Knowable Word - Bible study help

Why Read Scripture in Public?

February 28, 2024 By Peter Krol

Paul commands Timothy to devote himself to the public reading of Scripture (1 Tim 4:13). But was that just something unique to Timothy? Why do churches generally make a practice of reading Scripture when the assembly is gathered for worship?

Steve Burchett runs through the entire Bible, showing that public Scripture reading has always been the practice of God’s people. From Moses to Paul, one of the main things the people of God ought to do when they gather is to read God’s Word.

…throughout biblical history, God was very interested in his people hearing his word read when they came together. They often did this, sometimes for very lengthy readings. When we read the Bible in our gatherings, we are doing what God’s people have always been expected to do, and have consistently done.

Check it out!

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There May be a Clue at the End of the Letter

February 26, 2024 By Ryan Higginbottom

A good email is a dying art. Especially within a business context, clear and concise communication is crucial.

In particular, I love it when someone crafts their email subject line with care. This short text field exists to capture the purpose of the entire email. I have nearly laughed with joy when the body of an email is simply adding a few details to a well-chosen subject line. It’s sublime.

No one would argue that the Biblical epistles are the same as modern day emails. However, as written communication they share some qualities. As my co-blogger Peter has pointed out, because the writers of the epistles wanted to persuade their readers to believe or do something, they often included thesis statements throughout their letters.

The beginning of a letter is an obvious place for such a statement. But these writers occasionally ended their communication by returning to the same topic. This makes sense, and we often do the same—if I want to make extra sure that someone gets my point, I’ll include that at both the beginning and end of the email.

Examples

As we will see later, not every epistle ends in the way that I’m describing. But a number of them do! Here are three for our consideration.

1 Thessalonians

Our interpretive overview of this letter argues that Paul was mainly concerned with urging the Thessalonians on in faith, love, and hope. After noting how obvious these qualities were in them (chapter 1), Paul told them to excel still more in these same virtues.

At the end of the letter, Paul wrote this benediction (which might be my favorite New Testament benediction).

Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it. (1 Thess 5:23-24)

We can see how Paul returned to the familiar note he had been hitting throughout the letter. His prayer and urgent desire for the Thessalonians was that God would perfect them in faith, love, and hope. This is what is meant by his use of “sanctify” and “blameless” in verse 23; in the context of the letter, he wanted their Christian virtues to be complete.

Titus

Paul’s message to Titus was straightforward: character and devotion to good works flow from a sound faith. Though this letter is short, Paul punctuated it with frequent mention of those works which a redeemed heart is glad to perform.

The end of the letter is no exception. Just before Paul’s final greetings, and just following some detailed personal instructions, Paul returned to his theme.

And let our people learn to devote themselves to good works, so as to help cases of urgent need, and not be unfruitful. (Titus 3:14)

Paul made sure Titus could not miss his main point.

1 Peter

Peter’s first letter was written to Christians scattered because of persecution. He was writing to give them hope in the midst of great trials, when they were “suffering for righteousness’ sake (1 Peter 3:14).

Like Paul, Peter’s benediction at the end of the letter was tender and bursting with pastoral wisdom. It was also, unsurprisingly, connected to the theme of the letter.

And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen. (1 Peter 5:10-11)

Peter touched on the suffering that his friends would face and also reminded them of their great, eternal hope.

Not all Epistles!

The structure of each epistle is different, and in some letters a summary at the end is absent. Consider Ephesians as a prime example. This letter splits neatly into two, with the first three chapters laying out important doctrine (“the calling to which you’ve been called”) and the last three chapters giving application (“walk in a manner worthy of this calling”).

The main doctrinal point Paul made in the first half of Ephesians is that God has a plan to unite all of heaven and earth under the Lord Jesus. The letter ended with the famous “armor of God” passage and then final greetings. While one can these greetings to the uniting all things in Christ, there is nothing so explicit as we see in our earlier examples. A summary statement or return to theme is simply absent from the end of this letter.

Finding the Author’s Main Concern

When studying any book of the Bible, we should find its structure to help us discern its main point. Because epistles are so driven by logic and arguments, statements of purpose or theme are more abundant than in other genres of Biblical literature.

