Helping ordinary people learn to study the Bible
Have you ever wondered about the doctrine of the Bible’s inerrancy? Jonathan Noyes writes at length on the topic with much clarity:
Are there errors, inaccuracies, and mistakes in the Bible? Can we trust everything the text affirms, or is it riddled with missteps, ethical flaws, and antiquated morality? Jesus said, “Scripture cannot be broken” (John 10:35). Was he wrong? Can Scripture err?
Nowadays, many think so.
Have you been counseled to pray before making a decision? In praying, do you expect God to give you clear direction on what to do? Friends, there’s something good here, but don’t fall into the trap of loving the wrong thing. If you pray about decisions and ask God for wisdom, he’ll give you something you might not have expected.
Again, my comments will follow the pattern I explained in a previous post.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge him,
And he will make straight your paths (Prov 3:5-6).
Command: Trust God, not yourself.
Consequence: Straight paths.
Our meager expectation: Fervent prayers give clear direction from God for any decision.
God’s unbelievable reward: himself. Those who seek God will find him. “Trust in the Lord” and “do not lean on your own understanding” could be summarized as “fear the Lord,” which is the first step on the path of wisdom (Prov 1:7). The path of wisdom leads to God himself (Prov 2:5-8). So when God promises to “make straight your paths,” he offers to remove any obstacles that keep you from him. He’ll make himself available. He’ll loosen your yoke and lighten your burden. He will be your God.
Echoes: To give a picture of this straight path, God spoke to the fathers by the prophets at many times and in many ways (Gen 15:1, 37:5, Ex 3:2, Jdg 20:18, 23, etc.). But the essence of the reward is not about communication from God. If you expect God to speak clearly every time you ask for help, you will be disappointed.
“Anvil and Hammer” by fauxto_digit (2008), shared under a Creative Commons Attribution license
Essence: Jesus cried out to God and was forsaken (Matt 27:46) so we who seek would find him (Matt 7:7-11). Sometimes God doesn’t give what we ask (2 Cor 12:7-8) so we might learn to ask for more of him instead (2 Cor 12:9-10). When we ask God to draw us closer to him, he will never say “No” (Jas 4:8). Raymond Ortlund describes this process: “Wisdom is the gospel of Christ reshaping us for royalty, as God places us on his anvil and we trust him enough to stay there until his work is done.”[1]
How might Jesus’ abandonment help you refashion your disappointment when your future remains unclear or your life goes in an unexpected direction?
This post was first published in 2013 and is part of a series walking through Proverbs 1-9.
[1] Proverbs: Wisdom that Works (Wheaton, Ill: Crossway, 2012), Kindle location 272-73.
Alan Shlemon addresses the three big reasons many people stop reading the Bible.
He does a great job exploring what we are believing or loving when we make such excuses, all to help us find our way back to the words of our Good Shepherd.
Joshua Hanks (2018), public domain
What shall I do to inherit eternal life?
There’s hardly a more important question. However, as we find this question addressed to Jesus by a lawyer in Luke 10:25, it wasn’t an honest question. It was a test.
After Jesus turned the question around and the lawyer gave the textbook answer, Jesus affirmed the lawyer: “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live” (Luke 10:27–28).
But the lawyer couldn’t stop there. He wanted to justify himself, so he followed up with this: “And who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10:29)
In response, Jesus told the now-famous parable of the Good Samaritan.
You’ve probably heard the basics. A man is robbed, beaten, and left half dead on the side of the road. Both a priest and a Levite, two representatives of the devoted members of the Jewish religion, avoid the man by passing on the opposite side of the road. A Samaritan approaches, has compassion on the man, and cares for him at great cost to himself. Those are the basics.
As students of the Bible, we must read the Scriptures carefully. We observe the text before we move on to interpret and apply it. Given this commitment, we need to consider an important question: Did Jesus answer the man’s question?
The lawyer wanted a neighbor list. Who’s in, and who’s out? If Jesus engaged the lawyer on the lawyer’s terms, he might tell a story with several characters, some of whom would qualify as neighbors.
But Jesus turns this question around. His story has a single person in need, one person who needs the neighbor-love God’s law commands.
When we study the Bible, our observations must include the grammar of the passage. We should notice the subjects, verbs, objects, and so on. And in this passage, Jesus is not concerned with the word “neighbor” as a noun, but as a verb.
Okay, I know—the word “neighbor” isn’t a verb. But at the end of the parable, Jesus asks the lawyer, “Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” (Luke 10:36) Instead of telling the lawyer who his neighbors are, Jesus wants the lawyer to understand how to be a neighbor.
There are important ethnic, religious, and cultural aspects to the Good Samaritan story that are beyond the scope of this post. But we only get to those larger issues through careful observation of the passage.
