Do you ever wonder….
- Where does the idea of the trinity come from?
- Does God love me?
- Was Jesus really God and really man?
- I’ve accepted Jesus. Do I need the gospel today?
- I’ve been a Christian a long time. I still don’t want to please God. What’s wrong with me?
- I believe in God and Jesus. But who is this Holy Spirit?
- Jesus is my Lord. What else do I need to know?
- Why does everyone say I should go to church?
- Will I become a fat baby with wings and sit on a cloud playing a harp when I die?
These questions we have about God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, ourselves, living day-to-day, afterlife, etc. are all questions of theology. And everything we need to know God has revealed to us in his word. In the approach to study I take, I study through a book of the Bible and learn as I go. I’m sure there is a place for topical study, I simply don’t choose to approach scripture that way. As I have studied over the years, not only are questions I have in the process of getting answered, but questions I didn’t know I had arise and also get answered. Not always simply, but the wrestling is always profitable.
Even if you don’t have children, you know that they start out not being able to do anything for themselves. Same with baby Christians. When we start out, we need someone to feed us. But as time goes on and we mature and grow, we can develop skills that allow us to dig into the word so we can feed ourselves and others. We don’t have to rely on what we’ve heard others say about God. We can study the word for ourselves and see truth at its source.
I have heard people say they want their relationship with God to be organic or more free-form. For me, I have found if I don’t have a method for developing relationships, my relationships fizzle. Or worse, they morph into a sloppy, purposeless waste of time.
My husband is an excellent example of purposefully pursuing a relationship. In our marriage, he listens to the words I say and how I say them, even to the point of sometimes making notes about what my preferences are. For example, unbeknownst to me, when I was eating and my hands got messy, I would hold my hands up a little and gently wiggle them as I looked around the table. Jeremy noticed my pattern before I even knew I did this little procedure and he would hand me a napkin before I had even been able to articulate. Consequently, I am more fully loved by him because he has been careful to observe my habits.
I believe the same is true of God. As the savior of our souls, we can’t get loved by him more, but we can learn better who he is, what pleases him, and then more accurately worship him.
Over the course of the last 25 years, I have learned how to intentionally study the Bible using tools and techniques that keep me focused so I can engage with the text, better remember what I’ve studied so I can apply it, and be able to get closer to understanding how the text was originally intended.
As I’ve shared elsewhere, this blog is called Bible Study Bites because I have learned little bits and pieces over the years–I’ve been eating the elephant a bite at a time. I’m not claiming to be proficient and an expert: I’m currently reading another hermeneutics book (Basic Bible Interpretation, by Roy Zuck), I’m reading the 3rd edition of How We Got the Bible by Neil Lightfoot now that I’ve discovered there IS a 3rd edition, and I’ve just started a seminary course on biblicaltraining.org that Bill Mounce is teaching about how to use Greek language tools. I’ve already read or listened to this kind of content, but being able to hear/read and re-hear/re-read lets me learn more.
On this blog we will begin to be familiar with tools and techniques in order to follow three basic steps of study which are Observation, Interpretation, and Application. Examples include but are not exhaustive:
- Simple sentence diagramming
- Use of lists
- Observation of key words and ideas
- Asking questions of the text
- Following rules for interpreting the biblical text
- Considering genres of literature
- Original language word studies
We will adhere to the literal approach to interpretation which looks for the the authorial intent–what did the author mean when he wrote the text? There are schools of thought out there that allow for the words themselves to give the meaning to the text and even the reader to decide what the text means. Right up front, I’m letting you know that is not how I read the scriptures and I will be encouraging all of us (me included) to leave our preconceived ideas at the door. Our goal is to read the text, understand the text, and then apply the text. Strictly in that order.
Another book I’m reading is R.C. Sproul’s Knowing Scripture and in it he said,
“Countless times I have heard Christians say, ‘Why do I need to study doctrine or theology when all I need to know is Jesus?” My immediate reply is, ‘Who is Jesus?’ As soon as we begin to answer this question, we are involved in doctrine and theology. No Christian can avoid theology. Every Christian is a theologian. Perhaps not a theologian in the technical or professional sense, but a theologian nevertheless. The issue for Christians is not whether we are going to be theologians but whether we are going to be good theologians. A good theologian is one who is instructed by God.”
R.C. Sproul 1
