Helping ordinary people learn to study the Bible
Check out this webcomic at Adam4d.com proving that we must reconsider our diet. He illustrates his point well: We can “prove” anything from the Bible, with a careful sampling of verses taken out of context. Would you be able to refute such an argument?
HT: Tom Hallman
I spend most of my time on this blog focusing on the main points of passages. I’ve said we should fight for them and move our study groups toward them. I’ve even promised to follow this practice on point #2 of this welcome page. But in the interest of balance and completeness, I must take some time this day to highlight some of the lesser-known commands of God.
These commands are no less inspired than the biggies. Of course we should love God and love our neighbor; nobody denies this. But that’s not all God wants us to do! The problem with most churches today is that we’ve lost our commitment to God’s word, and we run afoul of God’s explicit will for our lives. And not only do we practice such things, but we also give hearty approval to those who flout these plain imperatives with a high hand. I’m speaking of all those supposed “Christians,” “pastors,” and “disciples” who ignore the clear and plain sense of commands such as:
I mean, who really does these things? I wish I could join a truly faithful church, but I have yet to find one. And we can’t simply claim ignorance of the prophets, either. Jesus was just as clear:
The Bible is full of imperatives that couldn’t be any clearer. I’d love to hear what other commands have impacted you over the years, so we can encourage one another to greater faithfulness.
And may this first day of April inspire a new season of fruitful Bible study for those among the chosen remnant. “If the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring, we would have been like Sodom and become like Gomorrah” (Rom 9:29).
Last week, Tim Challies reflected on the “One Indispensable Rule” that must guide our interpretation and application of Scripture.
Proper understanding and interpretation is dependent on one indispensable rule: Before you ask, “What does it mean to us now?”, ask “What did it mean to them then?” In other words, before you attempt to apply the Bible to your life and circumstances, anchor it in the lives and circumstances of its original recipients. Application must be related to meaning.
Challies gives an example of a common error. In our efforts to get practical, we read verses apart from their context and arrive at applications the original audience never would have known. Sometimes our applications might still be good, but false teachers can use the same methodology to promote evil ends. It’s worth it to learn to read the Scriptures well!
Challies’s short article is well worth reading. Check it out!
Last week, I read some amazing things in the New York Times:
The president’s announcement was the first official confirmation of his death.
“They were disappointed, frankly, that I didn’t have some breakthrough.”
Minutes earlier, she had fled there for safety as she called 911, telling the operator that her fiancé had thrown her on the bed and hit her in the face and head. She was two months pregnant.
Thousands of people attended hundreds of enrollment events around the country at public libraries, churches, shopping malls, community colleges, clinics, hospitals and other sites.
Are you amazed?
Enrique Burgos (2010), Creative Commons
Though all these quotes came from a single publication with a single editorial board, they also came from a variety of articles, written by different journalists, and spread out over a few days. Each article had a different topic, designed for a different column, reporting on a different sector of the news. But my selection of quotations doesn’t really mean anything to you without more information. You need the context for each one to make sense.
Do you read the Bible like this? Do you find a remarkable sentence or two here and there, memorize them, and base your hope on them? You don’t read anything else in this way. Not newspapers, novels, letters, emails, blogs or textbooks. Sure, sometimes you’ll scan. Other times you’ll highlight key statements that you want to remember. But you won’t limit your reading to isolated sentences.
Do you teach the Bible like this? Do you string together verse after verse to make a point? It’s fine to do so, as long as you’re not doing violence to what those verses meant in context (Paul does it in Romans 3:10-18, David does it in 1 Chronicles 16:7-36, and Jonah does it in Jonah 2:1-9). But Satan can quote isolated statements from the Bible in support of evil intentions (Matt 4:6). Plenty of folks today likewise excel at sampling Bible verses to mix some truth with catastrophic error.
In a Bible study meeting, you may have 30-90 minutes to dive into a particular text. You’ll look at the details, ask many specific questions, and try to make particular applications. As you work on a small portion of text, how do you keep the big picture (the context) front and center? How do you prevent the group from moving through one isolated text to another, week after week, without ever fitting them together?
These suggestions are not the only ones you could follow, but they summarize what I’ve found most helpful.
When leading a study through a book of the Bible, I always dedicate the first meeting to a book overview. This overview gives us clarity on the historical context: author, audience, occasion, and structure. But more importantly, it enables us to discuss the entire book’s main point. For example, in my church small group, we’re studying Romans. Our book overview led us to a pretty clear main point: Paul wants to preach the gospel to those who are in Rome (see Rom 1:15-17).
Each week, I make sure to summarize the text’s argument over the last few chapters. This enables us to situate the present text within the book’s flow of thought. For example, our last study in Romans 3:9-20 came as the climax to Paul’s argument that began in Romans 1:18. Before tackling Rom 3:9-20, we briefly reviewed the section up to this point: God’s wrath is revealed against the immoral (Rom 1:18-32), God’s wrath is against the moral (Rom 2:1-16), God’s wrath is against the outwardly religious (Rom 2:17-3:8).
