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Titus: From Sound Faith Flow Character and Devotion to Good Works

June 5, 2023 By Ryan Higginbottom

Ezra Jeffrey-Comeau (2018), public domain

Paul’s letter to Titus was written to help a young pastor set up churches in Crete. While many of Paul’s other epistles are rich with doctrine, this one is not. Instead, Paul writes about what sound doctrine brings: godly character and a zeal for good works.

Divisions of Titus

Paul marks the sections of this letter using logical connectors and thesis statements. He begins the letter with a greeting (Titus 1:1–4) and then moves into qualifications for elders (Titus 1:5–9) and why these leaders are necessary (Titus 1:10–16). Paul then explains that Titus should teach and model the behavior that adorns sound doctrine (Titus 2:1–10) because this is what God’s grace trains us to do (Titus 2:11–15). Paul ends with an emphasis on the saving work of God leading to good works (Titus 3:1–8), instruction to avoid controversies and division (Titus 3:9–11), and final instructions (Titus 3:12–15).

Greeting, rebuking false teachers (Titus 1:1–16)
Character and behavior as a result of grace (Titus 2:1–15)
God’s salvation leading to good works (Titus 3:1–15)

(I previously looked at repetition in Titus, and while that showed me what was on Paul’s mind, by itself it didn’t provide the structure for an interpretive outline. It was an important first step, though!)

Section 1 Walkthrough

The connection between faith and behavior is evident from the very beginning of this letter.

Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness (Titus 1:1)

Famously, Paul lists qualifications for elders in Titus 1:6–9. However, we must not jump to those qualifications before reading why they are there. Titus must “put what remained into order” in Crete by appointing “elders in every town” (Titus 1:5). These elders will help establish order.

Elders must be “above reproach”—this requirement is repeated (verses 6 and 7), and in fact this is an umbrella requirement for all of the others involving character (not arrogant, not violent, self-controlled, etc.). The only skills that are mentioned in these qualifications come in verse 9, and it seems those skills may be acquired. Holding firm to the trustworthy word is key, because elders are needed “to give instruction in sound doctrine” and “to rebuke those who contradict it” (Titus 1:9).

Paul then explains why these elders—those who will instruct and rebuke—are necessary. There are many false teachers in Crete, upsetting many people (Titus 1:10–11). These false teachers need to be rebuked for they are “devoting themselves to Jewish myths and the commands of people who turn away from the truth” (Titus 1:14). Though they claim to know God, “they deny him by their works” (Titus 1:16). Paul’s plan for appointing elders is now coming into sharper focus: he wants leaders who will help everyone be “sound in the faith” (Titus 1:13).

Section 2 Walkthrough

Paul returns to the connection between theology and character at the beginning of the second section, telling Titus to “teach what accords with sound doctrine” (Titus 2:1).

Paul mentions what should be taught to older men, older women, young women, younger men, and bondservants (Titus 2:1–6, 9–10). These teachings are almost entirely in the realm of character (self-controlled, reverent in behavior, kind, submissive, etc.), as good character will “adorn the doctrine of God our Savior” (Titus 2:10). Titus himself must be a “model of good works” (Titus 2:7). Additionally, Paul knows that in his confrontations with false teachers, Titus’s uprightness will matter almost as much as his arguments—he must “show integrity, dignity, and sound speech” in his teaching so that opponents will be “put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us” (Titus 2:7–8).

In the next paragraph, Paul connects character and behavior to the work of Jesus. God’s grace has appeared, bringing salvation and “training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age” (Titus 2:12). We wait for the appearing of Jesus, the one who “gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness”—we were devoted to evil works—and to secure a people “who are zealous for good works” (Titus 2:14). God’s people gain zeal as his grace does its ongoing training work (Titus 2:12).

At the end of this section, Paul emphasizes that Titus should feel empowered to “declare these things” and to “rebuke” with all authority (Titus 2:15).

Section 3 Walkthrough

Titus must remind his people to be “ready for every good work” and all of the characteristics that implies (Titus 3:1). Paul shares that he was once not this way—embodying the very opposite of these qualities (Titus 3:2). But God saved him, not because of Paul’s works, but because of God’s mercy (Titus 3:5). The center of this section (Titus 3:4–7) is arguably one of the only portions of doctrine in this slim book, where Paul explains how merciful salvation happens and what the results are.

