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How Exodus Confronts our Generation

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Crossway recently posted an excellent overview of the book of Exodus by Mark Dever, where Dever identifies three major themes that are directly counter-cultural in our generation:

  1. God works sovereignly
  2. God works sovereignly to save a special people
  3. God works sovereignly to save a special people for his own glory

How are such ideas counter-cultural? Here is one example:

In fact, Exodus directly challenges the idea that God does everything for humanity’s sake. Humans are not the ultimate purpose of creation. God’s own glory is!

Check it out!

How to Find Answers in Your Bible Without Leaving the Page

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This is a guest post by John Davison, the founder of Christian Wake-Up Call, a ministry dedicated to helping Christians develop biblical discernment. Having studied Scripture across multiple denominational contexts, he’s experienced how different interpretive approaches can lead to different conclusions about the same biblical texts. His systematic approach to Bible study emphasizes letting Scripture provide its own interpretive framework. You can read more about his commitment to biblical authority at Christian Wake-Up Call, where he explores why Scripture alone must serve as our ultimate authority for understanding God’s truth.

If you’d like to write a guest post for Knowable Word, please see the guidelines page.

I used to panic when I hit a confusing Bible verse. My instinct was to immediately grab a commentary or search online for explanations. But I discovered something liberating: most of the time, the Bible passage itself contains the clues I need to understand it.

back view of woman looking at the bulletin board
Photo by cottonbro studio on Pexels.com

The Bible was Written to Be Understood

Here’s an encouraging truth: biblical authors wrote to communicate, not to confuse. When Paul wrote to the Corinthians or when Luke recorded Jesus’ parables, they intended their original readers to understand their message. This means the clarity we need is often right there in the text itself.

The key is learning to slow down and look more carefully at what’s already on the page.

Start with What You Can See

When you encounter a difficult passage, resist the urge to immediately jump elsewhere. Instead, ask yourself: “What can I observe right here in this text?”

Look for the author’s own explanations. Biblical writers often define their terms or clarify their meaning within the same passage. For example, when Paul uses the word “flesh” in Romans 8, he explains what he means by contrasting it with “spirit” in the surrounding verses.

Notice repeated words and phrases. If an author uses the same word multiple times in a passage, that repetition is usually significant. The repeated word often carries the main theme or emphasizes what the author wants you to catch.

Pay attention to connecting words. Words like “therefore,” “because,” “but,” and “however” show you how the author’s thoughts flow together. These little words often unlock the logic of the entire passage.

Let the Immediate Context Guide You

The verses right before and after your difficult passage are your best friends. They provide the natural flow of thought that helps explain confusing statements.

When Jesus says something that seems puzzling, look at what prompted him to speak and how his listeners responded. When Paul makes a theological statement that’s hard to grasp, check if he provides examples or applications in the surrounding verses.

I remember struggling with Ephesians 2:8-9 about salvation by grace through faith, wondering exactly what “this” referred to in “this is not of yourselves.” Instead of immediately consulting a commentary, I read the entire paragraph. The flow of Paul’s argument in verses 1-10 made his meaning much clearer.

Ask Questions the Text Can Answer

Train yourself to ask questions that the passage itself might answer:

  • Who is speaking, and who is the audience?
  • What situation prompted these words?
  • How does this statement connect to what came before?
  • Does the author provide any examples or illustrations?
  • What is the main point the author seems to be making?

Often, reading just a few more verses will answer these questions without requiring any outside resources.

Use Your Bible’s Built-In Helps

Most Bibles include helpful features that keep you focused on the text itself:

Chapter and paragraph divisions might show you natural thought units. When you’re confused about a verse, read the entire paragraph it belongs to.

The author’s own cross-references matter most. When Paul says “as I wrote before” or when Jesus refers back to Old Testament passages, those internal connections are significant.

Headings in study Bibles can help you see the broader flow of thought, though remember these are added by editors, not the original authors.

The Joy of Discovery

When you learn to find answers within the text itself, Bible study becomes much more satisfying. Instead of fostering dependence on experts, you develop confidence that God’s Word is accessible to you as an ordinary reader.

