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How’d You Do That? (9/16/12)

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From time to time we like to “show our work” and explain what principles drive our Bible study.

In Sunday’s post, we examined Proverbs 1:10, ESV (“My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent”) and saw how the Bible commands us to reject easy money.  Here’s how we got there.

Observation

By observing the grammar of the verse, we noticed that the main sentence is a command: “Do not consent.”  Also, we observed the words: the thing we ought not consent to is enticement from sinners.

Interpretation

In my study, I started with a question: what is the enticement from sinners that we ought not consent to?  Is it just anything, or does Solomon have something specific in mind?

Answering that question led me to observe the whole section (Prov 1:10-19) in its context.  This examination led me to observe the final verse (Prov 1:19), which makes clear that the chief enticement Solomon has in mind is toward “unjust gain.”

What is “unjust gain”?  Acquiring money or possessions through any unlawful means.  Since most of the section describes a gang recruiting someone to violence against another person, it would appear that Solomon considers “unjust” any means of gaining money that will hurt other people.

Thus, my conclusion of the main idea: “the pursuit of a quick buck, at the cost of serving others, will always keep us from being wise.”

Application

From here, we merely had to consider what it looks like in our generation to gain more money at the cost of serving others.

The chief heart application is that we allow ourselves to be sucked into money-making schemes (like going into more credit card debt, getting a new car like the neighbor’s, or spending too much time at the office).

By way of head application, we must know which things will tempt us, and we must choose in advance to watch out for them.

For hands application, we should make different choices when the temptation comes.  We should reject easy money.

See here for an explanation of these three types of application.

 

My hope in walking through this process is that you will be able to duplicate it in your own study of the Bible!

How’d You Do That? (7/31/12)

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On Monday and Tuesday, we examined Solomon’s third purpose for writing the book of Proverbs and sought to apply it.  How did I get to those specific applications?

Whenever we study a passage of the Bible, I find it helpful to think in the three categories of Head, Hands, and Heart.  Each of these categories represents a way in which I can respond to a text.

Head applications identify ways I need to believe what is true.  They help me to identify false beliefs so I can repent of them and choose to adopt God’s perspective.  Examples are “God is more powerful than my enemies,” “Jesus is God and became a man to die for my sins,” or “God wants his people to be part of a church.”

Hands applications identify ways I can act upon what is true.  They help me to identify ungodly behaviors so I can repent of them and live in obedience to God’s will.  Examples are “I shouldn’t gossip about or attack my enemies,” “I can take steps to get to know my neighbors better and reach out to them,” or “I should join a good church and get involved in the community there.”

Heart application identify ways I must become more like Jesus.  They help me to identify wicked or foolish desires so I can repent of them and develop more Christ-like character.  Examples are “I must love my enemies as Christ did for me,” “I can trust other people because Jesus knows what it’s like to be misunderstood,” or “I must stop trusting in myself and instead find ways to serve others.”

The first three purposes of Proverbs correspond to these three areas.  Solomon wants us to know wisdom (head), do it (hands), and always improve at both knowing and doing (heart).

When you read and study the Bible, are you growing in all three areas?

Don’t fall into the trap of overly theological (head), ethical (hands), or pietistic (heart) reading of Scripture.  Keep a good balance of all three, and see how much God will do in your life through his Knowable Word!

And don’t feel like you have rely on yourself alone to grow as a Christian.  Join a Bible study, or get more involved at your church!  Others can help you in all three areas in ways you never expected.

How’d You Do That? (7/16/12)

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In yesterday’s post, we fleshed out Solomon’s first purpose for writing Proverbs.  In so doing, we examined an important component of biblical poetry: parallelism.

We saw the importance of observing Genre here and here.  Now that we’ve noticed that we’re dealing with poetry, we can appreciate the implications.

English poetry and Hebrew poetry have some similarities and some differences.  Knowing them up front enables us to read the Bible rightly.

Similarities
  1. Uses lots of imagery
  2. Attempts to evoke feelings
Differences
  1. English poetry is (often) driven by meter and rhyme
  2. Hebrew poetry is primarily driven by parallelism

English poetry sounds…poetic.  It has a bounce, a rhythm.  For example:

When beggars die, there are no comets seen;
The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes. (Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, II.2.30)

Hebrew poetry generally doesn’t have the “bounce.”

To know wisdom and instruction,
To understand words of insight (Prov 1:2, ESV).

