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Apply the Bible to Your Head

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"Head" by Tinou Bao (2006), shared under a Creative Commons Attribution license

Tinou Bao (2006), Creative Commons

Gobs of Christians – myself included – do dumb things.  We say dumb things and execute dumb decisions.

Every time I talk to someone who was offended by a hurtful, idiotic comment delivered in the name of Jesus, I feel like writing an official instruction manual for Christian growth.  It would go something like this:

Take Bible.  Read it; study it.  Apply with force to head.

The first sphere of application is the Head.  It’s critical in our day that we get this.  Knowing God through his Word will change your thinking.

Consider 1 Timothy 4:16, where Paul urged Timothy to keep a close watch on himself and on his teaching, for by so doing he would save both himself and his hearers.

Consider Ephesians 4:22-24, where Paul describes Christian growth as a 3-step process:

  1. Put off your old self.
  2. Be renewed in the spirit of your mind.
  3. Put on your new self.

Consider Romans 12:2, where transformation takes place when a Christian renews his mind.

Consider Matthew 22:46, where Jesus was so freaking smart that his opponents couldn’t muster the courage to ask any more sneaky questions.

But how, you ask, does one do this?

In our sin, we replace the truth of God with a lie (Rom 1:25).  Therefore, repentance involves doing the opposite.

Therefore, three steps will enable you to apply the Bible to your thinking.

  1. First, identify what you think.
  2. Second, identify what God wants you to think instead.
  3. Third, begin thinking the new thoughts.

For example, how might you apply the main point of Luke 2:1-21 (“God sent Jesus to be born so he might save the lowly and rule them graciously. This brings him highest glory.”) to your head?

  • I usually think I have to perform adequately before Jesus will take notice of me.  I ought to think more of his glorious rescue than my performance.
  • I usually think that it’s a bad thing for my weakness to be exposed.  Actually, it can be a very good thing.
  • I usually think I must have my act together in order to lead others.  It’s more important for them to see me trusting Jesus and giving him glory.

And don’t forget to take your application outward as well:

  • Do I express favor or disappointment toward others based only on their performance?  Or do I believe that, although God requires perfection, he provided it in Christ?
  • There are people in my life that I believe deep down are beyond salvation.  I must repent of such unbelief and act toward them out of a true faith in God’s mighty working through the lowly.
  • I generally think of myself as “not a people person,” “not gifted at evangelism,” or “witnessing to Christ through my example.”  Really, I am in love with my comfort and reputation.  I must learn to think of myself as “ambassador,” “witness,” or “mouthpiece” of the Lord Jesus.

What other Head applications can you think of from Luke 2?

Two Directions for Application

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We think rich application is complicated, but Jesus proved it can be quite simple.  Consider his summary of how to apply the Bible:

A lawyer asked him a question to test him.  “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”  And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  This is the great and first commandment.  And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.  On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets” (Matt 22:35-40, ESV).

“All the Law and the Prophets” is pretty comprehensive.  Jesus said that the entirety of what God wants us to do boils down to two things: love God and love your neighbor.

"The Fork in the Road" by i_yudai (2008), shared under a Creative Commons Attribution License

i_yudai (2008), Creative Commons

These two commands show two “directions” in which we can apply any passage of the Bible: inward and outward.  We can work on becoming more Christ-like people who love God more desperately (inward application), and we can work on becoming more selfless people of influence who love others as Christ has loved us (outward application).

For example, Ephesians 6:4 has obvious and immediate inward application to fathers: Be a more Christ-like, patient, loving father to your children.  Instruct and discipline them in the ways of the Lord.  We could get much more specific, but I think you get the general idea here.

However, taking your application outward will deepen your insight, whether you are a male with children in the home or not.  How can you invest in the fathers around you to help them be better fathers?  How can you make the most of your current season of life (singleness, retirement, etc.) to serve others and help them in their parenting of their children?  What can you do to serve in your church’s children’s ministry?  How can you image God by being a father-figure to the fatherless in your community?  How might these issues affect your prayers for your church and community?

