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Why We Apply the Bible

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Answering this question—why should we apply the Bible?—is almost like explaining why lovers should kiss or why children should open birthday presents. Good things delight the soul, and true delight can’t be captured in a numbered list. There’s something magical and beautiful here, and I wish I could simply say, “It’s more fun than a prepaid Amazon shopping spree,” and be done with it.

But this important question warrants at least a few concrete answers. Too much rides on it.

1. Apply the Bible because you know God.

Your allegiance to the lover of your soul prevents you from continuing in old habits, values, or patterns of thinking. “Now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more” (Gal 4:9)?

2. Apply the Bible because God knows you.

He knew you before you ever knew him, and he vowed to make you more like Jesus. “Those whom [God] foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son” (Rom 8:29).

3. Apply the Bible because you are free from sin.

Jesus Solana (2012), Creative Commons

Jesus Solana (2012), Creative Commons

You’re not stuck in the old way of doing things. You don’t have to keep hurting yourself and the people you love. You’re free to do what God wants you to do, which is always the best thing you could do. “But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness” (Rom 6:17-18).

4. Apply the Bible because you are a Christian.

A static life is inconsistent with true faith. According to 1 John, you’ll know you have eternal life by three pieces of evidence: confessing Christ, loving others, and keeping God’s commandments. These pieces of evidence don’t mandate sinlessness—John expects us to repent often and be forgiven (1 John 1:8-2:2)—but they mean that our lives should change over time to reflect what God wants for us.

“By this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says ‘I know him’ but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.” (1 John 2:3-6)

Many people know these four truths, but still struggle to apply the Bible to their lives. For those who simply don’t know how, there’s a way to get started. For those who can’t find the motivation, something more is needed.

I saw that “something” illustrated a few years ago when I attended a marriage conference taught by Paul Tripp, author of What Did You Expect? Tripp spoke the word of God powerfully, and he paved the road of application with dozens of vivid personal stories. Few stories made him look good; most were about his epic failures as a husband. During a break, I overheard an attendee ask Tripp how he could be so frank and vulnerable in public, and his answer captured the essence of good Bible application: “Jesus died for me, so I have nothing left to prove.” Here was a man living and leading others as though he really believed Romans 8:1: “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

Here’s the magic. Here’s the beauty. God offers you your freedom. He knows you better than you know yourself, and he’ll make you more useful than you dreamed possible. He wants what’s best for you, and he makes his best available to you. You have nothing left to prove, so you’re free to admit you were wrong and try something else.

Jesus often answered a question with a question, and I want to be like him, so ask me why you should apply the Bible, and I’ll ask you why on earth you would want to stay the same.

Question: What motivates you to apply the Bible to your life?

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Examples of Wrestling through the Prescriptive/Descriptive Debate

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Last week, I brought up the debate that inevitably arises in a discussion of a narrative text: Is this passage prescribing something we should imitate (or avoid), or is it simply describing what the characters did in their setting? I proposed that we can often eliminate the need for such a debate if we focus on applying the passage’s main point. Commonly, the passage’s main point is clear enough to direct us in how to change; we don’t even need to decide whether a given detail or behavior in the text ought to be imitated or not.

Let me give two examples where the main point eliminates the debate (by rendering it irrelevant), and one example where it doesn’t.

Photo by Gift Habeshaw on Unsplash

Acts 15:36-16:5

In Acts 15:36-41, Paul and Barnabas have a sharp disagreement over whether to take John Mark with them on their second missionary journey. They cannot agree, so they split up and part ways. I’ve heard people use this passage to argue that parting ways is an unhealthy way to deal with conflict. And I’ve heard other people use this passage as an example of when parting ways is inevitable and perhaps even healthier than remaining together in constant strife.

So which is it? And it begs the question: Is this text even meant to prescribe a certain way of dealing with conflict (through either good or bad example), or is it simply describing what happened in the lives of those three men?

Notice that the narrative of this split comes immediately after the resolution of a major debate in the early church (whether Gentile converts to Christianity need to follow the law of Moses) and the delivery of the council’s verdict (Acts 15:1-35). And the very next scene (Acts 16:1-5) shows Paul circumcising a new protege on account of local Jewish sensibilities and the knowledge of Timothy’s Greek lineage on his father’s side (Acts 16:3). The narrator connects Timothy’s circumcision quite closely with the delivery of the Jerusalem council’s decision in that region (Acts 16:4).