Paul wants Titus to “insist on these things”—this “saying” he’s just written—”so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works” (Titus 3:8). On the other hand, topics that will promote controversies should be avoided (Titus 3:9). In fact, any people who stir up division should be warned and then avoided. Division and quarreling among God’s people is not a fertile environment for good works to grow.

Paul ends the letter with some personal greetings. But he returns to one of his primary themes in these final sentences.

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).

Conclusion

For Paul, character and a zeal for good works lie downstream from sound faith. So, Titus needs to put leaders in place to help him rebuke bad teaching and provide instruction from the trustworthy word. The same grace that appeared for salvation becomes our trainer, helping us to renounce our unfruitful ways and to devote ourselves to good works.

Interpretive Outline

Greeting (Titus 1:1–4)
Establish order through leaders who are above reproach and who can instruct and rebuke (Titus 1:5–9)
- For there are many false teachers who need to be rebuked (Titus 1:10–16)
Teach and model the behavior that adorns sound doctrine (Titus 2:1–10)
Here is the connection between our works and our Savior (Titus 2:11–15)
Emphasize the gospel, so that believers may devote themselves to good works (Titus 3:1–8)
- Controversies and divisive people will get in the way of good works (Titus 3:9–11)
Final instructions (Titus 3:12–15)

This post is part of a series of interpretive overviews of the books of the Bible.

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Beware The Leech’s Daughters

June 2, 2023 By Peter Krol

I’ve always been puzzled—but fascinated—by Proverbs 30:15a:

The leech has two daughters: Give and Give.
Prov 30:15a, ESV

The NIV puts the “gives” in their mouths rather than in their names:

The leech has two daughters. ‘Give! Give!’ they cry.
Prov 30:15a, NIV

Regardless of whether “give” is their label or their lingo, what is going on in this proverbial saying?

Notice what follows

The next stanza, about four things that are never satisfied, certainly relates.

There are three things that are never satisfied,
four that never say, ‘Enough!’:
the grave, the barren womb,
land, which is never satisfied with water,
and fire, which never says, ‘Enough!’
Prov 30:15b-16, NIV

The demands (or names) of the leech’s daughters are parallel to these four things that never say “enough.” Just as the grave is never satisfied with the size of its membership, and fire never decides it’s time to pack up and go home—so also there are leech fathers and daughters who will always demand more and more and more.

Okay, that makes sense, but what is the point? What wisdom is the sage trying to teach here?

Notice what sandwiches

These sayings about perpetually dissatisfied things come right between two stanzas about a generation that rejects the wisdom of ages past. A generation that believes itself to be on the right side of history, having developed beyond the antiquated wisdom of its ancestors.

There are those who curse their father
and do not bless their mothers.
There are those who are clean in their own eyes
but are not washed of their filth.
There are those—how lofty are their eyes,
how high their eyelids lift!
There are those whose teeth are swords,
whose fangs are knives,
to devour the poor from off the earth,
the needy from among mankind.
Prov 30:11-14

The eye that mocks a father
and scorns to obey a mother
will be picked out by the ravens of the valley
and eaten by the vultures.
Prov 30:17

Can’t help but ask

So what is it that drives such a generation to reject the wisdom of previous generations? To curse and mock fathers and forefathers?

Could it be an insatiable drive for more? A perpetual lack of satisfaction?

Or is it the other way around? 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.

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How to Study the Prophets

May 31, 2023 By Peter Krol

Have you ever struggled to navigate the prophetic books of the Old Testament? These ancient poetic texts speak to circumstances far removed from our own, yet with great impact on our understanding of the person and work of Christ. The apostles quoted often from the prophets when seeking to explain the good news of Christ’s kingdom.

Brian Estelle has a few brief but meaty suggestions to help you read these books with greater profit.

Investigate the context.
Recognize the role of the prophets as God’s covenant lawyers.
Learn to be aware of the prophetic idiom.
Hunt for ways in which the New Testament Scriptures cite, allude to, or echo the Prophets.

He explains each point with clear examples to help you along your way. Check it out!

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How to Find Answers to Your Questions

May 26, 2023 By Peter Krol

When we study the Bible, most of interpretation consists of asking and answering questions. The questions themselves arise from our curiosity over our observations. But the answers? Do you know where to find those?

The Most Important Place to Look for Answers

At this point, conventional wisdom lists a number of resources and reference works that ought to be in a Christian’s library. I’ll get to such a list soon, but don’t let it distract you from the better portion.