Let’s practice further on Luke 2:1-21.  We previously identified Luke’s main point as: “God sent Jesus to be born so he might save the lowly and rule them graciously. This brings him highest glory.”

Inward application might yield the following questions:

  • Do I see myself among the lowly, or among the high and mighty?
  • Am I open to the Lord’s correction and salvation?
  • How can I give more glory to God when he rescues me from my sin and foolishness?
  • Where do I feel the pain of my weakness?  Where am I resisting the Lord’s efforts to change me?
  • Who can help me be more brutally honest about my need for Christ?  How can I invite that person’s counsel?

Outward application takes us in a different, yet just as important, direction:

  • Am I faithfully proclaiming the message of Christ’s rescue to others?
  • How can I be more effective at connecting every conversation to the saving power of Christ to rescue the lowly?
  • How can I season my conversation with salt to expose where people trust in themselves and need Christ?
  • Do I believe that the Lord can rescue anyone?
  • How can I pray for God to rescue my extended family?  My neighbors?  My co-workers?
  • Why do I remain silent, caring more about my glory and comfort than God’s glorious rescue of sinners?

As you study the Bible, remember to consider both how you can change and how you can help others to change.  All the Law and the Prophets depend upon it.

The Transition from Interpretation to Application

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To study the Bible, we ought to observe, interpret, and apply. We must first see what the passage says before we can figure out what it means. Once we know what it means, we’re ready to conform our lives to God’s will.

Sometimes we stop with interpretation and never go ahead to application. Jesus said we’re in danger of flash flooding (Matt 7:24-27).

At other times, we’re quick to change, but we apply the wrong things (we haven’t interpreted carefully). Jesus said we’re in danger of missing the point (Matt 23:23-24).

How can we succeed at transitioning from Interpretation to Application? Here are 2 tips to help you build a good bridge.

"Bridge" by Umair Mohsin (2007), shared under a Creative Commons Attribution license

“Bridge” by Umair Mohsin (2007), shared under a Creative Commons Attribution license

Tip #1: Work from the main point

It’s important to understand the main point of a passage before beginning to apply it.  Working from the main point gives your application some teeth, since it focuses you on what God considers most important.  Such application is both effective and satisfying.

Note: If you’re in the Old Testament, there’s an extra step. Once you’ve determined the author’s main point, remember to connect the passage to Jesus before launching into application.

Tip #2: Ask good “So What?” questions

During the Interpretation stage, we asked lots of questions. The main types are What? Why? and So What? That third type of question can be the most difficult, but it provides the bridge between Interpretation and Application.

Let’s demonstrate this transition as we continue our study of Luke 2:1-21.

We determined the main point to be: “God sent Jesus to be born so he might save the lowly and rule them graciously. This brings him highest glory.” Now we ask, “So what?”

So what difference does Jesus’ birth make? The lowly can be saved. Their new King is a gracious King.

So what kind of people will be saved? Lowly people.

So what brings God highest glory? Saving and ruling the lowly. Humbling the great and mighty of the earth.

So what kind of person am I if Jesus has saved me? I have not done anything to earn my salvation. I am simply one more example of God using the weak to shame the strong. I am a lowly servant with a great and gracious King.

So what should I expect the Christian life to be like? Since God is in the business of glorifying himself by saving the lowly, he will constantly deepen my understanding of my lowliness and his greatness. This process might be painful, but it will generate a lifestyle of praise and thankfulness. It’s nothing less than what Jesus experienced in his birth and life.

We’ve built our bridge, and we’re now ready to apply the passage more specifically. Over the next few weeks I’ll unpack how to do this Application effectively.

How to See Jesus in Any Bible Passage

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Jesus is the main point of the entire Bible.  He said so himself (John 5:39, Luke 24:44-48).  Philip saw it (John 1:45).  Peter recognized it (1 Pet 1:10-12).  Paul knew it (2 Cor 1:20).