That literary flow and context is a major factor leading me to conclude that the main point of Acts 15:36-16:5 is that the growth of Christ’s kingdom cannot be stopped, even when leaders must make trade offs in partners (Acts 15:36-41) and practices (Acts 16:1-5). In other words, partners and practices can change, but the grace of Jesus Christ remains the same.

So is the Paul/Barnabas split prescriptive or descriptive? In light of the main point, it’s both. And neither. The point of the text is not to provide direction on whether you ought to leave your church or split up a partnership (perhaps by demonstrating what sort of circumstances would warrant a split). The point of the text is to provide larger assurance that many things will change (and should change!) in service of the unchanging gospel of Jesus Christ.

So maybe you should leave your situation and maybe you shouldn’t. But maybe an even more important question this text wants you to ask is whether you (and not your environment) should change. Or your methods should change. Or your expectations or objectives. We don’t need to answer the prescriptive/descriptive question in order to apply this text in personal and profound ways.

Jonah 3

The prophet Jonah, fresh off his three-night stay inside a 5-star seaside resort, finally makes his way to Nineveh to preach what God commanded him to preach. His message is direct and to the point: “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” (Jonah 3:4). Is that the sort of message God’s preachers ought to be preaching to the church’s enemies?

Maybe. And maybe not. But perhaps that’s not the question this text pushes us to ask.

Jonah 3 tells the story of a salvation too strange for satire. It could not be more extreme. Jonah gets spit up by the fish. He walks only a third of the way into the bad guys’ HQ, preaching a single sentence of judgment (with neither an offer of mercy nor a demand for repentance). The response is immediate and ridiculously unlikely: All people repent. Word gets ahead of Jonah to the palace. The king immediately halts all civil operations and declares a national mourning. Even the livestock must wear itchy clothes and join the public prayer meetings.

The plot builds to the climax of verse 9: “Who knows? Maybe, just maybe God will relent.”

As the plot conflict finally resolves, God sees what the Ninevites have done, and he does, in fact, relent. He doesn’t do what he said he would do.

The main idea is that God saves the wrong kind of people. It has nothing to do with the merits of the people, the message itself, or the preacher who delivered it. It has everything to do with the God who loads his gun with mercy and keeps it on a hair-trigger setting.

So is Jonah’s preaching style and message prescriptive or descriptive? It really doesn’t matter, because the point is not to instruct God’s people in how to preach to their enemies. The point is to paint a dramatic and outrageous picture of God’s proclivity to show mercy. When we apply that main point, we might draw implications for preaching or evangelism. But it is not crucial that we figure out how to do (or avoid) what Jonah did.

Acts 2

And now for a closing example where the main point does not sideline the prescriptive/descriptive question. Should churches speak in tongues like the apostles on the Day of Pentecost, or not? Is the text prescribing such behavior, or is it simply describing a unique thing that happened that day?

In Acts 2:1-4, the proclamation of God’s works in different languages provides a sign that the Holy Spirit has come upon the disciples. The body of the chapter is organized by the answers to two questions:

  • What does this mean? – Acts 2:5-13
    • Peter’s answer – Acts 2:14-36
  • What shall we do? – Acts 2:37
    • Peter’s answer – Acts 2:38-40

Then a narrative conclusion exhibits the new creation community launched that day (Acts 2:41-47).

This structure emphasizes the Q&A that makes up the body of the chapter, where Peter explains what all the stuff happening in the narrative frame means. And the main point of that explanation is that the arrival of God’s Spirit is proof that Jesus is the King who has made salvation possible.

So, is the disciples’ speaking in tongues prescriptive or descriptive? This time, I can’t say that the question is beside the point. One person could argue that speaking in tongues is prescribed as a way of proving to people today that Jesus is the King who has made salvation possible. Another person could argue that speaking in tongues is no longer necessary; that unique event provided the proof that Jesus is the King who has made salvation possible. But both of those perspectives are trying their best to faithfully apply the main point.

Please note: I am not saying (and I wasn’t saying in the previous examples) that the main point answers the prescriptive/descriptive question. In the first two examples, I was saying only that the author’s main point makes the question irrelevant and unnecessary. In this third example, the main point actually makes the prescriptive/descriptive question highly relevant.

Much more work needs to be done in context, correlation, systematic and biblical theology to answer the question of speaking in tongues in Acts 2. But the main point confirms that the question itself is well worth asking.