Start small. Pick a familiar passage that has always puzzled you slightly, and spend 10 minutes just observing what’s actually written on the page. You might be surprised by what you discover when you slow down and look carefully at what God has already provided in His Word.

The Bible was written for ordinary people like us. With careful observation and a little patience, we can often find the answers we’re looking for right there in the text itself.

Take the Obvious Step

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steps

Mahkeo (2017), public domain

If you need refreshment or encouragement, schedule some time with a new Christian. The recently-reborn often have a clarity and passion lacking in those who are older in the faith.

A friend was recently telling me about a new Christian he knows. I was thrilled to hear the steps this young man was taking! He heard biblical teaching on stewardship and finances, and he asked for helping making a budget. He was convicted about church membership, so he looked for a local body to join. He read the Great Commission and began inviting his unbelieving friends to an evangelistic Bible study.

For this young man, there is great power in recognizing and submitting to Jesus as Lord. When the master’s commands are clear, there is no room to argue.

How We Mangle Application

As we study the Bible, we often come up short when it comes to application. This is both understandable and regrettable.

Our flesh is fiercely resistant to the Spirit, so it is natural to omit application. It’s the hardest step in the Bible study process precisely because it is the most personal. Application requires repentance and faith and change, all of which are hard.

But stopping short of application is also a great tragedy. In fact, many unbelievers would be comfortable observing and interpreting the Bible. We show and pursue the fruit of the Holy Spirit when we apply God’s truth personally and corporately.

Even those familiar with solid Bible study principles may wriggle out of applying God’s word. Seasoned Christians, tired of “read more, pray more” mantras, may dig and brainstorm instead. They end up distracted by a countryside hunt when the treasure was sitting on their doorstep.

Different Kinds of Application

In an effort to seem original or deep, our chase for applications can dodge the undeniable thrust of a passage of Scripture. We approach the gold mine with a shovel and end up buried under a pile of nuance.

It’s worth re-orienting ourselves. Peter has urged us to consider two directions (inward and outward) as well as three spheres of application (head, hands, and heart). Though this makes six total combinations (our worksheet can help), not every passage will land on every person or group in all six ways.

However, dividing possible applications into these categories may lead you away from actually applying the main point of a passage. Resist this temptation! Sometimes the next steps are obvious, and instead of spending time checking boxes, we should direct our prayer and planning toward the clear application.

There may be something obvious we should believe (head application).

There may be something obvious we should embrace or love (heart application).

There may be something obvious we should do (hands application).

A Recent Example

My small group is studying Luke, and at a recent meeting we read Luke 14:1–24. In part of this passage (verses 7–11), Jesus tells a parable about a wedding feast. Jesus insists that his followers should not assume a place of honor but rather the “lowest place.” This way, if anyone is in the wrong chair, the public re-seating would be honoring instead of shameful. Jesus ends the parable with his main point: “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 14:11).

In our meeting, we talked about humbling ourselves. How can we remember our standing before God on a regular basis?

In the moment, I thought of an obvious application: confessing my sins. In remembering my sins and taking them to God, seeking and receiving his forgiveness because of Jesus’ work, I have a plain application of this passage. I have been trying to work this into my regular devotional life.

Find the Next Step

Not all passages have obvious applications, but some do. If you have been following Christ for many years, you may instinctively resist what seems easy and obvious. However, these applications are abundant in Scripture for a reason: We need to hear them. Often.

And, as always, remember Jesus as you apply his word. Walk toward that application in the Spirit’s power and with the understanding that—as a Christian—you are already loved and forgiven.

This was originally posted in 2019.

3 Essential Ingredients for Understanding the Bible

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bread dough

Nadya Spetnitskaya (2018), public domain

It’s not popular these days. So many people are counting carbs and dodging gluten. But it’s true: I love bread.

Bread is one of God’s great gifts—a gift so great that even someone with my paltry cooking skills can throw together a passable loaf.

While there are thousands of variations, the core bread recipe is remarkably simple: flour, water, yeast, and salt. That’s it.

