Studying for the Sake of Studying
Have you ever met someone who simply loves to study? Loves school for the sake of school? The solution for life is more education?
This is not what I want as the result for my own study. Accumulating more and more information but never stopping to analyze what is flawed in my thinking and being I believe is anthrocentric. To oppose such a tendency, questions I want to be running around in my head are like these:
- How does this fit into my frame of reference for how the world works? (How does the world impact me?)
- In what way should my worldview change in light of what I’ve learned? (How do I see the world?)
- What is God’s intent?
- How can I cooperate within his intent? Because if he intends, he accomplishes. And he likes to use cracked pots. I qualify.
Not Just Study But How to Study
God is the ultimate source of truth and therefore the truth I gather should impact my large scale life as well as the minutia. I’ve spent a year and a half studying Ephesians and what is the result? No offense to you, but I wasn’t really studying for your sake. It was what I was planning to study anyway, but my beloved suggested I tell you, fellow student of the Word, what my process is as I study. My study doesn’t impact you like it impacts me. Which is why I’ve been meeting with you all these months. If you develop even the most simple technique like making lists from your English translation, you will gain so much more from your study. As an adopted child of the One True God, it will impact you and that is my goal.
Hm. I seem to let my heart hang out there. You know, my heart is that all my brothers and sisters would come to know the Lord in a deeper and more intimate way. Not that I have all the answers for how to study but I want so much for you, yes YOU right there, to know our God better. Inch by inch. Observation by observation. And I really believe that knowing a bit more today than I did yesterday can be achieved by the fundamental exercise of making a sentence diagram and making lists.
Which I think is actually one of the reasons Paul wrote this letter to the churches in Asia. There is knowledge to be acquired and he spends a lot of time praying about it. Let me show you what I’ve been learning and how it correlates to the rest of scripture as we wind down this season of study in Ephesians.
Where Have We Been?
While I realize outlining the entire letter is usually done at the beginning of the study, my brain works better when I do it after I’ve already studied. In this way, I have familiarity with the content of the whole piece of literature rather than thinking I know what is in there. That’s just me, though. Here is the progression I see in Paul’s writing.
My goal here is to fit the entire letter into a succinct, manageable summary. Nine stickies doesn’t seem succinct, so I narrowed it further:
As I see it, Paul describes what is true (what has happened), then explains what his role is (what is happening), and since those two things are in place, be these kind of folks (walk thus). Intermingled in his discourse, he prays and finally he informs what the battle involves. The believer has a role in it. To close, Paul well-speaks God’s heart over the congregation.
Now that I’ve distilled the entire letter into this summary, I still want to answer questions about it. Those questions or ones like them from above. In general, I want my focus to be directed at God. God made knowledge of himself available; I want to avail myself of that knowledge.
God’s Intent
You’ve been hanging out with me for a while now, so you know that I’m always making efforts to fine tune what I’ve already learned.
Actually, it’s like jiu jitsu. In the first few classes, most likely a person will bump into the technique called trap and roll. Other schools call it an oompah, I think. Whatever it’s called, you learn it. It’s called a “basic” or “fundamental” technique, which makes it sound like it’s just for beginners. It may be basic, but it’s anything but easy. Black Belt Ryron Gracie has a video of himself demonstrating this trap and roll on an entire room full of law enforcement officers who know it’s what Ryron wants to do them and they can’t prevent him. How does he accomplish it? Details. Fine tuning the technique. Continuing to study. Taking what is known and knowing it better.
Knowing God is like that. Only the depths of fine tuning will never be fully explored when knowing God. Which is why a question like “what is God’s intent?” is a basic question but it is also one that we’re never quite done understanding.
God’s Intent in Ephesians
Gathering intentions from both the prose of the letter as well as the prayers in Ephesians 1:15-23 and Ephesians 3:14-20, I made this list that contains at least some of God’s intentions.
Looking at this list, God’s intends to save some. His elect. Jesus went to the cross and effectually saved some. That is accomplished.
