Knowable Word

Helping ordinary people learn to study the Bible

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The Bible is Boring Only to the Uncurious

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Have you heard someone say the Bible is boring? Have you felt that way yourself?

Perhaps you’re not curious enough.

Aaron Armstrong shares his own experience:

Before I was a Christian, I didn’t really know much about the Bible. Which makes sense, since I didn’t read it. But I had a lot of assumptions about it, the same assumptions many non-Christians have about it. I assumed it was endlessly contradictory, outdated, and irrelevant. That nothing it said really mattered to life in the modern world. Most importantly, because I saw the few people I knew whose parents made them go to some kind of class at their church were bored to tears, I assumed the Bible was boring.

Then I read it, and I discovered a book that fascinated me. One that made me ask questions, and has kept me asking questions for nearly 19 years. A book that challenges me to dig a little deeper every time I think I’ve got something figured out.

Armstrong goes on to describe how curiosity about the Bible enables us to expose its bottomless wonders and riches. I appreciate his reflection and commend it to you.

Check it out!

Top 10 Posts on Bible Study Methods

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The entire reason for this blog’s existence is to help ordinary people learn to study the Bible. That requires us to impart principles and methods to help you along your way. Sometimes we back up and give sweeping tools and directions. At other times we zero in on a particular skill. All along the way, we encourage you to try these things at home and keep practicing.

Image by Tumisu from Pixabay

Continuing in the spirit of the top 10 lists presented over the last few weeks, here are 2023’s top 10 most-viewed posts in the “Method” category. If you browse the full list, you’ll see that we’ve currently got 271 installments. So if you have time to read only 10 of them, you may want to consider these 10.

  1. Three Important Contexts for Bible Study
  2. Why We Reread the Bible
  3. Studying the Bible is Not Code Breaking
  4. Finding Repeated Words and Themes
  5. Two Ways to Outline a Bible Passage
  6. What We Miss When We Skip the Book of Nehemiah
  7. The Most Important Tool for Observing the Structure of a Narrative Episode
  8. My Favorite Way to Read the New Testament
  9. Details of the OIA Method
  10. Summary of the OIA Method

When You Don’t Feel Like Reading Your Bible

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We’ve all had those seasons when Bible reading feels more like obligation than delight. And thought we do have an obligation to the who rescued us from darkness into light, his intentions have always been to increase our joy in him.

To that end, Kristen Wetherell has two great suggestions for what to do when you don’t feel like reading your Bible:

  1. Feast with your church
  2. Find a fresh method

Check it out!

Top 10 Posts of 2023

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San Churchill (2007), Creative Commons

It’s hip and cool for bloggers to post their top 10 posts of the year. And we want to be hip and cool. Our hearts tell us to do it, and the Bible says to “walk in the ways of your heart and the sight of your eyes” (Eccl 11:9). So here goes.

Last week, we gave you the top 10 posts from those written in 2023. Now, we list the top 10 posts from the full KW archive. If lots of other people are reading these posts, you probably should be, too.

The 2023 post that got the most views—Overlooked Details of the Red Sea Crossing—just barely missed this overall Top 10 by about two dozen pageviews.

10. Top 10 OT Books Quoted in NT

This post was also #10 last year. Though it comes from a series that analyzes not only books but also chapters and verses, this list of most-quoted books always seems to be one of the most popular.

9. 11 Old Testament Books Never Quoted in the New Testament

This post was also #9 last year. It comes from the same six-part series—mentioned in the previous entry—analyzing every NT citation of an OT text. It’s interesting that, in that series about the NT quoting the OT, the most popular post is about the OT books that never get a direct quotation.

8. Context Matters: Apart From Me, You Can Do Nothing

This investigation of John 15 debuted on the top 10 list in 2021 at #6, rising two positions higher in 2022 before dropping to #8 this year. This “context matters” post does not suggest any drastic rethinking of the popular use of the verse in question; it largely shows how rich and deep our grasp can go when the verse is read without isolating it from its context.

7. Summary of the OIA Method

Just as the title says, this post summarizes the OIA method we aim to teach. It’s basically the reason this blog exists, so we’re glad it gets a lot of page views. This is up from #8 last year.

6. Did Jesus’ Ministry Last 3 Years?

This 2019 post makes its first appearance on the annual Top 10, knocking How to Recognize Sowers of Discord off the list. In this post, Peter considers the information from the gospels to reconsider the tradition that Jesus’ ministry lasted 3 years. Quite a few commenters are concerned that anything other than a 3-year ministry throws off their calculations from Gabriel’s message in Daniel 9. However, we’re not swayed by views that require certain assumptions about an end-times sequence of events in order to work.

