Deep Fried Friday

Biblical Studies 101

4/12/2013

Old and New Testament Survey

Characteristics of the Bible

•Sixty–six books made up of different “genres”

•Divided into two “covenants”

•One purpose

What is a “genre”

• Type or category – Think movie

• Seven different types

What is a “Testament”

• Agreement or relationship – Think marriage

• Two different covenants

• Law and Grace

• Always dependent upon faith

Genres

Law, History, Poetry/Wisdom, Prophets major/minor, Gospel, Epistles/Letters, & Apocalyptic

Law

• Also called the “Torah”

• God reveals himself through his law

• Creation – Second giving on the Law

5 books

• Genesis

• Exodus

• Leviticus

• Numbers

• Deuteronomy

History

• Promised land

• Judges/Kings

• Exile

• Return

11 books

• Joshua• Judges• Ruth

• 1 & 2 Samuel• 1 & 2 Kings

• 1 & 2 Chronicles• Ezra

• Nehemiah• Esther

Wisdom/Poetry

• Mans attempt to reach God

• Attempts to explain/describe life

• Raw emotion (transparency, confession)

5 books

• Job

• Psalms

• Proverbs

• Ecclesiastes

• Song of Solomon

Prophets

• Mediators of God

• Foretelling and forth telling

• Major/Minor

17 books

• Isaiah• Jeremiah

• Lamentations• Ezekiel• Daniel• Hosea• Joel• Amos

• Obadiah

• Jonah• Micah• Nahum

• Habakkuk• Zephaniah• Haggai

• Zechariah• Malachi

4 books

•Matthew

•Mark

•Luke

•John

History

• The spread of the Gospel

• Holy Spirit using Peter/Paul

• 2nd half of Luke

1 book

• Acts

Letters/Epistles

• Explanation of the Gospel

• Churches/Individuals

21 books

• Romans• 1 & 2 Corinthians• Galatians• Ephesians• Philippians• Colossians• 1 & 2 Thessalonians• 1 & 2 Timothy

• Titus• Philemon• Hebrews• James• 1 & 2 Peter• 1, 2, & 3 John• Jude

Apocalyptic

• Revelation of Jesus

• Study of the end times (Eschatology)

Gospel

• The life and work of Jesus

• There is only one Gospel

• Culmination of the Old Testament

1 book

• Revelation

Unity of the Scriptures

• One main objective of Scripture– To reveal to us Christ Jesus

Characters

Who am I?

Who am I?

• Representative of the human race. My actions have dictated every human beings

moral and spiritual situation.

• Adam

Who am I?

• The only man that pleased God in character thus avoiding the removal of

human life.

• Noah

Who am I?

• I am the king of righteousness. I am the king of peace. I am the priest of God Most

High.

• Melchizedek

Who am I?

• Because of me individuals can have a covenant with God.

• Abraham

Who am I?

• I am second in command and because of me the nation of Israel was preserved.

• Joseph

Who am I?

• Intermediary of God and lawgiver to man

• Moses

Who am I?

• I went before the Lord and made a sacrifice on behalf of other peoples sin.

• Aaron

Who am I?

• I am the pioneer of those accounted faithful for the promised land.

• Joshua

Who am I?

• I was chosen to be king over Gods people.

• David

Who am I?

• I was given supreme wisdom and wealth because I did not seek my own glory.

• Solomon

Who am I?

• I wept for those who would not repent and avoid the coming judgment of God.

• Jeremiah

Who am I?

• I bought my bride back at a slave auction even though she was unfaithful.

• Hosea

Objective of God

• One main objective of God– To reconcile all things back to Himself

•To redeem sinful men through Jesus

Questions and Answers

Reading Your Bible

Notes from “Blue Parakeets: Rethinking How We Read the Bible”

1.Reading to retrieve•“The way of returning to retrieve it all is not the biblical way. The biblical way is the ongoing adoption of the past and the adaption to new conditions and to do this in a way that is consistent with and faithful to the Bible.”

2.Reading through tradition

3.Reading with tradition•“We need to go back to the Bible so we can move forward through the church and speak God’s Word in our days in our ways.”•“We show serious respect for our past when we learn our church history, when we learn how major leaders read the Bible in the past, and when we bring their voices to the table as we learn how to read the Bible for our time.”