Conclusion

Much of the time, it is not necessary for us to figure out whether particular behaviors in a text are prescriptive or descriptive. The text’s main point reveals an agenda to produce change in some other area, and we should focus on that area instead of our prescriptive/descriptive question. In these situations, when someone asks whether a narrative detail is prescriptive or descriptive, we can sidestep the question by asking instead: What’s the author’s main point?

But in a few cases, a text’s main point confirms the crucial importance of the prescriptive/descriptive question, and our time seeking to answer the question is well spent.

Piper on Finding the Main Point of a Chapter

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

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

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

Check it out!

Sample Studies in Colossians

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Kyle Kennicott is teaching Colossians to his youth group, and he’s done us the favor of providing summaries of his messages. He shows how he broke down the text for the series, and for each passage he gives his main point, a brief summary, and chief applications.

I don’t share these sample studies with you so you can take them and teach the exact same message to your youth group or small group. Rather, I know many people need to see good examples of skillful Bible study to help them acquire the skills. And these examples are quite good.

Check it out!

Foundational Beliefs about the Bible

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What must you believe about the Bible in order to properly study the Bible? Joel Beeke and Michael Barrett suggest that we cannot avoid this question:

When we view the Scriptures through faith, we do so with a set of beliefs that we take for granted to be true. These presuppositions are essential and inevitable. It is absolutely impossible to come to the Bible with an open mind. Liberal scholars often claim they approach Scripture with an open mind in order to evaluate the Word of God and judge its accuracy. In reality they come with the presupposition that human reason is superior to divine revelation. That is not an open mind; it is a closed heart that evidences a mindset predisposed against God and truth. Man cannot stand as the judge of Scripture; Scripture stands as the judge of man. As believers, we must come with an open and receptive heart to receive and believe what God says.

And if we believe that God’s word is true, then we must also believe the things the Bible says about itself.

…every time we open the Scripture, we must do so with awe and reverence generated by the certain knowledge that the Bible is not an ordinary book but the very Word of the eternal God, whose veracity is beyond question or doubt. The Bible is not what men define it to be; it is what God declares it to be. Men can believe that or deny that, but they cannot alter that. The premise that the Bible is the inspired, authoritative, infallible, sufficient, and effective Word of God should be the foundation for the study of Scripture. All truth has its source in God and, consequently, His truth is universal and timeless. Although times change, truth is changeless. Although applications of truth can vary, truth is constant. This is good reason to make the Bible a subject for study.

In their brief article, Beeke and Barrett explain what it means for the Bible to be inspired, authoritative, infallible, sufficient, and effective. I commend their reflections to you.

Check it out!

Jesus Sanctifies His Brothers: Observations from Hebrews 2

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Yassine Khalfalli (2019), public domain

Sometimes profound, biblical truths take hours to unearth. They are the result of long wrestling and deep exertion.

At other times, deep doctrine lies right on the surface. We can walk by and snatch it from the ground, like a ripe pear on a bed of orchard grass.

Observation is the foundation of any good Bible study method. We often think of interpretation as the Bible study phase which produces life-changing, paradigm-altering conclusions. But on occasion, we can spot gems in the first stage.

I’ve recently been studying the book of Hebrews with my small group. I was shocked how many statements of life-giving goodness jumped off the page as I was observing Hebrews 2 this week. In an effort to encourage our readers in their Bible study efforts, below I present 35 observations from Hebrews 2:10–18. I don’t claim these are the only observations one could make from these verses (they’re not!), nor even that these are the most important. But, since interpretation is built on observation, holding a passage under the microscope is a necessary first step to understanding.

Observing Hebrews 2

Here are some of the wonders I spotted in Hebrews 2:10–18.

