This is the second in my how to study the Bible post.
The Bible is an awe-inspiring book. However, we don't want merely to admire it; we need to understand it. Most people don't understand what it says, that includes Christians. Understanding the Bible is crucial because the Bible is the Word of God, so we need to know how to study the Bible. That encompasses four things: reading it, interpreting it, meditating on it, and teaching it.
When we study the Bible we need to approach it with purpose, expecting it to let us know more about God and His plan for us. We need to approach our personal study of the Bible prayerfully.
Psalm 119:33 (NLT)33 Teach me your decrees, O LORD; I will keep them to the end.
And to do so expectantly means we believe that the Lord is going to speak specifically to us
Psalm 25:4 (NLT) Show me the right path, O LORD; point out the road for me to follow.
Sermons, Sunday school lessons, and quiet times on our own are all things to be anticipated. God uses these to build us up, strengthen us, or offer us comfort—He certainly makes listening to Him worthwhile. And obedience is the only proper response to this kind of personal attention.
Approaching the reading of Scripture prayerfully prepares our hearts to listen well and ushers in an attitude of purpose and expectancy.
If you want to experience God working in your life, come to Scripture with a prayerful, expectant, purpose-filled attitude. The mourner will be comforted. The weary will gain strength. Those convicted of their sin will repent and know peace. All will sense joy. Recognize what a gift God’s Word is.
When we study the Bible we need to approach it with purpose, expecting it to let us know more about God and His plan for us. We need to approach our personal study of the Bible prayerfully.
There are three step to reading and understanding it.
Asking those additional questions for understanding will help to build a bridge between observation (the first step) and interpretation (the second step) of the Bible study process.
The Bible is an awe-inspiring book. However, we don't want merely to admire it; we need to understand it. Most people don't understand what it says, that includes Christians. Understanding the Bible is crucial because the Bible is the Word of God, so we need to know how to study the Bible. That encompasses four things: reading it, interpreting it, meditating on it, and teaching it.
When we study the Bible we need to approach it with purpose, expecting it to let us know more about God and His plan for us. We need to approach our personal study of the Bible prayerfully.
Psalm 119:33 (NLT)33 Teach me your decrees, O LORD; I will keep them to the end.
And to do so expectantly means we believe that the Lord is going to speak specifically to us
Psalm 25:4 (NLT) Show me the right path, O LORD; point out the road for me to follow.
Sermons, Sunday school lessons, and quiet times on our own are all things to be anticipated. God uses these to build us up, strengthen us, or offer us comfort—He certainly makes listening to Him worthwhile. And obedience is the only proper response to this kind of personal attention.
Approaching the reading of Scripture prayerfully prepares our hearts to listen well and ushers in an attitude of purpose and expectancy.
If you want to experience God working in your life, come to Scripture with a prayerful, expectant, purpose-filled attitude. The mourner will be comforted. The weary will gain strength. Those convicted of their sin will repent and know peace. All will sense joy. Recognize what a gift God’s Word is.
When we study the Bible we need to approach it with purpose, expecting it to let us know more about God and His plan for us. We need to approach our personal study of the Bible prayerfully.
There are three step to reading and understanding it.
- Step 1: Observation—What does the passage say?
- Step 2: Interpretation—What does the passage mean?
- Step 3: Application—What am I going to do about what the passage says and means?
- Terms not words
- Structure
- Emphasis
- Repetition
- Relationships between ideas
- Comparisons and contrasts
- Literary form
- Atmosphere
- Ask the who, what, where, when questions
Asking those additional questions for understanding will help to build a bridge between observation (the first step) and interpretation (the second step) of the Bible study process.
Interpretation
Interpretation is discovering the meaning of a passage, the author’s main thought or idea. Answering the questions that arise during observation will help you in the process of interpretation.
Five clues (called “the five C’s”) can help you determine the author’s main point(s):
● Context. You can answer 75 percent of your questions about a passage when you read the text. Reading the text involves looking at the near context (the verse immediately before and after) as well as the far context (the paragraph or the chapter that precedes and/or follows the passage you’re studying).
● Cross-references. Let Scripture interpret Scripture. That is, let other passages in the Bible shed light on the passage you are looking at. Many bible give you a number of verses to cross reference a specific verse. Let’s look at John 3:16. Look in your bible at the verses used to cross reference the fact that God loves you a lot. At the same time, be careful not to assume that the same word or phrase in two different passages means the same thing.
● Culture. The Bible was written long ago, so when we interpret it, we need to understand it from the writers’ cultural context. Somebody look at the introduction to John and read the Background.
