Posts Tagged ‘Bible Study’
More than Doing: Categories for Applying God’s Word
What am I Supposed to Do with This? “Why is our time in God’s Word not as life-transformative as it should be?” After a few moments of silence, a couple of folks in my Bible study class replied. “I’m too easily distracted… My mind wanders… I’m not consistent… My kids wake up early and they…
Read MoreBook Review: The Voyage And Shipwreck Of St. Paul
One of the best books I’ve read in a long time comes to us as a reprint of an 1880 revision of a book first published in 1848. Smith, James. The Voyage and Shipwreck of St. Paul: With Dissertations on the Life and Writings of St. Luke, and the Ships and Navigation of the Ancients.…
Read MoreA Purposeful Church Schedule including Inductive Journaling
“What shall I cry? (Isaiah 40:6). That is the question which comes before every preacher’s mind as he prepares the sermons he is to deliver each Sunday. What am I supposed to talk about? How am I ever going to get a message together? Maybe you have heard about the pastor who never prepared his…
Read MoreThat’s Just Your Interpretation, Part 2
In our previous article on this topic, we saw that the mistaken impression that the Bible’s meaning is beyond our grasp arises in part because we fail to apply the same rules of interpretation to Scripture that we do to every other communication. The result is an array of interpretive approaches with few objective parameters…
Read MoreThat’s Just Your Interpretation, Part I
Many mistakenly believe the Bible to be a hopelessly obscure book, the meaning of which can never be understood due to its antiquity. However, the primary reason varying interpretations of the Bible’s message exist is that all do not play by the same rules. The consistent application of the principles of normal interpretation will yield…
Read MoreWhat Are We Missing in Our Bibles?
In a Biblical Archaeology Review (BAR) article,1 Ben Witherington III says, “First, we know that Pharisees — including Paul, as a former Pharisee — did indeed believe in a bodily resurrection as the form of future afterlife. This was based in part on a certain understanding of Daniel 12.1-3 and the development of thought that…
Read MoreThe End of All Things Is at Hand
Peter makes a shocking statement in the middle of chapter 4, “But the end of all things is at hand…” How do we understand a statement like this, given that 2000 years have transpired, and we are still going strong? In fact, we have quite a few statements like this in the NT, statements…
Read MoreThe Annunciation in Matthew (1)
Matthew famously begins his Gospel with a stylized genealogy. Placing a genealogy upfront like that bespoke a narrative rooted in the Jewish heritage. Starting your book off with a genealogy hardly seems to us to be a great attention-grabber, but Matthew’s Gospel certainly didn’t suffer because of it (by all accounts Matthew was the most…
Read MoreA Right View of the Law
After a lengthy discussion of the need for and basis of justification by grace through faith in Christ (i.e., salvation or conversion), Paul now explains how this same truth should transform our mindset and lifestyle as Christians (i.e., sanctification or Christian growth). The believer’s close identification with Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection places him or…
Read MoreHow to Get the Most Out of Your Bible
Every evangelical church I’m aware of places its belief regarding the Bible first in its Statement of Faith. Article I of our church’s confession says: We believe the Holy Scriptures to be the very Word of God: the product of the breath of God and thus verbally inspired in all parts, and therefore wholly without…
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