  1. God the Father is the one “for whom and by whom all things exist.” (Heb 2:10)
  2. God the Father brings “many sons to glory.” (Heb 2:10)
  3. Those God brings to glory are called “sons.” (Heb 2:10)
  4. Jesus is the “founder” of the sons’ salvation. (Heb 2:10)
  5. God the Father made Jesus perfect. (Heb 2:10)
  6. God made Jesus perfect through suffering. (Heb 2:10)
  7. This perfecting of Jesus was “fitting.” (Heb 2:10)
  8. Jesus is the one who sanctifies the sons. (Heb 2:11)
  9. The sons are sanctified. (Heb 2:11)
  10. Jesus and the sons have one source. (Heb 2:11)
  11. This common source is why Jesus is not ashamed to call the sons “brothers.” (Heb 2:11)
  12. Jesus calls the sons “brothers.” (Heb 2:11)
  13. Jesus shared in “flesh and blood.” (Heb 2:14)
  14. Jesus shared in “flesh and blood” because the children do. (Heb 2:14)
  15. The devil “has the power of death.” (Heb 2:14)
  16. Jesus destroyed the one with the power of death. (Heb 2:14)
  17. Jesus destroyed the one with the power of death through death. (Heb 2:14)
  18. Through death Jesus delivered many. (Heb 2:15)
  19. Those Jesus delivered were subject to slavery. (Heb 2:15)
  20. This slavery was lifelong. (Heb 2:15)
  21. This slavery happened through fear of death. (Heb 2:15)
  22. Jesus does not help angels. (Heb 2:16)
  23. Jesus helps the offspring of Abraham. (Heb 2:16)
  24. Those Jesus delivered are again referred to as his “brothers.” (Heb 2:17)
  25. Jesus was made like his brothers in every respect. (Heb 2:17)
  26. Jesus became a high priest in the service of God. (Heb 2:17)
  27. Jesus became a high priest who is merciful. (Heb 2:17)
  28. Jesus became a high priest who is faithful. (Heb 2:17)
  29. Being made like his brothers was necessary for becoming a high priest. (Heb 2:17)
  30. Jesus’s work as a high priest involved making “propitiation for the sins of the people.” (Heb 2:17)
  31. Jesus suffered when tempted. (Heb 2:18)
  32. Jesus suffered. (Heb 2:18)
  33. Jesus was tempted. (Heb 2:18)
  34. Jesus is able to help those who are being tempted. (Heb 2:18)
  35. Because he suffered when tempted, Jesus is able to help those who are being tempted. (Heb 2:18)

More Work To Do

Now, after observing the text there’s more work to do. We must ask and answer questions and work to determine the author’s main point.

But careful observation gets us going in the right direction.

No Substitute for God

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In the kitchen, some food substitutions work better than others. Swap oil for applesauce? Sure! Use almond or soy milk for your lactose-sensitive friends? Unnoticeable. Cut some butter in favor of plain yogurt? Absolutely.

But other replacements don’t cut the mustard. Gluten-free bread doesn’t behave like bread. Fat-free cheese won’t melt. Tofu? No thanks.

apple1

Tim Sackton (2012), Creative Commons License

But the altar is unlike the oven. Though we know nothing measures up to God, our hearts are prone to wander. How does God react to his children’s idolatry? Isaiah 31:1–9 gives us a glimpse.

The Alliance With Egypt

In a previous post we saw Judah seek protection from Assyria through a sinful alliance with Egypt. Isaiah tells us that Judah turned to “horses,” “chariots,” and “horsemen” instead of looking to God (Is 31:1). Why did Judah trust Egypt? What are the consequences of that misplaced trust?

Isaiah writes that Judah “trust[s] in chariots because they are many and in horsemen because they are very strong” (Is 31:1). Were the chariots and horsemen of Egypt really stronger and more able than God? Judah’s betrayal was that they did “not look to the Holy One of Israel, or consult the Lord.”

God’s reaction to this treason springs from his character: he is “wise” and he “does not call back his words” (Is 31:2). He will turn against Egypt, the “helpers” who “work iniquity.” We read the obvious contrasts: “the Egyptians are man, and not God, and their horses are flesh, and not spirit” (Is 31:3). Isaiah highlights these disparities both to emphasize the inability of Egypt to resist “when the Lord stretches out his hand” and to finish the rebuke begun in Is 31:1.

Notice that Egypt and Judah share a fate: “they will all perish together” (Is 31:3). As we saw when studying Isaiah 30, God often punishes sin by bringing about its natural consequences. Judah sinned by aligning with Egypt, so they will share Egypt’s demise. The alliance they pursued for life has resulted in death.

Like a Lion, Like Birds

We read of two similies for God’s posture toward his people in Is 31:4–5. In Is 31:4, Isaiah compares God to a lion who “growls over his prey.” The “band of shepherds” (Egypt) tries to rescue the prey (Judah) from the lion, but the lion “is not terrified by their shouting or daunted at their noise.”

Does it bother you that God compares Judah to a lion’s prey? God is jealous for his people—he will discipline them as he pleases, with no unwanted interference.