So as you’re studying the epistles, if you’re having trouble finding the main point, you might find a clue at the end of the letter.

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One Way to Settle the Prescriptive/Descriptive Debate

February 23, 2024 By Peter Krol

When I study a biblical narrative with a group of people, I find it inevitable that someone will eventually ask: “Is this prescriptive or descriptive?” In other words, is this passage prescribing particular behavior, which we ought to imitate? Or is it simply describing what the characters themselves did, but we ought not to do it ourselves?

It’s a great and important question.

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Not Always Clear

Sometimes the answer is clear: A narrative’s villains are not being held up as models to emulate. So don’t betray your Lord like Judas (Matt 26:47-49), and don’t blame everyone else for your sin like Saul (1 Sam 15:12-16). And when the narrator includes explicit instruction to emulate a character, then we are on strong ground to do so: Avoid idolatry and immorality, unlike the people of Israel (1 Cor 10:6-11), and serve others like Jesus (John 13:12-17).

But sometimes the answer is not clear: Should we delegate authority and establish middle management like Moses (Ex 18:24-26)? Should we test our abusers to determine the sincerity of their confession, like Joseph (Gen 42-44)? Should we try to walk on water like Peter (Matt 14:28-30)? Should we follow Jesus’ instructions to the 70 he sent out to minister in his name (Luke 10:2-12)?

The prescriptive/descriptive question especially comes up when a person’s near-and-dear theology is at stake, either in affirmation or suspicion. Should we speak in tongues and heal people, like the apostles in Acts? Should we set out the fleece to discern God’s will like Gideon? Should we include the children of believers in covenant membership like Abraham?

General Guidance

The prescriptive/descriptive debate on any given passage is closely related to two healthy instincts. We must hold these instincts in tension and not choose one over the other.

The primary purpose of biblical narratives is to proclaim Jesus Christ (Luke 24:44-47; John 1:45, 5:39-40; 1 Peter 1:10-12; etc.).
Biblical narratives present characters as examples to either imitate or avoid (1 Cor 10:1-14; Hebrews 11; Hebrews 12:15-17; 1 John 3:11-13; etc.).

Those with deep commitment to axiom #1 will lean toward viewing biblical narratives as descriptive. Those committed to axiom #2 will lean toward viewing biblical narratives as prescriptive.

Throughout church history, debates have raged over whether to adhere to axiom 1 or axiom 2. But to affirm either one and deny the other is to make a sucker’s choice. We must adhere to both.

A Way Forward

But that only leaves us where we started. How are we to decide whether a passage is prescriptive or descriptive? Whether a character ought to be imitated or not? When should my church start casting lots to fill open leadership positions (Acts 1:26)? And when will our Christian generation learn that “grace” is not implicit permission for rampant divorce, abuse, or sexual immorality (1 Kings 9:1-9)?

I don’t have the final answer that will solve every instance of the question. But I do have a suggestion that—for most passages we study—might just eliminate the need for even asking the question.

Here it is: Focus on applying the passage’s main point and not incidental details.

Now I’ll immediately qualify that guidance by acknowledging that it is possible to apply sub-points, secondary points, or minor details in the text. However, when we do so, we are usually on shakier ground. It’s easier to get the application wrong, since not every detail in a text is equally applicable or even intended by the author to be applied.

In fact, seeking to apply minor details in the text undermines all the work we’ve done up to this point in our study. Why bother doing all that observing and interpreting, if not to understand the author’s main point? Why bother getting to the main point, if we’re just going to apply the passage any which way that seems right in our own eyes?

If the main point is—by definition—the main thing God wants his people to understand from the text, why wouldn’t we focus our application on putting that main point into practice? We could spend all our time applying secondary things and miss the most important thing.

In the next post, I plan to give some examples of how this approach often settles the debate. But in the meantime, I urge you to try it on your own. Study a narrative passage sometime in the next week. Do your best to determine the author’s main point. Then seek to apply that main point and see what happens. Does it make the prescriptive/descriptive question disappear?

I guarantee it won’t answer all your questions about whether particular characters or parts of the text are prescriptive or descriptive. But it will enable you to land on solid ground in your application, in a way that may be highly motivating and might just change lives for God’s glory. Try it and let me know what happens!

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Whose Body is a Temple of the Holy Spirit?