Do you?

Now, in seminary I was told that we have to be very careful here.  Apparently, some ancient Christian interpreters thought they saw Jesus in every detail of the Old Testament.  So Rahab’s red cord (Josh 2:18) was treated as a prophecy of the flowing blood of Christ that would save her and her family.  Or, Abraham’s servant’s 10 camels (Gen 24:10) were understood as the 10 commandments which would be fulfilled in Christ.

Not every passage of the Old Testament is a direct prediction of the life or death of Jesus Christ.  Some passages tell stories of what happened long before Jesus’ birth.  Other passages contain songs or prayers or rebukes or instruction.

So what did Jesus mean when he said that all the Scriptures were about him?

Luke 24:46-47 provides a helpful template.  Every passage of Scripture reveals Jesus by explaining at least one of the following truths:

  1. The Messiah would suffer (die).
  2. The Messiah would rise from the dead.
  3. We must repent of our sin and be forgiven.
  4. This message (that the Messiah’s death and resurrection make forgiveness possible) must be preached to all nations.

Here’s the key point: we must first understand the main point of an Old Testament passage before we can connect it to Jesus.

We shouldn’t look for Jesus in every detail.  Jesus isn’t necessarily in every detail.  But his message is there.  The message of the whole Bible is a unified message that boils down to those 4 points from Luke 24:46-47.

For example, the call of Abram in Genesis 12:1-9 is about how God chose one man to be the focal point of blessing the whole world.  What’s the connection to Jesus?  His message is for every nation.

Here’s another example: when God asked Abraham to sacrifice his only beloved son (Gen 22), he was showing Abraham (and us) how the Messiah had to die and rise from the dead.

When innocent Daniel was tossed into the lion’s den and came out unharmed (Daniel 6), he demonstrated the Messiah’s death and resurrection.

When Moses and Solomon wrote Laws and Proverbs, God was showing us how high his standards really are.  He had to expose our inability to perform so we might learn to repent of our sin and be forgiven.

Please try this at home.  When you read the Bible (especially the Old Testament), always ask which of Jesus’ 4 points is being addressed.  Decent interpretation depends upon it.

How to Interpret: Determine the Main Point

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This week I’ll explain the third of 3 steps for interpreting the Bible.

Step three was Determine the Author’s Main Point:

As you answer all your questions, pull them together into a big picture.  Your job is to understand the main thing the author is communicating through the passage (2 Pet 3:15-18).

Most theological disagreements among Christians take place when people focus on things other than the main points of passages.  I’m not saying that theology is bad (in fact, it’s very important).  I’m simply saying that it’s important to focus on the main points of the Bible and not on secondary, questionable, or implied points (Matt 23:23-24).

Here are a few ideas to help you get to the author’s main point:

  • Take note of the author’s flow of thought.  How did he get from the first verse to the last verse?  One way to do this is to break the chapter into paragraphs.  Then determine the main point for each paragraph.  String them together to see what might be the main point of the whole chapter.  If you’re still not sure, you could break it down further into sentences before putting it back together.
  • Outline the essential grammar.  This requires careful observation of the passage.  You can distill narratives to their basic plot structure.  You can outline instructional texts by writing out just the subjects and verbs of each sentence.  Often, noticing the shape of this skeleton helps with identifying the main point.
  • Consider what the passage says about Jesus.  We know he’s the main point of the Bible (John 5:39), so we should expect each section to say something about him.  I believe Luke 24:46-47 provides a helpful template.  Every passage of Scripture reveals Jesus by explaining at least one of the following truths:
    1. The Messiah would suffer (die).
    2. The Messiah would rise from the dead.
    3. We must repent of our sin and be forgiven.
    4. This message (that the Messiah’s death and resurrection make forgiveness possible) must be preached to all nations.
  • Always ask “Why?”  We’re after more than a summary of what the author wrote.  We want to do our best to figure out why he wrote it.

