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When the Same Sin Comes ’round Again

August 1, 2022 By Ryan Higginbottom

You’ll be forgiven if, when reading Genesis 20, you get a strong sense of déjà vu. If the two incidents didn’t happen in different locations, we might think a Hebrew scribe lost his place and picked up earlier in the same scroll.

In Genesis 20:2, when entering a new country, Abraham said that Sarah was his sister instead of his wife. Earlier, in Genesis 12:19, when entering a new country, Abram said that Sarai was his sister instead of his wife. Putting the name change aside, aren’t these two events essentially the same? What could the original author have intended for his readers by including these twin episodes?

Striking Similarities

Let’s polish off our observ a tion skills and note many of the similarities between Genesis 12:10–20 and Genesis 20:1–18. (I’ll refer to Abraham and Sarah in both passages.)

Both situations happened when Abraham was “sojourning” in a land to the “south” (Genesis 12:10; 20:1).
Both situations involved a king (Pharaoh, Abimelech) “taking” Sarah for his wife after being told she was Abraham’s sister (Genesis 12:15; 20:2).
Abraham gained great material blessing from both kings (Genesis 12:16; 20:14).
The king and his household suffered because of Abraham’s lies (Genesis 12:17; 20:18).
Both kings confronted Abraham about his deceit (Genesis 12:18–19; 20:9–10).
Abraham was afraid of dying in both places (Genesis 12:12–13; 20:11).

With proper time and space, we could list even more parallels between these passages, but this will do for now. There are a lot of similarities!

Noticeable Differences

Of course, these episodes are different, and it may be some of these differences that help us understand the author’s main point.

The passage in Genesis 20 is much longer, including more interaction between Abraham and the king. (In Genesis 12, Pharaoh speaks to Abram but no response is recorded.)
Abraham’s rationale about calling Sarah his sister comes at the beginning of the passage in Genesis 12 but near the end of the passage in Genesis 20. In fact, in Genesis 20:13, it sounds like Abraham had been insisting Sarah go along with this deception for quite a while.
God speaks with Abimelech at some length in Genesis 20:3–7, resulting in Abimelech rebuking Abraham. We don’t have evidence that God spoke to Pharaoh.
Sarah’s beauty was mentioned twice in Genesis 12 (Gen 12:11; 12:14) but not at all in Genesis 20. (Sarah was around 25 years older in Genesis 20.)
At the end of the passage, Pharaoh sent Abraham away, but Abimelech invited Abraham to live anywhere in the land he wanted (Genesis 12:20; 20:15).
We are not told the nature of the “great plagues” with which God afflicted Pharaoh and his house (Genesis 12:17). However, we know that God “closed all the wombs of the house of Abimelech” (Genesis 20:18).
Abraham prays for healing for Abimelech and his house (Genesis 20:17). We’re not told if or how the plagues ceased in Egypt.

Again, we could go on. Despite all the similarities between these passages, the differences are striking. The episode in Genesis 20 is more extended and more personal than the one in Genesis 12—Abraham is rebuked at greater length, his explanation is drawn out publicly, and his role as a prophet for Abimelech is turned on its head. Finally, Abraham is forced to pray for an end to barrenness in Abimelech’s house, which is the same exact thing he has likely been praying for his own house for 25 years!

Why is This Passage Here?

Both of these passages demonstrate Abraham’s failure to trust the Lord. God had promised a son for him through Sarah, which would be impossible if he were to die! Abraham put Sarah in great danger on multiple occasions because he thought God might need “help” (in the form of deception!) to keep him safe.

So why do we have Genesis 20 in our Bibles?

Abraham’s missteps were not limited to these two incidents. Though he is hailed as a man of faith (Hebrews 11:8–10; 17–19), he struggled to believe how God would provide an heir for him (Genesis 15:1–4). He went along with Sarai’s plan to give her servant Hagar to him as a wife (Genesis 16:1–6).

When we remind readers that context matters on this blog, we mean that the whole context of a passage is important. We often notice what comes before a passage, but what comes after is also important. Considering context means that we try to understand how a passage fits in with the larger story or argument of a book.

Genesis 20 shows us that Abraham failed in the same way repeatedly. Yet, despite these repeated failures, God still kept his promises. As the first audience for this book was likely the Israelites coming out of Egypt after the Exodus—Israelites who failed in the same way repeatedly and needed to trust God to keep his promises to take them safely into Canaan—this was a relevant lesson!