The lawyer was concerned about himself—his eternal life, his neighbors. But Jesus had much more in mind. The command to love one’s neighbor is not about checking a box to get closer to heaven. We are called to love our neighbors by seeing and meeting their needs. In obedience to our heavenly Father, we can love others because we have known abundant love ourselves.
Jesus often asks and answers questions in surprising ways. If we don’t observe the grammar of the text carefully, we might miss what he’s really up to.
This post was first published in 2018.
Do you ever operate under the expectation that, if you try hard to love and serve people, they will like you in return? God has something better in mind for you!
My comments on this text will follow the pattern I laid out previously.
Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you;
Bind them around your neck;
Write them on the tablet of your heart.
So you will find favor and good success
In the sight of God and man (Prov 3:3-4).
Command: Exude love and faithfulness.
Consequence: Favor with God and men.
Our meager expectation: Nice people will be well liked and respected.
God’s unbelievable reward: influence. Those with godly influence persuade others of God’s love and faithfulness (Prov 16:7, 21). God favors such humble people (Prov 3:34), who serve others more than themselves. Communities benefit from such people (Prov 11:10).
Echoes: To give a picture of this good favor, God often grants public recognition to the faithful (1 Sam 24:17-21). But the essence of the reward is not about recognition. If you expect every loving act to result in broad agreement and wild acclaim, you will be disappointed. For example, David’s acclaim in 1 Sam 24:17-21 took place at a pretty low point in his life.
Essence: Jesus “came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:11-12). Those children will be hated in this world as much as their master Jesus was. But in persuading some to follow Christ, they receive hope, joy, and a glorious crown of boasting when Jesus returns (1 Th 2:19-20). In other words, they may be disappointed when people don’t like them, but God uses the disappointment to teach them whose favor really matters.
How does Jesus’ rejection help you refashion your disappointment in relationships?
This post was first published in 2013 and is part of a series walking through Proverbs 1-9.
Last week, I shared an article that encourages you to just keep reading your Bible, even when you don’t understand all the details. Perhaps that was not helpful, as you have long since given up your Bible reading anyway.
Katie Laitkep is here with strong guidance to help you pick it back up.
If you were sitting across from me and you mentioned that you’d abandoned your Bible reading plan, I wouldn’t ask you about what went well. We’d talk about what didn’t work. We’d start with what made you stop because understanding why you didn’t finish could be the key to helping you begin again.
She goes on to consider a few reasons why people stop reading the Bible, in order to coach you through overcoming those obstacles and getting back to it. Her counsel is really great.
We get disappointed when our expectations are not met. We commonly expect that, if we honor God, we will live long and prosper, but God desires something better for us.
My comments will follow the pattern I laid out last week.
My son, do not forget my teaching,
But let your heart keep my commandments,
For length of days and years of life
And peace they will add to you (Prov 3:1-2).
Command: Obey God’s commands.
Consequence: Long life and peace.
Our meager expectation: People who serve God won’t die young.
God’s unbelievable reward: an unbreakable relationship with God. In Proverbs, “life” often refers to more than simply having a heartbeat (Prov 3:21-22, 4:13, 8:35, etc.). Waltke comments that the meaning of “life” in Proverbs is “commonly misrepresented and/or misunderstood” as temporal life that ends with clinical death.1 As Kidner states, “In several places it is not too much to say that ‘life’ means fellowship with God.”2
Echoes: To give a picture of his everlasting relationship with us, God often lets the righteous live to a good old age (Gen 25:8) and cuts short the lives of the wicked (Gen 38:7). But the essence of the reward is not about old age. If you expect every servant of God to live to old age, you will be disappointed.
Essence: God sent his Son Jesus to die on a cross so he might give us life. Eternal life means knowing him (John 17:3). When we seek life anywhere else, God graciously steps in and disappoints us. He leads us back to what’s best for us: loving Jesus and keeping his commandments (1 John 3:16, 23-24).
How might Jesus’ untimely death help you refashion your disappointment when someone’s life is cut short?
This post was first published in 2013 and is part of a series walking through Proverbs 1-9.
1 Proverbs 1-15, p. 104.
2 Proverbs, p. 53.
Erik Lundeen has some surprising advice for those who come to something in their Bible they don’t understand: Just keep reading.
If you’re like many attempting to read through the Bible this year, you’re at a crossroads. You may falter, burning out (as the story often goes) in a difficult section of Scripture like Leviticus and failing to establish a Bible-reading habit. Or you may make it over that initial hump, and regular Bible reading moves from being a checked box to a customary part of life.
I want to help you have the latter experience. I want to offer advice based on years of reading the Bible cover to cover and processing such experiences with others who’ve attempted the same. My advice boils down to this: As you read, keep going and don’t worry too much about understanding. That will come.
Harry Thaker (2018), public domain
Perhaps you’ve heard the account of Mary and Martha. One sister (Mary) sits at Jesus’s feet while the other (Martha) complains about a lack of help in the kitchen.
