Category: Better Bible Study

Better Bible Study Tip #78: Practice Christian Hospitality

On By Tyler BoydIn Better Bible Study

On the surface, practicing hospitality may seem unrelated to the quality of our Bible study. But as I reflect on my own spiritual growth, I believe the two are closely connected.

By “Christian hospitality” I’m referring to the practice of welcoming strangers as you would welcome Christ (Mt. 25:35), by providing meals and comfort for them simply to help them feel welcomed (Heb. 13:2; Gen. 18:1-8). I’m referring to “breaking bread” and sharing prayers and possessions together with other Christians in your home (Acts 2:42-47). I’m referring to demonstrations of empathy and compassion for those who are hurting or in need (Rom. 12:13).

But how does Christians hospitality lead to better Bible study? When people feel welcomed and comforted, they are more likely to engage in deeper discussions, share insights, and ask questions. Open, honest, and even vulnerable communication about the Bible is more likely to happen where there is mutual respect and love for one another. Christian hospitality is necessary to develop these types of relationships.

Hosting others in your home can naturally lead to discussions about what we understand the Bible to mean, and how we think it can be better applied in every day life. A living room is the perfect place to introduce and be introduced to new Biblical ideas that haven’t been considered before. It’s a great setting to test ideas, by raising questions, hesitations, and objections, while at the same time developing greater kindness and respect. Meeting together in a home is one of the best ways to stir one another up to greater application of what is learned.

Hospitality is one of the most effective ways to help mentor younger Christians, or to learn from the experiences and studies of older Christians. Sometimes you may choose to open the Bible together in person. Other times, you may find yourself thinking about new things the next time you open your Bible for personal study. Either way, practicing hospitality will lead to better Bible study.

Hospitality can lead to greater accountability, and can offer great encouragement through difficult times. This doesn’t mean that every time you open your doors that you must turn the visit into a home Bible study. Just open your doors and visit. Talk about whatever is important to your guest. Chances are, when Christians spend time together, it won’t be long until the Bible comes up in conversation anyway.

Hospitality isn’t easy. It usually means cooking and cleaning are in order. It means setting aside other tasks that you might rather be doing. But do it anyway. Do it even if you can’t get your house as clean as you want (you never know when seeing your messy house is just the encouragement that struggling mom might need). Invite that new family from church over for dinner. Invite the youth group over for a devotional. Have that widow over for a cup of coffee. Let their wild kids play with your kid’s toys. Share personal stories. Laugh. Encourage. Listen. Ask questions.

Make Christian hospitality a greater part of your life. I can just about guarantee it will lead to better Bible study.

Better Bible Study Tip #77: Teach a Bible Class

On By Tyler BoydIn Better Bible Study

Some of the best Bible study you will ever do is the study you do as you prepare to teach a Bible class. If you’ve been a Christian for more than a few years and you’ve never taught a Bible class, try it. You’ll see what I mean.

For one thing, when you agree to teach a class, this immediately creates a sense of accountability. Knowing that others are counting on you means that you have a responsibility to study, study diligently, and do your very best to understand the text accurately. Your first time teaching, this accountability may be stressful. But it will almost certainly motivate you to better study.

This preparation will involve spending a lot of time in the text, reading it repeatedly, studying its context, and consulting various resources, such as commentaries or study guides.

Teaching requires that you analyze the text carefully. Not only must you know what the text says, but it is up to you to be able to explain it to others. Not only must you be able to explain it, but you’ll also want to give some thought as to how it might apply to those in your class. This process will sharpen your analytical skills and enhance your understanding of the Bible.

Teaching a class forces you to think carefully about how to communicate what you have learned. The act of thinking about what you will say will help solidify your understanding, and often reveals gaps in your own knowledge. When you can’t figure out how to explain something effectively, this will drive you back into deeper study.

Most people feel nervous before teaching a class. This too can be a great asset. The more nervous you are, the more time you will spend looking over your notes again and again, while rehearsing to yourself what you will say, and how you will say it. This repetition will reinforce your study even more.