Ideas from “Blue Parakeets: Rethinking How We Read the Bible”

4.Learn to read the Bible as storyBeginning (Genesis 1-11)Middle (Genesis 12-Malachi 4; Matthew-Revelation)End (Matthew 25; Romans 8; Revelation 21-22)

5.No short cutsMorsels of lawMorsels of blessings and promisesMirrors and inkblotsPuzzling together the pieces to map God’s mindMaestros

5.The Story

God and creationAdam and Eve as Eikons who crack the EikonGod’s covenant community, where humans are restored to God, self, others, and the worldJesus Christ who is the Story and in whose story we are to liveThe church as Jesus’ covenant communityThe consummation, when all the designs of our Creator God will finally be realized forever and ever

Con’t “Blue Parakeets”

5.Flip the Script•“The Bible is more than laws, and each law is connected to its context.”

•“The Bible is more than blessings and promises; there are some warnings and threats as well.”

•“The Bible is something that comes from God and not something onto which we can impose our wishes and desires.”

•“The Bible is a story to be read, not divinely scattered puzzle to be pieced together into a system that makes sense of it all.”

•“The Bible is a collection of wiki-stories of the Story, and each author, each Maestro, is but one voice at the table.”

Con’t Blue Parakeets

6.Living Out the Story Today•“Our relationship with the Bible is actually, if we are properly

engaged, a relationship with the God of the Bible.”

•“We are summoned by God who speaks to us in the Bible to listen to God speak, to live out what God directs us to live out, and to discern how to live out the Story in our own way.”

•“We need to be mastered by the Story by reading it so deeply that its story becomes our story.”

•“Together as God’s people we are to so inhabit the Story that we can discern how to live in our world

The Bible is a Work of Art

• A collection of literature

• Literature = writings having excellence of form or expression and expressing ideas

of permanent or universal interest

The Bible is a Work of Art

• Ecclesiastes 12:9–10– the Preacher also taught the people knowledge, weighing and

studying and arranging many proverbs with great care ... sought to find words of delight

• John 20:30–31– Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples,

which are not written in this book, but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name”

One of the things I’d love to see more people do when they study the Bible is to pray this simple prayer: “Lord, clothe the facts with fascination. Help me to crawl into the skin of these people – to see through their eyes, to feel with their fingers, to understand with their hearts, and to know with their minds.” Then the Word of God would come alive.

Howard Hendricks From Living By the Book

Poetry

Poetry

Images

• = words that evoke a sensory experience in our imaginations

• Almost always something concrete, like water, grass, sheep, lion, etc.

Poetry

Simile and Metaphor

• Simile = uses “like” or “as” to compare one thing to another

• Psalm 1:3 – He is like a tree ...

• Metaphor = directly compares one thing to another

• Psalm 5:9 – Their throat is an open grave

Poetry

Symbols

• = concrete images that point to or embody other meanings

• Ex. light used as a symbol for God, truth, blessing, goodness, etc,

Poetry

2 Step Process for Interpreting Poetry:

Step 1: Identify images and symbols. Make a list of observations about those words.

Step 2: Take those observations and relate them back to the thing they are being compared to.

Group Discussion

PSALM 23

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside still waters.

He restores my soul.

He leads me in paths of righteousness

for his name's sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil,

for you are with me;

your rod and your staff,

they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me

in the presence of my enemies;

you anoint my head with oil;

my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

all the days of my life,

and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD

forever.

Questions and Answers

A PRESENTATION FROM UNIVERSITY OF THE NATIONS’S SCHOOL OF BIBLICAL STUDIES HANDBOOK,

TURNER VALLEY, AB., CANADA; AND FROM THE PRESENTATION, TITUS PROJECT: INDUCTIVE BIBY

STUDY, BY AMY STEVENS

Inductive Bible Study Method

Two Approaches to Bible Study

Deductive– In the deductive approach, one comes to the text

with a thesis and then seeks out passages to support that thesis.

– One has already, to a certain extent, drawn conclusions before reading the whole text of

Scripture in context.

– One is dictating to the Scriptures, rather than letting the Scriptures speak.

Two Approaches to Bible Study

Inductive – Inductive approach, one lays aside preconceived

ideas and first lays a groundwork of observations.

– Conclusions are drawn from what one has observed. A thorough examination of the content

becomes the basis for one’s conclusions.