Your analysis of the main point of Luke 2:1-21 might look something like this:

  • verses 1-7: in contrast to the might of Rome, Jesus, the heir of King David, is born into great obscurity.
  • verses 8-14: heavenly soldiers herald his birth to the lowly, not the powerful.  Jesus is not presented as a conquering king, but as a savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.
  • verses 15-21: the lowly serve the true King by racing, viewing, and testifying.

So far, so good.  We could summarize the passage by calling it “The Birth of Jesus Christ.”  But we must move beyond summarizing to ask why it is here.  What does Luke want to teach us?

I’d suggest something like: God sent Jesus to be born so he might save the lowly and rule them graciously.  This brings him highest glory.

How to Interpret: Answer Questions

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This week I’ll unpack the second of 3 steps for interpreting the Bible.

Step two was Answer the Questions from the Text:

Once you’ve asked your questions, answer them.  There’s one critical rule, though: answer questions only if they are answered (or clearly implied) in the text (Prov 30:5-6).

Don’t go on rabbit trails.  Don’t use minor details to make the text say what you want it to say.  Don’t build a whole theology from one verse.  Instead, answer only those questions that are either assumed or addressed in the text.  Let the rest go.

Two kinds of answers are “in the text”:

  1. Some answers are assumed in the text.  The original audience would have known these answers, but they’re lost on us because of the thousands of years that separate our lifetime from theirs.  We need websites or Bible dictionaries to help us understand what scholars have learned about ancient cultures. We can also reference related Scripture passages to illuminate the one at hand.
  2. Some answers are addressed in the text.  The author made these explicit for his audience.

From Luke 2:1-21, here are some examples of answers assumed in the text:

  • What was it like to experience upheaval for a census?
    • Some in Luke’s original audience may have remembered this very census that occurred during Quirinius’s governorship.  We should look it up. (On the link, scroll down to point (2) “Census of Quirinius.”)
  • What does it mean that Jesus is called “Christ”?
    • We need help from passages like Psalm 2:2 to provide the necessary background.
  • How long was Joseph and Mary’s trip from Nazareth to Bethlehem?  How did people view shepherds at this time?
    • Most of the original audience would understand what it was like to travel from Galilee to Judea, or to interact with shepherds.  We need tools like websites or Bible dictionaries to help us understand such things.

Here’s an example of answers addressed in the text:

  • Why does Luke contrast Jesus’ glory with that of the Roman rulers?
    • Because God deserves the highest glory (Luke 2:14).  He is saving the world through Christ the Lord (Luke 2:11).
  • So what does Luke want us to do about Jesus?
    • In contrast to the Might of Rome (Luke 2:1-2), Mary treasured up these things (Luke 2:19), and the shepherds gave God highest praise & glory (Luke 2:20).  Luke implies that we should have similar responses to Jesus.

Finally, here are some possible questions not assumed or addressed in the text.  We ought to let them go (at least for now):

  • Did Mary walk or ride on a donkey?
  • Was Jesus born in a stable or a cave?
  • Do angels have wings?
  • Who are those “with whom he is pleased” (Luke 2:14), and what does this tell us about predestination?

What other answers to your questions can you find in the passage?

How to Interpret: Ask Questions

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Last week I introduced 3 steps for interpreting the Bible.

Step one was Ask Questions of Your Observations:

Take your observations and ask questions of them.  Lots of questions.  Tackle those observations from every direction.

Be as inquisitive as possible.  Get better at asking questions, and you’ll get better at interpreting the Bible.

Note that your questions should be about your observations of the text.  Don’t ask just any old questions.  Don’t feel the need to be particularly clever.  Your job is not to innovate, but to uncover.  (Note how the disciples didn’t observe well, and so asked the wrong questions in John 21:22-23.)

The main questions to ask are What? Why? and So What?