God was also preparing Abraham for an even greater test in Genesis 22. God dealt with Abraham gently and faithfully, never leaving this man to whom he made covenant promises. Knowing the Abraham of Genesis 12, Genesis 16, and Genesis 20, the unflinching confidence we see on display in Genesis 22:1–19 is surprising. But perhaps this confidence is built through steadfast love in response to failure, through faith the size of a mustard seed, and through seeing God keep his promises.

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Not Every Interesting Detail is Important

July 29, 2022 By Ryan Higginbottom

anonymous (2011), public domain

As Christians learn to study the Bible, we pay more attention to the details. We notice repeated words, names, grammar, and genre. We train our eyes to spot anything surprising or out of place.

What we do with these observations is just as important as making them in the first place. Observing the text is like stocking the pantry. We gather raw materials, but we don’t know what we need until it’s time to cook.

The Problem with Interesting Details

Most of our Biblical observations arise because a detail captures our attention. We’re interested in a certain feature, conversation, or nuance in the text.

Yet when we move from observation to interpretation, we must be careful. Though there might be curious or compelling details in the passage, we should try to zero in on the main point. We’re likely to miss what God has for us if we concentrate on what is intriguing instead of what is most important.

Ideally, we should give our attention and thought to themes and details in proportion to their importance. Granted, we don’t usually know the major thrust of a passage until we’ve spent some time with it. But if we want to land on the main point, we should give our energy to the evidence and supporting truths that point in that direction. If we camp out on curiosities, we might be off the mark when stating the main point. And if we miss the main point, our application might be unnecessary or misdirected.

Additionally, we should avoid the trap of speculation. If we get obsessed with a detail or surprise in the passage, we’ll wonder why it’s there. When we interpret, we’ll try to answer related questions even though the answers are nowhere to be found in the text. While enjoyable on an intellectual level, this is merely spinning our wheels—expending mental energy without making progress.

What’s Important?

The natural question, then, is this: How do I know if a detail is important? How do we know what to keep and what to discard?

Here’s the brief answer. If it leads to the main point, it’s important. If it doesn’t, it’s not.

In other words, when you follow the author’s train of thought, is this detail included? Is information about this character or description repeated or used later in the passage? It this detail were omitted from the text, could you still make your argument about the main point?

Here’s an example. The fifth plague is described in Exodus 9:1–7, and we read in verse 6 that all the livestock of Egypt died. However, both later in chapter 9 (verse 20) as well as in chapter 14, additional livestock are mentioned. How can this be if all the livestock died? You might pay attention to the phrase “livestock which are in the field” in Exodus 9:3 and speculate about exactly where the pestilence affected the animals. You might wonder whether Egypt simply stole animals from surrounding nations after all their animals died.

We’re not told. And all the wondering and worrying distracts from the main point of the passage: God judged Egypt and not Israel. The later reappearance of livestock is an interesting detail, but not an important one.

Build on the Main Point

It’s irresponsible to build doctrine on or draw application from mere curiosities in Scripture. Some of the oddities in the Bible are interesting, but not valuable.

When you ask questions related to your observations and turn to answer them, be vigilant. Answer only answer those questions where the text provides an explicit answer or one drawn through reasonable deduction.

We honor the Lord as we draw our main doctrine and application from the main points of Scripture. And to get to the main point, we must make sure to focus on what’s important, and not only what’s interesting.

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Does Genesis Have Two Creation Accounts?

July 27, 2022 By Peter Krol

How are Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 related? Benjamin Shaw states the issue as follows:

One often hears the idea that there are two creation accounts in Genesis 1–2, almost as if it were intuitively obvious. There are certainly differences between Genesis 1 and Genesis 2. But the question is whether we have here two separate accounts of creation that have been joined together by some much later editor, or whether we have one unified account with different emphases. The former view came from the skeptical scholarship that arose from the Enlightenment. The latter has, for millennia, been the view of the church.

He goes on to briefly defend the latter “traditional” view. What do you think? Does he make a persuasive case? Does he show it from the text?

Regardless of whether you think Genesis presents one creation account or two, can you do more than simply assert your position? Can you demonstrate from the text itself that your conclusion is how the original author intended the text to be read?

Check it out!

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You Have Enough Time to Study the Bible

July 22, 2022 By Ryan Higginbottom

In the West, busyness is the norm. Businessmen value themselves and others based on their calendars. Students turn the bags under their eyes into badges of competition and honor.

But busyness isn’t just out there. We’re all on the same bus. With demanding jobs, family obligations, and duties at home, time feels scarce.