This same “Lord of hosts” (repeated in Is 31:4 and Is 31:5) who will wage war on Mount Zion (Is 31:4 NASB) will also protect Jerusalem like hovering birds. God will “protect and deliver” and “spare and rescue” his people, a fourfold blessing of protection.

A natural question is, from whom/what is God delivering Judah? On the one hand, God is rescuing his people from their earthly enemies. But put these two figures together—if Judah is like a lion’s prey, then God is also sparing Judah from himself.

Can you see your Savior here? In Jesus, God rescues us from his own just wrath. The Father spares us by devouring his son like lion’s prey. We are protected because Jesus was not.

Turn to God!

In Is 31:6 NASB, Isaiah exhorts Judah to return to God from whom they have “deeply defected.” What an accusation! Defected means Judah has not merely forgotten God or somehow grown apathetic, but they have turned against him! A defector doesn’t quit military service, he wages war against his former allies. “Defector” is the charge leveled against idolators. If we worship anything other than God (and we do), we are traitors.

Isaiah tries to persuade Judah to return to God in Is 31:7 by writing that “everyone shall cast away his idols.” Is this a convincing argument?

There is no doubt about the sinfulness of idols: we see “idols” twice along with “sinful” and “sin” in Is 31:7 NASB. But the glory of the Lord will be so great “in that day” that “everyone” will discard their idols. If that is true about this glorious, future day, why not start now? You’ve defected from him—waste no time in turning back!

God Fights for His Own

Along with a return to God and the smashing of idols, in that day “the Assyrian shall fall” (Is 31:8). We saw God’s willingness to fight for his people in Is 30:32 and we see it again here with the repetition of “a sword, not of man.” God’s sword will slay the Assyrian.

In addition to death, God will bring slavery, panic, and terror to the Assyrians (Is 31:8–9). God is not to be opposed. If you wage war against his people, you may feel his “fire” or be subject to his “furnace” (Is 31:9).

Return to God through his Son

Isaiah’s message is clear. Do not trust in replacements for God. Return to God—he will discipline, protect, and deliver his people. But we take no Christian meaning from the chapter unless we consider Jesus.

Jesus died for our idolatry. The Lord “stretch[ed] out his hand” against Jesus in terrible judgment. Though he had opportunity (Matt 4:1–11), Jesus never (not once!) trusted anyone except his Father.

Jesus makes it safe for deep defectors to return to God. Because Jesus (the faithful, loyal one) was treated as a traitor, we are welcomed as sons and daughters of God. For those who are in Christ, we are no longer enemies of God, and God will take vengeance on our behalf (Rom 12:19).

Application

Consider these questions as you apply the truths of this chapter.

  • How can we identify our replacements for God? How can we help each other identify these replacements?
  • What are the barriers we might face to helping each other in this way?
  • How should we call each other to return to God? How can we be the sort of people that can be called back to God by our friends?

The Prodigal Son in Isaiah

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Why are some of Jesus’s parables more popular than others? The story of the prodigal son, for example—why do we hear so much about it? The return of a wayward child strikes a deep chord. We all know friends, siblings, or church members who have turned away from God. We long for the joyful return described in Luke 15.

Isaiah 30 presents an Old Testament precursor to this story. This chapter describes the despicable idolatry of Judah and the lavish love of God the Father.

broken pottery

laura.bell (2009), Creative Commons License

First, a bit of history: Isaiah prophesied to the kingdom of Judah from 740 BC until at least 681 BC. Assyria was the major political and military power of the time and the nations around Assyria lived in fear. These countries often negotiated alliances among themselves for protection. Judah, despite being commanded to the contrary, was not immune to this temptation.

Judah’s Alliance with Egypt

In Is 30:1–5, Isaiah lays out God’s displeasure with Judah. They are “stubborn children” (Is 30:1) who “set out to go down to Egypt without asking for my direction” (Is 30:2). They do this in order to “take refuge in the protection of Pharaoh” (Is 30:3).

Catch the irony—the dominant Old Testament story of deliverance (the exodus) is powerful because of how ruthless, bloodthirsty, and oppressive Pharaoh was toward God’s people. In the history of Israel, Egypt is a place of death! So how can Judah now seek life there?!