  • What? questions define the terms.  (“What did he mean?”)
  • Why? questions uncover the author’s purpose.  (“Why did he say that?”)
  • So What? questions draw out the implications.  (“So what does he want me to do about it?”)

For example, let’s say you’re studying Luke 2:1-21.  You just observed that there’s a repeated idea of power and authority.  You saw lots of words like, “Lord,” “governor,” “decree,” “Caesar,” and “glory.”  Now it’s time to ask questions:

  • What kind of authority is Luke concerned with?  What was a “governor” in Ancient Rome?  What was the extent of Caesar’s power?  What will Jesus do that’s different?  What are angels?
    • How questions often fit into this category as well: How long was the trip from Nazareth to Bethlehem?  How did people view shepherds at this time?
  • Why is Luke so concerned with power?  Why did Caesar make this decree?  Why does the author contrast baby Jesus’ glory with the Roman leaders’ authority?  Why were the shepherds filled with fear at the sight of an angel?
  • So what does this mean about where true authority lies?  So what should we believe about Jesus?  So what should we expect when Jesus comes into conflict with the world?

What other questions can you think of from your observation of Luke 2:1-21?  See if you can identify whether your question is a What? Why? or So What? question.

What to Observe: Mood

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Scottish writer Thomas Carlyle said, “There are good and bad times, but our mood changes more often than our fortune.”  It’s no less true for the authors of Bible books than it is for us.

When you sit down to study a Bible passage, you’ll make great progress by observing words, grammar, structure, and genre.  One further element is important, although more subjective: mood.

What is mood?  Let me demonstrate by writing the same sentence a few different ways:

  1. I’m not upset with you.
  2. I’m not upset with you.
  3. I’m not upset with you.
  4. I’M NOT UPSET WITH YOU!!!

Can you sense a slightly different intention behind each one of those statements?  Can you picture a context in which you might express yourself simliarly?  For example, #1 might be a simple statement, but #4 might come after days of pestering (and it might be followed with, “but I will be if you keep this up!”).

Although ancient literature didn’t have conventions like bold and italic fonts or punctuation, there are certainly other ways to communicate mood.

Look at Luke 2:13, NET: “Suddenly a vast, heavenly army appeared with the angel, praising God and saying…”  What sort of a mood comes across?

How might the mood come across differently if Luke had said, “Other angels were present to affirm the message.”

Or, “With a grand chorus, multitudes of angels gave voice to their delight at this new development in world history.”

Or, “Spiritual forces of darkness were able to run rampant around the world that day, because all the good guys had gathered in one place to proclaim what a big deal this little baby was going to be.”

Or, “The shepherds listened with delight to the tune of these humble servants of God.”

The author of a Bible passage is able to communicate not just the details, but how the participants experienced those details.  In doing so, he desires the audience to experience this story similarly.

As far as the mood goes, Luke 2:13-14 should make you think more of “I don’t know what I’ve been told” than “Silent Night.”

Make sure you pay attention to the mood.

What to Observe: Genre

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Professor and Poet Marilyn Hacker once said, “Poetry seems to have been eliminated as a literary genre, and installed instead, as a kind of spiritual aerobic exercise – nobody need read it, but anybody can do it.”  She lamented the loss of poetry’s unique place and rigorous standards in popular writing.  The implications of her perspective impact our Bible study, because sometimes it can be easy to miss the significance of a text’s genre.

In answer to the question “how do I observe a Bible passage?” or “where do I begin when I sit down to study the Bible?” we’ve discussed numerous items to consider: words, grammar, and structure.  Today we come to a fourth item: genre.

Genre is easy to miss because it’s not something that is likely to change substantially from verse to verse.  Once you observe a book’s genre, you’re likely to come across only minor deviations from time to time.  The important thing is that we remain on the lookout.

Let’s use our study of Luke 2:1-24 as an example.