Alexandra (2015), public domain

Busyness Is Not the Problem

Among Christians, I suspect busyness is the top excuse for not studying the Bible. It seems we don’t have enough time for God’s word. I’ve made this excuse many times myself.

But we must confront this Biblical truth: We always do what we want to do.

Our actions spring from and reveal our hearts; we can trace this truth throughout the Bible. As part of his confession, David asks God to create a clean heart within him (Ps 51.10). Solomon warns his son that the springs of life flow from the heart (Prov 4.23). Ezekiel’s prophecy about the new covenant focuses on new hearts, not new behaviors (Ezekiel 36:26).

Jesus also teaches clearly on this matter; he says the words we speak flow from our hearts (Matt 15:18). We cannot say of our sinful words, “I didn’t mean that.” Jesus doesn’t stop with our speech—our sinful thoughts and actions also reveal our true desires (Matt 15:19).

This brief survey hands us a difficult conclusion. When we don’t study the Bible, it’s not because we’re too busy. It’s because we don’t want to.

(There are exceptional life situations that leave us too busy to study the Bible. Illness, intense family duties, and extraordinary job demands come up. For most of us, these are the exception and not the rule.)

A Divided Heart

There is a battle within every maturing Christian. The growing, vibrant, new man longs to glorify God, while the putrid, rotting, old man resists God and craves sinful pleasures. These fights are contested among our values and desires.

We skip Bible study because we don’t think it’s important. Studying the Bible takes time and energy, and we doubt it will make a difference. We list scores of activities more worthy of our attention.

Deep Repentance

If the problem lies in our hearts, repentance must extend to these same depths.

We’ve all tried to address sin through a change in behavior. We set an early alarm, make a strict schedule, or enlist an accountability partner. Though these strategies can be helpful, they don’t address the core problem. Without deep repentance, new behavior efforts amount to tying a top hat on a pig. He might look respectable for a time, but he’s still headed back to the slop.

We need to confess our sin specifically. We must admit that we have not believed God when he declares the value of his word (Psalm 19:7–11). We have not loved or acted as we should.

But don’t forget the gospel! The punishment we deserve for our apathy, our tepid hearts, our indifference to the glorious truths of God—this punishment was given to Jesus. He took our place!

This news is thrilling, but we’re only halfway done. Because of Jesus’s perfect life—including his undivided heart—we are God’s children. We are embraced in the family. Neglecting Bible study doesn’t make God love us less, and studying the Bible doesn’t make him love us more.

And we must pray for God’s work within us. Pray for a change of heart and a love for God and his word. Ask God to help you treasure what is most valuable and organize your time accordingly.

How to Begin

How can we learn the value of studying God’s word? Taste and see that the Lord is good (Psalm 34:8)!

Study the Bible, on your own or with friends, and enjoy the food God brings to your table. See how God repays your effort with his wisdom, his presence, and his transforming power. As you apply the Bible, God will convict you of your sin and encourage you with his faithfulness.

When you see the glory of God and the beauty of his word, making time for Bible study will be easy.

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Why Jesus is in the Midst of the Gathered Two or Three

July 20, 2022 By Peter Krol

I’ve written before of the promise of Matthew 18:20 (“For where two or three are gathered…”) in context. Because context matters, and it is abundantly clear that the “two or three” are not the folks who show up to your prayer meeting.

Amy K. Hall recently published a terrific piece making the same point, and I recommend you check it out. Not only because she agrees with me and makes the same point I do. But because she sees something I never noticed about why Jesus promises to be with these two or three folks who represent him. The allusion to 2 Chronicles 19:5-7 is quite remarkable.

Check it out!

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You Don’t Have to Read the Bible Every Day

July 18, 2022 By Ryan Higginbottom

“How’s your spiritual life?”

When most Christians are asked that question, their minds turn toward spiritual disciplines. They reflect on the previous week or month and how regularly they prayed, read the Bible, and so on. These activities have become the measure for many of vibrant Christian faith.

Still, many of us know people who are rigid about these disciplines but lack love and grace in their relationships with others. These regular practices don’t automatically produce the fruit of the Spirit.

The Gospel in Bible Reading

And yet, throughout the years, those who follow Jesus have been greatly helped by spiritual disciplines. The goal of these habits should be to stir up our affections for God, to help us regularly confess and repent of our sins, to rehearse our dependence on God’s grace, and to propel us toward loving our neighbors.

There’s a lot to unpack in that previous sentence! That takes time and instruction, and often when people come into the church they only hear a poor distillation: “Read your Bible and pray every day.”

