Continued from last...
HOW TO STUDY THE BIBLE
The wrong way to study the Bible is by relying entirely upon others. Far too many Christians are clothed in spiritual “hand-me-downs,” borrowing or stealing conclusions of others (pastor, Bible school professor, commentator, Christian writer, etc.) for the biblical knowledge they possess—or do not possess. Relying solely on others is known as being spoon-fed. If the people you parrot misinterpreted the text to begin with, how tragic it is for you and those you attempt to teach? Secondary biblical knowledge does not produce a genuine heart-felt faith. It never becomes real to you because you have not settled it in your heart and made it your own. This kind of knowledge lacks the deep faith, spiritual power, and intimacy with Christ that all Christians should crave.
The right way to study the Bible is the long, thorough and intensive way. Proper biblical study takes a great deal of time and effort. Merely reading your Bible every day is not studying the Bible. In order to study the Bible rightly, you need a guide (Acts 8:30-31). According to John 16:13, our guide must be the Holy Spirit, Who is the Author of truth. As I indicated in the opening of this chapter, you must never open the Scriptures without the Holy Spirit.
In order to be a successful expositor, you need the proper knowledge and tools to do your job. Before you begin to study the Scriptures, there are three principles/rules that you must apply.
STEP 1—Observation of the text. You need to ask the question, “What does it say?” First, you must observe the internal text, becoming familiar with your selected text by reading over it several times until you can see all of its elements and details. Second, you must observe the external context, realizing that everything in the Bible is tied together, and so locating these other passages of Scripture and becoming familiar with them lest you arrive at some very wrongly divided conclusions. Always start with 1:1, because every text has a beginning. The Bible was not written with the divisions of verses and chapters as we have today; so do not trust them. You can determine the main subject by asking “Who?” or “What?” Note when the main subject changes and mark that place as the end of your text. You might use a mark such as this: ///.
When observing the internal text, you need to be able to answer such questions as: What is God doing in the text? What people are mentioned? What are they doing? Does the text mention a date, a time, or a place? Does the text refer to something else in the Bible? You should be able to answer these questions and more once you have become familiar with your selected text. When observing the external context, you need to examine the surrounding verses (immediate context), the surrounding chapters (sectional context), and other passages (canonical context). You also need to become familiar with the outline, purpose, and themes of the book in which your text resides, looking for similarities to your selected text. You should be studying the grammar, history, and theology of the text.
STEP 2—Interpretation of the text. You need to ask the question, “What did it mean?” After accomplishing everything in step one, you should be able to make some preliminary statements concerning the meaning of your selected text. You need to be aware of what the original audience understood by the words that were being spoken to them. Remember, contrary to Dispensationalism, Jesus and the Apostles never spoke over the heads of their listeners. What they told their hearers had direct application to them, and they would have understood it clearly. To claim that Jesus and the Apostles spoke over the heads of their hearers with grand things having to do with millennia in the future, of which they would have no understanding whatsoever, is a cop-out for poor biblical study.
When you interpret the text, you need to do so critically in regard to your interpretation, making use of rational and logical sense. Texts only have one meaning. A text cannot mean one thing to me and another to you. God says what He means and means what He says. Exegesis is a taking out of the text based on what it says. Eisegesis is a reading into the text based on how one feels. We have covered many eisegetical interpretations of the Dispensatioanlists within the pages of this book, correcting them apologetically via exegetical interpretation.
After you have studied your selected text thoroughly and conclusively, using some study tools to aid you in the process, and are sure of your interpretation, it is time to verify your interpretation by consulting with others. This is where consulting commentaries should come in. They are the last step in your biblical study and interpretation process. If you examine several, you can see whether or not you have strayed from the general consensus. If you seem to be out of sorts with a wide variety of commentators, it might be wise to double check your work. You may have made an error along the way. But also remember that the commentators are fallible men, so just because they may all agree does not mean they are correct. Study your text carefully, thoroughly, with humility, and under the Spirit’s guidance, willing to submit to His leading and teaching. If the evidence backs your interpretation, it just might be that the other commentators approached the text via a pre-supposition and misunderstanding. None of us are infallible.
