watch the Bible Project’s video first. Right now we’re in Leviticus—and my kids understand and love Leviticus!
However, I’m writing now to highlight their recent video on the book of Zechariah, which I consider the most difficult book in the Bible. This video does a better job communicating the main message of Zechariah than a long commentary I recently read. I suddenly have much hope for my study of this mysterious book.
This is top-notch Bible study in visual form. What a tremendous gift we have in these free videos.
In this recent Look at the Book video, John Piper shows how to dig in to the Scripture to address apparent contradictions or questions regarding foundational Christian doctrine. He looks at 1 Peter 3 to see whether Peter provides support for the idea that Jesus’ “resurrection” was only spiritual, without involving a physical body.
https://vimeo.com/172817031
At For the Church, Kristen Wetherell explains 17 benefits to reading the entire Bible. The reasons are below. Click over to her article for more explanation of each one.
Reading the entire Bible is well worth your time. Perhaps you might even like to get in a speed-read before the year is out?
Check it out!
How did we get our Bibles? Not just the books of the Bible, but all the apparatus that comes along with it? Chapter and verse numbers, section headings, and cross-references. Two-column format, study notes, and call-out boxes with key ideas. Why do our Bible look so different from any other book (or collection of books) we read?
Desiring God recently posted an important episode of the “Ask Pastor John” podcast, where Tony Reinke interviews Glenn Paauw, the Executive Director of the Biblica Institute for Bible Reading, a think tank dedicated to studying trends in Bible reading and design. Listening to this interview may be some of the best-spent 30 minutes of your week. Paauw explains how the appearance of the page drastically affects how we read this book—and how we lose the ability to read this book as a book.
I particularly appreciate Paauw’s question: Which of the following is the Bible most like?
Of course, most of us would pass this test with flying colors. We know the Bible is a collection of writings. But without realizing it, we’ve been trained all our lives not to read the Bible this way. Either we memorize individual verses scattered all throughout the Bible (as we’d handle Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations), or we go to the Bible to learn everything it has to say on a particular topic such as marriage or money (as we’d handle The Reader’s Digest Guide to Home Repairs). And the published presentation of the Bible now serves these market expectations, leading us farther and farther away from reading it like a collection of works.
For this reason, recent uncluttered editions such as the ESV Reader’s Bible have become so important. If you haven’t tried it yet, you should. I assure you, it will transform your Bible reading experience.
And listen to DG’s podcast to learn more about how the published presentation is changing the way we approach the Bible. It’s well worth your time.
