Beginner's Guide - Pt 1

How to Study the Bible

How many of you would agree that there is no greater way to get to know God (His character, His nature, His goodness, and the life and love He has for you)… No greater way to get to know God than reading His word? The Bible. Yet most people don’t. Some don’t care. They may think it doesn’t apply to their life or its a waste of time. Others try to read their bible but got confused and bored so they gave up.

I think one of the biggest reasons, especially for Christians, is that they don’t know how to read the bible. I want to study the bible, but how do I study it? Where do I even start? What usually happens is one of two things, and I have done both. First, you decide to start reading your bible so you grab it and swing it open to page one. You read through Genesis and it is pretty interesting. You move onto Exodus and it still holds your attention fairly well. Then you make your way through a few pages of Leviticus and you are done! I think some people even claim reading Leviticus gave them tinnitus.

The second mistake people often make is rather than putting any effort into studying they decide to just let God direct their index finger. It’s like “Scripture Wheel of Fortune” or “The Verse is Right.” They’ll say, “I’m just gonna put my finger on a verse and do what it says.” Then they’ll start fanning through a few pages until their finger lands on a verse. ***flip, flip, flip… Ezekiel 4:12***

Ezekiel 4:12 “12 And you shall eat it as a barley cake, baking it in their sight on human dung.”” Uh oh! That’s really a verse! What are you going to do if you land on that one? That’s typically what happens when you use that method, you just end up in a weird place.

Those are a couple of bible reading methods, but probably not the best methods. Over the last few months we have focused on few tough topics. If we were looking through a camera you could say we zoomed in with a high magnification lens to look at ourselves and these topics with a very tight shot. So for a couple of weeks we are going to relax a little and zoom WAAAAY out and take a “Beginner’s Guide” approach to one of the most important aspects of your relationship with God. We are going to take a very practical approach to studying the Bible.

Even though this isn’t a heavy subject, it is one we still should never take lightly because the way we approach God in His word has the potential to dramatically change and transform our relationship with Him. As our lives, schedules, and access to information changes over time it is important to be aware of our approach to scripture, on a practical level. Let’s pray and then we will dive in.

Pray

So what are we going to do today? We’re going to talk about how do we study the bible and we are going to apply it. We’re going to study the short Book of Philemon in the New Testament. As you search for this twenty-five verse book toward the back of your bible, I want to give you five thoughts that we are going to look at and apply today in the Book of Philemon.

How to Study the Bible

Choose a translation you understand.

Choose a time, a place, and a plan to study.

Understand the context.

Read slowly and ask questions.

Pray for God to speak to you and apply what He shows you.

So we are going to do that in the Book of Philemon today, and we are going start in verses 7 and 8. Let’s just jump straight to it!

Philemon 7–8 KJV 1900

7 For we have great joy and consolation in thy love, because the bowels of the saints are refreshed by thee, brother. 8 Wherefore, though I might be much bold in Christ to enjoin thee that which is convenient,

Wow… That… Didn’t make any sense at all. You might think I am hesitating because I am letting it sink in, deep to my refreshed bowels, but I’m not. That genuinely sounded like childish gibberish to me. But it does illustrate thought one nicely!

1. Choose a translation you understand.

Now, I am well aware that many of you grew up on King James, which is what we just read, and you understand it and love it, but I did not. Many people have gone to church saying they understand it so they don’t feel left out, but they hear this and their eyes glass over. Choose a translation that YOU understand, not one someone told you that you needed to learn to read. I don’t know why, but for whatever reason us humans tend to get stuck in ruts and think we have to read a specific translation for a specific reason. But at the end of the day, by it’s very definition, no translation is original text.

We’ll talk about this more in a minute, but the bible is actually a book written in three original languages, across three continents, over very long period, by many authors. It was originally written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. When scholars translate the original words they often have to choose the closest meaning because a word could mean this, but it also kind of means something else.