Additionally, God intends to reveal himself. We’ve talked about this before, haven’t we? Since we have the Bible at all, God clearly intends to reveal himself. But even more clearly, the Father of glory wants the eyes of the congregation’s hearts enlightened (Ephesians 1:17-18). He intends for them to have knowledge of him.
But then the intentions became prayer requests. And now I’m kind of distracted. Follow my thinking here.
A Side Contemplation
I find this a weird contemplation: Paul is writing and praying under inspiration of the Holy Spirit. He’s writing the Very Word of God. Then if he prays something, it is God’s intention, isn’t it? It originates from God.
If God intends, he accomplishes. Because God is immutable, he can never be frustrated. In Ephesians, the Holy Spirit, through the quill of Paul, tells us how he intercedes for us.
- He wants us to have hope, have wisdom, have revelation, and to know the power that both works in us and to which we have access.
- His intention is that there would no longer be enmity in his family. Either between the siblings or between the Father and his children.
I’ve never thought about what Paul prays as being the prayer of the Holy Spirit on our behalf, have you? Which, then if we learn from Paul how to pray from scripture, we’re in reality learning how to pray from the Spirit himself.
Results of Intentions
Salvation from God
I checked off the intentions of salvation for the elect because it is accomplished. If your name is in the Book of Life, it’s done. Like Jesus said, “It is finished.” The atonement is made for the sheep that have been given to the Son.
Knowledge of God
And I checked off that we have knowledge of God. Paul taught of natural theology as well as Augustine and Aquinas after him. Namely that there is knowledge of God around us in nature. This general revelation is what God actively does to reveal himself to a universal audience. No one has an excuse; God has shown himself in a general sense to the whole world. Beyond that, there is also special revelation where God has revealed himself through the medium of his written Word. Even further, there is immediate revelation (that is, without a medium) where his law is written on the hearts of every human (Romans 2). The knowledge of God being available is also accomplished.
Whether we humans choose to acknowledge it is another aspect to this prayer. Perhaps I shouldn’t check that box because it is both up to God to reveal (we’ve established that he has) and up to us as humans to acknowledge (ongoing knowledge acquisition or alternately ongoing refusal). As far as God’s intention, he has made himself known. And whether they acknowledge it or not, every person KNOWS that God exists (Romans 1). I think it’s right to check that box.
My Response to God’s Intent
From that list, I can see that God’s intent is that his kids would have commodities like hope and wisdom. He intends to make known the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe. Since Jesus is our peace both between the sheep and also between the sheep and the Shepherd, he intends a cease-fire. He intends an end to enmity.
Knowing that God doesn’t change and that when he intends, he accomplishes, how does my list of God’s intentions change my view of my circumstances? Ultimately my worldview?
What a question. Let me reflect on the aspect of hope.
Two Options
Now I’m sitting here reflecting on my life. Which is what shapes my worldview if I don’t consciously agree with scripture and align myself with God’s Word. Life flashing before my eyes kind of reflection. Here is a portion of my musing:
Until I was 2, I spent most of every day in a playpen in a back storeroom of a restaurant with no human contact. As a 10 year old, life was so painful and abusive I counted the days until I turned 18 and I could legally leave my parents’ home. Over and over having women in churches judging me and deciding I should be like them and not like me. Late teenaged children who rebelled and lashed out at me in myriad ways and for varieties of reasons.
With these watershed events and others, there are two basic responses I could have. Bitterness toward God or questions about what he wants me to learn in these trials. Being honest with myself, I’ve had moments of utter despair and hopelessness in my circumstances. Utter despair. But I have thankfully not yet had an urge to curse God. Questions of why? How can I survive? Do I have to survive or can I just come home? But not a turning away from God. Praise his name.
Aligning with God
Isaiah tells me of God “I, I am he who comforts you…” in Isaiah 51:12. I choose to align with God and recognize that he is my comforter in all of these trials. Similarly, in 2 Corinthians 1:3-5 Paul instructs the church that afflictions are sharing in Christ’s sufferings and that we experience them for purpose. One purpose is to be able to comfort others in their sufferings. Because, unless you’ve experienced, let’s say, your child declaring your actions of parenting and counseling and correcting as restrictive and abusive and narrow, you may think saying “don’t take what your child has done personally” is actually helpful when someone else’s child goes off the rails.