It’s worth it to fight for the main point. By definition, doing so enables you to focus on what God considers most important. Incidentally, it also helps you not to get lost in the sea of sub-points and minutiae that so easily commandeer your attention. As you keep main points front and center, you’ll decrease the likelihood of missing the context.
Every week, as we study a new section of Romans, we ask, “How does Paul preach the gospel (good news) in this passage?” The key here is to take the passage’s main point and show how it advances the book’s main point. Of course, in Romans 1:18-3:20, there is not much “good” news yet. We’ve had profitable discussions about why it’s so important to understand the extent of the bad news before the good news will seem truly good.
A book review is just like a book overview, except that it takes place at the end instead of the beginning. When you’ve completed examining all the book’s pieces, take time to put them back together. You may even need to revise your overview in light of what you saw as you dug deeper through the details. So I find it helpful to dedicate an entire meeting to reviewing what we learned from the book, both themes and applications. This review may solidify the lessons and help people to remember them when they return to this book in their personal study.
When you lead people in careful, contextual Bible study, you’ll be amazed to see that some of your favorite memory verses don’t actually mean what you once thought.
For example, in context, Romans 8:28 doesn’t mean that “all things” you could ever experience work together for the “good” you might hope for. No, Paul is saying specifically that all of “our present sufferings” (Rom 8:18-27) work together for that single good purpose which God predestined from the beginning: that we might be conformed to the image of his Son (Rom 8:29). Romans 8:28 offers not so much an alleviating comfort as a promise of crushing, suffocating pain — albeit a pain that will make you more beautiful for having gone through it.
How’s your time in the Word?
Pre-order now from Cruciform Press. Coming soon to Amazon.I’ve blogged long enough that most of my ideas now lie buried deep within this site’s bowels. I’ve done my best to make the most important posts accessible in the main menu, but there’s only so much I can do without exhausting new visitors. And some of those ideas deserve to stay buried. After all, didn’t the Sage of Israel once say something about the making of many blogs (Eccl 12:12)? It’s in the Hebrew, I assure you.
Well, I’ve done my best to assemble all the really important stuff in one place for you. And the nice people at Cruciform Press offered to blow off the dust, spiff it up, and publish this baby. I must say it’s made my life much more interesting of late.
Be honored, dear reader, for you are privy to this special, humorous announcement—bowels and all [1]—with Scripture liberally removed from its context. I need to keep you on your toes (which look great in sandals this time of year, by the way—Song 7:1), and my About page practically promises I’ll do it from time to time. Those whom I love, I discipline (Heb 12:7-8). The rest of the world must hold themselves content with the respectable—not to be confused with boring—Public Service Announcement.
You may like to know that my friend and former pastor Tedd Tripp wrote the book’s Foreword. And Wheaton College English Professor Leland Ryken has praised the book for “the accuracy of the proposed methodology for interacting with the Bible, and the practical approach to the subject.” Jerry Bridges, author of The Pursuit of Holiness [2], wrote, “I look forward to using it to improve my own Bible study.”
If you’ve benefitted from this wonderful OIA approach to the Bible (observe, interpret, apply), this book could be your opportunity to help train others. And if you get to read the book, I’d be tickled to hear what you think; so please feel free to drop me a line.
Pre-order now from Cruciform Press. Coming soon to Amazon.There’s no magic to memorizing long passages of Scripture. It takes hard work, but anyone can do it.
So writes Jemar Tisby in his excellent post entitled “How to Memorize Entire Books of the Bible.” Tisby believes God’s Word is powerful. Tisby claims God’s Word evokes a response. Tisby claims that God spoke his Word in books and not just in verses.
I’m inclined to agree with him on all points. Memory verses, without a clear accounting for context, are just as likely to lead us away from the truth as toward it.
And there’s no magic to memorizing long portions of Scripture. But I can attest to its value.
In the summer of 1997, on break from college, I gave myself to the task of memorizing Proverbs 1-9. A teacher at a Bible camp had inspired me with the incredible value of these chapters, so I determined to commit them to memory. Ever since, I’ve recited them about once per week.
Over these 17 years, my love for wisdom has grown more than I expected. Passages like Prov 5:7-23 and Prov 7:1-5 pop out when I face temptation. Prov 1:22 comes to mind when I’m making a dumb choice. Prov 3:1-12 always reminds me that honoring the Lord is worth it. Prov 2:6-11 comes to mind when I’m discouraged and feel like reminding the Lord (well, myself, really) of how he’s promised to work.
I’m not more noble or more committed or more righteous for having accomplished this feat of memory. Actually, I think the frequent repetition of these ideas makes me feel more dependent on the Lord than I would otherwise be.
And I’d have it no other way.
Check it out!
This short series illustrates both the importance of context and the danger of harmonization.
Context is the literary or historical situation surrounding a passage of Scripture. Harmonization is the process of combining different accounts of the same event into a single story. Without careful observation of a passage, we can easily miss the context and unintentionally harmonize narratives, tricking ourselves into thinking we understand the story.