– One is letting the Scriptures speak for themselves

Inductive Bible Study

• PRAY. The Holy Spirit is your teacher.

• Think for yourself.

• Don’t rely on other people.

• Let the text speak for itself.

• Conclusions come from what you have observed.

Three Steps

• Observation– What does the text say?

• Interpretation– What did the text mean when it was written? (Meaning to

the original hearers/readers)

• Application – How does the truth of the passage apply to the 21st

century?

What is Observation?

• Observation is the first and foundational step of the Inductive Method.

• Observation is not determining what the text means, it is simply looking to see what it says.

• Observation helps one to become familiar with the text before we move on to interpreting it.

• The motto of Observation is “Look, Look, Look, until looking becomes seeing”

Observation

• Context is important and helps us to get the big picture

• If studying a book, read through the whole book in one sitting.

• If studying a particular passage, look at the surrounding context.

Observation

• Doing Observation is like being a detective. In order to crack the case, you first need to lay the groundwork

and gather clues.

• In order to understand passages of Scripture, we first need to gather the facts and lay a thorough

groundwork in Observation before moving on to Interpretation.

• Observation questions are like keys that open up the text and help us really see what is going on.

What is Interpretation?

• What does it mean to the original audience

• Interpretation is not asking what it means to us today, but what it meant to the original hearers or

readers.

• Interpretation involves understanding the author’s viewpoint, as well as the viewpoint of his audience.

Interpretation

• Understanding the historical context is essential to good interpretation. Imagine yourself thousands of

years back in time.

• Put yourself in the shoes of the Original Audience.

• Try and see the book or passage through their eyes.

Historical Context

• Who is the Original Audience?

• What is the cultural, political, social, and geographical situation of the Original

Audience?

• What did the Original Audience think or believe? What is their religious background?

Historical Context

• What is happening in history or in their church at this time?

• Is the audience facing any problems? Are they struggling with something? What are

their strong points?

• Why was the book written?

Historical background

• Historical background important for interpretation.– It will give important information about the reader/hearer and

author.

– Start with internal evidence: the book itself and other books of the Bible.

– External Evidence: Bible dictionaries, history books, books on customs and culture.

– Hold off on the commentaries until the end.

What is Application?

• Application is the GOAL of Bible study.

• As God teaches us His Word, we want Him to work in our hearts.

• The study of Scripture should result in changed lives.

• How do the truths discovered in interpretation apply to my life in the 21st century?

• James 1:22–25

Application

• Application is the “so what” of the Bible study

• After observing and interpreting we should as ourselves “so what?”

• What am I going to do as a result of what I’ve learned?

• It is time to move what we know from our heads to our hearts and act on it.

Application

“As we immerse ourselves in Scripture, our goal is to develop within ourselves the mind and heart of God. We want to be able to think [and feel] and to respond to every situation the way God himself would. As we renew our minds with Scripture, being careful to put its teaching into practice, we are transformed from

spiritual caterpillars to beautiful butterflies that reflect the grace and glory of Jesus Christ,” (SBS

Handbook, 63).

Three Steps

Step One

– Understanding the original situation: the text speaks to specifics situations and circumstances, and so it doesn’t always seem immediately relevant to us. But the human condition is universal, and problems that past humans faced will be similar to problems we face today. The text is timely and timeless in this sense.

Three Steps

Step Two– Find general principles

Important questions for finding general principles– Does the author state a general principle?– Why was the specific command/instruction given?– Does the broader context reveal a general principle?

Principles over proof–texts

Three Steps

Step Three– Applying General Principles today

3 options in applying general principles– applying a principle to an identical situation– applying a principle to a comparable situation (where

key not specific elements are the same)– applying a principle to a different situation

•Must look for key elements, not superficial ones

Application

• Meditate on the passage

• Scripture memorization

• Ask broader questions of what the principle is for church, society, economics, politics?

– Application info. taken from SBS Handbook, originally from

Jack Kuhatschek, Taking the Guesswork Out of Applying the Bible.

Matthew 5:13

Now Let’s Practice with a passage..

“You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot.” NRSV

Historical Context

A teaching to largely Jewish Christians that Jesus is the awaited Messiah

Literary Context

Teachings on God’s kingdom

Observation

Interpretation

Application

Questions and Answers