Isaiah tells us that Judah’s alliance with Egypt won’t even be successful. Notice the words “shame” and “humiliation” in Is 30:3 and Is 30:5. Why will they be ashamed? Because Egypt is “a people that cannot profit them” (Is 30:5).

The worthlessness of Egypt’s help reappears in Isaiah’s poem (Is 30:6–7). Notice especially in Is 30:7 where God says that “Egypt’s help is worthless and empty” and he refers to Egypt (“Rahab”) as a “Do-Nothing” (Is 30:7 NIV). There is more sad irony in this poem: God once led Israel out of Egypt full of treasure plundered from the Egyptians (Ex 12:35–36), but now Judah carries treasure back to Egypt (Is 30:6) as payment for protection.

A Rebellious People

Isaiah presented the basic accusation against Judah in Is 30:1–2; he now presents a deeper charge in Is 30:8–11. The children of God are not behaving like true children (Is 30:9), because they are “unwilling to hear the instruction of the Lord.” In this refusal, they don’t silence the prophets, they merely limit their speech. They don’t want to hear “what is right.” They only want to hear “pleasant words” and “illusions” (Is 30:10 NASB). And in a very revealing way, they want to hear “no more about the Holy One of Israel” (Is 30:11).

Note the clear connection between rejecting God and rejecting his word. The people realize that hearing a true prophetic word would mean being confronted with the Holy One, and they want no part of that. Since this Holy One is their father, they are acting like “lying children” indeed (Is 30:9).

A Word From God

As much as Judah didn’t want to hear from the “Holy One” (Is 30:11), they will hear from the Holy One (Is 30:12,15)! After summarizing Judah’s sin in Is 30:12, God details the consequences. Of the two violent metaphors used in Is 30:13 and Is 30:14, I found the smashing of the pottery particularly vivid. The jar will be shattered so completely that no useful piece will remain (Is 30:14).

Isaiah describes Judah’s refusal of God’s word and the corresponding punishment in general terms in Is 30:12–14, but he is quite specific in Is 30:15–17. In Is 30:15 we see the posture God requires for salvation. This is the word Judah rejected—God’s people had put their trust in the wrong place.

It is striking to read (Is 30:16–17) how God will punish Judah for their sin: He gives them what they want! They want to flee on horses, and God says they shall flee; Judah wants to ride swiftly, so God says their pursuers will be swift indeed. This is an astounding aspect of the way God punishes idolatry—idolatry is so terrible that receiving what we sought is an awful punishment.

God Waits to be Gracious

As we consider Isaiah 30:18–26, we transition from looking at the faithlessness of Judah to the faithfulness of God. God always relates to Israel/Judah as a loving father relates to his children.

Notice the way that God “longs” and “waits” to be gracious to Judah (Is 30:18 NASB). God is eager, on the edge of his seat to show compassion. But this is not separate from his character as the “God of justice.” In fact, he would be unjust if he let his children sin without consequence; he wants them once again to “long for him” (Is 30:18 NASB). Can you recognize the father of the prodigal son (Luke 15:20)?

When the people turn back to God and he answers their cry—this is a glorious reunion! “He will surely be gracious” to Judah (Is 30:19). “He will no longer hide himself” but Judah will behold their God (Is 30:20 NASB). Notice how great a reward God himself is in this passage! When Judah returns to God, they will see him (Is 30:20) and hear him (Is 30:19,21); he will offer corrective advice so they can walk in the way again (Is 30:21). Another dramatic result of this reunion is the destruction of their idols (Is 30:22). How could an imitation ever hold a candle to the one true God they have now beheld?

What follows in Is 30:23–26 is a picture of a renewed creation. As creation was cursed at the fall (Gen 3:17–18), so it longs for renewal when the sons of God are revealed (Rom 8:18–21). Notice in these verses the increasingly supernatural quality given to the descriptions of the creation: rich and plenteous yield from crops (Is 30:23), especially fine food for the helping beasts (Is 30:24), flowing streams on every hill and mountain (Is 30:25), a blindingly bright moon and sun (Is 30:26). God makes explicit the connection between creation renewal and the salvation of his people in a wonderful description at the end of Is 30:26—how better to describe the Lord’s salvation through loving discipline than to say he “heals the wounds inflicted by his blow”?

God Against the Enemies

In the final section of this chapter (Is 30:27–33), we see God turn his anger toward the nations (Is 30:28) in general and Assyria (Is 30:31) in particular. Isaiah speaks of the indignation and judgment of God, that his voice alone is like a consuming fire (Is 30:27,30). God will strike Assyria with the rod (Is 30:31–32) and the funeral pyre will be prepared and used for the king of Assyria (Is 30:33).