For example, you may have heard of the “rich young ruler,” but you won’t find him in the Bible. Matthew 19:16-22 speaks of a rich young man. Mark 10:17-22 calls him a rich man. Luke 18:18-30 calls him a rich ruler. We think of him as the “rich young ruler” only because we’ve harmonized all three accounts.
This harmless example affects only minor details in the story, but what happens when our tendency toward harmonization (apart from the context) affects how we understand the meaning of a passage?
Jill M (2007), Creative Commons
To answer that question, we’ll look at the feeding of the 5,000. But before we dive into it, I need your help.
This miracle is the only one (other than the resurrection) to appear in all four Gospels. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John all considered it a necessary part of their narrative portraits of Jesus. Thus, it’s rightly familiar to us. If you’ve been a Christian for any amount of time, you’ve probably heard this story multiple times.
Here’s how you can help: Would you be willing to take a moment to answer the following question in the comments below?
Why do you think the Gospels tell this story? What is the point of the story? What did Jesus hope to do or communicate by this miracle?
Here’s another way to think of the question: If you were teaching this story in Sunday School or to an unbeliever (and you had to make it plain and simple), what would be the main takeaway you’d want people to get out of it?
I’ll come clean with you about my intentions. I don’t want you to feel like I’m setting you up to give a wrong answer so I can jump out from behind my virtual candid camera and shout, “Gotcha!” No traps here; I promise.
My point (over the next few weeks) will be this: Each of the Gospels has a different reason for telling the story. They all recount the same event for a different purpose. And I think many people unconsciously harmonize the four accounts and so flatten the unique intentions of each Gospel writer.
But before I unpack those four different points, I’d like to hear what you think “the point of the story” is. That way, I’ll gain an idea as to which of the four Gospels has been most influential for most people.
You can find the other posts on the Feeding of the 5000 here: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John.
After Friday’s year-end roundup, I’m on a top 10 kick. So here are 10 New Year’s resolutions you might want to try this year. They’re biblical, after all, but I take no responsibility for the outcomes.
Lori Ann of MamaWit (mamawit.com), Creative Commons
10. Drink water and eat vegetables. If and only if, by January 11, you are fatter, prettier, and smarter than the rest of your generation, keep it up (Dan 1:11-16). Otherwise, feel free to ditch the vegetables.
9. Do whatever Jesus would do (Matt 14:28-29, 1 Pet 3:18-20).
8. Husbands, always tell your wives what to do (Esther 1:10-12).
7. Act shrewdly enough that your potential enemies and your real enemies won’t be able to team up against you (Ex 1:10).
6. Wives, do whatever your husbands tell you to do (Acts 5:1-2, 7-10).
5. Dedicate to God whatever he brings your way (Judg 11:30-31).
4. Keep your hands to yourself (1 Cor 7:1).
3. Get more money, so you can answer everything (Eccl 10:19) and eliminate all pain and insecurity from your life (Luke 12:18-19, James 5:1).
2. Obey all the lesser-known, but not less important, commands of God, such as: “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Drink, be drunk, and vomit'” (Jer 25:27).
1. Build something great for yourself (Gen 11:1-4).
Ridiculousness aside—as for me, I’m going to begin my annual blitz through the Bible. The dark winter months can be so discouraging for me, and the most effective treatment is to drown myself in Scripture to draw closer to its Author. Would you like to join me in a speed-read through the Bible this year? If so, check out my recent post at The Gospel Coalition: “A Bible Reading Plan for Readers.”
Reading the Bible in big chunks might help us not to take individual verses out of context.
What other “biblical” resolutions could we add to the list?
I’m sure you’ve heard of Jeremiah 29:11 (“For I know the plans I have for you…”). Perhaps you’ve wielded it against some disappointed sufferer struggling to make sense of difficult decisions. Perhaps you’ve found hope from it yourself.
Thomas Turner, writing for Relevant Magazine, cogently warns us to “Stop Taking Jeremiah 29:11 Out of Context.” It’s a good reminder that context matters.
Yesterday, we saw how easy it is to take verses out of context, sort of like how Pinky takes Brain’s “Are you pondering” questions out of context. Today, I’d like to show you how context makes interpretation come alive.
Consider this set of glorious truths:
All of these verses come from Philippians 4. Look at the context: “I entreat Euodia and I entreat Syntyche to agree in the Lord. Yes, I ask you also, true companion, help these women” (Phil 4:2-3).
The Philippian church was doing well overall, but a controversy between two prominent women was threatening to rip it apart. The conflict was so severe that other people had to get involved (sort of like in Matt 18:20!) to help resolve it. Paul gave those helpers specific instructions to help with conflict resolution:
Context matters. Read books of the Bible as books, and not as collections of spiritual truisms. As you do so, and think over what I say, the Lord will give you understanding in everything (2 Tim 2:7), since you know everything (1 John 2:20) and have no need for anyone to teach you (1 John 2:27).
Now, were those last few verses used in context?