February 21, 2024 By Peter Krol

I’ve argued before, from the context, that 1 Cor 6:19 is not a catch-all prohibition against anything and everything a person can do to their body (tattoos, alcohol, smoking, etc.). Nicholas Piotrowski and Ryan Johnson take it another step further to clarify what exactly Paul means by “your body.”

They carefully observe the grammar, context, and flow of thought through the entire letter of 1 Corinthians to conclude that “your body” is not, after all, your own body but the larger community (the body of Christ).

The trouble is that the Bible consistently speaks of one temple for the one God. So if each Christian’s individual body were a temple in and of itself, then that would mean God has millions of isolated temples all over the world. There is a bit of a theological problem with this.

I need to consider this further myself, especially since the “body” appears to refer to an individual’s physical in 1 Cor 6:18, the immediately preceding sentence. But perhaps my familiarity is clouding my observation of that verse as well!

Piotrowski and Johnson give four very good reasons for reading the verse in a corporate way, and I encourage you to give their reasons your own consideration.

Check it out!

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Why “What Does it Mean to Me?” is a Bad Question

February 16, 2024 By Peter Krol

Our method for Bible study can be summarized with just three letters—OIA—which represent three skills that govern all human communication: observe, interpret, and apply. Those three skills provide the answers to three basic questions:

What does it say?
What does it mean?
How should I change?

Over the years, I’ve regularly heard well-meaning folks ask that third question—the question of application—in this way: What doest it mean to me?

That question has the benefits of rhythm and resonance. It flows right off the tongue to recite: “What does it say, what does it mean, what does it mean to me.” And that rhythm can certainly aid with memory.

However, the costs we pay in clarity and accuracy are not worth the gains of memorability, for at least four reasons.

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It confuses application with interpretation.

By asking “what does it mean?” we are doing the work of interpretation. We are figuring out why the original author says what he says, and what that meant to the original audience. By using the same verbiage of “what does it mean,” despite the qualifier “to me,” we communicate that we are doing the same thing, only with a different audience in view.

Why does that matter? Who cares if we do (or communicate that we are doing) the same thing for different audiences? That leads me to the second reason that “what does it mean to me?” is a bad question.

It relativizes truth.

The question presumes that meaning is a matter of indifference. That a text’s meaning depends on who reads it. On how they perceive it. And so a text can mean one thing to one person or community, and another thing to a different group.

When we relativize the truth in this way, we ought not be surprised when the realities of Scripture are brought into question whenever they grow too inconvenient. For example, many who once stood for the Bible’s definition of marriage have come to interpret those pesky passages to have a different meaning, now that severe cultural pressure has been exerted.

And while I’m a fan of relativizing application, we must not do the same with interpretation. A passage doesn’t mean what any reader believes it means. A passage means what the author meant by it. For this reason, the concept of meaning carries much weight and is not something with which to tamper.

Wi to the intent to apply, it makes sense to ask “what does the text mean for me?” That question prods for implications and applications. But to ask what the text means to me is to tamper with its meaning.

You can choose to agree with the text or disagree with it. You can like it or dislike it. But you can’t change what it means. Do you see what I mean?

It makes application an exercise in self-fulfillment.

I recently wrote a thank-you note to a generous person who did something extraordinary for my family. In that note, I said, “it means so much to me that you…” That phrase, “what it means to me,” has a particular force and use in modern English, which has more to do with inspiration and delight than with truth or understanding.

The average person in today’s Western world, hearing the question “what does that mean to you?” doesn’t naturally hear a challenge or stimulation toward life change. That person hears an expression of self-fulfillment.

And self-fulfillment is not always a bad thing (as long as it’s not a godless or ultimate thing). I hope many people find great satisfaction and delight in their study of God’s word. But such satisfaction and delight is not the same thing as robust application.

It predisposes application to only one direction.

By asking “what does it mean to me,” we communicate momentum from the text to the individual reading it. Perhaps unintentionally, this frames what is happening as something that terminates on the reader. Therefore, even if the question itself is understood as one of application and not interpretation, it sets the reader up for inward application alone. The reader is not likely to consider outward application as well.

And since many of us are already naturally inclined to forget application’s second direction, we don’t need to reinforce the inclination with the way we frame the question.