The most important place to seek answers to your questions is in the text itself. Some of you reading this find this conviction self-evident and obvious, and you have already made a habit of seeking answers in the text. But for many others, it will take more practice. Seeking answers in the text itself is a habit that must be formed, and sometimes bad habits are very slow to die.

For example, I recently listened to podcast discussing the creation account of Genesis 1. The teacher based most of his instruction on the proposition that Genesis 1 is in the form of poetry. His evidence for this assertion arose from the assessments of scholars, comparisons with other ancient texts, and his philosophical framework regarding eastern vs. western worldviews.

The problem was that he never supported his primary assertion with evidence from the text itself. Now I’m open to discussing the question of the genre of Genesis 1. And all of the external evidence certainly matters. But that which trumps all of the external evidence is internal evidence from the text itself.

Genesis 1 does not present clauses in parallel lines like other Hebrew poetry does.
Genesis 1 does not use similes, metaphors, or emotive language the way other poetry does.
The Hebrew syntax of Genesis 1 uses verb forms and verb sequences standard to the narratives of Scripture. The same sort of syntax employed in most of the rest of the book of Genesis, which is clearly (and commonly agreed to be) made up of narratives.

Such evidence from the text supports a conclusion that Genesis 1 presents itself as narrative (even historical narrative), just as the rest of the book does. Now this evidence in itself does not guarantee that the events of Genesis 1 must be in a strict chronological sequence, since biblical narratives often rearrange chronology in order to communicate a particular message. But the evidence does strongly suggest that we ought to read the chapter as narrative and not as poetry.

Answers Addressed in the Text

So when your noble curiosity generates questions regarding your observation of the text (questions such as, what genre or text type is this?), your best instinct to cultivate is an instinct that searches the text itself for the answers. Search and search and search.

Let your questions drive you deeper into observation. Let observation and interpretation swirl round and round like a cyclone, in ever tighter loops.

You may be surprised to find how many of your questions can be answered within the text, if you only learn how and where to look. When such examination of the text becomes habitual, you will improve dramatically at being able to defend your conclusions and persuade others.

Answers Assumed in the Text

One obstacle for us today is when the biblical author assumes the answers to your questions. He wasn’t writing to you or me. He had his own audience. So he wasn’t trying to anticipate your questions, but those of his own audience.

This means that there is quite a bit of background information that’s not stated explicitly but nonetheless affects interpretation. For example, the author of Genesis 1 presumes prior knowledge of which “God” is the one engaging in the work of creation. Is it Yahweh, Astarte, Baal, Zeus, or last season’s winner of American Idol? Learning from external reference works about the author and audience of Genesis would help to clarify the answer to this question somewhat quickly.

For another example, comparisons to other ancient creation stories will yield great benefit. What makes this God in this story different from the Gods of Gilgamesh’s epic, or Enuma Elish? Some of these contrasts would have been obvious to those living in ancient times, but we can miss them on account of centuries of distance.

How to Determine When an Answer is Assumed

In the name of “the answer is assumed,” we run the risk of justifying just about any conclusion we can find in a reference work. How do we determine whether the answer is truly assumed, or we are simply importing it where it doesn’t belong?

This process isn’t a perfect science, but the key issue is: Do you have good reason to believe the original audience would have made this assumption? The more reason you have to believe that, the stronger will be the answers you find in reference works.

So ask: Would the original audience already have the necessary background knowledge? Would they have truly been familiar with this parallel text, cultural artifact, body of knowledge, etc.?

If so, then it makes sense to look up your answer in a commentary, study guide, or Bible atlas. We have a wealth of tools available to us today to help us get into the mindset of the original readers. Let’s make good use of them.

When to Let it Go

But if you can’t find the answer addressed in the text, and you don’t have good reason to believe it was assumed, you probably need to make like Elsa and let it go.

Resist the urge to close the knowledge gap simply with systematic theology, denominational tradition, or prior experience. Theology and tradition are important, but they fit best not while interpreting (answering interpretive questions) but while correlating (after determining the author’s main point). We must understand the present passage on its own terms, in light of its original audience, first, before we attempt to connect it to teaching found elsewhere in the Bible.

One exception to the principle in the previous sentence lies with certain implicational questions. Because implicational questions bridge the gap from interpretation into application, they often work best after we’ve determined the main point. So it may make sense to make use of reference works to help draw out those implications and stimulate our own reflection concerning them.