STEP 3—Application of the text. You need to ask the question, “What does it mean for me?” After you have verified your interpretation of the text, then you need to believe that interpretation and act accordingly. Remember, James told us that faith without works is dead. Faith needs to be put into action, just as Abraham was justified by offering up Isaac. His faith was put into action, and because He believed God, His faith was counted for righteousness. Scripture aims at changing our lives, and when we have learned a particular truth about Scripture, we need to allow it to change our life. Otherwise we are being disobedient children.
The most important aspect of Bible study is not in the knowledge or application of what you have learned, but in sharing that truth with others. When others have it wrong, we are obligated to correct them as Christ corrected us. If we learn a truth and do not share it, we do our brothers and sisters a disservice. We are not pleasing the Son and glorifying the Father. God wants us to share His truths with the rest of His children. Remember it! Share it!
CONTEXT
When you read 1 Thess. 4:13-18, it sounds like it teaches what the Dispensationalist wants to convince you of, but what does it say when you read it in the context of the entire chapter? What about in the context of the entire letter or book? Ah, now it takes on an entirely different understanding. About the only book in the Bible where you can quote random, isolated verses and still have them reflect their original context is the book of Proverbs. There are three things you should always remember when interpreting the Bible: Context, context, context!
Remember, start with 1:1. Examine the surrounding verses (immediate context), the surrounding chapters (sectional context), and other passages (canonical context). If you make sure you do this consistently, you will prevent yourself from performing what is called “collapsing context,” where you take two separate passages (Proverbs 8:1-17 and 1 Corinthians 1:30) and connect them as if they are related.
Some genuine Bible preachers will mistakenly preach a sermon wherein they teach that because Jesus is the wisdom of God, Proverbs 8 must be referring to Jesus. However, certain cults, like the Jehovah’s Witnesses, also teach this because in this passage it says that wisdom is created, and they believe Jesus to be a created being—not God Himself. The biggest evidence that Proverbs 8 is not speaking about Jesus as being the Wisdom of God is that Proverbs calls wisdom “she.” Jesus is not a she. The wisdom spoken of here is the attribute of wisdom and is contrasted against the harlot throughout the entire book of Proverbs. So the two passages have nothing to do with each other. Even John Calvin mistakenly associated Proverbs 8:15 in relation to Jesus Christ being the eternal wisdom of God in his commentary on Daniel, even though Jesus is such.
The wrong way to study the Bible is by relying entirely upon others. Far too many Christians are clothed in spiritual “hand-me-downs,” borrowing or stealing conclusions of others (pastor, Bible school professor, commentator, Christian writer, etc.) for the biblical knowledge they possess—or do not possess. Relying solely on others is known as being spoon-fed. If the people you parrot misinterpreted the text to begin with, how tragic it is for you and those you attempt to teach? Secondary biblical knowledge does not produce a genuine heart-felt faith. It never becomes real to you because you have not settled it in your heart and made it your own. This kind of knowledge lacks the deep faith, spiritual power, and intimacy with Christ that all Christians should crave.
The right way to study the Bible is the long, thorough and intensive way. Proper biblical study takes a great deal of time and effort. Merely reading your Bible every day is not studying the Bible. In order to study the Bible rightly, you need a guide (Acts 8:30-31). According to John 16:13, our guide must be the Holy Spirit, Who is the Author of truth. As I indicated in the opening of this chapter, you must never open the Scriptures without the Holy Spirit.
In order to be a successful expositor, you need the proper knowledge and tools to do your job. Before you begin to study the Scriptures, there are three principles/rules that you must apply.
STEP 1—Observation of the text. You need to ask the question, “What does it say?” First, you must observe the internal text, becoming familiar with your selected text by reading over it several times until you can see all of its elements and details. Second, you must observe the external context, realizing that everything in the Bible is tied together, and so locating these other passages of Scripture and becoming familiar with them lest you arrive at some very wrongly divided conclusions. Always start with 1:1, because every text has a beginning. The Bible was not written with the divisions of verses and chapters as we have today; so do not trust them. You can determine the main subject by asking “Who?” or “What?” Note when the main subject changes and mark that place as the end of your text. You might use a mark such as this: ///.
When observing the internal text, you need to be able to answer such questions as: What is God doing in the text? What people are mentioned? What are they doing? Does the text mention a date, a time, or a place? Does the text refer to something else in the Bible? You should be able to answer these questions and more once you have become familiar with your selected text. When observing the external context, you need to examine the surrounding verses (immediate context), the surrounding chapters (sectional context), and other passages (canonical context). You also need to become familiar with the outline, purpose, and themes of the book in which your text resides, looking for similarities to your selected text. You should be studying the grammar, history, and theology of the text.
