Teaching Yourself and Your Children How to Study the Bible
Dr. Jonathan T. Pennington
Teaching Yourself and Your Children How to Study the Bible
Christianity has always been a faith based on The Book, the Scriptures given to us in the Old and New Testaments. We rightly place great value on reading and studying the Bible. However, what are the principles and tools we should utilize to help us read and interpret Scripture well? Based on his many years of teaching and studying, in this two-part seminar Dr. Pennington presents a simple, stimulating, and practical approach to studying the Bible.
Introduction ~ “Rightly dividing the Word of Truth”?
2 Timothy 2:15
BGT spou,dason seauto.n do,kimon parasth/sai tw/| qew/|( evrga,thn avnepai,scunton( ovrqotomou/nta to.n lo,gon th/j avlhqei,ajÅ
KJV Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
NKJ Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
NAS Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, handling accurately the word of truth.
RSV Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.
NRS Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved by him, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly explaining the word of truth.
NIV Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.
NLT Work hard so God can approve you. Be a good worker, one who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly explains the word of truth.
1) One of the most important things for you and me to do is to learn to ask good questions of the text.
2) It is important that we use modern and thoughtful translations (and not all translations are created equal). And if we can only read English (as opposed to Greek and Hebrew), then there is great benefit in looking at a number of different translations to help us see what the issues are.
3) Don’t assume that what we mean by a word now is what a word meant for the biblical authors.
4) A word does not necessarily mean its etymology.
5) Right interpretation of Scripture is hard work, but necessary!
6) One of the most important things we must learn to do in reading Scripture is simply to observe closely.
A Simple Method ~ OIA
Observation = What do I see?
Interpretation = What does it mean?
Application = How does it work? What does it look like in my life?
The Centrality of Context
A text without a context is a pretext for a proof-text.
24 There is nothing better for a man than to eat and drink and tell himself that his labor is good. 19 For the fate of the sons of men and the fate of beasts is the same. As one dies so dies the other; indeed, they all have the same breath and there is no advantage for man over beast, for all is vanity. 20 All go to the same place. All came from the dust and all return to the dust.
18 Here is what I have seen to be good and fitting: to eat, to drink and enjoy oneself in all one's labor in which he toils under the sun during the few years of his life which God has given him; for this is his reward.
3 If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, however many they be, but his soul is not satisfied with good things, and he does not even have a proper burial, then I say, "Better the miscarriage than he, 4 for it comes in futility and goes into obscurity; and its name is covered in obscurity. 5 "It never sees the sun and it never knows anything; it is better off than he 6 "Even if the other man lives a thousand years twice and does not enjoy good things-- do not all go to one place?"
12 But beyond this, my son, be warned: the writing of many books is endless, and excessive devotion to books is wearying to the body. [i.e. the collection of all these sayings of supposed wisdom]
13 The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person.
14 For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil.
Three Types of Context
1. Historical Context
2. Literary Context
3. Redemptive Context
The CROPS Method
Connectives
copulative: and, also
adversative: but
temporal: when, after
explanatory: how
relative: which, that
causal: because
purpose: so that
means/manner: how, by
conditional: if
inferential: therefore
concessive: yet
result: with the result that, so that
Repetitions
Oppositions
Pro-forms
pronouns, demonstrative pronouns
Structure
inclusio (A-B-A)
chiasm (A-B-C-A’-B’)
Steps in the CROPS Method
1) Put boxes around all connectives. Ask yourself, “What is the importance of this connective? What does it tell me?”
2) Underline repeated ideas and words and connect them together with a line.
3) Underline contrasting ideas and words and connect them together with arrows on the lines.
4) Circle pro-forms and draw an arrow to their antecedents (write it if need be).
5) Observe and mark any structural forms – i.e. how different parts of the text relate to each other or special structures like inclusio and chiasm.
6) Examine the CONTEXT of the passage before proceeding to interpretation.
Chiasm in Isaiah 6:10
Render the hearts of this people insensitive,
their ears dull,
and their eyes dim,
lest they see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts,
And return and be healed.
Structural Analysis of Eph 5:21-6:9
5:21 Be subject to one another in the fear of Christ.
22 Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord.
23 For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body. 24 But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything.
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her; 26 that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she should be holy and blameless. 28 So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; 29 for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, 30 because we are members of His body. 31 For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh. 32 This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.
33 Nevertheless let each individual among you also love his own wife even as himself; and let the wife see to it that she respect her husband.
6:1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.
2 Honor your father and mother (which is the first commandment with a promise), 3 that it may be well with you, and that you may live long on the earth.
4 And, fathers, do not provoke your children to anger; but bring them up in the
discipline and instruction of the Lord.
5 Slaves, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and
trembling, in the sincerity of your heart, as to Christ; 6 not by way of eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart. 7 With good will render service, as to the Lord, and not to men, 8 knowing that whatever good thing each one does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether slave or free.
9 And, masters, do the same things to them, and give up threatening, knowing that both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no partiality with Him.
Conclusion (of Part One)
Part Two
The Literary Genres of the Bible
The Genre of Epistles or Didactic (Teaching) Literature
Once you’ve done the essential step of Observation, the key to Interpretation of didactic literature is to learn to trace the flow of the argument.
Thought Flow Diagramming
Step 1: Put the First Main Clause at the Upper Left Margin
Step 2: Indent All Subordination
Step 3: Line up All Coordination
Step 4: Line up All Multiple Subjects, Objects, and Predicate Nominatives
Step 5: Specify the Relations.
Labels for Classifying Clause/Proposition Relationships
1. Temporal – Describes the time or occasion when the proposition will occur. A temporal clause answers the question “when?”