Experts can punch up the flavor with add-ins and fancy baking techniques, but those four ingredients are essential. Without them, you might whip up something delicious, but you don’t have bread.

It’s the same way with understanding the Bible. There are a few essential elements that must be present if we’re to learn from God’s word.

The Bible

This may be obvious, but it must be said. In order to understand the Bible, we need to actually read the Bible!

We don’t need to be Hebrew or Greek scholars. God has been generous in providing plenty of quality English translations. And for most of us, these translations are easy to access.

But we do need the actual words of the Bible. Not study notes or a friendly devotional or a commentary. Not at first. We need time to read, hear, and meditate on the words of God.

The Bible is meant for Christians to read and understand. God is not trying to hide its meaning from you. You are smart enough to read and study the Bible.

Humility

If we aim to understand the Bible, we must approach it with humility.

What is true in our personal relationships is also true in our approach to the Scriptures—in order to learn, we must be convinced that we have things to learn! When we draw near to the Bible, we are submitting to an authority. We approach the bench in handcuffs, we do not bang the gavel. The posture of the Christian disciple must be one of open hands, bowed head, well-worn knees.

As we meet with God in his word, we acknowledge that we are naive and foolish. Ignorant and forgetful. Frail. Incomplete in our understanding.

But God is wise. He is experienced. All-knowing. Never forgetting. Strong. On top of all that, he loves to communicate about himself and his world through his word.

When we call the Bible “God’s word,” this is not just a synonym. This is a reassuring, bulls eye-accurate description. We must come humbly to the Bible because the God of the universe stands behind these words.

The Holy Spirit

Finally, we need help to understand the Bible. This is help that God loves to give, but we cannot understand the Bible on our own.

God helps us grasp the Bible by coming to us himself in the person of the Holy Spirit. We need the Spirit’s work and power to give us both insight and the gift of repentance.

The Holy Spirit is described as our helper and teacher (John 14:26). Paul writes that we have received the Spirit of God “that we might understand the things freely given us by God” (1 Corinthians 2:12), and that, because of the Spirit, “we have the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16).

If you are a Christian, the Holy Spirit dwells within you. Pray and ask for his help as you read the Bible.

Closing

There is more to say about studying the Bible, of course. This website is devoted to saying more about studying the Bible! But this article is about the essentials.

Remember this the next time you seek out God in the Scriptures. Read the Bible. Approach with humility. Ask for the Holy Spirit’s help. And God will give you hearty, nourishing, sustaining food that will bring deep satisfaction to your soul.

This was originally published in 2019.

How Old and New Testaments View the First and Second Comings of Christ

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Tommy Keene summarizes the differences between how Old and New Testament authors viewed the first and second comings of Christ.

The idea that the Messiah Jesus would come twice was a surprise to his disciples. The Old Testament is clear that a Messiah would come, and it is also clear what the Messiah would do when he did. God’s servant-king would have mercy on the repentant (Mic. 7:18-20), save the oppressed, poor, and persecuted (Ps. 146:7-8), heal the sick (Isa. 35:5-6), preach and teach the righteous way (Dtr. 18:15-19), make atonement for his people (Isa. 53:4-6), and bring justice to the world (Isa. 11:1-5)—in sum, he would establish a perfect version of God’s kingdom, which would bring blessing to God’s people and against all His enemies (Ps. 2). When the Old Testament discusses theses things, it often looks like it happens all at once, but in fact a complete fulfillment would require two visits.

Check it out!

Reading the Bible for the Ten Thousandth Time

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bible glasses

Lilian Dibbern (2018), public domain

We’re good at learning our surroundings, aren’t we? After living in one place for many years, we know every last detail. We know which noises are normal and which drips and knocks require a phone call. We know the cold spots of each room, the number of stairs between floors, and which floorboards squeak the loudest. If necessary, we could find our bed in the deepest darkness, because we know our place. It’s home.

For some people, this familiarity is comforting. They like the warmth and security that comes from knowing a place inside and out. But for others, the comfort makes them uneasy. It seems boring and dry, like a mouth full of uncooked oats. They start to look for something new.

