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Studying the Word. Part 1. Study Tools that You Need Here. A Bible – Preferably an Interlinear Bible keyed to Strong’s – J.P. Green’s Interlinear is good, but the text is so small… A Notebook Text Highlighter (various colors). Basic Books. Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible
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Studying the Word Part 1
Study Tools that You Need Here • A Bible – Preferably an InterlinearBible keyed to Strong’s – J.P. Green’s Interlinear is good, but the text is so small… • A Notebook • Text Highlighter (various colors)
Basic Books • Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible • Bible Dictionary • Bible Lexicon • Eerdman’s Handbook to the Bible • Jewish and Church History books • Bible Atlas (Maps)
Approach to Studying the Bible “Do all you can to present yourself to God as someone worthy of his approval, as a worker with no need to be ashamed, because he deals straightforwardly with the Word of the Truth.” 2 Timothy 2:15
God’s Word God expects us to familiarize ourselves with His Word. Only by fully appreciating it will we act on it. Yeshua said, “…It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4, quoted from Deuteronomy 8:3).
Psalms 119:105 affirms: “Your word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.”
1) Start with Prayer Probably one of the most common reasons why believers don't study the Bible is based on this complaint, "I just don't understand it!" Before you start each study session, begin by praying and asking God to open your spiritual understanding.
2 Timothy 3:16 The Bible says in 2 Timothy 3:16, "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness." (NIV) So, as you pray, realize that the words you are studying are inspired by God. Psalm 119:130 tells us, "The unfolding of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple." (NIV)
2) Read the Entire Book – Context, Context, Context Spend some time, perhaps several days, reading through the entire book. Do this more than once. As you read, look for themes that may be woven into the chapters. Sometimes you'll detect a general message in the book.
For example, in the book of James, an obvious theme is "Persevering through Trials." Take notes (hence the notebook) on the ideas that jump out at you.
Life Application Principles Look also for "life application principles." An example of a life application principle in the book of James is: "Make sure my faith is more than just a statement - it should result in action." It's a good practice to try and pull out these themes and applications on your own as you meditate, even before you begin using other study tools. This gives an opportunity for God's Word to speak personally to you.
3) Zoom In Now you will slow down and read the book verse by verse, breaking down the text, looking for deeper understanding. Hebrews 4:12 begins with, "For the word of God is living and active..." (NIV)
Now let's see what it looks like under a microscope, as we begin breaking down the text. Using a Bible dictionary, look up the meaning of the word living in the original language. It is the Greek word 'Zaõ' meaning, "not only living, but causing to live, vivifying, quickening."
4) A Deeper Meaning You start to see a deeper meaning: "God's Word causes life to come about; it quickens." Because God's Word is alive, you can study the same passage several times and continue to discover new, relevant applications throughout your walk of faith.
5) Choose Your Tools As you continue to do this type of verse by verse study, there's no limit to the wealth of understanding and growth that will come from your time spent in God's Word. For this portion of your study, you will want to consider choosing the right tools to aid you in your learning, such as a commentary, lexicon or Bible dictionary.
A Bible study guide or perhaps a study Bible will also help you dig deeper. There are also many useful on-line Bible study resources available, if you have access to a computer for your study time.
6) Be a Doer of the Word Don't just study God's Word for the sake of studying. Be sure to put the Word into practice in your life. Yeshua said in Luke 11:28, "But even more blessed are all who hear the word of God and put it into practice." (NLT)
Apologetics Part 2
Apologetics – Not Apologizing, but Defending! Doesn’t mean that we “apologize” for what we believe, but Defending what we believe!
ἀπολογία- Strong's Number: 627 Transliterated Word Phonetic Spelling apologia ap-ol-og-ee'-ah Definition • verbal defense, speech in defense • a reasoned statement or argument
1 Peter 3:15 “…but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always {being} ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence…”
We need to be able to make an “Apologia” for the Hope that lies within us! With gentleness and reverence
We Need to be Able to Answer the Question: “Why do we believe what we believe?”
What we believe and why we believe must be based upon what the Scriptures say:
Exegesis… Theological Positions; Ideas Reading “out” (exe) of the Scriptures…
That’s the Rub… The reason why there is such diversity of understanding is that most often we read into the Scriptures what we want the Scriptures to say.
…Known as “Eisegesis” Preconceived Theology; Ideas • Reading “Into” (eise) the Scriptures!
With Eisegesis We Can Make the Bible say ANYTHING We Want! …Judas went out and hanged himself… (Matthew 27:5) And Jesus said, “Go, do thou likewise.” (Luke 10:37) “…what thou doest, do thou quickly!” (John 13:27)
When, in reality, we should study out the Scriptures from its own perspective!
Like Prospecting… Taking gold out of the earth!
Careful Study… The process of careful study of a biblical passage in relation to its historical setting; its setting in the overall collection that makes up the scriptures, specific questions of language and literary form, and how it has been understood by past interpreters, in order to provide a foundation for hearing what the passage may have to say to us today.
2 Timothy 2:15 “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.”
Hermeneutics Part 3
Hermeneutics Hermeneutics (Hermeneutic means interpretive), is a branch of philosophy concerned with human understanding and the interpretation of texts.
Name Derivation Name derived from a Greek word connected with the name of the god “Hermes,” (Mercury) the reputed messenger and interpreter of the gods.
Biblical Hermeneutics “Hermeneutics is a science and art of interpreting the text of scripture.” [Dr. Milton Terry- Biblical Hermeneutics 1890]
Acts 14:11-13 • When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, "The gods have come down to us in human form!“ • Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes because he was the chief speaker. • The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought bulls and wreaths to the city gates because he and the crowd wanted to offer sacrifices to them.
Biblical Hermeneutics • Determines how we interpret what the Bible is saying to us - Interpret: make clear – understandable • Gives tools to ask intelligent questions about what the Biblical text says, rather than be deceived by what TV, a book, article, or person may say.
There IS a Difference between… …Interpretation and Translation
Interpretation 1. The action of explaining the meaning of something: "the interpretation of data". 2. An explanation or way of explaining: "it's open to interpretation".
Translation 1. The process of translating words or text from one language into another: "Constantine's translation of Arabic texts into Latin". 2. A written or spoken rendering of the meaning of a word, speech, book, or other text, in another language.
What We Must Desire to Do: To seek the Message that God Intended One Meaning: One Mind.
Rules of Scripture Interpretation How we interpret Scripture is known as Biblical Hermeneutics.
Principles of Interpretation • It is not a hit or miss proposition. It is detailed, carefully spelled out. • Both Jewish and Christian scholars have come to basic agreement on principles of interpretation – as far as methodology.
Principles of Interpretation The purpose of this course of study is to go through the principles of Hermeneutics.
Written to a Specific People: God’s Word was written by and to a peoplein another time and place in history, people with a different culture, customs, environment, and language. So that thosepeople could understand what God Wanted them to understand.
Contained in God’s Word are: • Stories, poetry, literal and figurative language. • God’s Word was written by “one mind”: God’s!
Need to Realize: The Bible is a Hebraic Work To best understand the Bible, we need to approach it from the Hebraic perspective, since it IS a Hebraic book!
Hebraic Hermeneutics Studying the Scripture from a Hebraic perspective.