2. Manner/Means – Describes the means or the manner in which the proposition is carried out. Technically there is a difference between manner (= how something is done; e.g. vigorously, with authority) and means (= the instrument; “by means of …”), but for our purposes we can classify them together.
3. Grounds/Reason – Describes the cause, reason, or grounds for the proposition or action. Often translated in English with “because”, “since”, or “for”.
4. Inference – Just the opposite of a Grounds clause, an inference clause describes the logical conclusion or result that comes from a previous proposition. In English an inference clause will often be translated with “therefore”, “thus”, or “consequently”.
5. Purpose – Describes the purpose for a proposition or action. They answer the question “why?” and will often be translated in English with “to”, “in order that”, “so that”.
6. Result – Describes result of the proposition. A result clause answers the question “what does this result in?” and will often be translated in English with “so that” or “with the result that”.
7. Condition & Corollary – This is a paired set of labels that should be used together. Together a pair of condition-corollary phrases describes a potential condition for the proposition or action to occur. These will very often appear in the form of an “if . . . then” clause, though not always. For example: “If one does not love his brother” [condition], “then he is far from the kingdom of God” [corollary].
8. Concessive – Describes a circumstance in spite of the proposition or action. In English they will usually be introduced with “though” or “although”, or sometimes breaking them into two independent clauses, with “but” or “yet”.
9. Contrast – This category, similar to Concessive, describes a second clause that is in opposition to the previous one. In this case, there will be a stronger contrast communicated, usually using English ‘but’.
10. Content – A content clause gives another proposition that describes or qualifies a preceding one. In English they are usually introduced with “that” (or even “lest”).
11. Description/Explanation – This category is somewhat similar to the Content one, and is the ‘drip-pan’ type, to be used if the relationship between the clauses is not more specifically definable using the above categories.
12. Restatement – At times an author will repeat an assertion using different wording. In this case the argument is not being advance, but simply the same idea is restated in a different way.
Ephesians 3:14-19
For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith--that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,
from whom every familyin heaven and on earth is named, [description]
that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power [purpose]
through his Spirit
in your inner being,
so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith [purpose]
that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength [purpose]
to comprehend with all the saints [purpose/content?]
what is the breadth [content]
and length
and height
and depth,
and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, [purpose/content?]
that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. [purpose]
The Genre of Narrative
+ Halakha is the tradition surrounding God’s Law and the explanations of it - didactic, teaching, prescription
+ Haggadah is the tradition surrounding the stories/narrative of the Bible as well as the legends, myths, parables, allegories, folk-tales, animal-fables of Jewish history.
Interpreting Biblical Narrative
Luke 7:1-10
After he had finished all his sayings in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum. 2 Now a centurion had a servant who was sick and at the point of death, who was highly valued by him. 3 When the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent to him elders of the Jews, asking him to come and heal his servant. 4 And when they came to Jesus, they pleaded with him earnestly, saying, "He is worthy to have you do this for him, 5 for he loves our nation, and he is the one who built us our synagogue." 6 And Jesus went with them. When he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends, saying to him, "Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. 7 Therefore I did not presume to come to you. But say the word, and let my servant be healed. 8 For I too am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me: and I say to one, 'Go,' and he goes; and to another, 'Come,' and he comes; and to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it." 9 When Jesus heard these things, he marveled at him, and turning to the crowd that followed him, said, "I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith." 10 And when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the servant well.
[This picture is a revision of the chart in Daniel Doriani, Getting the Message, produced courtesy of CCC.]
A few notes:
1. Usually setting and characters are established at the beginning of a story. Sometimes they will need to be supplied by the surrounding context.
2. It is often very helpful to break up a story up into Scenes. Scenes generally involve a change in characters or setting or the introduction of a new character or element. Sometimes it is helpful to think in terms of scenes like different camera shots in a movie or TV show. However, with dialogue this can be misleading if we break the scenes too minutely each time someone speaks.
3. The Rising Conflict does not have to mean that two people are fighting physically or verbally, but it is the tension or problem that is being created in a story. If there is no tension or problem then there is not plot! [Cf. 1980’s British programme Post Man Pat]
4. The Climax as we’re using it here is not necessarily what you may immediately think of as the ‘literary climax’ of a story. We’re using Climax here to refer to Climax of Tension, the place in the story where you are holding your breath to see what will happen, where you are most on the edge of your seat, where the outcome could go either way.
The Resolution then, is the solving of the problem or tension that has been rising and has climaxed at the climax. The Resolution is where you can let out your breath and sit back in your chair.
The Method
1. Isolate the Literary Unit
2. Identify the Setting and Characters
3. Isolate the Different Scenes
4. Analyze the Narrative:
(i) Identify the (Rising) Conflict
(ii) Identify the Climax
(iii) Identify the Resolution
(iv) Identify the Following Action/Interpretation
5. Think about the Context
(i) immediate literary context
(ii) whole Gospel context (narrative flow and structure; intra- and intertextuality)
(iii) redemptive-historical context
6. Write a Brief Summary Paragraph
This summary paragraph should get at the main thrust of the story’s point(s), understood in context, and addressing what this teaches us about God, our Fallen Condition and the Redemptive Solutions God is offering.
The Payoff of Narrative Analysis
Returning to Luke 7:1-10
1. Isolate the Literary Unit – Luke 7:1-10
2. Identify the Setting and Characters
- Capernaum
- centurion, his slave, his friends, Jesus, Jewish elders, crowds around Jesus
3. Isolate the Different Scenes