Most Christians – definitely including myself – firmly proclaim, claim, and even sing of our numerous blessings and benefits in Jesus – blessings such as victory, freedom, power, peace, joy, etc. But have you paused and asked this probing question: why is it that so little of those benefits
For most Christians, especially in the western world, the question of whether prophetic visions and revelations are relevant and needed for today’s Christian is usually a foregone conclusion, depending on the denominational affliation. There is the camp that argues that no visions and spiritual revelations are valid anymore since we already have the closed canon
Read more: Are Visions and Revelations for Today's Christians?
"Don't Judge Others" - Truth or Cop-out?
Bible Text: "Judge not, that you be not judged" (Matthew 7:1)
Ever heard someone say, “The bible says ‘do not judge’? You probably have. Chances are, you've probably said it yourself. But is this actually a true statement, or just a nice cop-out to keep others away from pointing out our errors? Well, let’s examine the popular scripture that is often quoted in support of this statement.
Are You Taking God for Granted?
Bible Text: "1 Samuel 2:12-17
Have you ever experienced being taken for granted by someone - perhaps a friend or a family member? How did you feel? Is in it sad that it is often those closest and most familiar with us that mostly take us for granted?
Proper Approach
The bible is a spiritual book; it is written through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit (2 Tim 3:16; 2 Pet 1: 20-21). As a result, it takes the Holy Spirit Himself to give man illumination and understanding of the scriptures. Hence, the first step in understanding and rightly interpreting the scriptures is asking the Holy Spirit to give you illumination and understanding. Failure to take this first step is one of the most common reasons many Christians don’t understand the bible when they attempt to study it. Lack of understanding can eventually lead to discouragement in studying the bible. Similarly, omitting this critical step can also result in people misinterpreting the bible, as they interpret it from human or carnal perspective. The first step to understanding is to always pray for divine illumination and understanding.
Next, there are certain steps that are essential to proper, deeper, and more accurate understanding and interpretation of the scriptures, in addition to praying.
1. Context
Words, verses, and passages of the bible do not exist in isolation or in a vacuum; rather they exist in context. That means, there are particular circumstances surrounding words, verses, and passages of bible in terms of which they can be fully understood, and through which they can best be interpreted. So, for more accurate understanding of a scripture, learn the context of that scripture in order to ensure the correct frame of reference. Studying background information of a passage of the scripture usually supplies good context of the scripture.
Five Questions to Investigate the Context (Background) of a Scripture
Who? When? Where? What? How? (WWWWH)
Who
2. Genre Type
Proper interpretation and understanding has a lot to do with knowing the genre type of the passage you are reading or studying. “Genre” basically means the literary (or writing) type or style. There are different kinds of books – fictions, histories and biographies, technical manuals, etc., and you know what to expect when you pick up a certain type of book. Similarly, there are different types of literary writing in the bible, and you should approach reading and interpreting each book based on what literary style (genre) the book is written in. Here are the genre categories of the books of the bible (some people have more categories):
History – narrative genre - stories or historical record of actual events that took place. Genesis, Exodus, Ruth, books of Kings, are all examples of historical books of the Old Testament, while the book of Acts is a historical book in the NT.
Poetry – poetic genre – books that utilize figurative languages and feature a lot of parallelisms. Psalms and Songs of Solomon are examples of poetic books
Wisdom – practical sayings – books that primarily contain pragmatic instructions for our day-to-day living. They contain wisdom, moral, and ethical lessons. Proverbs and Ecclesiastes are Wisdom books. These books also utilize parables, parallelisms and poetry.
Prophecy - prophetic genre – books that were written by prophets, primarily to speak on behalf of God, for the purpose of correcting His people, calling them to repentance (forthtelling) and predicting things that would take place in the future – both near and distant future (foretelling). The Old Testaments writing prophets are divided into two categories: (1) Major Prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel); (2) Hosea to Malachi.
Gospels - narrative/biographical - books that present the account of Jesus' earthly life, ministry, and teachings. These books contain a lot of plain-language teachings as well as parables, as Jesus used parables in His teachings. Mathew, Mark, Luke, and John constitute the Gospels, and each book portrays Jesus from a unique perspective.
Epistles – letter-like genre – New Testament books written as letters to churches and individuals. They usually contain doctrines, instructions, response to questions or on-going issues within the immediate recipient church(es), etc.
Apocalypse – revelatory in nature – books that primarily unveils the future plans of God, specifically, the endtime or last days events. These books use a lot of symbolism, numbers, and reveal behind-the-scene spiritual activities unseen to the naked eyes. The book of Revelation, and portions of Daniel are apocalyptic.