Bible translators often format the text differently to signal poetry (lots of white space, parallel lines indented together, etc.).  Because of the lack of meter and rhyme, however, translators often disagree whether certain Bible passages are prose or poetry.  Just look at the book of Ecclesiastes in a few different versions, and you’ll see that there is little consensus on whether some sections are prose or poetry.

What’s the point?

When you read poetry in the Bible, remember not to isolate individual lines.  Instead, we ought to read parallel lines together, for it’s in their parallelism that we get the poet’s intentions.  Also, expect lots of figurative and emotive language.  The poet wants to communicate a point, but he wants to do so beautifully.

How’d You Do That? (7/4/12)

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In yesterday’s post, I tried to demonstrate an important principle for how to study the Bible: correlation.  Correlation is the process of linking different passages together to understand what the Bible has to say about a topic or idea.

When it comes to correlation, it can be pretty easy to make a number of errors:

  1. Cross-referencing too soon: Sometimes when we read a passage, we immediately jump to all the other passages that come to mind.  As we jump from place to place in the Bible, we can feel like we’ve had a good Bible study.  The danger, however, is that we can jump so much that we failed to understand any of the specific passages in their context!  Numerous cults use this technique to justify their teaching, while making it seem biblical.
  2. Isolating a text from the whole Bible: Sometimes we can get so focused on one passage that we develop an imbalanced understanding of a certain topic.  Without connecting this passages to other passages, we might over-focus on one side of an issue to the exclusion of the complete biblical perspective on it.  I find it really easy to commit this error when I’m having a disagreement with someone, and I want to over-emphasize my perspective.
  3. Connecting passages unhelpfully: Sometimes we can connect different passages for no other reason than that they use the same word.  When we do this, we miss the fact that different authors might use the same words in different ways.  We read a certain meaning into various texts rather than drawing meaning out of them.  We often commit this error if we search for a single word in a Bible search engine, and then assume that every verse that turns up must apply to the particular question I’d like to answer.

How do we correlate various Bible texts accurately?

  1. Make sure you understand the passage at hand in its context.  That means identifying the author’s main point before you jump to any other texts.
  2. Once you’ve identified the main point, then look for other passages that speak to the same main point (which may include using the same words, but it also might not).
  3. As you look at other passages, make sure you understand the main points of each of them in their own contexts.
  4. Allow each passage to nuance your understanding of the idea.
  5. Make changes in your life to obey what you have learned from God’s Knowable Word!

Why We Should Care Who the Audience Is

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In yesterday’s post we considered who the primary audience of Proverbs was.  Why bother?

The main reason is because, although the Bible was written for us (1 Cor 10:11), it was not written to us.  Every book of the Bible was written by a particular person, for a particular group of people, in a particular situation.  We put ourselves in danger of misunderstanding the text if we don’t first understand these historical circumstances.  We must put ourselves in their shoes.

Imagine if I showed you a letter in which I wrote the sentence “You’re making me go crazy.”  How would you read that line if you knew I had written the letter to my child?  To my employee?  My neighbor?  My wife?  My pet snake?  A customer service rep at a store from which I made a significant purchase?

At the office where I work, we maintain a quote board for just this purpose: to catalogue the random statements which, removed from any context, become hilarious.  We have entries on the board like:

  • “Did you forget the pot this morning?”
  • “If you’re gonna die, it’s nice to do it at home.”
  • “I’m going to do number two tomorrow, but it’s going to take me a while, because I haven’t done it in awhile.”
  • “The longer I live, the more I don’t want to.”
  • “I keep trying to say funny things to get on the quote board.”

When it comes to studying the Bible, let’s keep the original audience in mind.  Otherwise, we can miss the point.  For example:

  • Genesis (as a book) was prepared for a nation of people who had just come out of centuries of enslavement and were trying to figure out their identity.  It was not primarily written to people who were examining the origin(s) of all things.
  • Daniel was written to Jewish exiles in Babylon and Persia to help them understand how God could possibly still be in control.  Daniel’s predictions were largely intended to prepare these people, and their converts, for the coming Messiah (King of the Jews).  It worked, since some from that region knew what to look for at just the right time (Matt 2:1-2).
  • Revelation (and it’s rich symbols) was not primarily about 21st century events.  The book would have made sense to believers in churches scattered across Turkey in the 1st century AD (Rev 1:4).  We ought to read it accordingly.

