God's Word #3
- we're in our third topic of Basic Bible truths, talking
about God's provision through His Word
- last week we started talked about how we interpret the
Bible - we said we:
III. Need To Approach It Honestly
- when we talk about principles of Bible study - we're
talking about hermeneutics
- hermeneutics - "the art and science of Bible
interpretation"
science - because it is guided by orderly rules
within time and space
art - application of the rules requires skill
A. Interpret the Bible by the Bible
- we left off at this example
b. Matthew 21:22 - READ
- INPUT - what kinds of things have you heard
said about prayer from this verse?
(name it and claim it)
- INPUT - what does the rest of the Bible say
about that?
1) James 5:16 - prayer of a righteous man
availeth much
2) Psalm 66:18 - If I regard iniquity in my
heart, the Lord will not hear me
3) Mark 11:25 - When you stand praying, forgive,
...that your Father, also, who is in heaven,
may forgive you your trespasses.
4) James 4:3 - Ye ask, and receive not, because
you ask amiss, that you may consume it
upon your own lusts
5) II Cor. 12:7-9 - (Paul's thorn in the flesh)
the answer may be no
6) Matt. 26:39 - (our Lord) - if it be possible,
let this cup pass from me
B. Interpret the Bible by the context
1. definition
con - "together
textus - "woven
"the connection of thought which runs through
every passage on a given subject"
2. surrounding verses
- a great rule to remember - "keep reading!"
a. Matt. 18:20
- sometimes used as a tool to get "God's
stamp of approval on what we happen to be
doing/deciding at the moment"
- INPUT - how does the context help us here?
(church discipline)
b. Matt. 7:1
- sometimes used to say that a believer should
never speak to another person about an area
of sinfulness because that’s "judging"
- cf. v 5
INPUT - ways to be sure we're interpreting
verses in their context? (read the passage
over several times in several different
versions, purchase a good commentary)
(develop)
3. parallel passages
- some verses do not have immediate contexts
- cf. the book of Proverbs
- it's important (in those cases and in all
cases) to consider what other passages
about that same topic say
- cf. study of "leave and cleave" in Gen.
2:24
- word literally means "abandon"
- if we just studied the passage by
itself, we'd probably conclude that a
couple ought to get married, leave
home/parents, and never come back
again
INPUT - how do we know that an
interpretation that strong can't be
correct? (by comparing other
passages that address the place
grandparents have in the upbringing
of children - Deut. 4:9 - "teach
them to thy sons, and to thy son's
sons.") - point - parallel passages
- cf. study on marriage, divorce, and
remarriage in I Cor. 7
- also must consider what other places
in the Bible say about that
- INPUT - what kind of helps can be of
benefit here? (study Bibles/cross
references - computer programs)
4. word studies
a. can be very helpful
I Peter 3:1 - "...without the Word be won
by the 'conversation' of the wives"
- sample Strong's study
p. 218 - format:
- organized by English word (in KJV - other versions
available)
- find English word - all uses of that English word are
listed - because this is an "exhaustive"
concordance (contrast to those in back of our
Bibles)
- at the right - a number - which represents the
original word our English word is translated from
- note different numbers for the same word (in diff.
passages) - simply means that, as in any language,
there aren't the exact same number of words and word
meanings from language to language - so the
translators "match them up."
- another complicating factor is that words tend to
change meanings even within the same language
- therefore, the way folks used English in 1611 is
different than the way we use it today
- you can look up the numbers at the back, in Strongs
Hebrew is p. 7 - 126, Greek is p. 7 (in my version,
they start the page numbering over) -79
- I've copied the page from Strongs which has I Peter 3:1 -
"conversation" and the page from the Greek section which
is referenced
- we can do two things with these pages
1) find out what the original Greek word meant
2) see the way the English word is used in other passages
- I'm going to break you up into groups and ask you to study
I Peter 3:1 using both facets of these Strong's pages and
come up with a conclusion for the meaning of
"conversation."
- try to support your answer with as much proof as
possible.
b. need to be careful
I Cor. 7:1 - develop - "touch a woman"
(must look at the argument of the passage)
5. grammar
Rom. 8:13 - subject of the verb
6. who is speaking
7. who is spoken to