But in the middle of this discourse, Isaiah writes that Judah “will have a song” like in festival time and there will be “gladness of heart” (Is 30:29). The musical references to “songs,” “the flute,” and “tambourines and lyres” appear in both Is 30:29 and Is 30:32. With all of the judgment God is doling out, what is the cause for Judah’s great rejoicing?

Isaiah says that God will deliver Judah in a very practical way. God himself will fight the battle against Assyria (Is 30:32)! God’s compassion toward his people is always practical. How gracious would God be if his compassion were only a sentiment?

Conclusion

What does this chapter teach us? When rebellious children ignore God’s word and seek safety elsewhere, God will bring severe discipline through their idols. But God is eager to be gracious to his children; they need only cry to him and he will bless them richly and destroy their enemies.

Don’t miss Jesus in this passage. On our behalf, he is the one who never sought protection apart from God. He never ignored God’s word; he brought us God’s word. Jesus makes God’s gracious disposition toward his children possible; we have peace with God because Jesus was smashed to bits by God’s fury at our idolatry.

Do you find yourself seeking protection and safety apart from God? Does your wealth, or your family, or your health, or your morality offer you a more attractive refuge than God? Are you suffering God’s discipline because you have pursued an idol? Perhaps this is the call you need to turn back to him. He longs to hear you cry out to him and he is eager to be gracious to you.

Can You Focus on the Bible Too Much?

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Artondra Hall (2012), Creative Commons
Artondra Hall (2012), Creative Commons

In a recent conversation, a respectable gentleman accused me of coming dangerously close to “bibliolatry.” Bibliolatry means “worshiping the book,” and the term usually refers to the practice of revering the Bible too highly. According to Wikipedia (that never-ending fount of contemporary insight), the term may characterize “either extreme devotion to the Bible or the doctrine of biblical inerrancy.”

I’ve heard such comments before, particularly from young people who want to follow God but who don’t want to study the Bible. The thinking goes like this: “The Bible is good, but you shouldn’t focus on it too much.”

Now the argument isn’t always sophomoric. Some time ago, the evangelical philosopher J.P. Moreland delivered a paper to the Evangelical Theological Society, arguing against “the idea that the Bible is the sole source of knowledge of God, morality, and a host of related important items.” He’s concerned with Christians who take the Bible to be “the sole source of authority for faith and practice. Applied to inerrancy, the notion is that the Bible is the sole source of such knowledge and authority.” Moreland clearly believes the Bible to be both inerrant and final in its authority. But, he says, if Christians consider it to be the only authority for faith and practice—that is, for the Christian life—they are “over-committed” to it.

So is it possible (and unhelpful) to focus too much on the Bible?

The Easy Answer

Of course it’s possible.

Jesus often clashed with other teachers who focused too much on the Bible. In one noteworthy example, he staked the following claim:

You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.

John 5:39-40

In one sense, Jesus hoped they’d focus more on him than on the Scriptures.

The Difficult Answer

But in another sense, Jesus clearly drew attention to himself by drawing more attention to the Scriptures. Notice the immediately preceding verses:

And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent.

John 5:37-38

Jesus accused the Bible-focusers of not hearing God’s voice. They didn’t see his form. He had already borne witness to the Messiah in his word, but that word hadn’t landed in their hearts. They read the Bible. They studied it and memorized it. But they didn’t believe in Jesus, its principal subject.

Jesus goes on to say, “I do not receive glory from people…How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God” (John 5:41-44)? They loved the Bible because it gave them glory. They could win at Bible Trivia. People spoke highly of their knowledge and authority in spiritual matters. They had earned titles of honor and respect, and, as a result, the general public revered them

Jesus wanted them to seek glory, just not their own. They should seek the glory that comes from the only God. That is, they should seek Jesus, the one who came from God (John 5:37) and revealed his glory (John 1:14). And how would they do this? Not by abandoning the Scriptures but by reading them more—more clearly, more frequently, more passionately. “For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me” (John 5:46).

In other words, the solution for “over-commitment” to the Bible is not to reduce your commitment to the Bible. The solution is to take your commitment to the Bible in a different direction: toward Jesus.

In that sense, it’s not possible to focus too much on the Bible. Not unless it’s possible to focus too much on Jesus.

