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Jesus is the Best Thing for Your Conscience

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A person’s conscience is a funny thing.

‌My earliest memory of what I would consider my “conscience” involves a little orange newt I found when I was 6 or 7 years old. I picked it up and thought it would be fun to throw it as hard as I could into a brick wall at point blank range.

‌Far from being fun, it made me feel sick to my stomach.

‌A little voice in my head informed me that I was a poor excuse for a human being. And that voice was right.

‌I tried to cover my tracks, so nobody would know of my dark deeds. But I still just couldn’t stand the time spent waiting for others to return to my location, and potentially catch me red-handed.

eastern newt on ground
Photo by Connor McManus on Pexels.com

‌What about you? What sort of run-ins have you had with your conscience? And what is it like to wait for the eventual return of King Jesus?

‌Does your conscience inject your waiting with anxiety at what he will find, or with eagerness for his justice?

‌Maybe your conscience still accuses you of things you have done. Maybe it reminds you of your past, or of the secret desires you don’t wish to speak about openly. Maybe your conscience gives you a clean bill of health … for now.

‌Regardless, Hebrews 9 has some really good news for you: Jesus is the best thing for your conscience.

The chapter divides into two main sections. The first section (Heb 9:1-14) describes the “regulations for worship and an earthly place of holiness” (Heb 9:1), culminating in the assurance of eternal redemption (Heb 9:12) through the eternal Spirit (Heb 9:14). The second section (Heb 9:15-28) elaborates on Jesus’ new covenant mediation, which provides an eternal inheritance (Heb 9:15).

‌So Jesus is the best thing for your conscience — for those two reasons. He provides an eternal redemption, and he promises an eternal inheritance.

‌If Jesus is your priest, nobody can take these things away. Your redemption. Your inheritance. And these two things will have a profoundly cleansing effect on your conscience.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll take a closer look at each section of this glorious chapter.

Subverting Abraham’s Bad Rap

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I am grateful to T.M. Suffield for his courage to take on (and take down) our widespread presumption that Abraham was a cowardly liar. Suffield takes us deep into the argument of Genesis and the overall message of the book.

What I am suggesting is that we should read these texts looking at the warp and woof of the Bible, the texture of the whole story, and considering why these stories are in Genesis at the point that they are. We’ll notice that they have more to do with the grand narrative and with Jesus than we might just think; this isn’t just by contrast either. Jesus does treat his wife differently in the presence of evil kings to Abraham. The point isn’t that he doesn’t disown us, because Abraham doesn’t and Jesus is our brother, but that he can protect us from snake-like kings. Some of them might even turn to God because of the church’s beauty.

And I think Suffield is exactly right. My co-blogger Ryan has written a wonderful piece on how we love to give gold stars to Bible characters. And that tendency too often leads us to draw all the wrong conclusions, sometimes missing the explicit assessment of Bible characters given in the text itself.

For example: Here is my not-at-all-controversial list of things I’ve found people typically get wrong:

  • Noah’s drinking wasn’t the issue; Ham’s rebellion was (Gen 9:24-25).
  • Abraham’s description of his wife as his sister wasn’t the issue; the evil king’s oppression was (Gen 12:17, 20:6-7, 20:18).
  • Jacob wasn’t as much a wicked trickster as he was a courageous fighter for the promises of God (Gen 25:34b, 32:28).
  • Moses: an out-of-control hothead and murderer? Try again: He was an attempted—albeit rejected—deliverer (Acts 7:24-25).

I can’t say whether Suffield would agree with all the items on my list here. But his piece on Abraham and Sarah is well-argued and worth your consideration.

Check it out!

Salted With Fire

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“Everyone will be salted with fire,” says Jesus in Mark 9:49. But what does that mean?

Alistair Begg makes skillful use of the literary context (the argument of the larger passage), biblical context (Old Testament background), and cultural context (practices contemporary to Jesus and his disciples) to unravel this mysterious saying.

It’s clear that Jesus deals here with weighty truths. And it’s against the backdrop of verse 48 (in which He describes hell as a place where the “worm does not die and the fire is not quenched”) that His puzzling teaching on salt appears. With the costliness of discipleship and the picture of fire fixed in His disciples’ minds, Jesus asserts, “Everyone will be salted with fire.” How should we understand this peculiar phrase?

Check it out!

How to Read the Sermon on the Plain

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When studying a passage in the gospels, we must handle parallel passages with care. We’ll make better use of the parallels if we don’t merely harmonize but illuminate.