Some might think of the Bible as predictable and stuffy, especially those who have been reading it for years. They know every beat of every story. There are no more surprises; the excitement is gone.

By instinct we know that first-time readers of the Bible need guidance. But long-time readers need help too. In this article we’ll explore some of the ways to combat boredom and lethargy for experienced Bible readers.

Five Ways to Fight Bible Weariness

There are many ways to guard against the boredom that can come with age and familiarity. Here are five of the best.

Remember why you’re reading. The Bible is not boring because it has a grand, explosive, eternal purpose. We read the Bible in order to know the God of the universe! We wouldn’t know him, or know how to approach him, if he didn’t tell us. And because God is infinite, we cannot exhaust our understanding of him. So, while you might know all the stories in the Bible, you can always know and worship the God behind those stories better. And here’s a glorious follow-up: This is exactly what God wants!

Adjust your routine. There are lots of different ways to take in the Bible. If you’ve been reading a lot, try listening. Read through the Bible as quickly as you can. Or take six months, read one book as many times as possible, and let it sink into your bones. Study the Bible, memorize it, sing it. A different translation or a different physical Bible might offer the fresh perspective you need.

Teach the Bible. Most Bible teachers will tell you they learn far more during their teaching than any of their students. Most churches and ministries often need Sunday school teachers, Bible study leaders, and volunteers at the local nursing home. Don’t shy away from children’s ministries either—you really have to know and believe the Bible to explain it to kids! If your Bible intake is not just for yourself, you may find it more challenging, comforting, and life-giving.

Apply the Bible. Though the Bible’s text and truths don’t change, we do. This means that the same accurate interpretation of a passage at age 25 has massively different implications when we’re 55. Application is the most difficult step of Bible study, so we often skip it, but application is precisely where we are forced to trust in God. Our faith grows the most when we take steps of obedience and witness God supporting our feet. To fight disinterest in the Bible, push your Bible study from observation and interpretation all the way to application.

Share the gospel. It’s tempting to think the Bible is dusty and anemic when we never witness the power of God through its words. In addition to applying the Bible to ourselves, we can see this power as we tell others about Jesus. The Holy Spirit most often uses the words of the Bible to awaken the dead and grant faith in Christ, and we can be a part of this! If you want to see just how powerful the Bible is, pray for opportunities to talk to others about Jesus, and then rejoice and obey when those opportunities arise. (God loves to answer this prayer!)

Ask and You Shall Receive

When we feel fatigue with the Bible, the problem is not with the book. The problem is with us.

But remember—God is a compassionate father who loves his children. At the bottom of every strategy given above is this encouragement: Talk honestly with God about your struggles. Confess your sin, your apathy, your lack of love. Ask him to be merciful, to change you from the inside out.

Don’t let your boredom with the Bible lead you away from God. Take it to him; he already knows and is eager and able to help.

This post was originally published in 2018.

Another Take on the Definition of “Vanity” in Ecclesiastes

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Ecclesiastes is a very difficult book to understand, yet it rewards great effort and careful thought. One of the major challenges, however, is to grasp even a bare definition of the book’s most important word. The main versions translate the word as vanity, futility, or meaninglessness. All of these options have real downsides.

From my analysis of the text’s own use of the word in chapter 1, I arrived at the following definition: “Unsatisfying, endless repetition of old things that nobody will remember; nothing you do will last, and at the end you die. And you can’t fix it.” The biggest problem with that definition is that it would never work as a translation. You can’t insert two sentences (with one of them being a run-on) into the text every time the word appears.

So I’ve appreciated Kevin Carson’s approach, to define the word as frustratingly enigmatic. If you want just one word for it, take your pick: Frustrating? Enigmatic?

Now here comes Bobby Jamieson with another fabulous option:

The fact that life’s goods are all fleeting is certainly part of their problem. But to say that hevel means “fleeting” doesn’t go far enough. It doesn’t fully capture Qohelet’s basic beef with life under the sun.

What does? “Absurd.”