Whenever you approach a book of the Bible, make sure you find out who the original audience was (as much as is possible) and do your best to put yourself in their shoes.

How’d You Do That? (6/17/12)

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We just finished examining a bit of Solomon’s biography and credentials for authoring the book of Proverbs.  We saw that God’s wisdom, God’s promise, and great wealth qualified him for this task.

How did I come up with these principles?

The main idea here is that the narrative books of the Bible often give us key information to help us interpret the didactic (teaching) books.  We learn about Solomon’s story from the books that chronicle his life.  As I studied those sections, I began to draw connections to the Proverbs.  Especially helpful was 1 Kings 3:1-15, where Solomon asks for wisdom, and 1 Kings 4:20-34, where Solomon demonstrates his wisdom.

We can follow this same procedure for other parts of the Bible.

  • When reading Paul’s letters, first check out the biographical information on Paul in the book of Acts.  The most helpful parts are the sections where he ministers in the cities he later wrote letters to.  For example, study Acts 16:11-40 for background on the book of Philippians, Acts 17:1-9 for background on 1 & 2 Thessalonians, and Acts 18:1-18 for background on 1 & 2 Corinthians.
  • Consider Acts 14:8-23 and Acts 16:1-3 for information to help you interpret 1 & 2 Timothy.
  • Certain Psalms are connected with events in David’s life.  Psalm 3:1-8 makes sense after you understand 2 Samuel 15:1-37, and Psalm 51:1-19 should be read in connection with 2 Samuel 11:1-12:25.

I’m sure you get the idea.  When you study books of the Bible, first try to understand the author’s life situation and character.  The Bible itself can help you do this.

How’d You Do That? (6/8/12)

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In our last Proverbs post, I looked at what sort of genre proverbs are.  Let me give those comments a context.

When we come to learning how to study the Bible, one of the first steps is to observe the text carefully.  But what should we observe?  I generally consider five categories:

  1. Words
  2. Grammar
  3. Structure
  4. Mood
  5. Genre

You can observe the words themselves, considering repetition, tenses, number (singular or plural), etc.

You can observe the grammar, considering issues such as sentence structure (subjects, verbs, objects, etc.), pronouns, or prepositional phrases.

You can observe the structure, considering things like comparison, contrast, section divisions, or the shape of the text.

You can observe mood, identifying how the author communicated: excited, angry, patient, personal, etc.

Finally, you can observe the genre.  Primarily, you’ll want to notice whether you’re reading prose or poetry.  If I write of red roses, it’s important that you understand the genre.  On the one hand you might find just what you need in a pinch.  On the other hand, you could create too many giggles.  Don’t mix up genres!

In the case of Proverbs, I discussed the wisdom genre of proverbs.  We should not read proverbs like laws, or even like prophecies.  Proverbs are intended to address many fine details of life.  As we go through the text, we’ll see how this fact plays out.  But by way of introduction, I wanted to draw attention to the significance of genre.

Roses are red,

Violets are blue,

I observed Proverbs’ genre,

Now you can, too!

How’d You Do That? (5/16/12)

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In Wednesday’s post, I continued listing some counterfeits to wisdom present in our day.  All I tried to do here was apply the introductory material by dealing with some issues that may hopefully hit closer to home for some of us.

How many times have you heard (or said) the following?

  • “You’ll understand when you’re older.”
  • “Once you get a few gray hairs (or some more experience under your belt), then you’ll earn more respect or influence.”
  • “Why should I do what you’re saying?”  “Because I’m your father!”

One way to apply Bible passages is to consider what we ought to believe.  I’ve heard this called the “Head” realm of application (as distinct from the “Hands” or “Heart” realms, which refer more to skills or character).  In this case, we ought to believe the right thing (and not the wrong thing) about how to become wise.  Let’s not fall for the subtle but unbiblical assumptions that exist all around us.

One more thought: in this post, I considered some common misconceptions about how one becomes wise.  I tried to reflect what was good before identifying what I thought was bad.

Even if we disagree with someone or some idea, we should always first aim to find what is good, true, and beautiful about it.  After we build agreement there, we can move toward addressing areas of disagreement.  I think Paul had this approach in mind when he wrote Philippians 4:8, which is in the context of helping two women deal with a conflict in Philippians 4:2.  I encourage you to study Philippians 4:2-9 and follow the steps listed there the next time you are in a conflict with another person and want either the peace of God or the God of peace to be with you.