● Conclusion. Having answered your questions for understanding by means of context, cross-reference, and culture, you can make a preliminary statement of the passage’s meaning. Remember that if your passage consists of more than one paragraph, the author may be presenting more than one thought or idea.
● Consultation. Reading books known as commentaries, which are written by Bible scholars, can help you interpret Scripture.
Let’s take a passage of scripture that we are all familiar with and go through an exercise of interpretation. It will serve as an example to follow as you study the Bible.
This passage is an important one because it’s the one where we Christians are told by Jesus Himself that there are really only two commandments and by obeying them you obey all of them.
Matthew 22:34-40 (HCSB)34 When the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they came together.35 And one of them, an expert in the law, asked a question to test Him:36 “Teacher, which command in the law is the greatest?”37 He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.38 This is the greatest and most important command.39 The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.40 All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.”
First let’s look at Matthew, the author, to see who he wrote to, when he wrote, and why.
When
The date of Matthew's Gospel must be prior to a.d. 70, for there is no hint in it that Jerusalem was in ruins (all predictions of its destruction being clearly prophetic).
Matthew 27:8 (KJV)8 Wherefore that field was called, The field of blood, unto this day.
Matthew 28:14-15 (KJV)14 And if this come to the governor's ears, we will persuade him, and secure you.15 So they took the money, and did as they were taught: and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day.
Such passages as argue for an interval of some length, but fifteen or twenty years following the Resurrection would be sufficient. - The Wycliffe Bible Commentary.
The testimony of Irenaeus and Origen that Matthew was written for converts from Judaism is corroborated by a study of its content. There is more frequent use of the Old Testament (Robertson's Harmony of the Gospels lists 93 quotations in Mt, 49 in Mk, 80 in Lk, and 33 in Jn).
Why
Much attention is given to demonstrating that Jesus fulfilled Messianic prophecy and thus was Israel's Messiah, who would establish the promised kingdom. The discourses that Matthew records at length distinguish this Gospel, and emphasize the principles, scope, and movements of the Messianic kingdom. Thus Jewish Christians (who numbered in the thousands in the early church;were given an authoritative explanation that faith in Jesus involved no repudiation of the Old Testament, but was the very goal toward which Old Testament revelation pointed. - The Wycliffe Bible Commentary.
We need to first look at what Jesus said to silence the Sadducees.
Matthew 22:23-33 (HCSB)23 The same day some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came up to Him and questioned Him:24 “Teacher, Moses said, if a man dies, having no children, his brother is to marry his wife and raise up offspring for his brother.25 Now there were seven brothers among us. The first got married and died. Having no offspring, he left his wife to his brother.26 The same happened to the second also, and the third, and so to all seven.27 Then last of all the woman died.28 In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will she be of the seven? For they all had married her.”29 Jesus answered them, “You are deceived, because you don’t know the Scriptures or the power of God.30 For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage but are like angels in heaven.31 Now concerning the resurrection of the dead, haven’t you read what was spoken to you by God:32 I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living.”33 And when the crowds heard this, they were astonished at His teaching.
They were trying to trip Jesus up on the question of the resurrection from the dead. His answer shut them up.
The Pharisees, who believed in the resurrection from the dead, wanted to shut Jesus up too so they came at him from another direction.
Their question was made by a lawyer. The Hebrew word used by Matthew was nomidos which is really an adjective for “learned in the law”, which meant that he was an expert in the Mosaic Law which included the 10 Commandments from the Old Testament book Exodus but also included the other 4 books of the Pentateuch we talked about, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Jesus was smart enough to not get involved in a discussion of rabbis' computation of 613 commandments, He dealt with and summarized summarized the two tablets Moses came down the mountain with. Those tablets contained the 10 commandments.
Deuteronomy 6:5 (HCSB)5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
Leviticus 19:18 (HCSB)18 Do not take revenge or bear a grudge against members of your community, but love your neighbor as yourself; I am Yahweh.
All the OT interprets and applies these principles
Notice that Jesus never said they didn’t need to obey those commandments He simply said that the two He mentioned interpreted all of them. All-encompassing love for God will cause one to perform every moral duty.
Interpretation is discovering the meaning of a passage, the author’s main thought or idea. Answering the questions that arise during observation will help you in the process of interpretation.
Five clues (called “the five C’s”) can help you determine the author’s main point(s):
● Context. You can answer 75 percent of your questions about a passage when you read the text. Reading the text involves looking at the near context (the verse immediately before and after) as well as the far context (the paragraph or the chapter that precedes and/or follows the passage you’re studying).
