Knowable Word

Helping ordinary people learn to study the Bible

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John Piper on Bible Study with Illiterate People

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This interview with John Piper speaks of reaching illiterate people groups and connects with my series on teaching Bible study to young children. “Expository preaching” is a method of teaching the Bible that focuses on a particular passage and explains whatever topics it addresses (in contrast to “topical preaching,” which focuses on a particular topic and explains whatever texts address it). This interview first appeared on the Desiring God website. 

How would you begin to study the Bible with people who can’t read very well or are illiterate?

I asked Ajith Fernando that one time, because somebody was criticizing something that I had said about the importance of expository preaching. They had said, “You’re so Western, Piper. You don’t have a clue that millions and millions of people can’t read their Bible or don’t have any access to the Bible, so what good is expository preaching?”

So I asked Ajith. He serves in Sri Lanka and goes into villages of every level of literacy and preaches—or he used to, anyway. I said, “Do you think I need to back off on the importance of expository preaching?”

He said, “No, I don’t.”

And he described how they did it: “We go in, and I have a book—the Bible. And another person, my translator, has the book. And I read from the book, and he translates. And they all know there is a book here. There’s a book. They see that this man is submitting to a book—God’s book.”

So he reads out loud, it gets translated; and he explains, and it gets translated.

RIBI Image (2009), Creative Commons

RIBI Image (2009), Creative Commons

Now bring that back to the situation in this question. You want to study the Bible with simpler folks, maybe, young children or those who are older and haven’t had the chance to do any extensive education. Or maybe they’re seriously dyslexic and just don’t read.

In that case, I would say that you lean far more heavily on oral material. You speak more. You help them to memorize things and to study, through the conversation that you’re having.

But I wouldn’t ever want to imply that you put the Bible aside. “Because this is a book and they don’t read, therefore we don’t use this.” No way! You open this and you become the mediator. You can read, they can’t read. And you read to them and provide whatever translation and help you can between the book and their hearts and their minds.

An Exhaustive List of Old Testament Quotations

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quotation-marksEarlier this year, I ran a series of posts analyzing the New Testament’s use of the Old Testament. I listed which Old Testament books and chapters and verses were quoted most often. I listed which New Testament books did the most quoting. I drew these lists from my own exhaustive collection of New Testament quotations of the Old Testament.

Much more analysis could be done, so I’m happy to give you my raw data. This data might help you study overarching principles of interpretation. Or it might help you to see if the Old Testament book you’re studying is quoted anywhere in the New Testament. Perhaps you’ll find even more uses for it.

In both my posts and on the spreadsheet, I’ve tried to be clear about my assumptions and approach. May this data prove useful in your study of God’s Knowable Word.

I’ve created a new Resources page, with this spreadsheet as the first item. Check it out!

What other resources would you find helpful for your Bible study?

 

The Best Wedding Sermon Ever

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Yesterday, I quoted at length from the sermon Paul Browne preached at my wedding. It was the best wedding sermon I’ve ever heard, and not just because it was my own wedding. Being in college ministry, I get invited to a lot of weddings (we consider it an occupational hazard).

If you’d like to hear a great sermon about having great sex because we have a great savior, this is it.

I wish the quality were better, but it was originally recorded on audio cassette. Here’s a link to download the file.

Happy Anniversary, Erin! (We just celebrated 9 years.)

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Why We Keep Studying the Bible

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Knowable Word Logo“I had to apologize to my son recently,” writes Trevin Wax at Baptist Press. He had led his son to believe going to church and attending Christian School and studying the Bible was more about education than about worship.

The boy thought he was finished, since he had learned all the Bible stories, songs, and memory verses. But Mr. Wax had to remind his son (and himself) that the studies and stories were intended to develop us as a people who worship God. They’re not just communicating information.

As you grow in Bible study, are you doing it to learn more? To gain more knowledge? To be able to answer people’s questions?

Or are you doing it to know God better?

Check it out!

 

Wise People Crave Wisdom

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Knowable Word LogoSharper Iron posted an article by Ed Vasicek on the wisdom of Solomon. Vasicek rightly says that “wise people crave more and more wisdom, for wisdom is given to those who value it.”

He shows how Solomon asked God for wisdom in 1 Kings 3 because he felt inadequate to lead God’s people. Wise people always feel inadequate, and so fear the Lord, desiring his instruction.

Vasicek highlights a few things I didn’t cover in my introduction to Proverbs, so I recommend you check it out!

HT: Jake Swink

Is Bibliolatry Possible?

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Knowable Word LogoLast week, I wrote that it’s not possible to focus too much on the Bible, as long as we focus in the right direction (toward Jesus). This claim runs contrary to common accusations of “bibliolatry” (worshiping the Bible more than God).

S.M. Baugh, a member of the faculty at Westminster Seminary California, wrote a similar article 5 years ago called “Is Bibliolatry Possible?” He makes a number of excellent points.

  1. God is a jealous God, and he won’t allow anything to take his place.
  2. The scribes and Pharisees knew the Bible well, but they didn’t know God.
  3. Jesus responded to bibliolaters by taking them back to the Scripture.

