Discipleship Journey: Phase #1- The Beginning (Step #2- How to Study the Bible)
The Bible.
It really is a book from another world.
It is from a different time period.
It is from a different perspective and worldview.
It is from a different way of writing and history keeping.
Because of all these things (and more), it can make the Bible difficult for us, in the modern times, to understand.
In this series I am going to try and acquaint you with the Bible and give you some tips and techniques to help you study it.
So, the first thing that I want you to know as we begin this series is that you are a theologian. Now, don’t get all weirded out by that title. All that means is you are one that engages in the study of God. You are an interpreter of Scripture.
You may be thinking, “But I don’t know the first thing about the Bible.” That is ok. When you open the book, you become a theologian and an interpreter of Scripture.
What that means is that when you read Scripture you are interpreting it through your particular lens or viewpoint. You are reading your own history, upbringing, viewpoints, and culture into the text.
Let me give you a quick example.
In Romans 13:14 it says…
14 Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.
Now, in the English speaking culture that we live in, we see the word “flesh” and immediately think “body.” So when we see the word “flesh” we think Paul is talking about bodily desires.
But the word “flesh,” as Paul uses it, seldom refers to the body—but was instead talking about a sickness of the soul (or nature).
Now, you may be saying, “What’s the big deal?”
We can talk about that later. All I wanted to illustrate is that we read things from our own perspectives and with our own definitions of words in mind.
That is not to say you can never understand Scripture. You totally can!
Here are the starting questions that will guide our study…
How did the people hearing this message think?
What did the people hearing this message hear?
What did the people hearing this message take it to mean?
Before we start asking the question, “What does this mean for our lives,” we must first ask, “What did it mean to the original audience?”
PRACTICE:
One of the ways you can read Scripture is devotionally. That is when you take a certain passage of Scripture and simply meditate on it during the day.
Read Psalm 23.
Read it several times throughout the day and after, spend some time meditating on the words.
What words stand out to you?
What is being communicated to you from the text?
I will introduce more ways to read Scripture as time goes on, but for now, this is a good one to start with.
When you are done with Psalm 23, you can move on to Psalm 1 and Psalm 139. Simply read them and meditate on what is being said. How do those texts speak to you?
Be blessed,
Paul