STEP 2—Interpretation of the text. You need to ask the question, “What did it mean?” After accomplishing everything in step one, you should be able to make some preliminary statements concerning the meaning of your selected text. You need to be aware of what the original audience understood by the words that were being spoken to them. Remember, contrary to Dispensationalism, Jesus and the Apostles never spoke over the heads of their listeners. What they told their hearers had direct application to them, and they would have understood it clearly. To claim that Jesus and the Apostles spoke over the heads of their hearers with grand things having to do with millennia in the future, of which they would have no understanding whatsoever, is a cop-out for poor biblical study.
When you interpret the text, you need to do so critically in regard to your interpretation, making use of rational and logical sense. Texts only have one meaning. A text cannot mean one thing to me and another to you. God says what He means and means what He says. Exegesis is a taking out of the text based on what it says. Eisegesis is a reading into the text based on how one feels. We have covered many eisegetical interpretations of the Dispensatioanlists within the pages of this book, correcting them apologetically via exegetical interpretation.
After you have studied your selected text thoroughly and conclusively, using some study tools to aid you in the process, and are sure of your interpretation, it is time to verify your interpretation by consulting with others. This is where consulting commentaries should come in. They are the last step in your biblical study and interpretation process. If you examine several, you can see whether or not you have strayed from the general consensus. If you seem to be out of sorts with a wide variety of commentators, it might be wise to double check your work. You may have made an error along the way. But also remember that the commentators are fallible men, so just because they may all agree does not mean they are correct. Study your text carefully, thoroughly, with humility, and under the Spirit’s guidance, willing to submit to His leading and teaching. If the evidence backs your interpretation, it just might be that the other commentators approached the text via a pre-supposition and misunderstanding. None of us are infallible.
STEP 3—Application of the text. You need to ask the question, “What does it mean for me?” After you have verified your interpretation of the text, then you need to believe that interpretation and act accordingly. Remember, James told us that faith without works is dead. Faith needs to be put into action, just as Abraham was justified by offering up Isaac. His faith was put into action, and because He believed God, His faith was counted for righteousness. Scripture aims at changing our lives, and when we have learned a particular truth about Scripture, we need to allow it to change our life. Otherwise we are being disobedient children.
The most important aspect of Bible study is not in the knowledge or application of what you have learned, but in sharing that truth with others. When others have it wrong, we are obligated to correct them as Christ corrected us. If we learn a truth and do not share it, we do our brothers and sisters a disservice. We are not pleasing the Son and glorifying the Father. God wants us to share His truths with the rest of His children. Remember it! Share it!
CONTEXT
When you read 1 Thess. 4:13-18, it sounds like it teaches what the Dispensationalist wants to convince you of, but what does it say when you read it in the context of the entire chapter? What about in the context of the entire letter or book? Ah, now it takes on an entirely different understanding. About the only book in the Bible where you can quote random, isolated verses and still have them reflect their original context is the book of Proverbs. There are three things you should always remember when interpreting the Bible: Context, context, context!
Remember, start with 1:1. Examine the surrounding verses (immediate context), the surrounding chapters (sectional context), and other passages (canonical context). If you make sure you do this consistently, you will prevent yourself from performing what is called “collapsing context,” where you take two separate passages (Proverbs 8:1-17 and 1 Corinthians 1:30) and connect them as if they are related.
Some genuine Bible preachers will mistakenly preach a sermon wherein they teach that because Jesus is the wisdom of God, Proverbs 8 must be referring to Jesus. However, certain cults, like the Jehovah’s Witnesses, also teach this because in this passage it says that wisdom is created, and they believe Jesus to be a created being—not God Himself. The biggest evidence that Proverbs 8 is not speaking about Jesus as being the Wisdom of God is that Proverbs calls wisdom “she.” Jesus is not a she. The wisdom spoken of here is the attribute of wisdom and is contrasted against the harlot throughout the entire book of Proverbs. So the two passages have nothing to do with each other. Even John Calvin mistakenly associated Proverbs 8:15 in relation to Jesus Christ being the eternal wisdom of God in his commentary on Daniel, even though Jesus is such.
To be continued...