So how do we find answers to our interpretive questions? By shoving our noses back into the text for deeper observation. When further observation suggests that the answer would have been assumed and self-evident to the original audience, we’re then justified in pursuing external resources to help us better understand the mindset or culture of that audience. However, if we don’t have good reason to believe the answer is either addressed or assumed in the text, we’re best off letting the question go until another passage takes it up. There’s no shame in setting aside a particular question for a brighter day.

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Why the Spirit is Willing but the Flesh is Weak

May 24, 2023 By Peter Krol

Zach Hollifield has a wonderful article where he makes a keen observation and asks a crucial rational interpretive question:

It’s when Jesus returns from his own prayer to find them snoozing that he utters the infamous line “The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” …

Matthew and Mark go out of their way to make it clear that Jesus says this to Peter and Peter alone. Mark even quotes Jesus as beginning the statement with, “Simon, are you asleep—?” Jesus finds all three sleeping, and yet when he makes the statement about the spirit being willing and flesh being weak, he says it directly to just one disciple. Why?

Hollifield finds in the text compelling answers to his question, leading to some really helpful application. This is a great example of strong Bible study skills.

Check it out!

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Emphasizing What the Bible Emphasizes

May 22, 2023 By Ryan Higginbottom

About a decade ago, I knew a couple that had a very strong, specific view on creation. They read piles of books and articles, and almost every conversation with them circled back to this topic. For them, the trustworthiness of other authors and Bible teachers was always passed through the grid of agreement on this one doctrine.

This issue was a single, steel track that ran through their relationships. Regrettably, I began to avoid conversations with them because every interaction ended the same way.

Though it may be with a different issue, you may know people like this. It’s possible that you may be a person like this!

The Issue of the Moment

When one doctrine or application or book of the Bible dominates someone’s thoughts and conversations, it is not necessarily a bad thing. From my experience, these are often legitimate spiritual matters, and it may be that God is at work changing a person’s mind and heart.

As humans, we are often creatures of the moment, and what we are learning or struggling with or rejoicing over can become our center of spiritual gravity. All other issues fall into orbit.

A few years ago I began studying Lamentations and thinking deeply about lament. This affected me profoundly, and God taught me much through it. This was a reorienting lesson, and I brought it into many conversations. Looking back, I’m guessing my friends and family were eager for me to get past the just-learning-about-it phase.

When our issue of the moment begins to dominate our thoughts and conversations—to the exclusion of other healthy, worthy topics—what is missing is balance and proportion.

The Bible’s Emphases

As we mature as Christians, we should learn to distinguish between an emphasis and an exclusive emphasis. God wants us to learn about lament, and he also wants us to practice lament—but this is not a good summary of the Bible or our lives as Christians. This is not what we should focus on to the exclusion of all else.

There are at least three commitments that will keep us from losing sight of the big picture of the Bible.

Connect every passage to the Bible’s big story. Regardless of how powerful and affecting a portion of the Bible is, we should work hard to put it in the context of the whole Bible. Rehearsing the main story of the Bible regularly is a safeguard to a single-issue obsession.

Talk about the Bible with your friends. Good friends will offer encouragement and correction as needed. Dialog with our friends about what God is teaching us will give opportunities for pushback—both in terms of content and emphasis.

Regularly exposure yourself to lots of the Bible. If our Bible intake is limited to what we are studying deeply, we may end up imbalanced in our emphases. If you are a part of a good church, this can include the weekly preaching and other Bible-focused classes. Reading and listening to the Bible (in addition to studying it) will remind us of what God emphasizes in his word.

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The Power of Implicational Questions

May 19, 2023 By Peter Krol

Last week, I introduced three types of interpretive questions and their various uses. Of those three types, I find that implicational (or “so what”) questions tend to be the neglected second cousins of the bunch. Because people often don’t know what to do with them, they fail to give them a try.

Perhaps you’d like to see what power longs to be unharnessed by them.

Easy to Ask, Difficult to Answer

When I teach Bible study skills, people sometimes have difficulty coming up with implicational questions, but that’s usually because they’re thinking too hard about it. They believe their questions ought to be awe-inspiring and profound.

When it comes down to it, implicational questions ought to be the easiest to ask, because they all sound almost exactly the same.

So what are the implications of [state the observation]?
So what are we to understand from [observation]?
So what should we conclude about [observation]?

But though they’re easy to ask, implicational questions can be some of the most difficult to answer. They require us to learn how to think and draw inferences. They require us to reason from one proposition to another. They expect us to get into the shoes of the original audience and hear the text the way those people would have heard it.