5. 4 Bible Studies for Lent

This companion piece to Ryan’s 4 Bible studies for Advent is up from #7 last year, and back in the same slot it held in 2021. Lent is a great time to study the Bible, and here are four 6.5-week studies you could consider for that season. Be forewarned, however: These are not your typical you-can-only-trust-the-experts, fill-in-the-blank sort of Bible studies you may be used to.

4. 10 Reasons to Avoid Sexual Immorality

This was the most-viewed post in 2014, but then it dropped off the list until resurfacing as #8 in 2017 and #2 in 2018 and 2019. It dropped slightly to #3 in 2020, but went off the charts in 2021-22. It simmered down quite a bit this year, but still remains the fourth most-viewed post in the blog’s archive. We’re delighted to see a continued interest in such an important topic. Find whatever motivates you to avoid sexual immorality, and glum onto God’s grace in providing that motivation!

3. Context Matters: You Have Heard That it was Said…But I Say to You

This 2018 post was #9 on this list in 2020, but rose to #3 in 2021 and has remained in that position ever since. This post examines the series of contrasts in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount to determine, from the context, what Jesus was arguing against. Hint: It wasn’t the Old Testament Law.

2. Identifying Behemoth and Leviathan in the Book of Job

This post first appeared in 2015 as part of a brief series on Job (which included the next post on this list) and was republished in 2021. But it didn’t appear in the annual Top 10 until 2022 (at #5). And as the second most-viewed post, its popularity is only increasing. As can be seen from the title, it identifies what the behemoth and leviathan are in the book of Job. Teaser: They are not the hippopotamus and crocodile. And they are not dinosaurs, either, but something even worse. You’ll have to read the post to find out what.

1. Why Elihu is So Mysterious

The popularity of this 2015 post (republished in 2021) continues to surprise us. We really cannot explain why it has been so popular, but if you haven’t read it, you must really be missing out! Elihu is that mysterious fourth friend in the book of Job. If you even knew he existed, chances are you’ve skipped his speeches entirely. This post is Peter’s attempt to explain Elihu’s role in the drama of the play of Job. This post was #3 in 2017, but since then has alternated between the #1 and #2 slots.

Previous years’ lists: 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013

The Sermon on the Mount is not Meant to Make You Feel Bad

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I’ve seen a general pattern in “Christ-centered” or “gospel-centered” Bible teaching, that preaching the gospel requires us to always make ourselves and others feel bad for our sin. That the gospel has not been preached unless we get to the conclusion that “We cannot do what this text is saying, but Jesus can and did, so let’s trust him.” I’ve contributed to this tendency in years past, and have come to see how this actually flattens the Scriptures, often using them in a way contrary to their stated intentions.

One key place where this tendency shows up is in studies on the Sermon on the Mount.

Kevin DeYoung has a wonderful piece, excerpted from a recent book, where he debunks — from the text itself — this way of reading Jesus’ most famous sermon.

If we approach the Sermon on the Mount only or mainly as a means by which we see our sinfulness, we’ve not taken the sermon on its own terms… We’ve turned the Sermon on the Mount into a giant spanking spoon—good for making you squeal in pain, but not a welcome instrument or a way of life. The Great Commission, then, becomes a summons to teach the nations everything Jesus has said—which, of course, they cannot do, and he doesn’t expect them to observe.

DeYoung then observes four ways in which the text points us “away from thinking Jesus means to give us an impossible discipleship plan.”

  1. Jesus presents us with bracing either/or options at several points in his sermon.
  2. Jesus understands that there is an already-and-not-yet dimension to our Christian walk.
  3. Woven into the fabric of Christ’s kingdom living is the expectation that we will need grace and forgiveness.
  4. The Sermon on the Mount is not an impossible standard, because pleasing Jesus is not impossible.

DeYoung observes the text carefully, following the sermon’s own logic, to free us from unnecessary guilt to walk in the joy of allegiance to the Lord Jesus. I highly commend his article to you.

Check it out!

Top 10 Posts of 2023—Written in 2023

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Many bloggers take advantage of this time of the year to reflect on their most popular posts. Now we know there is a time to follow the crowd (Zech 8:23), and a time not to follow the crowd (Ex 23:2). And I believe the present time to be akin to the former and not the latter. So here we go.

This post lists the top 10 viewed posts this year, from among the posts we wrote this year. Next week, we’ll list the top 10 viewed posts from the full KW archive. May these lists enable you to be warm and well fed while you celebrate the season with joy and delight.

10. Can You Focus on the Bible Too Much?

Technically, this post wasn’t written in 2023. But I republished this older piece for a vacation week, and it got some attention. The easy answer to the title question is: of course you can—if you miss Jesus in the process. But the more difficult answer is that when you use the Bible properly it’s not possible to focus on it too much unless it’s also possible to focus on Jesus too much.