Not only that, but how many of you have noticed that languages change over time? The King James was translated in 1611! After reading those verses, it is abundantly clear that the English language has changed a little bit. I would argue that the English language probably changes more than any other language. I learned some new words just a week ago and found out they were about 15 years old!

In 1611, if you told someone that your bowels were refreshed they would probably pat you on the shoulder. They might even tell you they love you, and it wouldn’t be awkward because back then people thought that humans felt emotions in their bowels. Today people would say that you feel emotions in your heart. So a modern translation would take the original word and translate it into a language today based on the original intent.

As of last fall, 3,765 different languages have access to at least a book of the Bible, such as Genesis or Matthew. There are approximately 900 printed English translations of the Bible. If you have the YouVersion app, you have access to over 3000 different translations of the bible. If you are considering trying out a new translation, the best thing you can do is download an app like Logos or YouVersion and try some out. If you want a good starting place, I would recommend NIV or NLT for something that is accurate and also a more current language and easy to read, and NKJV, ESV, or NASB for something that is very accurate but a little more difficult to read in places.

Start by choosing a translation you understand. Then…

2. Choose a time, a place, and a plan to study.

The key here is consistency. This is the most difficult one for me because nothing in my life is very consistent. I tried the morning thing, but I am just not a morning person and couldn’t focus at all. So several years ago something I started doing was reading a verse of the day after I wake up every morning. All you have to do is download an app like YouVersion and set it to notify you with the verse of the day every day at a specific time. It takes less than 10 seconds to read it and then I can think about it while I am getting ready for work and throughout the day. Often times it will even carry over into study time when I am reading my actual bible study later in the day.

I have been doing that so long that many times I will unlock my phone and wait for the notification to pop up so I can read it. Find the time of day that it blesses you the most and be as consistent as possible. Sit in your favorite chair, have your cup of coffee, whatever it takes to set it aside as special, important, and purpose driven. I use apps because I like the ease of searching for things and switching translations, but many people prefer good old fashioned paper so they can write in it and be familiar with where scripture is at in relation to a physical object. Some people even prefer audio bibles. You can do that on apps too.

Many apps even have built-in devotionals and access to study bibles. If you are a techie, I highly recommend Logos. It is what I use to prepare for church, but it would be a very powerful every-day study tool as well. I am not sure how much you can do with their free version, but I know there are plenty of free apps out there too. There is even an old computer program called “Open Sword” that was pretty impressive back in the day.

Choose a translation you understand. Choose a time, place, and plan to study. Third…

3. Understand the context.

Forgive the expression I am about to use here, but it will make sense when you understand the context of this story. A long time ago a friend was telling me about his youth minister. He told me the story of a time when something heart breaking happened to one of the students in his group. I believe a family member had passed away. In an attempt to encourage him, the youth minister sent him a text message that said, “WTF Jesus loves you.”

Now, we all know what that abbreviation means, but what would you think if you got this message from someone while you were going through something painful? Especially if he was someone you looked up to as a follower of Jesus.

Now for some context. This was about twenty years ago. Back then this abbreviation was still kind of new and in many church circles people were under the misinformed belief that WTF meant “Why the frown.” Who knows why this was even a thing. Maybe some crafty kid was about to get in trouble for texting it so he made up something on the spot? Maybe a parent made it up so they could still sound cool, fun, and hip, yet be able to say they weren’t being crude? I dunno, but how this message could potentially be received changes dramatically depending on context.

Let’s talk about why context matters more than you can imagine when it comes to the Bible. What we have to understand is that the bible is not just a book, it’s a library! I mentioned this briefly a moment ago, but let’s look at it on the screen…

The Bible is…

A collection of 66 different books.

Written in three languages.

Across three continents.

Over a 1,500-year time-period.

By 40 different authors.

Including shepherds, farmers, tent makers, doctors, fishermen, priests, philosophers, and kings, and on and on.

It is a collection of poems, prophecies, letters, laws, histories, and biographies, written by people and inspired by God, telling one unified story that shows us our need for Jesus and teaches us to become like Him.