How’d You Do That? (5/10/12)

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In Thursday’s post, we briefly surveyed Proverbs 9 and identified a few common counterfeits of wisdom in our day.  Here are some principles demonstrated in that post.

1.  Observe Comparison and Contrast

Proverbs 9 describes two different women.  We are meant to observe what is similar (comparison) and what is different (contrast) about them.

Similarities: women, serving a meal, making invitations to bystanders.

Differences: prepared food vs. secret bread, mixing wine vs. stealing water, sending maidens vs. no maidens, hewing pillars vs. knowing nothing.

Observing the similarities and differences enables us to see that, though both want to recruit followers and serve them a meal, what they offer and how they offer it is very different.  Folly is copying Wisdom, but with less power and weaker results.  We too ought to expect counterfeits to wisdom.

Comparison and contrast are simple yet powerful to observe.  Here are a few more examples.

Characters, such as:

  • Abram/Lot in Genesis 13-14, 18-19
  • Zechariah/Mary in Luke 1:5-38

Plots, such as:

  • Men meeting women at wells in Genesis 24:15-21 & 29:9-12, Exodus 2:15-22, John 4:1-10
  • Sexually immoral demands at the doorstep in Genesis 19 & Judges 19

Settings, such as:

  • Personal encounters with God on mountains in Exodus 33-34, 1 Kings 19:9-18, and Mark 9:2-8
  • Childlessness in Genesis 11:27-31, 25:19-22, 29:31; Judges 13:1-3, 1 Samuel 1:1-2, Matthew 1:18-25

Things, such as:

  • Two gates, two trees, two candidates for the Kingdom, two houses in Matthew 7:15-27

Whenever we see two or more things that resemble each other in some way, we should keep our eyes out for both similarities and differences.  Make two lists, and ask yourself the question, “what is the author trying to communicate by comparing or contrasting these things?”

2.  Identify What a Passage is NOT Saying

When I moved toward particular application, I began to list some common assumptions in our day regarding what makes someone wise.  I haven’t yet defined, from the text of Proverbs, what wisdom is; I thought first it would be helpful to clear out some misconceptions.

One way to apply a text of Scripture is to consider what we ought to believe in light of the passage.  As we do so, we can identify what common beliefs exist in our culture don’t quite hit the bullseye.  Recognizing these faulty beliefs enables us to clear the debris so we can apply right beliefs.  We’ll see this in a few weeks when we move past the counterfeits (what wisdom is not) and define what wisdom is.

How’d You Do That? (5/3/12, continued)

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Here are two more Bible study principles I employed in last Thursday’s post:

2.  Read the Bible as Literature

Every book of the Bible is a book.  Each of these books was written by a person to a group of people.  We ought to read these books like we read other books.  That means they have a beginning, a middle, and an end.  The ideas flow from one thought to the next.  This is why I’ll work through Proverbs 1-9 section after section.

3.  Pay Attention to Context

This point flows right out of the previous one.  When we forget that the Bible is a collection of books, it’s easy to read a verse here and a verse there as we feel inspired.  However, each of those verses has a context.  There is a literary context (the thoughts written before and after) and a historical context (the person who wrote the book, and the circumstances under which he wrote it).

Here’s an example.  If I told you that on May 3, The New York Times quoted Tobias Meyer as saying, “I have all the time in the world,” what would you think of?  Does the quote inspire you or frighten you?  Do you share the sentiment, or do you envy it?

It’s impossible to evaluate such questions when the quote is isolated from any context!  So let me fill you in with more details.

Tobias Meyer is an auctioneer.  A few days ago, painter Edvard Munch’s famous work, “The Scream,” came up for auction.  Once the bidding reached $99 million, the participants paused, likely in anticipation of the $100 million milestone.  At this moment, Mr. Meyer exclaimed, “I have all the time in the world.”  As you know, auctioneers are not known for taking time or for drawing things out.  This moment was one to be savored.

The bidding continued, and the painting finally sold for $119.9 million, becoming the most expensive piece of art in history.  See the full article here.

Now that you know the facts in their context, does the quote take on new significance?

Let’s do the same whenever we study the Bible, making sure we understand it rightly in its context.  I will seek to do it in Proverbs by focusing on Solomon’s main points and flow of thought.  You can do it as you read the Bible, too.