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The Whole is Not Less Than the Sum of the Parts

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I agree with the conventional wisdom that the whole of something is greater than the sum of the parts. But that yields a crucial implication we might easily overlook: the whole must then not be less than the sum of the parts.

In other words, the “whole” and the “parts” are not independent categories, with no relationship to one another. If we focus on the parts with no grasp of the whole, we’re on the wrong track. And at the same time, if our understanding of the whole has nothing to do with the parts, we’re likewise not where we wanna be.

What does this have to do with Bible study?

closed brown wooden door
Photo by Xain Sheikh on Pexels.com

The Main Point is the “Whole”

Perhaps the most important step in the Bible study process is to determine the author’s main point. Without grasping that, we’re swimming in a sea of detail, subject to being blown in uncertain directions. For example, by failing to grasp the main point, Jehovah’s Witnesses can use the Scripture to “prove” that Jesus is not God, and evangelicals can use the Scripture to claim that Christ’s strengthening is for athletic or business performance.

Observations are the “Parts”

The parts of the passage are the things we notice first. The things we must take note of when we open the text and examine it. We can observe repeated words, logical connectors, names and titles, subjects and main verbs, genre, mood, and structure. There are many, many details to observe in a passage. So many, that we may never exhaust them in a given study.

Whole Greater Than Parts

The purpose of observation (noticing what it says) is to eventually move into competent interpretation (figuring out why it says it). The peak of interpretation is figuring out the author’s main point. Until we get to that main point, we have not yet grasped the text’s own message. We might discern some truth in the text, but we haven’t grasped the truth of the text.

Therefore, the author’s main point is more important than any particular observation or group of observations. This is why our connection to Christ works best from the main point and not incidental details. This is also why our application will be strongest when it flows from the main point and not from incidental details.

The whole (main point) is greater than the sum of the parts (any particular observations).

Whole Not Less Than Parts

However, we must remember that the main point is not something of our own invention. The main point is not something altogether different from the detailed observations. Every detail is there on purpose. The author chose to include some details and exclude others in order to communicate his main idea. So my concept of the main point must be related in some way to any and every detail in the text.

The following maxim helps me to “check my work” on the main point:

If the main point really is the main point, you should be able to make any observation and I must explain how it contributes to that main point.

What I mean is that if my conception of the main point is truly the author’s main point, then I must be able to explain any (perhaps every) detail in light of its role in communicating that main point. So I can put my main point out there for testing by inviting others to push back with concrete observations of the text. “If you think that’s the main point, then how do you explain…?”

This is quite a fun discussion to have in small group Bible studies. Once the group has come up with a provisional main point, invite group members to assault that main point with observations. Together, they can test and evaluate the strength of the proposed main point.

An Example

For example, I proposed a few weeks ago that the main point of Ephesians 4 is that diversity shouldn’t divide the church, but when it does, stop thinking about it the way Gentiles do. Someone may come along and ask: “If that’s the case, then why does he quote Psalm 68 in Eph 4:8? And what’s with all the talk about Jesus ascending and descending in Eph 4:9-10?”

And I’d respond: “That’s a great question!” And then I’d explain:

  • The quote of Psalm 68 (and its explanation in the next two verses) is there to provide reason or motivation for the main thesis of Eph 4:1-3, that Christians should express their calling by living in unity.
  • The first reason given to motivate obedience is the one-one-oneness of Eph 4:4-6, perhaps highlighting the unity of the diverse Trinity (Spirit … Lord … Father).
  • The second reason given to motivate obedience is the gracious gifts of Christ to his church. Jesus came down and went up (like the Ark of the Covenant in Psalm 68) to “fill all things,” so that all things would be united in him (larger thesis from Eph 1:10). He now brings diverse people together by giving them the spoils of his victory: their church leaders past (apostles, prophets) and present (evangelists, shepherds and teachers). Those leader-gifts now equip the people for works of service to build one another up in love.

So the quote of Psalm 68 supports the main point by providing a crucial piece of evidence from the Old Testament that exposes the need for the Messiah to give gifts that will serve the end of church unity.

Try This at Home

When you study a passage and come up with a proposed statement of the author’s main point, test your work by prodding it with a few random observations. Can you explain how the parts fit together to create that whole? Because though the whole is greater than the parts, it certainly is not any less than the parts. The whole must bud organically from the parts.