Because of the ease of asking but difficulty of answering, we often forget to even bother asking them. Most of our interpretive questions fall into the rational category, and we camp out in exploring the passage’s “why.” And please don’t get me wrong: The “why” is the heart of interpretation, so we ought to camp out there.

But the implicational questions provide that crucial bridge from interpretation into the beginnings of application. So if you find yourself having interpreted the text, but you’re still confused about how to apply it, perhaps you ought to try some implicational questions. Utilize their power to advance your study.

An Example from Proverbs

I was recently studying the theme of truth or guidance in the body of the book of Proverbs (Proverbs 10-31), and I came across the following gem:

Whoever speaks the truth gives honest evidence,
but a false witness utters deceit.
Proverbs 12:17

If I want a thorough picture of Proverbs’ teaching on the topic of truth, I must grapple with this verse. But doesn’t it sound elementary? As though it’s not doing anything but defining terms?

To speak the truth means you give honest evidence.
To be a false witness means you utter deceit.

Does the Bible really need to tell us this? Isn’t it like saying good people do good things? Or lazy people do lazy things? Isn’t that self-evident? Why did God even need to say it?

The more I thought about the verse, the more I realized my rational questions were getting me nowhere.

Why is this here?
Why does it contrast truth with a false witness?
Why does a truth-speaker give honest evidence?
Why does a false witness utter deceit?

These questions all had the same basic, elementary answer, which is that a person’s actions derive from that person’s habits or nature. But this point is rather obvious and could have been made in any number of ways. Why make that point in this way on this particular topic of truth-speaking in court?

When I finally tried out some implicational questions, however, I started getting somewhere.

So what are we to conclude from a truth-speaker’s giving honest evidence?
So what is implied by the fact that a false witness utters deceit?
So how should these self-evident truisms shape my perception of the world or people around me?

Such questions are easy to ask but difficult to answer. I had to slow down and consider them extensively. And as I did, the more I realized that saying “a false witness utters deceit” was somewhat like saying “boys will be boys.” Or better yet: “haters gonna hate.”

Yes, we understand intuitively that a persons actions derive from that person’s nature. And our world is filled with people who say that their word is their bond, but who keep acting in deceitful and underhanded ways. Actions truly speak louder than words.

So when a person utters deceit, it is appropriate to grow wary of them and begin to perceive them as “a false witness.” And when a person consistently gives honest evidence, it is only natural for them to acquire a reputation as a “truth-speaker.”

So considering the implications of the verse helped me to understand that it may be here, at least in part, to teach us that our words will always catch up with us. I may be able to deceive some people some of the time, but I’ll never be able to deceive all the people all the time. My deceit will catch up with me, and people will take notice. Or alternatively, my integrity will catch up with me, and people will take notice.

When I’m faced with a situation where I might be tempted to lie sinfully, I ought to consider not only the present consequences but also future ones. What I say right now will affect my reputation going forward. It will affect whether or not people can trust me. Can I live with that, in light of the choice presently facing me?

Bridge to Application

I’m sure you can see I’ve now transitioned into application. I still have only principles and general ideas. But it shouldn’t be too hard to take those principles, remember Jesus, and get specific.

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Getting Together to Read (Not Study) the Bible

May 17, 2023 By Peter Krol

T.M. Suffield has a rather novel idea. Well, it seems novel to us, though the church before us had done it for centuries. Let’s meet together to read the Bible. A lot of it.

Paul commanded Timothy not to neglect the public reading of Scripture (1 Tim 4:13), and yet many evangelical Protestant churches read barely more than a few verses during their worship services. Sadly, to get a large dose of public Bible reading, you often have to go to a liberal or Roman Catholic church.

But Suffield has begun hosting gatherings in both his church and his home to simply read Scripture together. At a recent gathering, they read the entire book of 2 Timothy.

Suffield offers compelling reasons for such a practice, including:

Hearing Scripture read in context.
Following the thread of an author’s argument.
Hearing the structure.
Experiencing Scripture the way generations of believers have engaged with it for centuries.

This is worth your and my further consideration. How can we organize our local believing communities around extended public reading of Scripture together?

Check it out!

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Different Uses for Different Questions

May 12, 2023 By Peter Krol

When we observe a text, we collect all the raw materials for interpretation. And that which drives interpretation forward is the asking of questions. To interpret well, we must be intensely curious and investigate our observations as fully as possible.