When it comes to our motivations, humans are drawn more naturally to law than to grace, because we can measure ourselves against a regulation. Well, I only read the Bible four times this week, so my spiritual life must be mediocre.

Some discipleship endeavors reinforce this posture. If we check our boxes each week, we’re growing; if we fall under a certain threshold, we’re stagnant or in spiritual danger.

The gospel of Jesus can make box-checkers uncomfortable. For those who confess Christ, repent of their sins, and trust him alone, the good news should be repeated as often as possible. We are children of the Most High God. He loves us so completely that nothing we ever do can increase or decrease that love.

For the purposes of this particular website, let’s state in terms of Scripture. God does not love us any more when we read the Bible, and he does not love us any less when we don’t.

The Word is a Blessing

Please understand, I am not trying to convince you to read the Bible less often! But I want our motivations to be founded on the very Scriptures we study. As I wrote at the beginning of this year, the Bible points us to God’s word much more often with enticement than with scare tactics.

Christian, do you know how good the word of the Lord is?

The law of the Lord is perfect,
reviving the soul;
the testimony of the Lord is sure,
making wise the simple;
the precepts of the Lord are right,
rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the Lord is pure,
enlightening the eyes;
the fear of the Lord is clean,
enduring forever;
the rules of the Lord are true,
and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold,
even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey
and drippings of the honeycomb.
Moreover, by them is your servant warned;
in keeping them there is great reward. (Psalm 19:7–11)

A Christian disconnected from or uninterested in the Bible is a contradiction. But we are not disobeying God if we do not read the Bible every day. (Our weeks are more similar to each other than our days are, and there are a variety of ways to take in the Bible.)

We Don’t Have To, We Get To

Over the last several years, my family has developed a simple, delightful practice when we go away for vacation. We take long walks together after dinner. We set out as a family to enjoy each other, the weather, and the scenery. It’s now a favorite activity for each one of us.

Do we have to take a walk every evening? Nope. If it’s raining, or very late, or if someone isn’t feeling well, we might skip it, shorten it, or move the time around. But as late afternoon arrives and we start making dinner, we usually talk about where we’ll walk that night.

The walk requires time, energy, and effort, but we love it. Even when we follow the same route on multiple days, we arrive back at the apartment refreshed and happy.

Believers, we don’t have to read the Bible every day. But God has generously provided his word to nourish and bless us. Do you want to be nourished? Do you want to be blessed?

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You Are Smart Enough to Study the Bible

July 15, 2022 By Ryan Higginbottom

There are dozens of reasons for our collective lack of Bible study, but here’s one we need to address: I’m not smart enough.

Few people use those words, but this captures the general sentiment. Many people feel inadequate or intimidated by the task of studying the Bible, so they never attempt it.

How does this happen?

Célio Silveira (2011), public domain

The Quicksand of Comparison

We live in a culture of experts. And in the church we propogate more of the same.

We cite brilliant philosophers and commentators in our sermons. We watch polished teachers on video in Sunday school. Over and over we see examples of those with great training, ability, and insight. They make the Bible come alive.

We compare ourselves to all-stars and find ourselves lacking. How can we compete? If I can learn from experts, why should I study the Bible myself? I’ll never learn as much on my own.

This argument is easy to believe but important to reject. Gifted scholars and communicators are blessings to the church, but they do not replace the need for individual time with the Bible.

Bible study is never about bare facts or ideas. We study the Bible to know Jesus and have eternal life, to love God and obey him. We aren’t cramming for a test; rather, we need God’s truth to sink deep into our souls. Instead of borrowing the work of others, we need to digest and rejoice over the Bible ourselves.

Here’s the bottom line. You don’t need to be smart to study the Bible. As Peter wrote, Bible study “should be simple enough to engage young children yet profound enough to occupy erudite scholars.”

You don’t need seminary training. You don’t need a full bookcase or years of experience or an understanding of Greek and Hebrew. You don’t need a high IQ or a big vocabulary. You don’t even need a high school diploma.

I don’t dismiss any of the education, intellect, or training God gives. But only a few things are necessary to study the Bible. You need a Bible, a pen, paper, a heart that seeks God, and the Holy Spirit. Gather the first three, ask God for the last two, and you’re ready to go.

We must remind each other that there is no intellectual barrier to the Bible. When Christians come up short in their comparison to others and withdraw from Bible study, they miss a vital connection to Jesus.

What We Miss When We Neglect Bible Study

Do you believe we need the Bible? That it is not merely an add-on, but that it is more essential than bread (Matt. 4:4)?

We forget, and in the Bible God reminds us of the truth.

We sin, and in the Bible God corrects us and teaches us about forgiveness.

We despair, and in the Bible God gives us hope.

The Scriptures are not a burden or a weight, but a privilege and a blessing. We get to study the Bible! The Bible is truth from our loving God who wants us to know him and be transformed. And we miss out on these blessings—in fact, we miss God himself—when we neglect Bible study.

How to Begin

Whether you’ve been away from the Bible for years or you’ve never picked it up—you can start studying the Bible.

Pray. Ask God humbly and confidently to teach you by his Spirit. Only he can give you the understanding you need for life.

Next, pick up a Bible and read. We have a series of blog posts written to help you learn how to study the Bible. You might also check out our printable resources.

Finally, contact a friend from church. Ask them to pray. Arrange to meet every week or two to discuss what God is teaching you.

Buckle up. God will teach you and change you in ways you never imagined!

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Bible Interpretation that Dignifies God as Original Author

July 13, 2022 By Peter Krol

Jacob Toman has a thoughtful post on how to think about Bible interpretation. It is quite common and tempting to interpret the Bible in a way that focuses on “what it means to me.” However:

When we read and interpret the Bible, we should seek to do so in a manner that if we were to have a conversation with God, God would have no corrections for us. This means our interpretation should defer to what God intended in a passage, and also how God chose to communicate that passage, through a historical writer.

Any meaning that God himself would disagree with, however meaningful it may be to the reader, fails to dignify God or do justice to his truth.

Check it out!

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Topical Index for Proverbs

July 8, 2022 By Peter Krol

I’ve written before about the best idea I’ve ever heard for studying Proverbs, which is to read the book once a month, tracking a single theme each month, and writing down verse references to proverbs that speak to that theme. A simple, spiral-bound notebook is all that’s required for such an exercise.

Long ago, I spent 4 years in Proverbs doing just this, and the result was the creation of one of the most useful tools for my Christian walk and ministry. The problem is that the decades have not been kind to my spiral-bound notebook. And it doesn’t help me when I’m away from home and still require its use.

So I’m deeply grateful to my generous friend Felicia Kreider, who recently digitized the notebook for me. She alphabetized the topics, entered all the data into an attractive Google doc, and created a hyperlinked table of contents for me. Now I can access it from any device any time I need it!

When I first disclosed to the general public the existence of this notebook of mine, I said I wouldn’t share it if you asked, since you’ll be better off if you create your own.

However… Felicia has made this into such a thing of beauty that I can’t resist showing it to you. I still believe you’ll be better off creating your own. But maybe you just need a little nudge to show you what glory awaits you with such an exercise. So I will show you my topical index.

Yet I can’t make it too easy for the entire world to access, so I’ve disabled the ability to copy, download, or print it. I’ve slapped on a full-blown copyright to reserve all rights. And I don’t plan to add it to our resources page, but will keep it buried here in the blog’s archives, so only faithful readers like you will see it.

Without further ado, here you go. Enjoy!

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Framing the Book of Revelation from the Beginning

July 6, 2022 By Peter Krol

Have you been confused by the book of Revelation? Has your confusion kept you from reading or studying it? James Durham is here to help.

In this post, Durham walks clause by clause through the book’s first three verses to show you how to frame the book. How are we to approach this book, and what did the author seek to communicate? This is a revelation after all—a showing forth and disclosing. It was never meant to be an illusion or obfuscation.

It may look very presumptuous to read this book, or attempt to explain it. Indeed there is need of much humility and soberness in going about such a work, and much need that the Spirit of Jesus Christ, who has given this book as a benefit to His church, would help us to take it up rightly…
Yet its subject matter is very profitable and comforting to the church, to the end of the world. And when Christ gave it, as His last will and word to His church, his aim in doing so was to give a revelation, to make known His mind to them. This is why John is forbidden to seal it up – so that it would remain open for the good of His church. There is also plenty to motivate us and encourage us to read and search into it, for example the blessing in verse 3, “Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy,” a saying which is repeated again after the prophetic part is immediately closed (chapter 22:7,14).
These all add up to notable encouragements, not only to try to read and seek to understand the Book of the Revelation, but also to lay it on us as a duty. We therefore resolve, through God’s grace, to attempt it, so that it will not be altogether useless to the “servants of God” to whom it is sent, according to verse 1.

Check it out!

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