9. The Wisdom of Avoiding Strife

The first of five posts on Proverbs to make the list this year, this piece describes the many causes of strife. Knowing those causes enables you to do the first thing Proverbs recommends you do with strife: avoid it. This post is referring not to everyday disagreements, but to the sort of disagreements that look like knock-down, drag-em-out fights, that turn people into enemies of one another. The book of Proverbs refers to such situations as “strife.”

8. How to Prevent a Spiritually Dry December

This was another re-post for a vacation week, and it came quite late in the year, but it still made quite a splash. This post reminds us of why we study the Bible in the first place, offering some practical suggestions for the dark and difficult winter months.

7. Studying the Bible is not Code Breaking

Just as the title says, the Bible is not a secret code. God wants to be known, so he wrote to us plainly. This doesn’t mean the Bible is trivial or obvious. It takes serious work. But treating it like a code to crack is taking the easy — and foolish — way out.

6. Beware the Leech’s Daughters

Since the Bible is not a code, it’s obscure statements must be interpreted in light of the context and not some secret meaning. Proverbs 30:15a makes sense in light of what comes before and after it. Is it the rejection of ancient wisdom that causes the perpetual dissatisfaction of a generation of leeches? Such that, when you lose your grounding in the reality of God’s world, you have nothing left but to make increasing demands of the people and the world around you? The leech has two daughters. Not only in ancient Israel, but quite alive and well today.

5. What We Miss When We Skip the Book of Nehemiah

Ryan enjoys motivating people to give attention to the obscure parts of the Bible. In this post, he explains how Nehemiah can help us with prayer, God’s word, and money. You won’t want to miss that, so don’t skip it! For insight into other books you wouldn’t want to skip, see: Ezra, Lamentations, Numbers, and the Prophets.

4. Overcome Your Enemies by Dying

As a follow-up to #9 above, this post examines what Proverbs teaches about the sort of strife that can’t be avoided. When you have adopted the fundamental mindset that we can control only what we do and not what others do, there are five tactics that will help you to “win.” Warning: You’ll have to lose first.

3. 5 Misconceptions about Wealth

More help from Proverbs, to help us live well in the world God made. Let’s set aside these detrimental misconceptions, such as: It will make my problems go away. It’s something I ought to feel guilty about. It doesn’t matter whether someone has it or not.

2. The Problem with Proverbs

This year’s most-viewed post on the book of Proverbs describes the pain of trying to read and study this book of wisdom. It’s wild practicality blinds us to its covenantal context. The scattershot jumble of topics cause very little logical flow or coherence (at least, after chapter 9). And the widespread misconception that proverbs are not promises but only probabilities just needs to go, lest we fail to hear what the Proverbs are really saying. Studying this book along its natural contours yields a wealth of results, as it leads us to Jesus, in whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Col 2:2-3).

1. Overlooked Details of the Red Sea Crossing

This most-read post from 2023 had nearly twice as many views as #2 on the list. By looking at four crucial ones in the narrative of Exodus 14, Ryan demonstrates why the details matter. In them we see God’s hands-on involvement in the crossing of the Red Sea. God rescued his people and closed the door to any possible return to Egypt. In tangible ways, the Lord fought for his people as he promised. When God sets out to deliver his people and gain glory for himself, he will make both happen.

Previous years’ top tens: 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017

Sample Studies in Colossians

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Kyle Kennicott is teaching Colossians to his youth group, and he’s done us the favor of providing summaries of his messages. He shows how he broke down the text for the series, and for each passage he gives his main point, a brief summary, and chief applications.

I don’t share these sample studies with you so you can take them and teach the exact same message to your youth group or small group. Rather, I know many people need to see good examples of skillful Bible study to help them acquire the skills. And these examples are quite good.

Check it out!

The Impact of the Old Testament on Colossians

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The writers of the New Testament were saturated in the text and worldview of the Old Testament. So instead of trying to figure things out for ourselves, we’re usually better served by picking up on not only the quotations but also the allusions to the Old Testament.

For example, in this article, G.K. Beale explains three OT allusions in the book of Colossians that are easy to miss.

  1. Col 1:6, 10 – alluding to Gen 1:28
  2. Col 1:9 – alluding to Ex 31:3, 35:31-32
  3. Col 3:16 – alluding to the superscripts of Psalms 67 and 76

Beale doesn’t merely observe these allusions. He also explains how they illuminate Paul’s argument in Colossians.

Check it out!

Situating Amos

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The minor prophets can often seem distant and difficult. Yet God gave them to us for our growth in faith. So here is a wonderful overview of Amos by John Hartley to help you on your way.

What entrenched and multiplied transgressions brings the Lord to come against his own people? In a word, oppression. In more words, oppression of the poor by an unchecked appetite for luxury and leisure.

Check it out!