I have so many ideas for blog posts currently running through my head, and this was not one of them.
However, I thought it would be good to lay down some principles that can help tremendously in making sense of God's word. These days, it seems that so many people have just given up, saying that we can't understand it, or even worse, saying that it's not really God's word and that it was just a bunch of ancient writings written by a bunch of ancient men, doing the best they could in their cultural context.
This is tragic, because the scriptures were written over a 1500 year period, by 40+ authors, and the result is a unified story that points to Yeshua the Messiah... including a huge amount of prophecy that CAME TO PASS- and continues unfolding - as His return approaches, right on schedule. This is impossible from man's perspective.
Try playing the campfire game with 10 friends and see if you get the same result. You know, where someone starts the story, and then one by one each person adds to it. The story is always ridiculous.
Anyway, I digress.
The Word of God is like a tapestry. We need to learn to look beyond the knots and chaos that can be seen on the back of the canvas. Sometimes, things are messy and make no sense until we look at the finished work. (Another analogy would be Shrek's onion. There are layers and layers of Biblical truths, just waiting to be peeled!)
 |
Corrie Ten Boom used to hold up this tapestry as she
traveled the world, speaking to groups
about her experiences during the Holocaust. |
Let's jump in with some good Bible study precepts.
Number 1: Context!
Perhaps you've heard the expression, "context is key." Well, it is. It's way too easy to rip a verse out of context and use it in a way that suits your own purposes but doesn't necessarily convey what the author was trying to say.
Jeremiah 29:11 is a great example. Now if that is your life verse, don't panic. It's a lovely verse, and you can keep it. But I don't know many people who zoom out to get the whole story. Jeremiah is addressing the Jews who are about to be exiled into Babylon. He is saying, "go, and thrive while there. God will be with you while you are there and He will bring you back out someday... Oh, and if you don't go, He will send sword and pestilence and make you like rotten vile figs." (I've never met anyone who claims Jeremiah 29:17 as their life verse).
When you are examining the context of a passage, expand to the surrounding verses (or even chapters) as much as necessary to get a handle on what is being said. Ask yourself these questions:
- Who is the author?
- When did he write?
- To whom did he write it?
- How would the recipients have received it then?
- And finally, how does this apply in my life today?
Number 2: Word Studies
Did you know that the scriptures were never written using a single word of English? Oh, the insights you can gain when you do biblical studies! The Tanakh (aka Old Testament) was written mostly in Hebrew with a bit of Aramaic as well. The New Covenant Scriptures were written in koine Greek, which was the ancient, every day language spoken by many people in the Roman Empire.
I first learned how to do word studies via a class taught by a friend. He demonstrated how to use resources such as an interlinear Bible, a concordance, and a lexicon. These books were extremely helpful, both in studying the Word and using as door stops. They were extremely heavy. It was like being in high school again, schlepping all those heavy textbooks from class to class in a backpack.
Fortunately, today there are tools that are much easier to access and schlepp around, right there in your phone. My favorite app is Blue Letter Bible. There are other good resources out there too, such as E-sword or Logos. I stick with Blue Letter because I know the format and can move around it pretty quickly. AND, they recently added Septuagint links! (That may only mean something to you if you are a Bible nerd like me).
The Septuagint was written about 200 years before Yeshua. It is the Hebrew scriptures (aka Old Testament), translated into Greek by seventy Hebrew scholars. I recently discovered that the Greek work euangelion (or a form of it) is used many times in the Old Testament. Most English New Testaments translate that word as gospel. This will be the subject of an upcoming post, so stay tuned for that. It's truly mind-blowing to me.
Number 3: Look for the Pictures
Snapshots - the scriptures are filled with them! When you see one (and they are everywhere), ask yourself what it means. Blood on the doorpost. Rahab's red cord. The serpent on a pole in the wilderness (more on that in a sec). The tabernacle. Lamb of God. Tree of life. Water from a rock. Bread from heaven. Sun, moon, and stars. Moses' outstretched arms. Yeshua's outstretched arms. Wait, a connection! Which leads me to the next premise:
Number 4: Follow the hyperlinks
What does that mean? This is somewhat related to precept 3, as you are considering the pictures. It involves rabbit trails as you compare scripture to scripture. A great example is John 3:16. It is used so often by itself to try and convey the gospel, but if you look at the previous two verses, it refers to Moses lifting the serpent on a pole in the wilderness. This just begs for a journey back to the source to see what is going on. And there you can find another hyperlink to the serpent in Genesis 3. Following these hyperlinks can give you the Big Picture!
Another great resource for studying the scriptures is the Bible Project team. They offer these amazing free videos on You Tube that give overviews and breakdowns of each book of the Bible. They also create thematic videos that do a great job following the hyperlinks. In fact, I borrowed the hyperlinks word directly from them because they use it so much. They have a one year bible reading plan that uses their videos, which you can find on the You Version app. They also have podcasts available.
If you have not spent much time studying God's word, I encourage you to jump in. The scriptures have the power to change your life.
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