Finally, once the day has come for you to present your class, there’s a possibility that other students in the class will ask you questions. This can be a terrifying thought for first time Bible class teachers. But don’t sweat it. If you’ve spent time preparing for class, and a question is raised that you don’t know the answer to, there is nothing wrong with humbling confessing “I don’t know, but I’ll be happy to study that some more.” Even the best Bible teachers don’t know all the answers to all the questions. But once again, by putting yourself in a position where others will ask you questions, this will force you to further clarify your thoughts and articulate them clearly. The process of engaging with questions can also help you to consider perspectives you haven’t considered before.

By the time it’s all said and done, I think you will agree. There is no Bible study quite like the study you will do while preparing to teach a class.

It’s not easy. Yes, it can be scary. But it’s worth it. If you’ve never had the opportunity to teach a class, let one of your elders or deacons know that you would like the opportunity. It will be some of the best Bible study you will ever do.

Better Bible Study Tip #76: A Text Cannot Mean What It Never Meant

On By Tyler BoydIn Better Bible Study

It is very important not to read into a text things that were not intended by the original author. Let the text speak for itself rather than reading into the text things that aren’t there.

Keep in mind that the question of what a text means is fixed by the the author, and is not open to reinterpretation. The goal of the Bible student should be to determine the author’s intended meaning. A text cannot mean what the text never meant in the first place. Meaning is determined by the author, and discovered by the reader.

A common practice in Bible classes and small group studies is to go around the room after reading a passage of Scripture and asking, “What does this verse mean to you, Susan?”

Susan says, “You know, to me this verse really seems to be saying _____”

And the leader will say, “Oh, that’s interesting. I’ve never thought of that before. What does this verse mean to you, Larry?”

“To me this verse means something entirely different. It makes me think about _______”. And Larry goes on to give an entirely different interpretation.

To treat the interpretation of scripture as subjective by asking “What does this mean to you?” is completely wrongheaded. The question we need to be asking is “What does this verse mean?” Period. Or to be more precise, “What did this verse mean to the author?”

Someone may object, “But isn’t it possible for a text to have more than one meaning, beyond the original, intended meaning, such as in Old Testament prophesies that were never truly understood until the time of the New Testament?”

I’m not ready to shut the door completely on this line of reasoning as a logical possibility. After all, 2 Peter 1:20-21 seems to suggest that if Scripture is inspired by God, there may very well be times where God’s intended meaning transcends the human understanding of the prophet himself.

But (and this is very important) this is no reason to begin ripping Scriptures from their original contexts. Even though God might communicate through human language in terms that humans failed to understand, he still communicated through human language. The more I study Old Testament prophesies in their original context, the more I find myself discovering that the New Testament author’s didn’t rip those scriptures out of context and assign new meanings, but rather they began to connect the dots to recognize contextual truths that were there all along. Although I have more studying to do, I suspect that no prophecy ever had a new meaning assigned to it, but rather a newly recognized meaning that was there in the original context, yet often overlooked until the time of Christ.

The real issue with assigning a new non-contextual meaning to Scripture is a simple one: Who among us can speak for God? For this reason, we should be properly concerned anytime anyone says that God has revealed to them a deeper meaning to a text that goes beyond it’s original meaning. If God wanted to inspire a New Testament author to recognize a deeper meaning to a Scripture, fine, I can go with that, since God himself was the Divine author of the Scripture in the first place. But since none of us speak for God, we do not have the right to assign new meanings to Scripture. Scripture cannot mean what it never meant in the first place.

Better Bible Study Tip #75: Never Stop Thinking Exegetically

On By Tyler BoydIn Better Bible Study

Exegesis is the process of drawing out the meaning from a text in accordance with the context. The goal of exegesis is to uncover the original meaning intended by the author.

Eisegesis, on the other hand, is the process of interpreting a text by reading ones own ideas or biases into it. This subjective approach is used to make a text conform to the interpreter’s own ideas or agenda, often disregarding the original context and meaning.