For example, let’s take Luke’s Sermon on the Plain in Luke 6. Much time could be spent on the question of harmonization: Is this the same sermon as Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount, or not? How do we harmonize these two extensive teachings of Jesus?

But that question of harmonization is not nearly as important as the following:

  • What is Luke’s message in Luke 6?
  • What is Matthew’s message in Matthew 5-7?

Those questions may not have the same answer!

To help you with this example, let me recommend an article called “The Sermon on the Plain: What It Is & How It Differs from the Sermon on the Mount.” I wrote this article to analyze some of the similarities and differences between the two sermons. But ultimately, I wanted to get to these four suggestions:

  1. Don’t be distracted by the Mount/Plain question
  2. Read the entire sermon as a sermon
  3. Read the sermon in the context of Luke’s Gospel
  4. Read, read, and read again

Check it out!

Rescuing the One Anothers from our Presumptive Familiarity

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The greatest enemy of observation is familiarity. When you think you know something, you stop trying to learn from or about it. Perhaps you understand that in theory, but what does it look like in the practice of our Bible study?

I recently published a piece on the Logos blog with “4 Tips for Reading the One Anothers in the Bible.” In this post, I evaluate the practice of mushing together the many “one-another” commands of the New Testament into an overarching framework for Christian ethics. Along the way, I attempt to show how our broad familiarity with these one-anothers as a whole has prevented us from properly understanding some of them.

What are the four tips?

  1. Remember that you are reading someone else’s mail
  2. Consider the historical context
  3. Consider the train of thought
  4. Focus on the main point

The article will explain these tips further, with examples along the way.

Check it out!

No Need to Push; Just Blow

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The climax of interpretation is to determine the author’s main point. And while there’s rarely a single, “correct” way to word the main point, some ways of phrasing it are more helpful than others.

Arrive at the Cliff’s Edge

As the climax of interpretation, the main point is the final rest stop before entering the territory of application. Your statement of the author’s main point represents the sum total of all your work to that point. The main point answers your most important why questions. And your main point ought to be 40-weeks-and-two-days pregnant with the answers to your most important so what questions.

As you craft your statement of the author’s main point, avoid the temptation to include everything the passage says. Your goal is not to include every thing but only to capture the main thing.

And the way you capture that main thing matters. Think of observation and interpretation as a high plateau covered in a dense forest. You’ve examined the trees, but you’ve grasped the way they fit together into that forest.

But at the edge of that forest is a cliff, dropping off into a vast canyon. That canyon represents application. And the closer your main point gets to that cliff’s edge, the better it is—both for yourself and those you lead in Bible study. Aim to get close enough to the cliff’s edge that you won’t need to push yourself or others too hard to get into application. All you have to do is blow, and you’ll all fall right into it.

In other words, your main point is the Roadrunner. Your goal in crafting a main point is to get that Wile E. Coyote (be he yourself or those you lead) out of the forest and up to the edge of the cliff. Even better, get him six feet out beyond the cliff’s edge. Once he realizes he’s there, all he needs to do is fall.

What This Looks Like

Your main point should be a clear, concise, and compelling statement of the truth of the text. You don’t want it to be obscure, such that nobody knows what it means. You don’t want it to be lengthy, such that nobody can hold it in mind. You don’t want it to be dry and dusty, such that nobody knows what to do with it.

You’re not inventing the idea; you’re only phrasing it in a compelling way. So your main point should clearly capture the truth of the text while also clearly implying a variety of applications.

For example, I could state the main point of Eph 4:1-16 as follows: “As a church, we must walk in the sort of unity worthy of God’s calling on us in Christ.” That would be true and accurate, scoring bonus points for using the very language of the passage. However, I can take the same truth and rephrase it in a more compelling way, getting myself and my people right up over the canyon of application: “Diversity shouldn’t divide the church.” Once I put it that way, I raise all kinds of questions about our church and what sorts of things we permit to divide us.

Let’s take Proverbs 30:1-6 for another example. I could state the main point as: “God’s Son and his Word communicate his truth and wisdom to us, providing refuge to the weary.” Or I could state it as: “You can find heaven’s wisdom on earth.” If we had more time to discuss it, I’m sure we could improve it even further.