In order to study, understand, and apply the Bible today… Context matters! It is important to know…

Who wrote it?

To whom was it written?

What is its purpose?

So let’s start with Philemon and we’ll try to pick up the context as we go. Starting in verse 1, what do we see? Who wrote it?

Philemon 1 NIV

1 Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our dear friend and fellow worker—

Who is he writing to? Philemon…

If you want more context there are many studies you can find on online bible websites, in bible phone apps, or even ones like the one I like to use. This was a gift to me, but I have seen it at Walmart. It is a great resource for context. One of the first things this guide does is give context. It tells us Paul wrote this letter from a prison (most likely in Rome) to Philemon, a Christian slave owner who led a church in his home. It was written about Onesimus, a runaway slave who had stolen from Philemon. Onesimus met Paul in Rome and Paul led Onesimus to Christ. Paul’s purpose was to encourage Philemon to forgive Onesimus and accept him as a brother in Christ.

This guide gives us much more context than that as well and after reading it we can see that this was a very big deal. It says that this letter was more than just a plea for Philemon to forgive Onesimus. It’s a not-so-subtle hint for Philemon to free the slave and send him back to Paul. It gives us more context into Paul as well. It tells us how Paul considers slaves equal to everyone else, at least in the eyes of God and God’s people. Paul isn’t trying to start an abolitionist movement throughout the Roman Empire, but he urges Christians to treat one another with love. Paul probably realizes that when Christians start doing this, masters will become servants and slaves will become free.

Here is some more context: Onesimus is a runaway from Colosse, a city in what is now western Turkey. If Paul wrote this letter in Rome, as is speculated by many scholars, Onesimus would have been more than 1000 miles from home, which would have required him to steal money to be able to take a ship for part of the journey.

Also, the bible doesn’t say what happened after Onesimus returned with this letter, but about 50 years later a church leader named Ignatius wrote a letter to the church leader at neighboring Ephesus: Bishop Onesimus. Perhaps he was the very same slave?

Another bit of context about slaves. In that day slavery was very common. Some historians estimate that 1 in 3 people living in the Roman Empire were slaves. That means that if you assumed all adults were married, every home potentially had a slave. Masters were rarely good to their slaves. In fact, the guide tells one story of a Roman official who was famous for owning a pool of eels specifically for turning slaves into fish food when they made mistakes.

With this context we can read Paul’s letter and have a better understanding of the perspectives of Paul, Onesimus, and Philemon. Maybe Onesimus was bitter. He listened to his master talk of freedom in Christ while he was only seen as a slave. Then somehow God brought him and Paul together and now Onesimus is willing to face Philemon, who is probably angry. Now Philemon is confronted with a difficult decision. This guy who stole from me and then escaped, I must forgive? Not only forgive, but free him and treat him as equal?

What about Paul? I have to say, I would love to see Paul and Donald Trump in the same room for an hour. In this letter, Paul sounds so much like Trump to me. It’s like Paul has his own “Art of the Deal.” The first thing he writes is, “This letter is from Paul, a prisoner for preaching the Good News about Christ Jesus.” He normally writes, “… Paul, an apostle…” or something to that affect, but today he is defining himself as a prisoner. As if he is trying to connect with Philemon in that way to steer his mind about Onesimus. Then he says…

Philemon 4–5 NIV

4 I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers, 5 because I hear about your love for all his holy people and your faith in the Lord Jesus.

Philemon 7 NIV

7 Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the Lord’s people.

Put that to Trumps voice! Uncanny. You’re so loving. You’re amazing.

When we know the context we can start asking some really big questions…

4. Read slowly and ask questions.

Two of the biggest questions we are always going to ask is, “What does this say about God?” and “What does this say to me?”

If you want to go a little deeper you can look at every SPECK. I don’t know who came up with this, but it is pretty cool. So if you are one of those people who can remember things well by using an acrostic, try using the SPECK method. S-P-E-C-K.