Conclusion

For these reasons, we have never recommended “what does it mean to me” as a way to summarize the application step. We prefer to ask “How should I change?”

That doesn’t mean I’ll start flipping tables if I’m in your Bible study and you ask “What does this text mean to you?” I promise I’ll do my best to be polite. But I’ll also do my best to reframe the resulting discussion in a more useful way.

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Help with Zechariah

February 14, 2024 By Peter Krol

I’ve been leading my church’s preaching team through series on Jonah and Nahum over the last few months. I’m really enjoying the Lord’s messages for us in the minor prophets.

And I once considered Zechariah to be the most difficult book of the Bible to grasp. Perhaps it is, but Steven McCarthy is here to help.

McCarthy broadly walks through the book’s structure, explaining the main idea of each of the visions before covering the oracles of the book’s second half. Here is a taster:

Zechariah, along with his counterpart Haggai, speaks from this period of return from exile in Babylon and rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem. (Ezra 5:1-2) He does so with a broad scope and a heavily symbolic style. Whereas Haggai’s burden is laser-focused on the specific priority of rebuilding God’s temple, Zechariah’s burden is more generally for the people to be spiritually and morally disposed for God’s renewal and fulfillment of his covenant relationship with them. Indeed, God’s grace trains us “to renounce ungodliness”. (Titus 2:11-14) The book of Zechariah leads us to the conclusion that only Christ’s coming itself will make God’s people into a fitting community for the LORD’s dwelling.

My only hesitation is that McCarthy is quick to suggest that the second half of Zechariah is “about” Jesus and his work. Certainly, the New Testament shows the fulfillment of Zechariah in the work of Christ. But I would prefer to first clarify what the text meant to the original audience (who did not know who Jesus was), and only then talk about the fulfillment in Christ.

But despite this minor qualification, McCarthy’s brief comments are well worth your time. He will enable you to get your bearings in this important book.

Check it out!

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Bible Study Leaders Must Be Flexible

February 12, 2024 By Ryan Higginbottom

As a college professor, I’ve taught the same material dozens of times. And while the main ideas of calculus don’t change drastically from one semester to the next, those classes are not the same.

Each iteration of the course is different because each class roster is different. If I ignored the particular students in my classes and focused only on the material, I wouldn’t be doing my job as a teacher.

Leadership is Always Local

This same truth holds when leading a Bible study: the audience matters. What is appropriate and powerful in one setting may fail spectacularly in another. This isn’t an original insight, but it does highlight a principle many ignore.

Leadership never exists in a vacuum. Leaders are leaders because they lead people. Even “organizational leaders” are leaders of people, because what do we suppose organizations are made of, heads of lettuce?

This doesn’t mean that good principles for leading are a fiction—they aren’t. However, good principles still need to be worked out locally; they are incarnated face-to-face in relationships with real people.

Flexibility in Study Meetings

When a Bible study leader prepares for a meeting, he should do the hard work of observation and interpretation, letting the text dig into his flesh and change him before he attempts to bring change to others. Nailing down a main point for the passage is a vital step before a Bible study meeting.

However, that same leader needs to be prepared for the actual people that walk through the door. They will arrive with different moods, experiences, and histories, and those differences may dramatically affect the discussion. This is especially true when it comes to application.

Examples

I’ll illustrate this point with two examples. While these examples are fictitious, I’ve led Bible study meetings in the past where similar issues came up and affected the mood and direction of the conversation. (It’s also worth mentioning that we call the small groups at my church Home Fellowship Groups. Bible study is an important component of our meetings, but we also share times of prayer and fellowship.)

Scenario 1 — Dwayne is a faithful member of your group. His work situation is consistently the most difficult part of his life, and he speaks openly about his troubles with his boss. His direct supervisor consistently belittles him and ignores his good performance. At the Bible study meeting in question, Dwayne has had an especially hard week, as he has been passed over for a promotion for the third straight time. If the application of the Bible study is focused on loving one’s neighbors, Dwayne’s background will have a huge effect on his participation, and if he participates, it will color the rest of the discussion.