One more example, from a narrative: 1 Kings 21. We could phrase the main point as: “God’s people were expelled like Amorites because their kings abused power and refused justice like Amorites.” That statement captures what this narrative gets at, especially regarding how it would have landed with the original audience. But perhaps another way to phrase the same truth for a modern audience (even if that “audience” is only myself) is: “Sellouts will be found out.”

No Need to Push; Just Blow

In each case, do you see how my rephrasing of the main point hangs us out right over the canyon of application? I won’t need to push myself or others into application. All I have to do is show how deep the canyon goes. And we’ll fall right in.

Each rephrased main point raises immediate questions about our current situation, need, or status. It begs us to ask more implicational questions. And it drives us toward proper belief, values, or action in service to Christ.

Next time you work on a passage, give yourself some time to think long and hard about the main point. Not only what it is but how to phrase it. See how far you can get yourself off the cliff of interpretation and out over the canyon of application. Of course, without actually turning the main point into any particular application. This takes quite a bit of thought, but the effort is extraordinarily rewarding. Your future self—entrusted with the business of applying this text to life—will thank you.

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.

Why Summaries are Not the Same as Main Points

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I want you to understand that you can get the main point of a Bible passage you’re studying. That’s why, in addition to providing some techniques, I’ve given you a number of examples from different text types in the Bible.

Before we move into application, there’s one last thing you should know about main points: They are not the same as summaries.

one black chess piece separated from red pawn chess pieces
Photo by Markus Spiske on Pexels.com

Definitions

An accurate summary may be the climax of observation, but a main point is the climax of interpretation. A summary states what the passage says; a main point states what the passage means. A summary describes what happens; a main point captures the text’s essential argument.

A summary of Prov 31:10-31 might be “a description of a virtuous woman,” but the main point is to show what sort of woman is worthy of praise.

A summary of Luke 18:1-30 might be “parables and conversations about prayer, righteousness, and the kingdom of God,” but the main point is that the kingdom of God comes when people humble themselves, receive it as children, and leave some things to gain everything.

A summary of Ephesians 4 might be “unity in the body of Christ, and the new life,” but the main point is that diversity shouldn’t divide the church; but when it does, stop thinking about it the way Gentiles do

Uses

Why does this distinction matter?

Sometimes folks who study the Bible mistake the main point for a summary. They put in the work of analyzing a text and they can outline its contents. But it’s dangerous to then take those contents and attempt to apply them, because they have little rational basis for applying them in one way and not another.

A summary is most helpful when you need to find something or remember where it’s located in the Scriptures. (“There’s a great parable about two men who prayed to God from a desire to be righteous before him. Let’s take a look at Luke 18 to see how that worked out for them.”) But a main point is crucial when it comes time to provoke change unto Christlikeness.

We’re on shaky ground if we apply only select details of a text to our lives. It’s shaky because it’s possible to go in nearly any direction with application. Using only the details enables us to steer the ship of our own lives on a heading most pleasing to us.

But the best way to express submission to the Scripture and the Holy Spirit who inspired them is to grasp the author’s main point. Then there’s nowhere to hide and we must give account to the one who exposes our every thought, word, and deed.

That’s right: A clear grasp of the author’s main point is the best way to ensure your application is clear, direct, and organically arising from the text and not from your own invention.

An Example

For example, Genesis 1 clearly teaches about the creation of the world. There’s your summary of the chapter: The creation of the world. But until we can explain—from the text!—why this chapter narrates the creation of the world in the way it does, we have not yet grappled with the author’s agenda. His message. His main point.

So if all we come away with is “the creation of the world,” then we can apply the text in all sorts of ways. We can expect folks to line up with a particular view of how the creation took place. We can promote it as something to be taught in schools. We can debate the findings or usefulness of scientific theories based on their relationship to the details of Genesis 1.

Please note: I am not saying that any of those applications are necessarily bad things to do. I would argue only that they are somewhat ancillary to the author’s main message. Therefore, we’re in danger of putting most of our attention on things other than the thing the Lord wanted us to get from this text. And the Lord Jesus tends not to look favorably on those who ignore the “weightier matters” of his word in favor of secondary matters, however true those secondary matters might be.

In my book Knowable Word, I argue that the main point of Genesis 1 is that God’s creative work sets a pattern for human dominion of the earth—a pattern of illuminating, shaping, and filling. Every detail in the text moves the reader in this direction. I would argue that God certainly did the creation the way he describes it in this chapter; this is neither theological poetry nor historical fiction. However, the mechanics of the act of creation are not the main thing; the main thing is the pattern set for humanity.