● Cross-references. Let Scripture interpret Scripture. That is, let other passages in the Bible shed light on the passage you are looking at. Many bible give you a number of verses to cross reference a specific verse. Let’s look at John 3:16. Look in your bible at the verses used to cross reference the fact that God loves you a lot. At the same time, be careful not to assume that the same word or phrase in two different passages means the same thing.
● Culture. The Bible was written long ago, so when we interpret it, we need to understand it from the writers’ cultural context. Somebody look at the introduction to John and read the Background.
● Conclusion. Having answered your questions for understanding by means of context, cross-reference, and culture, you can make a preliminary statement of the passage’s meaning. Remember that if your passage consists of more than one paragraph, the author may be presenting more than one thought or idea.
● Consultation. Reading books known as commentaries, which are written by Bible scholars, can help you interpret Scripture.
Let’s take a passage of scripture that we are all familiar with and go through an exercise of interpretation. It will serve as an example to follow as you study the Bible.
This passage is an important one because it’s the one where we Christians are told by Jesus Himself that there are really only two commandments and by obeying them you obey all of them.
Matthew 22:34-40 (HCSB)34 When the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they came together.35 And one of them, an expert in the law, asked a question to test Him:36 “Teacher, which command in the law is the greatest?”37 He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.38 This is the greatest and most important command.39 The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.40 All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.”
First let’s look at Matthew, the author, to see who he wrote to, when he wrote, and why.
When
The date of Matthew's Gospel must be prior to a.d. 70, for there is no hint in it that Jerusalem was in ruins (all predictions of its destruction being clearly prophetic).
Matthew 27:8 (KJV)8 Wherefore that field was called, The field of blood, unto this day.
Matthew 28:14-15 (KJV)14 And if this come to the governor's ears, we will persuade him, and secure you.15 So they took the money, and did as they were taught: and this saying is commonly reported among the Jews until this day.
Such passages as argue for an interval of some length, but fifteen or twenty years following the Resurrection would be sufficient. - The Wycliffe Bible Commentary.
The testimony of Irenaeus and Origen that Matthew was written for converts from Judaism is corroborated by a study of its content. There is more frequent use of the Old Testament (Robertson's Harmony of the Gospels lists 93 quotations in Mt, 49 in Mk, 80 in Lk, and 33 in Jn).
Why
Much attention is given to demonstrating that Jesus fulfilled Messianic prophecy and thus was Israel's Messiah, who would establish the promised kingdom. The discourses that Matthew records at length distinguish this Gospel, and emphasize the principles, scope, and movements of the Messianic kingdom. Thus Jewish Christians (who numbered in the thousands in the early church;were given an authoritative explanation that faith in Jesus involved no repudiation of the Old Testament, but was the very goal toward which Old Testament revelation pointed. - The Wycliffe Bible Commentary.
We need to first look at what Jesus said to silence the Sadducees.
Matthew 22:23-33 (HCSB)23 The same day some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came up to Him and questioned Him:24 “Teacher, Moses said, if a man dies, having no children, his brother is to marry his wife and raise up offspring for his brother.25 Now there were seven brothers among us. The first got married and died. Having no offspring, he left his wife to his brother.26 The same happened to the second also, and the third, and so to all seven.27 Then last of all the woman died.28 In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will she be of the seven? For they all had married her.”29 Jesus answered them, “You are deceived, because you don’t know the Scriptures or the power of God.30 For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage but are like angels in heaven.31 Now concerning the resurrection of the dead, haven’t you read what was spoken to you by God:32 I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living.”33 And when the crowds heard this, they were astonished at His teaching.
They were trying to trip Jesus up on the question of the resurrection from the dead. His answer shut them up.
The Pharisees, who believed in the resurrection from the dead, wanted to shut Jesus up too so they came at him from another direction.
Their question was made by a lawyer. The Hebrew word used by Matthew was nomidos which is really an adjective for “learned in the law”, which meant that he was an expert in the Mosaic Law which included the 10 Commandments from the Old Testament book Exodus but also included the other 4 books of the Pentateuch we talked about, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Jesus was smart enough to not get involved in a discussion of rabbis' computation of 613 commandments, He dealt with and summarized summarized the two tablets Moses came down the mountain with. Those tablets contained the 10 commandments.
Deuteronomy 6:5 (HCSB)5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
Leviticus 19:18 (HCSB)18 Do not take revenge or bear a grudge against members of your community, but love your neighbor as yourself; I am Yahweh.
All the OT interprets and applies these principles
Notice that Jesus never said they didn’t need to obey those commandments He simply said that the two He mentioned interpreted all of them. All-encompassing love for God will cause one to perform every moral duty.
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