TOPIC: Scripture; Bible, Inspiration, Interpretation, Word (of God)
TEXT: 2 Timothy 3:16-17
WORDS HAVE MEANING
HOW TO STUDY YOUR BIBLE
NOTE FROM EDITOR: The following message is mainly topical; it was a promotional message for a impending seminar: GOD BREATHED- Making your bible live! The traditional outline format is therefore absent.TITLE: INKBLOT CHRISTIANITY - Tell Me What the Author Says!
TEXT: 2 Timothy 3:16-17
All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.GLEANED FROM OUR TEXT
For those who hold to an inspired view of Scripture, Paul would (among many things) be telling us …FOUNDATIONAL INQUIRY: Is this what I say Paul means or is this what Paul actually meant?
- … all Scripture is “inspired by God,” not just pieces or parts
- … being either in-“adequate” or ill-"equipped” isn’t one of God’s objectives for us
- … every believer is expected to have some good work to do (in this message we understand "good work" to be defined as ministry)
- …“and profitable” is not financial advise; it is God’s intention that students of "Scripture" benefit personally from His “sacred writings” [see v. 15]
- … we should assume the inclusion of and the order of the four discipleship/life-topics are intentionally specific (i.e., "teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness")
WORDS HAVE MEANING
ABOUT GETTING SERIOUS
- I’ve approached the above passage in the same way I would expect any student of Scripture SHOULD approach them; not all do so
- Robert Stein (Mildred and Ernest Hogan Professor of New Testament at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) suggests two principal approaches (hermeneutics) to determining the meaning of Scripture today [Jeff Robinson, SBC LIFE May 2002] ...
- Reader-centered Bible Study – the practice of reading a passage of Scripture then asking students the following: “Now, what does the Scripture say to you?”
- Author-centered Bible Study – the same players and passage only a different question is asked: “What is the author’s meaning?”
- What’s being practiced in the field today is what might be called “inkblot” biblical interpretation … a perverted stepchild of Christian relativism; let me show you an inkblot from the Bible; now, you tell me what it says to you!
- “If you really believe … it’s not the author who determines meaning, then any Doctrine of Inspiration we have is … irrelevant” [ibid.]
TWO BARRIERS TO BIBLE STUDY
- At least with a Rorschach inkblot 50% reflects the other 50%
- Not true with the Inkblot Christianity of many today; it’s mostly unlike anything the author intended
- More than half of our professing church goers admit they’ve never read the Bible cover-to-cover, let alone study it [Barna 2006]
- If they’ve not read what God says, how then can they know what God means?
- What is the reason for this? No one but God can seriously answer that question
- Surveys appear to be the only place we might find some clarity
- Should we read/study our Bibles? The whole Bible? Of course we should!
- At a more personal level, most of our best leaders (past and present) say we should study our Bibles
- But, you ask, isn’t that why God gave us “some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ” [Ephesians 4:11-12]? Isn't that their job?
After all, the Bereans did! And thousands of our extended spiritual family have also
- Survey after survey seems to reveal two pernicious barriers to wide acceptance of Bible reading/study:
First, “the Bible is so difficult to understand that only highly skilled theologians with technical training can deal with the Scriptures”
Second, “the Bible is boring” [R. C. Sproul, Knowing Scripture, p.13]
- Only an extremely childish view of God and His Inspiration of Scripture would say the Bible is too difficult to understand or too boring to read/study
- If you agree with me (and many others) you will want to know what the inspired authors meant when they said or wrote what they did
- You will not be terribly interested in what just any Tom, Dick, or Harry thinks they meant
- You will want to know what they actually meant
- Is it possible to do that? With certain qualifications, the answer is yes!
HOW TO STUDY YOUR BIBLE
In the sixteenth century, the Reformers declared their total confidence in what they called the perspicuity of Scripture.DUTY
What they meant by that technical term was the clarity of Scripture.We could plead for people to study the Bible for personal reward; we could try to stimulate their curiosity. We could tell them it would be the most fulfilling experience of their life.
- They maintained … the Bible is basically clear and lucid
- It is simple enough for any literate person to understand its basic message
- This is not to say that all parts of the Bible are equally clear or that there are no difficult passages or sections
- "Laymen unskilled in the ancient languages and the fine points of exegesis may have difficulty with parts of Scripture, but the essential content is clear enough to be understood easily." [Sproul, p. 15]
- Luther … was convinced that what was obscure and difficult in one part of Scripture was stated more clearly and simply in other parts of Scripture. [ibid.]
Ultimately, though, the reason they should study their Bible is that it is their duty.
If the Bible were the most boring book on earth, even (God forbid) irrelevant, it would still be our duty to study it.TEN RULES FOR LAYMEN
If its style were awkward and confusing, duty would remain.
We live as fallen beings under His divine Sovereignty; it is His Word, not ours.
We are the creatures; He is the Creator.
Under those circumstances duty is not an option
THE BATTLEGROUND
- Read your Bible like you read the paper
- Read it with same passion & personality with which you treat your spouse
- Read with an awareness of literary style and purpose
- Read the implied (what Scripture seemingly implies) in the light of the explained (that which Scripture makes explicate)
- Read without guessing at purpose or meaning or even the definitions of words
- Read without fear of literary devices
- Read the proverbial (wise generality) differently than the absolute (command)
- Read the spiritual differently than you read the literal (and don't spiritualize or allegoricalize the literal unless the context requires it)
- Read parables according to the generally accepted rules which govern parabolic speech
- Don’t read prophecy for understanding until you’ve done your homework (this is one area of Bible study where we all need help)
- Many of my brethren believe with me that the War for the Pew will be the battleground for believers in these early decades of the 21st Century
- Many also agree that God purchased a beachhead in the world with His own blood, and that ground is our Bible [John 1:1, 14]
- If we lose the struggle for interpretation and application … well, I don’t know!
- Perhaps the faux church will continue to meet in buildings; we’ll have to meet in the fields and by the streams … on the beach I guess!
We must remind one another of this truth however …CHALLENGENow we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.1 Corinthians 2:14-15
Using the two competing hermeneutics mentioned in the beginning of this message, we might ask ...DISCLAIMERWhat do you think the above meansOr, we might ask...What did Paul mean in this verse?Which question would you prefer be answered?
- If you have not yet begun to respond to the duty that is yours, then you need to ask God to forgive you!
- You need to ask your brethren to pray for you!
- And need to resolve in your heart to do your best to do your duty from this day forth!
The Bible IS a living document; no class/seminar will make it live … only by faith will it live for you – “without faith it is impossible to please God” [Hebrews 11:6]
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