Once we recognize the author’s intent to establish a divine pattern for human dominion—for the way life on earth was designed to work best—we’re ready to develop robust application for any community, anywhere in the world. We’ll understand how this pattern becomes the template for evaluating what happens to humanity in the rest of Genesis, and the rest of the Bible. And we’ll take greater delight in the Lord Jesus who lived out the pattern on behalf of his people and now transforms them to follow him in it.

How to Respond When People Treat the Bible Like a Code to Crack

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I really appreciate this recent piece by Mark Ward entitled “The Secret Meaning of YHWH.” He responds to a widely shared social media post about how each Hebrew letter has a particular “meaning,” leading the posted to identify the meaning of the Lord’s name as “Behold the nails in my hands.”

When such “deeper” or “secret” meanings of Scripture get circulated, how ought we to respond? How does one evaluate or rebut such claims?

Ward’s primary approach is to show what sort of absurdity results when the method is applied to other biblical words or sentences. By this method, God’s title Adonai must mean “Ox door serpent hand.” And the secret meaning of Genesis 1:1 is “The house’s head ox had a tooth in his arm—marked with a house head ox, in fact. And an ox goad in the window had a hand on the water ox. But, mark well, the window tooth also had a water arm, a water hook, and an ox mark window. Ox heads are papyrus plants.”

Ward show us how to respond to such theories with grace and kindness—along with a strong dose of reality. Remember that studying the Bible is not code breaking.

Check it out!

Better Than a Wild Guess: Poetry

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I’ve argued that you can get the main point; you’re not reduced to making a wild guess every time you study a passage. A few key skills will be most helpful:

Last week I gave some examples of how this works from narrative and discourse texts. Now let me show you some brief examples of poetic texts.

Photo by kaziminmizan Mizan on Unsplash

Proverbs 2

This chapter of Proverbs functions almost like a discourse, with tight logical reasoning.

  • If you listen and search for God’s wisdom – Prov 2:1-4
  • Then you will find it – Prov 2:5
  • For God loves to give it out – Prov 2:6-10
  • It will guard you – Prov 2:11
    • From the way of evil men – Prov 2:12-15
    • From the forbidden woman – Prov 2:16-19
    • For the way of the good – Prov 2:20-22

The thesis clearly comes in the first five verses. The rest of the poem supports that thesis with a variety of reasons and consequences.

The main point: The Lord delights to grant a delivering wisdom to those who listen and search for it.

Proverbs 31:10-31

It’s easy to get lost in the details of this famous poem. However, my colleague Tom Hallman, who recently preached the most helpful sermon I’ve ever heard on this text, demonstrated beautifully how the structure and train of thought communicate the poem’s main point.

You can find Tom’s extended outline (color-coded!) in this Google Doc. The outer frame of the poem (Prov 31:10-12, 27-29) sets up a large chiasm—a structure where the second half mirrors the first half in reverse order. But instead of continuing a single, long chiasm, he embeds two shorter chiasms in the middle.

The main ideas of each of those embedded chiasms are brought together in the poem’s conclusion (Prov 31:30-31).

The repeated idea that keeps coming up is how this woman is to be praised. And the woman in view is not a young woman, a potential marriage partner. She is an older woman, having lived a life of wisdom. This poem is not a checklist for a potential spouse but a lifetime achievement award for a woman of wisdom.

Check out the linked doc for details. The structure and train of thought demonstrate that the poem’s main idea is to show what sort of woman is worthy of praise.

Try This at Home

I admit that the Prov 31 example gets a little complex. And Tom told me he didn’t see all this himself. He noticed a few things, and then tracked down and assimilated the helpful insights of others. It took him some time to sharpen his observation and interpretive questions and answers.

But I hope all of these examples give you some hope that this can be done. You don’t have to make a wild guess at the main point. Keep observing. Keep asking and answering questions. Nail down the structure as best you can, and figure out how the author moves from the beginning to the end. Where does he draw conclusions or highlight particular ideas?

Please know that I am not offering these main points as definitive or unquestionable. These main points are only the best I can do with my current understanding of those texts. But they are open to debate or sharpening.

Some of my favorite small group discussions take place when others challenge what I thought was the main point. When folks do that well, through careful observation and interpretation of the text, we all win.

As you improve in these skills, you’ll gain both facility and confidence at identifying the main points the Spirit of God wishes to communicate through the Scripture.