It’s good to know what genre of book you are studying so that you can use the proper approach, depending on what you are reading. For example, if you are reading a bible book that is a narrative account like Genesis, you would expect to see prose style of writing. That’s different from a poetic book like Psalms, were you would expect to see a lot of figures of speech and parallelisms, or wisdom books such as Proverbs, where you would expect to see parables and practical sayings, or apocalyptic book, where you have do deal with symbols and numbers, etc. Every single book, passage, and word of the bible is God-inspired, no matter what genre it’s in. However, the method of interpreting what you are reading has a lot to do with what type of material it is.
3. Words/terms – Since books, including the bible use words to communicate, it is important to determine proper meaning of words. In order words, you should not always assume and project the common usage or understanding of a word on scripture’s use of that word when studying the bible. Use tools such bible dictionaries to help you get the right meaning of words and terms as used in the bible or in that particular context.
4. Keywords
When studying, observe keywords; they often hold the key to the right interpretation of a scriptural passage. These keywords are often repeated in a passage. They often give the clue as to the main idea of the passage or related passages.
5. Key verbs – (What action is to be performed?)
In epistolary books (New Testament letters), key verbs are often essential to proper interpretation. Since verbs are action words; these key verbs tell you “what to do”. Generally speaking, the bible gives us a lot of truths about what exists – Who God is, what God has done, who man is, what God wants to see happen in our lives, etc. But the bible doesn’t end with informing us with facts; it usually calls us to take action as a result of what “is”. For examples, in the epistles, after we are told much of what God has done for us, in us, or through, us, and Who God is by nature, and His eternal plans, we usually called to respond to the facts by taking certain actions. An example of this is Romans 12:1: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” Here Apostle Paul says, in light of everything that God has done through Christ to redeem us from sin (information stated from chapter 1-11), therefore, take this action: present yourselves as a living sacrifice to God. Hence, “present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God” is the key verb (or key action phrase) central to the entire book of Romans. In many cases, the key verbs will be localized to a chapter or a few chapters, not governing several chapters as in this example. So, when studying, it is important narrow down the “what to do", otherwise, you can get caught up in the truths of what “is” and the “whys” that you lose sight of the action to perform – the “what”. Determining the key verb helps you focus on the “what” action you are being told to take, as a result of the “whys” (reasons) being given to you. Identifying and focusing on key verbs, especially when studying an epistle will help you stay focused on what is the passage telling you to do as a result of all the other pieces of information that it has supplied you.
6. Adverbs (How should the “what” be done?)
A lot of times, it is not too difficult to identify what the passage is telling you to do. But what gets left out is “how” or in what manner you are supposed to do it. Paying attention to adverbs or descriptive phrases helps with this. For example, it is a common knowledge that God says husbands should love their wives. But in what manner? How should husbands love their wives? Ephesians 5:25 answers that question: “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her.” “As Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her” tells us “how” to do “what” is commanded – husbands loving their wives. Then the next two verses elaborate further on how Christ loved the church. Hence, adverbs (modifying or qualifying words or phrases) help us recognize “how” the “what” is to be done. There are lots of adverbial words and phrases in the bible; pay attention to them.
7. Study Aides
Just as the dictionary is sometimes indispensable to reading and understanding books, articles, editorials, etc., study aides are very helpful when studying the bible. Use the following studying aides to help you in your bible study:
However, as with other things, be discrete, be discerning, and choose wisely. Not all commentaries are biblically sound. Especially in this day of ample availability of materials online, a lot of caution has to be exercised when it comes to what materials, opinions, and commentaries you utilize. That someone has a PhD after his name doesn’t mean what he or she is saying is credible or biblically sound.
8. Application (How does the passage apply to me?)
The end-goal of bible study is not merely acquisition of knowledge. It is transformation of life. After all the work of studying and interpreting, you must be determine how the passage you have just studied apply to your everyday life, in practical, applicable ways. This is most important part of the study process. Always ask yourself: "What does what I have studied today mean for my life going forward?"
Some Bible Study Resources
http://www.biblestudytools.com
http://christianity.about.com/od/biblestudyresources/Bible_Study_Tools_Resources.htm
http://christianity.about.com/
http://www.blueletterbible.org/
http://www.soniclight.com - for commentaries, background information
http://www.biblestudytools.com/resources/methods-of-bible-study.html (for methods of bible study viz: topical, chapter by chapter, etc.)