But the asking of questions ought not be a complete free-for-all. Different kinds of questions have different uses. Let’s take advantage of those differences.

Spinning Cyclones

The OIA method of Bible study is not intended to be strictly linear. It’s not as though you follow a list of 12 steps from number 1 through to number 12, such that you end up with a clear and relevant set of answers from your text.

No, the method is much more like a funnel or cyclone. The sort of funnel or cyclone you get when you drain a sink filled with water. It spins round and round until the substance all makes it through the access point.

In a similar way, observation and interpretation ought to cycle round and round, back and forth, until you’ve mastered the text to the point of grasping the author’s main point. So good observation will naturally raise questions you’ll want to explore. And those questions generally ought to be answered by further observation. Such observation raises more questions, which require deeper observation. And on and on, back and forth—or more precisely: round and round, in tighter and tighter circles—until you have zeroed in on the big idea. The chief message. The main point.

Crossing Bridges

With that said, I find it helpful to recognize the role our interpretive questions can play to help us cross bridges between observation and interpretation, and between interpretation and application. Keep in mind that this is not a straight-line process, but more of a cyclone. Yet your questions still help you to constantly cross those bridges from one aspect of your study to the next, in ever tighter spirals as you get close to the main point.

How do different types of questions help you to cross those O-to-I and I-to-A bridges?

In his seminal work Methodical Bible Study, Robert Traina puts interpretative questions into three categories: definitive, rational, and implicational. In my book Knowable Word, I sought to simplify his schema into the three categories of “what,” “why,” and “so what” questions.

Definitive or “what” questions build a bridge from observation to interpretation.
Rational or “why” questions make up the primary work of interpretation proper.
Implicational or “so what” questions build a bridge from interpretation to application.

How the Bridges Work

The most important thing to remember about all interpretive questions is that the questions should be about your observations. They are not random questions, nor are they merely intuitive insights. You don’t come up with your questions by staring at the ceiling, nor by going off on a mountaintop and thinking really hard.

You don’t have to be particularly insightful to ask great questions. You only have to be intensely curious about what you observe.

Here’s a simple example from the brief episode in Luke 18:15-17. I observe a clear contrast between the disciples’ rebuke of the children or parents, and Jesus’ call to invite them (“…they rebuked them. But Jesus called them to him…”). Now with that simple observation, I can utilize different kinds of questions to different ends.

“What exactly is being contrasted here?”
- This definitive or “what” question helps me to define the contrast. Is Luke contrasting only the words or also the attitudes? Is the rebuke/call directed at the infants, the parents, or both? Is the rebuke/call directed to the bringing of the infants, or to the desire for Jesus to touch them (Luke 18:15)?
- By defining precisely what Luke is contrasting, I’m able to move from observation into interpretation proper.
“Why does Luke contrast these things?”
- This rational or “why” question helps me to interpret the observation. Having seen and defined what it says (the contrast), I can now explore what it means. Why it’s here. What role it plays in Luke’s message.
“So what should we conclude from this contrast?”
- This implicational or “so what” question helps me to move toward application. It doesn’t do all the work of application for me, but it yields some initial ideas or principles that will help me get more concrete and specific later.
- By recognizing the observation’s implications, I’m well suited to discern how the text would have landed with the original audience—getting me one step closer to the author’s main point.

Different Uses

Let your questions work for you. If you are observing lots of great stuff and you’re not sure what to do with it, try some definitive questions to make sure you’ve got the right information. If you’re struggling with what it all means, you can’t go wrong with more rational questions; just keep asking “why?” And if you can perceive the message but you struggle with application, ask some implicational questions to ensure you’ve figured out how the message of the text should have impacted the original audience.

The right question at the right time might be just what you need to get you unstuck and moving forward.

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The Truth about Spirit-Led Bible Study

May 10, 2023 By Peter Krol

I’ve sometimes heard people oppose rigorous Bible study skills with being “Spirit-led,” as though academic reflection might get in the way of what the Sprit of God wishes to do in our lives. Faithlife recently published a piece I wrote to explain that rigorous Bible study skills are right in line with the work of God’s Holy Spirit.

The Spirit of God inspired the Scriptures. He illuminates the Scriptures. And he gives his people wisdom to know God through Christ in the Scriptures. By developing good habits and skills, we partner with this same Spirit to attain to the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Check it out!

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