It should go without saying that exegesis should always be the goal of those who love God’s inspired words. Exegesis doesn’t require expert training, but it does require humility and effort. It is true that eisegesis can be easier, but that does not make it better. Reading one’s own desires, ideas, or hopes into a text can be tempting, especially if we approach the Bible with a strong preexisting ideological commitment. Sometimes it’s the urge to make a quick modern application, or to prove a quick point tempts us to use scriptures out of context.

Even so, good Bible students should always strive to think exegetically. ALWAYS. Exegesis is not a study method we should use only when it’s convenient. We must think exegetically all the time.

The problem with selective exegesis is that it opens to door for us to read our own, sometimes completely foreign, ideas into a text, thus making God’s word something different from what God actually said.

For example, it is not uncommon to hear Matthew 18:20, “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am among them,” used to prove that wherever two or three believers are gathered for worship, prayer, or fellowship, that Jesus’s presence is assured among them. This in turn is used to suggest that small gatherings of only two or three Christians can have the same significance of assembling with the larger church.

However, if we would learn to think exegetically all the time, we could easily learn that Jesus never used this teaching in this way. This is Jesus’s final phrase in much longer teaching about reconciliation between brothers. In Matthew 18:15-20, Jesus outlines steps for addressing a brother who sins, culminating in bringing the matter before the church if the individual does not repent. Verses 18-19 discuss the authority of binding and loosing given to the church. The promise in verse 20 (“where two or three gather in my name”) is specifically tied to the authority of gathered believers to make binding decisions in matters of discipline.

To make this text mean something God did not intend is to abuse the text, not use it. To avoid making such mistakes, one needs to learn to think exegetically, and to do so with every text.

Better Bible Study Tip #74: Ask “What’s the Point?” Over and Over Again

On By Tyler BoydIn Better Bible Study

One of the most important skills in doing Bible study is learning to trace the author’s arguments. This is especially important in books that are written in a discourse style, such as the New Testament epistles, or Ecclesiastes, but it is also a helpful tip for other books, such as the gospels, the prophets, Revelation, etc.

A good place to start is by reading through an entire book in one sitting (with most books of the Bible this can be done in well under an hour). When you finish reading the book, ask “What’s the author’s point, the overall point, of the whole book?” Try to write out a succinct one or two sentence answer.

After asking this question, try to trace the author’s argument. What approach did the author use to arrive at this overall point? What are the natural divisions of the book, and how do they fit into the overall argument?

Once you’ve gained a general feel for the overall flow of the book, zoom in a little closer, and begin asking “What’s the point?” over and over again, paragraph by paragraph. What is the point of each paragraph, and how does it fit into the particular part of the book you are studying?

I can’t stress this enough. If you want to gain a good understanding of a particular passage, you must be able to summarize what the author says, why the author says it at that particular point, and how the passage contributes to the overall argument.

If you will develop this habit of thinking contextually all the time, you will notice a few important changes in how you study the Bible.

  1. You will begin to realize that the meaning of a passage is self-contained. That means you will almost never have to look up cross-references or parallel passages from other parts of the Bible. You will become less reliant on things like commentaries, ready references, or Google searches to understand what a passage means. Learning to let the text explain itself is not only good Bible study, but in some ways it is easier than flipping back and forth to a handful of other verses, and trying to figure out how they all relate to each other.
  2. Certain passages will begin to stand out to you as far more important than you ever realized before. When you start thinking contextually, you will learn that there is nothing in a paragraph that does not fit into the author’s overall point. Every line of Scripture is important.
  3. The Bible will begin to make a lot more sense. This is what doing good Bible study is all about. You may still come across difficult passages now and then. When you do, there’s nothing wrong with consulting a commentary or looking up cross-references to help you figure it out. But when you do, your careful examination of the surrounding context will prepare you to evaluate those outside resources much more responsibly.

It doesn’t require a Bible degree or specialized training to simply ask “What’s the point?” That’s something anybody can do. It may take practice and it may take a little extra time and effort to think through the text in that way. But you can do it, and the rewards are worth it.

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.