This story is often cited to reinforce the practice of devotional time, to warn against distractions, and to scold people (especially women) about fussiness regarding hospitality.
But we must answer a crucial question. What is the context of this story? The Bible is not just a collection of sayings and proverbs, ripe for picking and snacking on when we please. As we learn to read the Bible for what it is, we’ll see that some of our most familiar passages take on different and deeper meanings than we’ve assumed.
The middle third of Luke’s Gospel begins in Luke 9:51 when Jesus “set his face to go to Jerusalem.” Instead of itinerant preaching around the Sea of Galilee, Jesus begins to move purposefully toward the city of his ascension (see Luke 9:51).
Much of the beginning of this section concerns discipleship. In Luke 9:51–56, Jesus rebukes James and John for wanting fire from heaven to fall on those Samaritans who didn’t receive Jesus. In Luke 9:57–62 we read of three encounters with hesitant followers, and Jesus presses them on this question: What will be your highest priority—comfort, tradition, family, or me?
Jesus sends out 72 disciples in Luke 10:1–24 to preach (and bring near) the kingdom of God. In this passage, Jesus makes it clear that his followers must rejoice primarily that their names are written in heaven (verse 20). But he also explains how the Son reveals the Father (verse 22) and how those who reject the disciples actually reject the Father (verse 16).
This leads to the conversation with the lawyer (Luke 10:25–28) and the parable of the Good Samaritan.
This lawyer stood to test Jesus, asking what was necessary for eternal life. When Jesus turned the question around, the lawyer answered correctly.
And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” (Luke 10:27)
Jesus praised the lawyer’s answer, and the lawyer asked a question in an attempt to justify himself. “And who is my neighbor?”
Jesus’s answer to this question is the parable of the Good Samaritan. We won’t take that parable apart in this article, but the ending is instructive.
Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.” (Luke 10:36–37)
While the lawyer was concerned about the word “neighbor” as a noun, Jesus wanted him to understand “neighbor” as a verb. Instead of defining who should receive love as a neighbor, Jesus focused on how to be (or become) a neighbor.
And, for many people, this brings the section to a close, with the story of Mary and Martha included as an awkward footnote.
Martha welcomed Jesus into her home and we are immediately introduced to her sister, Mary. The first description of Mary is the classic description of a disciple, sitting at Jesus’s feet and listening to his teaching (Luke 10:39).
Martha was “distracted with much serving,” and complained about her sister to the Lord. Jesus addressed her with affection and compassion.
But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:41–42).
While Luke makes it clear that Jesus had welcomed, traveled with, and been supported by women from early in his ministry (see Luke 8:1–3), we must not overlook the gender dynamics at play here. Jesus commends discipleship for women over distracted, anxious hospitality.
Jesus directs Martha to the “one thing” Mary has chosen. Namely, himself! And on the heels of a conversation with a lawyer, it stands out that the one necessary thing Jesus mentions is not the law. The law is not bad, but now the Keeper and Interpreter of the Law is present, the One whom the prophets and kings longed to see (Luke 10:23–24).
After the conversation with the lawyer, the parable of the Good Samaritan fleshes out what it means to “love your neighbor as yourself.” But the story of Mary and Martha is also connected to the lawyer’s answer to Jesus.
In a classic chiastic move, Luke has switched the order of explanation. The last story explains the first commandment.
How do we love the Lord with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind? Look at Mary. She has chosen the good portion.
We keep the greatest commandment by being a disciple of Jesus. We listen to his word. In contrast to anxiety and trouble, we look to and follow Jesus, the One who makes the Father known.
The story of Mary and Martha is not primarily about domestic duties. It’s not mainly about “quiet times” or distractions either.
Luke teaches us to love God by loving and following the Son. And we grasp this point when we read the Bible with our eyes open to all that’s happening within its pages.
Context matters.
Check out all of our Context Matters posts here.
This post was first published in 2018.
Last week, we considered how we must see God’s fatherly love when we face disappointment. Now we’re ready to go back and explore the many realms where we so often feel disappointed.
Proverbs 3:1-10 consists of five pairs of verses (each with a command and a consequence) that address five specific areas of life. Each pair contrasts our meager expectations with God’s unbelievable rewards. We may find echoes of these rewards in our day-to-day lives, but if we mistake the echoes for the essence, we’ll miss the point and end up disappointed. The essence is found in God’s rescue mission accomplished through Jesus. And when he rescues us, he also lovingly disciplines us to desire what he desires for us.
Over the next few weeks, we’ll explore our struggles with disappointment about the following life issues:
I’ll connect Solomon’s sayings to the rest of the Bible and to our lives using the following categories (I’ll link back to here from each of the next few posts to remind you of the details):
Stay tuned!
This post was first published in 2013 and is part of a series walking through Proverbs 1-9.