The main observation to make is straigtforward: the genre of this text, as with most of Luke, is historical narrative.  The author reports on events that actually happened (see Luke 1:1-4 for his intentions), but he does so by telling a story.  He doesn’t issue a medical report or a media sound byte.  He’s done his research, interviewing witnesses and collecting relevant documents, but he presents the facts in the shape of a narrative of the key events that verify the truthfulness of what has been taught about Jesus.

What are the implications of this observation?

  1. It really happened.  Luke 2:1-24 speaks of governors, shepherds, and angels.  A baby is born to a virgin.  These things are neither fable nor fairy tale.  They were researched, verified, and presented as historical fact.
  2. The story has an agenda.  Although factually trustworthy, it would be naive to conclude that the text was written in a coldly objective way.  The author still has an agenda.  He includes certain details, and excludes others, for a reason.  The purpose of the story is to tell a story, not to report on every little thing that might forestall potential questions.  How many shepherds were there?  Did the angels have wings?  Were they floating in the sky?  Was Jesus born in a stable or a cave?  We don’t know.  Such specifics were not part of Luke’s agenda.

One more thing: observe that the genre changes briefly in Luke 2:14, where we get a brief switch to poetry.

We know Luke 2:14 is poetry because:

  • the angels were praising God (likely singing)
  • the quote consists of two parallel lines (the chief component of Jewish poetry)

Why is this observation significant?  Because we ought to change our expectations.  “Glory to God in the highest” does not mean that God exists physically at a higher altitude than everyone else.  Something more poetic, more figurative, is intended.

What to Observe: Structure

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Rock singer Geddy Lee of Rush once said, “That is what intrigues me; songwriting and song structure and expression.”  As the holder of a Bachelor’s Degree in Music, I agree. 

Much music is based on an ABA structure.  You start with a musical idea, develop that idea (or go to a second idea), and then return to the main idea.  “Three Blind Mice” is a good example, where the line “three blind mice” represents the A section, and the stuff in the middle is the B section.

Similarly, when we learn how to study the Bible, a good skill to develop is how to observe structure.  It is another thing to observe, after words and grammar.

Let’s observe Luke 2:1-24 as an example.  Look at the flow of the story:

A The pomp of the Roman government and census

B Joseph and Mary give birth to a son

C Shepherds were living out in the field

D An angel appeared with a message about the Lord

E An army of angels appeared, praising God, saying:

F “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace”

E The angels left and went back to heaven

D The shepherds believe the message from the Lord, and they go, sharing it

C The shepherds return to their field, glorifying and praising God

B The son is named Jesus

A The humility of Jesus’ family (who couldn’t afford sheep for sacrifice)

Such an outline, where the second half is sort of a mirror image of the first half, was really common in ancient literature.  One reason why they did it was to make it easier to hear the passage read aloud.  You could hear the story move in towards a climax and then unravel back out.

It helps to observe such things, because the climax of such a structure usually comes at the center.  In this case, we see that God is concerned with his own glory (in contrast to the glory of Rome), and he will use Jesus to bring about peace between himself and those with whom he is pleased.

Other parts of the Bible use more logical structures.  For example, look at Hebrews 2:17-7:28.

I.  Jesus is a merciful and faithful high priest – 2:17-18

A.  Jesus is a faithful high priest – 3:1-6

B.  Application – 3:7-4:14

C.  Jesus is a merciful high priest – 4:15-5:10

D.  Application – 5:11-6:20

II.  Jesus is a high priest like Melchizedek – 6:20

A.  Explanation: how Jesus is like Melchizedek – 7:1-28

This outline covers just a portion of the book of Hebrews.  The entire book is structured similarly: a point is stated, then explained and applied.  The application leads into the next point, which is stated, explained, and applied.

Observing the structure is one step in our study.  Once we see it, we’re better equipped to identify the sections so we can interpret and apply them.

We’ve now had three posts on specific observation skills: observing words, grammar, and structure.  Have you noticed how each post had a common structure?  Check ’em out again, and use your new-found skills when you study the Bible.