Learning how to study the Bible!

We continued our series this past Sunday "40 Days in the Word" with part 4" Why it is important to read & study the Bible on your own." You can listen to the podcast at http://www.wyandottefamily.com/listen.html or you can download it from iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wyandotte-family-church/id478735158  

We talked about reading and studying the Bible on your own actually helps us grow and helps us resist temptation. All week long in my blog we'll be looking at the practical side of it and how we can study the Bible on our own.

William Tyndale lived from 1494-1536. He was living in a time of history where not everyone was able to read the Bible. Only people who had studied the Bible for at least 8 years were allowed to read it. Therefore, if you were not a priest, a cardinal etc. you couldn’t read God’s Word (The Bible). William Tyndale had a passion to translate the Greek and Hebrew into English so all could read it. He went against the “church law” of that time and went into hiding to translate the Bible. In 1535 he was arrested for going against the church and in 1536 he was executed. Why? So you and I could have access to the powerful and life changing Word of God. There have been many throughout history that have given their lives so we could have the Bible at our fingertips. I am extremely grateful!!!

So, let’s take advantage of this opportunity we have and begin to learn how to read the Bible ourselves. Let’s learn how to read it, understand what it is saying and most importantly apply it to our lives! Today we are going to look at 4 steps on how to study the Bible on your own. Tomorrow we will practice it. Thursday we will add some more tips and clarification. Reading the Bible, understanding what it is saying and then applying it to your life is where transformation happens.

#1-Observation: The question you ask is, “What does it say?” 

You simply look at the Bible verse or the story or the text or the passage and you simply observe it.  You write down or type what you observe.  It’s whatever you see.  You’re not trying to interpret it, you’re not trying to figure out the meaning of it.  It’s just what does it say?  And you write it down.

Remember the difference between Bible reading and Bible study is you use a pencil or a pen or you type it on your computer.  If you’re not making notes then you’re not actually studying the Bible.  You’re just reading it.  You have to write or record something in order to study.  So in observation you simply look at the text and go, what does it say?  And you write down, it says this.… It says this...  It says this… That’s the first step. Then the second step of Bible study is Interpretation. 

#2-Interpretation: That’s where you ask the question, “What does it mean?” 

First what does it say and now you ask, what does it mean?  People say, doesn’t the Bible mean what it says?  No.  The Bible means what it means.  Because as in every piece of communication, we often use metaphors, we use analogies; we use phrases that literally don’t mean what they mean.

For instance, if I wrote you a letter and I said, “You’ve been pulling my leg,” a thousand years from today somebody finds that letter in another language in another place and time and it says, Jeremy said, he or she was pulling his leg.  They might, if they take that literally, might think you’re literally grabbing on my foot and jerking it; but that’s not what “You’re pulling my leg” means.  It means you’re kidding me, you’re teasing me, and you’re joking with me.  In Spanish they say, “Tomame el pelo − You’re pulling my hair.”  It’s the same thing. 

The point is the Bible means what it means.  How you know what it means is by looking at the context around it. Taking time to read and observe what the surrounding verses are saying. Looking at what the entire chapter is saying. That is context.

For instance, if I give you the word “pin” what does that word mean to you?  You might think a rolling pin, a bowling pin, or even pin the donkey.  Did you know that the word “pin” has over 50 different potential meanings?  So you can’t just say of a word, it means this. No, it doesn’t mean that.  It means what it means in the context.  If I’m talking about wrestling it means I pin you to the floor.  So you have to look at the verses around it. You have to see in which context the verse is written.  So I do what does it say, what does it mean? Then I ask the third step in Bible study which is Correlation. 

#3-Correlation is what other verses explain it? 

I ask myself is there anything else in the Bible that would help me understand what I’m reading right now?  That’s called correlation.  You correlate verses.  You compare and you correlate. 

The best commentary on the Bible is the Bible itself.  You use the Bible to explain the Bible.  One of the principles of interpretation is you interpret an unclear passage in light of a clear one.  In other words, if you read something in the Bible and it doesn’t make sense, and you don’t know what it means, you look for something else in the Bible that does make sense to explain it. 

You always use what’s clear to explain what’s unclear.  If you don’t get that you’re going to go out and form some cult.  You’re going to get some weird idea where you say, I think it means this when it doesn’t mean that at all.  There are things that the Bible means.  There are things it definitely doesn’t mean.  The way you know that is by looking at what the whole Bible says.  We are going to teach you how to do that this week. Then the fourth step in Bible study is Application. 

#4-Application: That is, “What am I going to do about it?” 

What does it say?  What does it mean?  What other verses explain it?  And what will I do about it? How does this verse apply to my thought life? How does it apply to my friendships? How does it apply to my finances? How does it apply to my career? How does it apply to my marriage? Taking time to think through and pray through how it applies.

The Bible wasn’t given to us just so we could have knowledge of God. It was given so we could know and experience God. When we apply His Word to our lives, we will see His faithfulness. We will see His Word and how it stands true. We will see His power at work. All of that happens when we apply it. When we actually do what it says.

No matter what you’re going to study, you’re going to ask these four questions – What does it say, and you write it down; what does it mean?  That’s interpretation.  What other verses explain it?  And what will I do about it?

Today is an overview of these 4 steps. Tomorrow we will revisit these 4 steps and practice it on a specific part of Scripture.

 

Adapted from thoughts from Rick Warren and the 40 Days in the Word Campaign