I can tell you; it’s not. Does God take sin personally? Then I will too.
But I digress. I align with God and recognize that suffering yields a more tender heart toward those who suffer. Being a knowledgeable comforter to those in affliction is offering hope. Hope that is the reminder of who our God is and hope that the darkness, while it seems like it will endure forever, will not. Light comes in the morning, no matter how far off the morning is.
Reflection
This entire Bite has been a lot of reflection. In this exercise of reflecting on the entirety of Ephesians as it relates to the rest of scripture and how it shapes my own life, I want you to see how one person handles it. I’m not saying this is the only way to proceed in study, but if we never see anyone ever do the process in the privacy of their own study, how will we know how to do it? Or that it is possible?
Pastors and teachers do this kind of work (I hope) every week as they prepare sermons, lectures, and write books, but all we see is the polished version of their efforts. What about the nitty gritty questions and doubts that arise? How did they arrive at the conclusions they share with us?
Over time, as I’ve listened to a few different preachers and teachers, I’ve started to see who spends a lot of time in study and who then is able to distill all the information into a sermon that fits on the bottom shelf, available for all of us to access. That is a skill and a service to the sheep like Paul talks about when he tells us that some are given as evangelists, shepherds and teachers until we attain mature manhood and are no longer tossed to and fro by waves of wacky doctrine (Ephesians 4:11-14).
Consider Our Audience
Taking all the information that we learn and being able to share using manageable, understandable and consumable bites for our audience, whoever they might be is a skill I covet. The good of all the knowledge obtained about God is only of limited use if the only person who understands it is me. Or if someone is super-scholarly, if the only people who understands them are themselves or other people who are super-scholarly. Big whoop.
To summarize my thoughts here: learn and then be ready to share. Practice sharing about what you learn so that you will improve and be an even better witness for Christ. Awkward at first, and then as you practice, you will realize Christ is central to everything and it will become more natural.
Wrap Up
Our Bible Study Bite for today as we close our time in Ephesians is to remember that we are not learning for the sake of learning. While that is fun sometimes, it is not that beneficial. If we can’t connect the dots between what God is teaching us and our own lives, who cares?
I caution that we want to be understanding what God is actually teaching us (understand what the author intends as he wrote) and not what we think the author intends. Maybe I’ve talked about this before, but it’s the difference between eisegesis and exegesis. We remember that eisegesis is thinking our own thoughts and reading the scriptures that agree with us as “proof” (usually out of context is how that works). By contrast, exegesis is reading the scriptures and thinking God’s thoughts after him. Whatever God says, that’s to what we align ourselves. He’s the standard, not our own thoughts.
Analogies: They’re Never Quite Right
So when we study and we learn from the Word, then we are able to take that knowledge and marinate in it. Kind of like a chunk of beef. When marinating in a lovely red wine marinade, that meat is changing on the inside. No one can see it, but it’s happening. The results are miraculous.
Oooh. Let me riff on this analogy. We don’t go shopping for the sake of shopping, buying the steak, the wine, the salt, the butter and then leave them on the counter next to each other. No, we have to correctly interpret the parts and assemble them as they are meant to be used in the recipe.
Ok, maybe that’s goofy. I’m practicing my sharing skills. Indulge me in my efforts. Maybe you could leave a comment with an analogy that is better. End of the day? Be in the Word, determine to understand the author’s meaning, and allow it to work its way into your heart and soul to change you to be more like our heavenly Father.
Yes, this is the end of our Ephesians study together for now. What’s next? Thanks for asking. I’m compelled to know our God better and learn more about hermeneutics. Therefore I’m in the process of praying about which Old Testament book to tackle as my next study. Stay tuned, I believe we will be discussing some prophet of old here in a week or so. Lord willing.
Thanks for studying with me today! If you’ve found anything helpful here, please like and subscribe. And if you know of other students of the Word, would you please share so we can all study and encourage each other with what we’re learning?