Is there a SIN to be avoided?

Is there a PROMISE to be claimed?

Is there an EXAMPLE to follow?

Is there a COMMAND to obey?

Is there something to KNOW about God?

We will focus more on this next week, so we won’t spend any more time on it today. The important thing to know is after you understand the context, you can zoom in to the lesson God is showing you through the passage. Look at what the passage teaches about God (His character, His nature, His goodness, His love), and what it is teaching you. How does this passage speak to you? What area of your life could fit into the mold that was cast in the story? How is God using this story to transform you and make you more like Jesus? More loving, more giving, more patient, more kind.

Choose a translation you understand. Choose a time/place/plan to read. Understand the context. Read it slowly and ask questions. Finally…

5. Pray for God to speak to you and apply what He shows you.

Before we go any further, let’s pray for God to speak to us about this passage.

Pray (God, what do you want me to see in this passage? Help me to hear what you are saying to me. Help me to see what you are showing me.)

Before we close let’s look at one more passage from Paul’s letter to Philemon. Starting in verse 8…

Philemon 8–10 NLT

8 That is why I am boldly asking a favor of you. I could demand it in the name of Christ because it is the right thing for you to do. 9 But because of our love, I prefer simply to ask you. Consider this as a request from me—Paul, an old man and now also a prisoner for the sake of Christ Jesus. 10 I appeal to you to show kindness to my child, Onesimus. I became his father in the faith while here in prison.

Pausing here for a second. Remember, Onesimus wasn’t just a slave, he also stole from Philemon. Then he ran away to Rome and meets Paul. Paul led Onesimus the slave to Christ. Onesimus the slave is no longer a slave, but free in Christ. He is no longer a slave, but a son! Through faith in Christ.

The only problem is that according to the law, Onesimus is still a slave who deserves punishment. Paul is encouraging Philemon to put his faith into practice and see himself as a servant rather than a master. To see Onesimus as an equal. To not only set Onesimus free from servitude, but also from the punishment of laws he broke. To see Onesimus as a part of the family of faith.

Here is something interesting about Onesimus’ name. In the original Greek language his name means “Useful/Profitable.” Keep that in mind as Paul says this…

Philemon 11 NIV

11 Formerly he was useless to you, but now he has become useful both to you and to me.

Formerly he was useless, BUT NOW he is useful to both of us! Formerly, he wasn’t living up to his name and expectations, BUT NOW with Christ he is fulfilling the calling on his life.

God can do amazing things. It is incredible how He can take something that is useless and make it useful. That’s just His nature. We are kind of answering our first question about this passage, “What is the nature of God?” Transforming people for the better. Taking slaves to sin and setting them free.

“What is God saying to me?” If I am answering that question I would say that my life was formerly one thing but now God took that thing and made it profitable or useful. At one point I felt like my life was falling apart, like crumbling dry dirt falls through your fingers, but now I see things getting better every day.

What about you? What is the “BUT NOW” that you can celebrate and praise God for today? If you would say that you don’t have a “formerly” only a “currently”, then I would ask what is the question you are asking God. Are you asking “Why?” or “What?”

Instead of asking god “Why?” ask God “What?”

If we always ask, “Why am I here? Why is this happening?” then how could we ever learn the “What” that God is trying to teach us. What is God showing you?

Formerly you were sick > BUT NOW you have been healed!

Formerly you were addicted > BUT NOW you are free from bondage!

Formerly you were depressed/anxious > BUT NOW you have peace!

Formerly you were lost > BUT NOW you have been found by the love and the mercy of Jesus Christ!

Formerly I didn’t know where to start when it came to reading the bible > BUT NOW God’s word has transformed my heart. The Word of God is living! Active! Powerful! It speaks to me! Guides me! Protects me! Empowers me! Guards me from temptation! Renews my mind! Build my faith. God’s Word is Truth and it Sets the captives free.

Pray