This word names the disconnect between what we want and what the world gives, between what we deserve and what the world returns, between what we cry out for and the world’s indifferent silence.

Remember, the Bible’s original languages are not like a technical code to crack. So it’s not the case that there’s only one “right” way to translate this Hebrew word in Ecclesiastes. There are a number of options that could work well in English that do better justice to the book’s argument than “vanity” or “meaninglessness.”

So I encourage you to read Jamieson’s article to find out why “absurd” might be another simple way to capture the idea that took me two sentences to define.

Check it out!

Three Important Contexts for Bible Study

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newspaper

Jay Clark (2018), public domain

We use the word “context” a lot on this blog. However, we don’t always use the word in the same way.

There are at least three different contexts that are important when studying the Bible: the historical context, the literary context, and the personal context. Let’s take a closer look at each one.

Historical Context

Each book of the Bible was written at a specific time, and that historical background is important. At minimum, we should recognize who wrote the book and what was happening in that part of the world at the time.

One of the main themes of the Bible is how God calls and saves his people and how they extend his kingly rule over the earth. Therefore, it is crucial to understand who is in power and the condition of God’s people.

The question of power is relevant both for God’s people and those nearby. When reading the Old Testament, we should learn about the leaders of Israel and the surrounding nations. How the king in Israel came to power and whether he was faithful to God will explain much about the mood of a passage and any warnings or commands contained therein.

God’s people have gone through long stretches of faithfulness and rebellion, punctuated by prophetic announcements. As we read the Old Testament, we need to discern whether Israel is turning toward or away from God at the time.

(The questions of power and faithfulness apply when reading the New Testament as well, but the span of time and the number of other nations involved are much larger in the Old Testament.)

The best place to find a short historical introduction to each book of the Bible is a good Study Bible. For more detailed information, a commentary is the place to turn.

Literary Context

The context to which we refer most frequently on this blog is the literary context of the passage in question. This is certainly true for our ongoing Context Matters series. In these posts we examine well-known verses or phrases from the Bible and show how they might mean something deeper or different that what we assume.

Literary context matters because the Bible is not a loose collection of inspirational stories or aphorisms. The biblical authors wrote works of literature, so where an author places a passage was a deliberate choice, and the meaning of that passage is framed by what comes before and after.

The immediate context refers to the sections directly before and after a passage. But the broader literary context matters too. One of the great values of a book overview is getting an outline of the author’s flow of thought and purpose in writing.

The best way to grasp the literary context of a passage is to read it yourself. Unlike historical context, where we mostly need to depend on experts, any ordinary person with a Bible can see the literary context. When studying a smaller passage of Scripture, it is a good practice to read the entire book which contains that passage on an ongoing basis.

Personal Context

The way we apply the Bible is personal, since obedience to the same command may look different for different people. The context of our lives matters.

Some commands in Scripture look much the same for all people. The eighth commandment (“You shall not steal”) has far-reaching and profound implications, but it always boils down to not taking what isn’t yours.

Other commands of God will look quite different for different people. God has called us to our particular places—married or single, urban or rural, healthy or ill, different countries of residence—and much of the difficulty of applying God’s word is discerning how his general principles should be worked out in those particular places.

For example, for me to love my neighbor I need to know my neighbor, care for my neighbor, and seek to do good for my neighbor, even at great cost to myself. But if my neighbors are not your neighbors, we will necessarily obey this command in slightly different ways.

God’s call to personal faith, repentance, and obedience means that we need to seek the Lord as individuals. However, God does not call us and leave us alone. He calls us into the church, and we need this community to apply the Bible faithfully.

All Contexts Matter

Because the Bible was written by people, about people, to people, and for people, all of these contexts matter. As we study the Bible we need to take all of these contexts into account as we observe, interpret, and apply God’s word.

This was originally posted in 2018.

Good Old Fashioned Biblical Literacy

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Ben LeBlanc has a wonderful and thoughtful piece on “How One Gen Zer is Gaining Biblical Literacy the Old-Fashioned Way.” In the article, he tells the story of how he had to go without a smartphone for two years in Bible school, and it transformed the way he approached the Scripture.