Scenario 2 — Nicole is a single woman attending your Bible study, and her sister has asked her to move back home to help care for their aging father. Nicole does not have a good relationship with any of her family members, as they have distanced themselves from her since she has become a Christian. This move would take her hours away, and there is no good church in the town where her family lives. If the Bible study is about honoring one’s parents or the importance of a local church congregation, Nicole’s situation may change the conversation in big ways.

People Are Not an Interruption

For a new or inexperienced Bible study leader, these examples could seem frustrating, as though the life situations of these group members might derail a perfectly-planned study. But this Platonic ideal of a Bible study does not exist.

Leading real Bible studies means that the Bible comes into contact with real people, and the lives of real people are often messy and difficult. But these difficulties are not interruptions to our plans—this is what it means to lead people and help them apply the Bible in their lives.

Let’s go one step further. God never puts people together by accident, so these “challenging” cases that crop up in Bible study are not just opportunities for leaders to help their friends apply the Bible. We are meant to apply the Bible in community, so leaders may have a lot to learn personally (and not just as leaders) from these hard situations.

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3 Implications of the Fact that Bible Application is for Everybody

February 9, 2024 By Peter Krol

In the “longer ending” of Mark’s gospel, Jesus says, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation” (Mark 16:15). Though some dispute the authenticity of Mark’s longer ending, I’m not aware of anyone disputing this fundamental instruction for the Christian Church (Matt 28:18-20, Col 1:23, Rev 14:6).

From this command, we can deduce that the Bible (which preserves and explains the gospel) has relevance to all people in all the world. That, in turn, means that anybody, anywhere, at any time in history can apply the Bible.

Perhaps that fact seems obvious. But what are some of its implications?

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1. The same application will land differently in different cultures

Jesus warns that “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26). Practical applications of this warning are generally not terribly controversial in western dignity cultures, but they are far more difficult and excruciating for those in eastern honor cultures.

By contrast, Jesus said that “everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery” (Matt 5:32). Eastern honor cultures may tend to follow this command more closely, while those in western dignity cultures sometimes tend to focus more on the exceptions than the rule itself.

2. Different people may legitimately adopt opposite applications

Jesus told one person that following him meant leaving his family behind (Luke 9:59-60). He told another person that following him meant returning to his family (Mark 5:19-20).

He told one guy to sell everything and give it to the poor (Mark 10:21-22). He told others to make different use of their money (Luke 16:9).

The point is that many applications that fit your situation will not fit other people’s situations. The same principle (e.g. investing in eternity) may take different expression for different people. Let each be fully convinced in their own mind (Rom 14:5).

3. Particular applications may mature along with the person

A child-like faith is to be commended (Mark 10:15). A childish approach to human relationship is not (1 Cor 13:11, 16:13).

For one person, simply saying “hello” to a stranger might be an act of selfless obedience to Christ. But as that person matures, that “hello” ought to grow into more mature expressions of evangelism and love for neighbor.

Bible application is for everybody. What other implications of that fact can you think of?

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Piper on Finding the Main Point of a Chapter

February 7, 2024 By Peter Krol

The climax of the interpretation phase of Bible study is to determine the author’s main point. I have observed that skill to be one of the most difficult things for people to learn.

So here is some additional advice from John Piper. He describes his general process, using the metaphor of a 500-piece puzzle, and then he models it with the example of Psalm 8.

So, the point is to look at the pieces very carefully, to fit them together in midsize units, to jot down the main points of the midsize units until you have them all on a half sheet of paper, and then to think and think, and pray and pray, and think and pray and think and pray, and to organize and draw lines, and to try to fit them all together until they fall into place and you see how these five, six, seven, eight, nine points of the midsize units are in a flow that make one big overarching point. You will be surprised, if you take up pencil and paper and do this, what you will see.

Check it out!

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Why You Can’t Ditch the Old Testament

January 31, 2024 By Peter Krol

Michael Kruger has a fabulous article explaining why recent attempt to ditch or diminish the Old Testament in the teaching of the Christian church are wrong-headed.

Kruger explains:

I think it’s worth taking a deep breath and stepping back for a moment to remind ourselves of the big picture. Regardless of how one handles these individual objections from the OT (and I am not trying to answer them here), we need to remember why the OT matters in the first place. Here are three reasons why the OT might actually matter a lot more than we think.

His three reasons are: