Category: Better Bible Study

A Crucial Skill for Reading the Bible Well

On By Tyler BoydIn Better Bible Study

One of the most important skills for learning to read the Bible well is learning how the inspired authors designed their books communicate their main ideas clearly. Think about a photo mosaic: when you zoom in, you see lots of little pictures, each with its own details. But it’s only when you step back that you can see how all the little pictures fit together to make one big picture.

Similarly, while it’s good to focus on small sections of verses or one particular Bible story, it’s also important to step back and consider how entire books are structured to fit together to understand the main ideas of the inspired authors.

For example, the book of Genesis contains numerous stories that many Bible students are familiar with. But when  you notice how these stories are intentionally woven together, you start to pick up on some important key ideas.

The Problem

Consider the first few stories in Genesis. First, we read the account of creation (Gen. 1), where God created the heavens and the earth and repeatedly said that it was “good”. Then, we read about the first couple, Adam and Eve, who, rather than trusting that God knows what is good for them, eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 2-3). This failed test leads to a series of stories describing other times when Adam and Eve’s descendants failed the test: Cain and Able (Gen. 4:1-16), Lamech (Gen. 4:19-24), and the flood (Gen. 6:1-8). Noah, with his righteous obedience shines as a bright spot (Gen. 6:9-9:17), until he too falls into sin (Gen. 9:20-27). These stories of rebellion culminate in the building of Babel, which functions as the origin story of the Gentile nations that fill the world (Gen. 10-11).

In the aftermath of Babel, we are introduced to Abraham and his family. Although Abraham gives us an incredible example of faith in many instances (e.g., Gen. 15, 22), he also struggled at times to trust in God’s promises (Gen. 16), and was described as somewhat of a coward (Gen. 12, 20). His son Isaac acted in much the same way (Gen. 26). His grandsons, Jacob and Esau were not the kind of examples you would want to follow. Esau lacked self-control, and Jacob was a deceptive schemer (Gen. 25-31). The story of this dysfunctional, sin-filled family comes to a climax in the stories about Jacob’s sons, who sold their own brother into slavery (Gen. 37).

The same basic problem of sin (Gen. 2-3) which characterized all the nations of the world (Gen. 4-11) also characterized Abraham’s family (Gen. 12-50).

God’s Providence

The last section of the book of Genesis focuses on one of Abraham’s great-grandsons, Joseph. Joseph’s life was continually characterized by a series of providential reversals. Joseph went from being sold as a slave to being exalted as the overseer of Potiphar’s house (Gen. 39:1-4). He went from being a prisoner to being the second in command over all Egypt (Gen. 39:20; 41:41-44). He went from being hated and betrayed by his own brothers, to being the savior who delivered his family from starvation (Gen. 37:4; 42:6).

When we arrive at end of Genesis, the book closes with Joseph speaking to his brothers:

As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.

Genesis 50:20

No matter what evil his brothers intended to do to him, God was still faithful to Joseph. Despite the family’s many flaws, God responded with good, weaving together the events of Joseph’s life in such a magnificent way as to save and bless this messed-up family. Joseph was speaking to his brothers, but by inspiring Moses to place this statement at the very end of the book, God shows us that he wants us to think about his providential faithfulness in all the events that led up to this point.

The Result of Reading the Bible Well

When we read the book of Genesis not as a mere collection of random stories, but as an entire inspired work, we begin to see certain patterns arise.

On one hand, we see a pattern of sin and failure. We see the serpent from Genesis 3 at work. We continually see the deceptive nature of sin. We see the mess that continually results when people seek to define good and evil on their own terms instead of trusting in God’s definition of good and evil. We see what happens when sin is crouching at the door, and man does not rule over it.

On the other hand, we can see positive patterns of faithful obedience. Against a dark background of a world filled with evil, faithful examples of men such as Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and Joseph shine even brighter. People find their greatest successes in those times when they faithfully trust and obey God.

Finally, we see patterns of God’s faithfulness. On multiple occasions throughout the book of Genesis, God makes promises to his people. He promises that Eve will find salvation through her seed who will crush the snake (Gen. 3:15). He promises to bless all nations through Abraham’s family (Gen. 12:1-4). He repeats these covenant promises to Isaac (Gen. 26:1-5) and Jacob (Gen. 28:13-15). We see God’s faithfulness at work, even in the darkest moments of human failure. We see that God can use human evil, which He has not caused, to accomplish His purposes.

When God inspired men to write the Bible, He didn’t only inspire individual verses or even individual stories. He inspired entire books, which were thoughtfully crafted together and intended to be read and meditated on as inspired wholes. One way to pay attention to the key messages of entire books is to pay attention to the way certain themes are repeated throughout the book. Learning to pay attention to repeated themes is one of the most important Bible study skills you can develop. As you develop an eye for picking up on these patterns, your ability to understand the key ideas from the individual stories will improve.

But the point of learning to read the Bible well is not simply to make you a more intellectual Bible student. When you see these patterns at work in the lives of these various Bible characters, you will begin to see how the patterns are at work today, even in your own life. You can begin to see your temptations, failures, and sin in a new way. You can be encouraged to trust and obey God, even in the most difficult of circumstances. And you can begin to look at all the problems and pains in the world and contemplate how God’s faithfulness is continually at work.

As you pay attention to divinely inspired patterns, these themes will begin to sink into your way of thinking about the world, and give you hope that despite the failures and sins of yourself and others, evil will not get the last word, which in turn should encourage you to faithfully trust in God’s directions for your life.

Better Bible Study Tip #73: Never Base an Interpretation on a Presumed Truth

On By Tyler BoydIn Better Bible Study

Far too often, people will presume their beliefs are true, and that they are taught in the Bible, instead of letting God’s word dictate what their beliefs should be.

For example, you’ve probably heard about the three wise men who came to visit at Jesus’s birth. This idea of three wise men is readily accepted by so many people. We see it displayed in nativity scenes, Christmas cards, Christmas specials, and even in Christmas carols (“We Three Kings of Orient Are…”).

But the idea of “three” wise men is nowhere in the Bible. Yes, the wise men brought three gifts, gold, frankincense, and myrrh, but the Bible never specifies how many wise men there were. We imagine that the Bible says there were three wise men, but our imagination about the text is based on what we presume the Bible teaches.

Using one’s imagination as a means of interpreting the Bible is not a good method of Bible study. It lacks the necessary limitations to prevent flawed interpretations. To illustrate further, consider this passage:

And he [King Jotham] did what was right in the eyes of the LORD according to all that his father Uzziah had done, except he did not enter the temple of the LORD.

2 Chronicles 27:2

Let’s suppose we want to teach a lesson on why church attendance is important. We stumble across this verse, and we think “King Jotham was a good king, except for one thing. He didn’t go to the temple!” This passage seems to support our idea, and so we use it in our lesson. Just because King Uzziah was a good king who went to the temple every week, that doesn’t mean his son would continue the practice. Tragically, our young people make this same mistake when they don’t go to church like their parents did. Good lesson, right?

Certainly there is nothing wrong with encouraging people to assemble with the church each week, but the interpretation of the above verse is totally wrong. Why? Because it is based on a presumed truth.

If we had taken a step back from our presumption about the meaning of the text, and studied the surrounding context (2 Chron. 26:16-23), we would learn that King Uzziah was a good king, except that he entered the temple to burn incense on the altar of incense. This is something only the priest was allowed to do. As a result of his disobedient worship, King Uzziah was struck with leprosy until the day he died.

When the passage says that King Jotham “did not enter the temple of the Lord”, it means that he did not repeat the mistake of his father by entering the temple to worship in a way that was contrary to God’s will. Because we assumed we knew what the text meant, we missed a very important lesson about the importance of worshiping God only in those ways which he has commanded.

Some mistakes, such as assuming there were three wise men, may be of very little consequence. But this habit of assuming we know what the Bible is trying to say can end up leading to some dangerous and divisive teachings.

When we base our interpretation of the Bible on presumed truths, we risk distorting the meaning of Scripture to fit our own personal cleverness. We run the risk of minimizing or ignoring passages that don’t fit what we think the Bible teaches. We struggle to understand those verses that don’t fit our preconceived beliefs. When our belief isn’t clearly communicated in a particular passage, it’s easier to just give up, and let trusted commentators or preachers explain those “difficult” passages to us in a way that affirms our beliefs.

We must remember that every passage in the Bible is there for a reason. If it seems confusing because it doesn’t sound like it teaches what we think it should teach, we first need to examine our own assumptions. If we really want to do better Bible study, we need to let God’s word be what it is, study it in context, and discover it’s true and intended meaning. We must submit our beliefs to the word of God rather than making the word of God submit to our beliefs.

Better Bible Study Tip #72: The Bible Won’t Answer Every Question, and That’s Okay

On By Tyler BoydIn Better Bible Study

The Bible will not answer every question that might come into our minds.

For example, when we read about Cain and Able (Gen. 3:1-6), the text never explicitly states why God accepted Abel’s offering, but not Cain’s. Here’s what it says:

In the course of time Cain brought to the LORD an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel also brought of the firstfruit of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell.

Genesis 4:3-5

Why didn’t God accept Cain’s offering? That’s a pretty obvious question to ask. Did God dislike vegetables? Did he have something against Cain personally? Did Cain do something disobedient in his worship? Maybe Cain didn’t offer God his very best? Or maybe there is some other reason? We can guess all day long, but the Bible simply does not answer that question (at least not right here in Genesis).

This is the kind of stuff that can make Bible study frustrating. It may even seem to us that the text isn’t written very well. How could Moses leave our such an important detail?

But what if God knew exactly what he was doing when he gave us the text written just as it is? What if the text is inspired to give us the few details we are given, and also inspired to leave out other details we might be curious about?

Notice what the lack of detail does for us as we read the text. It makes us stop and think, doesn’t it? It’s kind of like Obi Wan training Luke in using the force. In order to help Luke learn the force, he had to blind fold him. “Seeing” too much was causing him to miss the more important stuff, that is, the force (No, I’m not teaching you to accept the Jedi religion. It’s an just illustration. That’s all.)

By not giving us “why” Cain’s offering was rejected, now we can see the story from Cain’s point of view. He doesn’t get it either. Why isn’t God accepting the offering? What did Cain do wrong? By not giving us the answer we hoped to find, the Bible actually draws us into Cain’s frustration. It is then, that we read God’s response to Cain.

The LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.

Genesis 4:6-7

In short God tells Cain to be careful. Yes, Cain was angry. We can understand why. But God hadn’t given up on Cain. If Cain would do well, he would still be accepted. But if not, Sin was crouching at the door, waiting to pounce.

Now notice what the story does to us as a reader. Are we always going to understand why certain things happen? No. Are we always going to understand why God does certain things? No. Might we feel disappointed and angry at times? Yes. But still, we can choose to do good. If not, sin is crouching at the door. When we read the story the way it was written, God’s warning to Cain becomes a warning to us, the reader.

We could just read the story and get frustrated because it doesn’t answer all of our questions. We could just say, “okay, let’s find a quick life application and move on.”

Or we could read it. Ponder it. Wrestle with it. Ask the hard questions (Tip #1). Think carefully and deeply about it. Pay close attention to every inspired detail we are given. Go for a walk. Talk about it with Christian friends. Come back to the text, and then read it again.

The Bible has a word for this kind of Bible study. It’s called “meditation.” That’s how the Bible is designed to be studied.

His delight is in the law of the LORD,
and he meditates on it day and night.

He is like a tree
planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season,
and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he prospers.

Psalm 1:2-3

The Bible won’t answer every question you have. That’s okay. Keep studying. Keep mediating. You may not ever find the answer to every question you have, but by mediating on His word, you will be blessed.

Better Bible Study Tip #71: The Bible Had Editors, and That’s Okay

On By Tyler BoydIn Better Bible Study

There was a time when the idea of someone “editing” the Bible really bothered me. I was taught that it was wrong to add to or take away from the Bible (cf. Deut. 4:2; Rev. 22:18-19). After all, the Bible is God’s word, and God’s word is perfect (cf. Ps. 19:7). It doesn’t need editing, and it would be wrong to do so.

I still believe that. It is for that reason that I am convinced that it is important to take God’s word as it is, not as we wish it was (see Tip #66: Don’t Second Guess God’s Choice in Inspiration). With that in mind, consider what we read in the first four verses of Ezekiel.

In the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I was among the exiles by the Chebar canal, the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God. On the fifth day of the month (it was the fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiachin), the word of the LORD came to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the Chebar canal, and the hand of the LORD was upon him there.

As I looked, behold, a stormy wind came out of the north, and a great cloud, with brightness around it, and fire flashing forth continually, and in the midst of the fire, as it were gleaming metal.

Ezekiel 1:1-4 (emphasis added)

The first verse uses the first person, “I was among” and “I saw.” This gives us the impression that Ezekiel is writing about himself. But then it switches to the third person. “The word of the Lord came to Ezekiel” and “the hand of the Lord was upon him there.” Then in verse four, it switches back to first person, “As I looked.”

I suppose it’s possible that Ezekiel just liked to talk about himself in the third person. But when the text switches to the third person, it certainly gives the impression that someone else other than Ezekiel is speaking, that is, an anonymous author who took Ezekiel’s first person account and wove it together into the book we now know as Ezekiel. That’s a not a theory that arises from doubting God’s inspiration, but from wresting with the impression given by the inspired words given in the Bible.

Even if the Bible had editors, that doesn’t make it any less inspired. God inspired many books with anonymous authorship (Tip # 69) and God could have easily inspired the words of the editors themselves. In fact, the book of Jeremiah gives us a glimpse of how editing was part of the process by which we ended up with the book as the final product we have today.

Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah, who wrote on it at the dictation of Jeremiah all the words of the scroll that Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire. And many similar words were added to them.

Jeremiah 36:33 (emphasis added)

God had Jeremiah write out a second version of the prophetic words he had already written down once before. But when they were dictated the second time, similar words were added to them. This wasn’t the same thing as “adding to” God’s word. It was simply part of the process by which God used Jeremiah and Baruch to produce the book of Jeremiah just as He wanted it to be in it’s final completed version.

Recognizing the existence of inspired editors is important because it enables us to avoid unnecessary confusion, and even false teaching that arises from those who haven’t considered this point.

Imagine if John, upon completing his account of the gospel, sends out multiple copies to various churches. In the copy he sends to Peter, he asks for feedback. “Is it all accurate? Did I leave out anything important?” Now imagine Peter responds to John and says, “I really think your book looks great, but I think you should consider including an account of the woman caught in adultery.” John, after receiving Peter’s feedback decides, “Yes, that was an important event. I better add it in.” But in the meantime, multiple copies of an earlier draft, without the woman caught in adultery, were already in circulation. So what happens? We end up with manuscripts with different versions of the book of John (as can be seen in your Bible’s footnotes on John 7:53-8:11).

As skeptic might look at the fact that we have differences between manuscripts as an opportunity to attack the reliability of the Bible. But if we realize that inspired scripture likely went through multiple inspired revisions, resulting in the possibility of multiple inspired versions which could have circulated at the same time, the skeptic’s attack is exposed as powerless.

Likewise, just because the book of Deuteronomy records the death of Moses (Deut. 34 was clearly written by someone other than Moses), this is no reason dismiss the Mosaic authorship of the law. We can trust that Moses received God’s Law at Sanai (Ex. 19), and what he wrote down (Ex. 24:4) is the essentially the same law we can read today. The fact that in inspired editor collected Moses’s law into the final forms of Genesis-Deuteronomy is no reason to reject the books as inauthentic in their origin.

No, we should not add to, take away from, or otherwise edit God’s word today. What we have now is the completed product. But since we take the Bible as it is, and the Bible presents itself as an edited book, we can believe that God used inspired editors as part of the process of inspiration.

Better Bible Study Tip #70: The Setting of a Biblical Story Isn’t Necessarily When It Was Written

On By Tyler BoydIn Better Bible Study

When we read the Bible, it’s easy to assume that what we’re reading was written relatively close to the time of the events described in the book. Sometimes that may in fact be the case, but not always. For example, most scholars believe the gospels were written sometime between 40 to 80 AD. This delay makes sense, since the earliest Christians would have had more first-hand relationships with the apostles, but as the church grew, so did the need to record the events of Jesus’s life writing for posterity. This may seems like an insignificant detail, but understanding when the they were written can help us understand the author’s setting, his purpose for writing, and why he has chosen to arrange his book the way he did.

Of course, writing within a few decades of Jesus’s life is still a relatively short amount of time, but when it comes to the Old Testament, things are different. For instance, when Moses recorded events about the garden of Eden, the flood, and the lives of the patriarchs, he was writing about events that happened hundreds, if not thousands of years before he wrote. The fact that Moses wrote Genesis at a later date and to an Israelite audience as they left Egypt, helps us understand why he structured the book the way he did, and why he emphasized various points along the way.

The gap between an event and it’s recording is no reason to doubt the accuracy of Scripture. For instance, since Moses received the law first hand from God at Sinai (Ex. 19:9), he would have had direct revelation of those events. We know that Luke was able to consult multiple sources to make sure what he wrote was accurate (Lk. 1:1). Ultimately we can trust Scripture is true because it is God’s word, and God cannot lie (Titus 1:2). Moreover, external sources and archeological finds have countless times verified that what we read in the Bible fits with what we know about ancient world it describes.

If you want to do better Bible study, don’t only pay attention to the timeline of the events that are described. Also think about who wrote about the events, when they wrote, and who they were writing to. The more we can understand the author’s original purpose for writing, and what he was trying to communicate, the more we can understand God’s purpose and what He was trying to communicate through that author.

Better Bible Study Tip #69: Don’t Judge a Book’s Author by It’s Title

On By Tyler BoydIn Better Bible Study

My “Better Bible Study Tip #68” was to try to determine the setting of the book. In short, it can be really helpful to try to determine who wrote the book, historical details about the situation in which it was written, and what the author’s purpose was for writing the book. But one particular challenge in doing this is that most of the books of the Bible are anonymous.

This is particularly true with much of the Old Testament. For instance, we don’t have a clue who wrote books like Judges, 1-2 Kings, and 1-2 Chronicles. Even several of the books that are named for a person are actually anonymous, such as Joshua, Ruth, and 1-2 Samuel. There’s even some uncertainty about some of the books that are attributed to someone. For example, several of the Psalms contain a superscription which reads “A Psalm of David.” The problem is, there’s a good bit of debate about whether these superscriptions were part of the original inspired text, or if they were added later. Even if they are original, the phrase “Of David” could possibly mean “by David” or “for David” or “about David.”

The New Testament is less anonymous. Most of the books include the name of the author. But even in the New Testament, there’s still a good deal of uncertainty. For example, we don’t know who wrote Hebrews. The gospel of John has a very old tradition linking it to the disciple John, but is technically anonymous. All we know from the text itself is that is was written by “the disciple whom Jesus loved” (John 21:20, 24). Since there are multiple people named “James” and “John” who are named among Jesus’s followers, we’re not 100% certain who wrote the books that contain their names either.

Yes, it is important to try to determine the setting in which a book was written. But at the same time, we must remain humble, and admit what we don’t know. Be careful not to base your interpretation of a book based upon a presumption about the book’s authorship. Guessing at a book’s author, and then basing your interpretation based on that guess, is very shaky ground upon which to base your conclusions.

The good news is, we can still learn a good deal about a book’s setting, even when we’re not certain who wrote the book. If you pay close attention to the content of the book, you can often find several clues to help you understand it’s historical setting and the author’s objective, even without knowing who the author is. But be careful not to judge a book’s authorship based on the title alone.

Better Bible Study Tip #68: Try To Determine the Setting of the Book

On By Tyler BoydIn Better Bible Study

When I say “try to determine the setting of the book”, I mean try to determine it’s author, the approximate time when it was written, the situation, and the author’s purpose.

It is important to remember that the Bible was written by humans. Don’t misunderstand me. The Bible is absolutely 100% God’s divinely inspired word. It is 100% true. It is 100% authoritative. It is not simply a human book. But at the same time, God used humans to write the Bible (see Bible study Tip #30: The Bible is 100% Divine and 100% Human).

It would be a mistake to imagine the process of inspiration as if a person simply falls into a mindless trance while the Spirit of God overtakes the muscles in their hand to fill a scroll with God’s words. I have no problem believing that God could have given us scripture that way if that’s what he had wanted to do, but that’s just not how the Bible describes itself. Yes, the inspired writers were carried along by the Holy Spirit as they wrote (2 Peter 1:20-21), but this does not mean that the writers were separated from their own purpose and agenda for writing. There are several places in the Bible that make this really clear.

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.

John 20:31

I do not write these things to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children.

1 Corinthians 4:14

For this reason I write these things while I am away from you, that when I come I may not have to be severe in my use of the authority that the Lord has given me for building up and not for tearing down.

2 Corinthians 13:10

Even when God directly commanded something to be written down, the Bible doesn’t describe the person as losing control of their mind as they wrote (Ex. 17:14; Num. 5:23; Deut. 31:19, 30). This doesn’t mean the Bible is any less reliable. If we take the Bible as the Bible describes itself, we must conclude that God is powerful enough that he doesn’t have to separate a person from their own natural purpose and agenda in order to supernaturally produce the precise words that he wants them to write. He’s powerful enough to do this, even without using mind-control! (I don’t know about you, but I think that’s every bit as impressive, if not more impressive than the “mindless trance” idea).

Understanding this has important implications for good Bible study. Since God used humans to write Scripture, the more we understand what those humans were trying to communicate, the more we will understand what God was trying to communicate through them. That’s why understanding the historical setting of a book is important.

Of course many books of the Bible were written anonymously, and that’s okay. And some books are easier to situate in a particular moment in history than others (it helps to be familiar with biblical chronology, see Tip #67). That’s okay too. We can also recognize that God had the ability to communicate divine truths that go beyond what even the prophets themselves could comprehend (1 Peter 1:10-12). But the more we understand about who the author was, the historical situation in which they were writing, and their purpose for writing, the better grasp we will have of why the author writes the things he does, what he is trying to communicate, and why those things are important.

Better Bible Study Tip #67: Think About Biblical Chronology

On By Tyler BoydIn Better Bible Study

The content of the Bible spans from creation to the end of time as we know it. The actual writing of the Bible spanned from the time of Moses in the 1400’s BC until John penned Revelation, possibly close to 100 AD. That’s a period of about 1500 years. How do we get those numbers? What was going on during that time period?

Although there are numerous resources out there, such as chronological Bibles and commentaries, that can help us to make sense of the biblical timeline, the actual text of the Bible doesn’t provide us with “real time” dating of events, at least not as frequently as we might wish, or in terms that make a lot of sense to the average modern person. It doesn’t tell us “this event happened 700 years before Christ” or “I Paul, am writing this letter 31 years after the resurrection.” Rather the Bible usually dates itself in relation to other events – what happened before or after what. The only way scholars can determine “real time” chronology, that is, actual, numerical dates, is by finding events in the Bible that correlate with records kept by other ancient cultures that kept time with detailed astrological records. When something in the Bible corelates with those records, scholars can fix those events with actual numerical dates.

Practically speaking, if an average person wants to know the real time numerical dates of biblical events, the easiest thing to do is consult a commentary (or even google). It’s even more important to become familiar with the big picture story of the Bible (Tip #13). Even if we don’t know the precise date of a biblical event, understanding a general timeline can be helpful.

Here’s a general chronological outline to be familiar with:

1500s BC and before: Genesis
1400s BC: Moses, The Exodus
1300s BC: Joshua, Conquest of Canaan, First of the Judges
1200s BC: Ruth, The Judges, Ehud, Deborah
1100s BC: The Judges, Gideon, Jephthah, Samson
1000s BC: Saul, David
900s BC: Solomon; Israel splits in two, Ephraim and Judah
800s BC: Elijah, Elisha
700s BC: Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, Micah; Assyria the superpower; the fall of Ephraim
600s BC: Jeremiah, King Josiah; Babylon the superpower
500s BC: Ezekiel; the fall of Judah; Daniel; Persia the superpower; Jews free to return home
400s BC: Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther
300s BC: Intertestamental period; Greece the superpower; Hellenistic culture spreads
200s BC: Intertestamental period; Syria and Egypt as dueling regional powers pulling Judah one way or another
100s BC: Intertestamental period; Judah’s rebellion against Syrian power and gain of partial independence
000s BC: Intertestamental period; Rome the superpower
000s AD: Jesus; the apostles; the early church; the writing of the New Testament

Understanding how the Bible fits together chronologically is helpful because correctly situating a biblical author in a particular time can help us to understand what the writers say and why. Time important for reading the Bible in context. That’s why it helps to think about biblical chronology.

Better Bible Study Tip #66: Don’t Second Guess God’s Choice in Inspiration

On By Tyler BoydIn Better Bible Study

One of the reasons why some people find the Bible difficult is because it doesn’t clearly answer all of their doctrinal questions, or articulate their beliefs as plainly as they wish it would. Sometimes this can lead to the bad habits of trying to pull more out of a text than what the text actually teaches, or to pull proof texts away from their contexts in an effort to explain a particular position more clearly.

We need to trust God’s wisdom in inspiring the text the way he did. For instance, if God wanted to inspire a text the show the importance of infant baptism, he could have easily included that. If God wanted to more precisely answer all of your questions about the Holy Spirit, or about the continuation or secession of miracles, he could have inspired someone to explain that more clearly. If God wanted to inspire authors of later generations to write in a way that would more clearly answer every question a modern Christian might raise, he could have done that.

Even though God could have given us a different Bible, he didn’t. For whatever reason, he choose to inspire the particular writers that he did, at the particular time that they wrote. For whatever reason, he chose to address the particular questions that the Bible deals with, teach the particular doctrines that the Bible teaches, and teach them with the precise words that he chose to teach them with. If the Bible is silent on a particular subject, God can be credited with that decision as well.

It was God who inspired scripture. It was God who selected and prepared the particular writers that he chose to inspire. It was God who gave us the Bible as it is, with the words it contains. He did not inspire a different text. God is not incompetent.

As Paul puts it in 2 Timothy 3:16-17,

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

The Bible, as it is, has a divine origin. The Bible, as it is, is sufficient. For this reason we should be extra careful to keep man made catechisms, creeds, statements of belief, and church traditions in proper perspective. If those creeds or traditions teach anything less than what the Bible teaches, they don’t say enough. If those creeds or traditions include anything more than what the Bible teaches, they may say too much. If those creeds or traditions are precisely the same as what is revealed in inspired scripture, they are redundant.

This is not to suggest that it is inappropriate for uninspired teachers to try to explain the text using their uninspired words, or for churches to write a statement of beliefs, or for traditions to be formed and kept. But we must remember that while God could have inspired other words to be included in the Bible, for whatever reason he didn’t. “Other words” are “other words.” They are not inspired. They do not originate with God.

If we can’t explain a particular belief without using the inspired words of scripture, and without using proof texts ripped from their original context, perhaps we should reexamine why we hold that particular belief. Or at they very least, we should reexamine why we feel like it needs to be explained in a way that is different from how the Bible explains it.

When we try to teach more or less than what the Bible teaches, we are disrespecting God’s choice in inspiration. We must honor God’s wise choice to inspire scripture the the time, place, and way that he did.

Better Bible Study Tip #64: Listen to Bible Themed Podcasts

On By Tyler BoydIn Better Bible Study

I’ve been a podcast listener for several years now. Although I enjoy listening to all kinds of podcasts (business, leadership, Star Wars, economics, history, sports, etc), I spend most of my time listening to Bible study themed podcasts. I initially started listening to podcasts simply because they are more entertaining than listening to the same 20 songs over and over on the radio. But the more I’ve listened to podcasts, the more I’ve noticed that listening to podcasts can actually improve your Bible study.

We’re all busy people. Even the most disciplined Bible student will often feel like they just don’t have enough time to study as much as they should. The beauty of listening to podcasts is that you can listen on demand. You can play a podcast while you are driving, exercising, or cleaning. That means you can listen to podcasts without having to take any additional time out of your day!

Another reason I recommend listening to podcasts is because you can listen to discussions on almost any niche topic you can think of. Whether you are interested in apologetics, ancient near eastern culture, the Christian and finances, Christians leadership, book by book exegesis, or teaching children’s bible classes, there are podcasts out there focused specifically on that specific topic! I will usually have four or five different podcasts that I listen to regularly, plus several more that I will listen to occasionally whenever they post an episode that looks interesting.

What’s even better is that the the endless content of podcasts is completely free. With some podcasts you can actually learn more about a subject matter than you would if you attended a college class. I’ve read that if you drive 12,000 miles in a year, in three years time, if you listen to podcasts, it is the equivalent of two years worth of college classes. I have no idea if that’s true or not, but I do know that you can learn quite a bit from podcasts and it’s way cheaper than paying thousands in college tuition.

One other hidden gem is that many podcasts will refer listeners back to their website or show-notes page, where they have additional resources listed. It may not seem like much, but I’ve stumbled across some really interesting articles and book recommendations simply from visiting some podcast show-notes pages.

Better Bible Study Tip #3 was “Don’t Just Read – Think“. Listening to podcasts will give you plenty of things to think about. Of course, we should always listen critically. As with any other media used for teaching, some podcasts are better than others. The only way to critically decipher between good teaching and false teaching is to spend plenty of time studying the inspired text of scripture itself. For this reason, listening to podcasts should be viewed as supplement to Bible study, and should NEVER be treated as a replacement for Bible study.

Podcasts have been a blessing to my Bible study, and I’m sure they can help you gain some additional insights as well. It’s simple to start. Using a podcast app, just search for whatever topic you want to learn about, and then start listening. If you don’t like what you find, just search try something else. If you find a good one, hit subscribe as keep listening. You might also try asking for recommendations from Christian friends. If you haven’t started listening to Bible themed podcasts, I highly encourage you to do so.