Not only does online life erode our capacity to read, but it distorts how we read by cluttering the page with links, notifications, and widgets. In one study, participants found it harder to recall what they’d read as the number of links in an article increased. And research by Nielsen shows that online readers don’t read: They skim and “powerbrowse”, moving their eyes across the page in a spasmodic F-pattern.

LeBlanc offers three practical suggestions for how to avoid such dangers and improve your own experience of the Lord in his word. You’ll have to go see them for yourself.

Check it out!

What We Miss When We Skip the Prophets

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isaiah

woody93 (2014), public domain

From what Biblical book is your pastor preaching? What are you reading in your devotional times? What book of the Bible are you studying in your small group?

Let me guess: An epistle? A gospel? An Old Testament historical book? Some of the Wisdom literature (Psalms, Proverbs, etc.)?

I’d bet very few of you would answer Ezekiel, or Micah, or Zechariah.

The Forgotten Prophets

The prophetic books of the Old Testament make up 250 of the Bible’s 1189 chapters. That’s about 21% of the Bible! And I think those books are sorely neglected.

I don’t have any recent data or research to back me up. But when I talk to other Christians about what they’re reading, the prophets come up the least. If someone mentions the prophets, it’s usually because they’re following a read-through-the-Bible plan. (And they’re usually eager to get to Matthew!)

Five Things We Lose When We Skip the Prophets

Aside from missing out on a fifth of God’s word, here are five specific treasures we miss when we consistently neglect the reading and study of the prophets. (These are not all features exclusive to the prophets, but they appear in most of the prophetic books.)

1. Background to the New Testament

If you want to know what the people of Jesus’s day were thinking about and expecting from God, you need to read the prophets. The prophets were the most recent revelation from God, and yet there had been no word from God for hundreds of years when Jesus was born. The people’s expectations were shaped by prophetic promises of rescue, deliverance, and victory over enemies.

2. References in the New Testament

The New Testament writers assumed a high level of Biblical literacy. They often made reference to portions of the Old Testament, either through allusion or explicit quotation. It seems likely that by referring to a verse New Testament writers assumed their hearers or readers would think of a much larger passage of Scripture. Especially when reading those authors who explain how Jesus fulfilled prophesy, it’s essential that we pay attention to the prophetic books.

3. The communal nature of God’s people

In the prophets, God gives a message to one person for broadcast to his people. There are collective accusations of rebellion and idolatry, collective threats of punishment and exile, and collective promises of salvation. In the modern West, we tend to read the Bible through an individualistic lens, but the Jewish people of the Old Testament were bound together in a way we must understand. While the Bible has plenty of implications for individuals, God frequently addresses us as his church, and we need the counter-balance of thinking collectively that the prophets provide.

4. Hope

Because disobedience has serious consequences, the future was bleak for many who heard the prophetic announcements. But God rarely left his people without hope. The exile would end. The oppressing nations would be defeated. Hearts would be changed and the people’s longing for God’s presence would finally be realized. God always sustains his people through a sure hope.

5. God’s omniscience and sovereignty

In the prophets, we read prediction after prediction about what will happen to God’s people and we see the extent of God’s knowledge. We read of God’s judgment against Israel’s sins and we recognize the extent of his authority and personal rule. Now as then, he is not a God to take lightly.

Start Reading

If you’ve been neglecting the prophets in your own Bible intake, the fix is easy. Start reading!

Here’s a concrete suggestion. Take a month this summer and devote it to reading the prophets. Pick one major prophet (Isaiah, Jeremiah, or Ezekiel) and three minor prophets, and make yourself a reading plan. (Here, I made one for you!)

Take a look at the historical background of each book before you begin. Most good study Bibles have this information (and many web sites do too).

Then read with purpose. If you get confused by the language or bored with what seems repetitive, push through. Write some notes on each chapter as you go to help you understand what you’re reading.

Let’s give our attention to the whole counsel of God, without consistently ignoring any of what he’s given us.

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(This was originally published in 2018.)