I love how Baugh presents Jesus’ defense:

But it is a tragic fact that the scribes and Pharisees, though knowing the words of the Book, knew not its Author. “You know neither me nor my Father,” pronounced Jesus. Perhaps it is bibliolatry to know the Book but not its Publisher. To know dead precepts, but not the living God. “Thou shalt love the Bible thy Book with all thine heart, soul, and strength. But God is expendable.” However, let me ask you this: How did Jesus answer the bibliolatrous folk of his day?

“Have you not read what God said to you?…Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written…What is written in the Law? How do you read it? …In your own Law it is written…Have you not read in the book of Moses?…It is written in the Prophets…Then what is the meaning of that which is written?…The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him…Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms…Begone, Satan! For it is written…It stands written…As it is written…On the other hand, it is written…Is it not written?”

Jesus answered wrong users of the Book with the Book.

Check it out!

Why You Can Trust Your Bible

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Kladcat (2012), Creative Commons

Kladcat (2012), Creative Commons

Have you heard that the Bible has mistakes? Have you noticed that the footnotes in your Bible give options for how certain verses could be translated? Do these discrepancies cast doubt on the Bible’s reliability?

Justin Holcomb, writing at The Gospel Coalition, deals with a few of these issues.

It’s common to see the argument that the Scriptures we have today aren’t the same as what was written by the apostles in the first century. Such arguments attempt to portray the Bible as unreliable and therefore irrelevant. As we will see, however, these challenges do not stand up to scrutiny.

Holcomb’s short article tackles a few thorny issues with clarity and insight. He explains plainly why we don’t need to be threatened by the existence of manuscript variants. And he shows how the New Testament far surpasses any other ancient document in the sheer number of manuscripts available to us.

There is no reason to allow questions of transmission to distract you from trusting God’s knowable word. Here is Holcomb’s conclusion:

Because of who God is, and because of what God has done to preserve his Word, we have confidence the events described in Scripture are accurate and historical. This is important because Christianity, unique among world religions, depends on historical events: particularly Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. As J. Gresham Machen writes, “Christianity is based upon an account of something that happened, and the Christian worker is primarily a witness.” Scripture tell us this account, revealing Christianity’s climax—its central, historical, and verifiable event: God’s gracious act of bringing salvation through the cross of Jesus Christ.

It’s a great article. Check it out!

You are Still Approved to Study the Bible

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Knowable Word LogoA little ways back, I wrote a post on 2 Timothy 2:15. I argued that we shouldn’t study the Bible to get God’s approval; we should study the Bible because we already have God’s approval in Christ.

Recently, Alan Knox posted an article on the same topic. A series of articles, in fact.

The first few articles go a little heavy on Greek, so read them only if you dare. But the last article summarizes his argument in English. Knox goes deeper into the grammar of the text than I did, but he comes out at the same place.

So I’m happy to recommend it to you for your consideration. Check it out and let me know what you think.

Are Bible Narratives Story or History?

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Knowable Word LogoThe blog of the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersmen recently posted an article entitled, “When Reading the Bible, Do you Really Understand?”

In the article, the retired Rev. Howard Bess asks a series of excellent questions to guide one’s reading of the Bible. Who wrote this passage? When did he write? To and for whom did he write it? What were the circumstances of the writing? What literary devices did the author use? In other words, Bess encourages Bible readers to consider both historical context and literary sensibilities. So far, so good.

But, I don’t think Bess ends up at the right conclusions. He asserts that story and history are different things, and thus he concludes that Bible narratives presented as stories must not be historical. He likewise asserts that the Matthew 1-2 and Luke 1-2 (narratives of the birth of Jesus) cannot be reconciled with each other, and thus cannot be historical. He asserts the same thing about the resurrection narratives in the four Gospels.

I urge you to read the article and consider Bess’s arguments. Consider: How does he get off track? How would you respond to someone who draws similar conclusions about the Bible’s historicity?

Check it out!

The Gospel Inspires Us to Reach Others

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Knowable Word LogoFaith ON Campus just published a guest post I wrote entitled “9 Bible Studies to Motivate Your Outreach Team Now and All Year Long.” Faith ON Campus targets folks involved in campus ministry, and this post is part of their 4th annual Back-to-School Blogathon. I’m honored to be a part of it.

Even if you aren’t involved in collegiate ministry, you may find the post helpful as you consider how the good news of Jesus’ death and resurrection compels you to reach the unbelievers around you.

Here’s a sneak peek:

1. Ephesians 2:1-10 – Exhibitions of God’s Grace

Observe Paul’s flow of thought: You were dead, but God made us alive and raised us up with Christ. You deserved his wrath, but now you’ve been saved by grace. Amazing. And why did God do it? Verse 7: “So that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” That’s right, you’re a trophy on display for your campus.

2. Exodus 3:1-4:17 – Dealing with Fear

God has seen his people’s suffering, and he will rescue them. He allows us to take part in the rescue mission, but we fear so many things. We fear we’re not qualified (3:11-12). We fear we might not be able to answer their questions (3:13-22). We fear they won’t agree with us (4:1-9). We fear we’re not skilled enough (4:10-12). We don’t want to do it (4:13-17). But God pictures his promises in a bush that burns without being consumed. He is a consuming fire, but he preserves those for whom Christ died.

Please head on over to Faith ON Campus to check it out!