How Do We Study Our Bibles? Version 2
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How many of you in here sometimes have trouble understanding the bible? We all do at different times and in different ways. Is anyone in here willing to talk about what they have the hardest time with when it comes to studying the bible?
I struggle with understanding different passages of Scripture. For example, the story of Samson is hard! Especially when we read in Hebrews 11 that he was a man of faith. What do we do with that? Studying our bibles can be hard. This morning we are going t look a few resources that should aid us studying their bibles, and then we will look at three principles that build on one another that go into studying the bible. My hope is that by the end of the class we all will see that we can understand our bibles and we are excited to do so.
Recommended Resources
Good Bible Translation
Study Bibles
Commentaries
How to Read Our Bibles
Okay, now that we got through the resource part of this lesson, let’s look at the meat, actually reading our bibles. There is a basic three-step process that you can use when reading your bibles: Look at the text, Understand the text, and Live the text. We will look at each one in turn. And we will use Philippians 1:3-11 as our practice text. So I encourage you all to turn there. I have included it in your hand-outs as well.
I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
Look at the Text
In this step of reading our bibles, we simply look at the text. In this step, you will primarily make connections between words and phrases in the text itself. Let’s start with verse 3.
I thank my God in all my remembrance of you,
What do we see in verse 3? What is the main verb, the main action going on? Someone is thanking. Who is doing the thanking? Paul. How do we know? The “I”. Okay, now what or who is Paul thanking? God. Correct. What does the rest of the verse say? In all his remembrance of them. Who is the “them”? The Philippians. We can look back at verses 1 and 2 and see that it is Paul and Timothy writing, and they are writing the saints in Philippi, along with the overseers and deacons. So, Paul thanks God, in his remembrance of the Philippians. Do we agree that is what the text says? Let’s move to verses 4 and 5.
always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.
We are still in “Look at the Text.” And keep in mind the context. We saw in the last verse that Paul thanked God in his remembrance of the Philippians. Now we read “always in every prayer of mine.” That line doesn’t make much sense, and even if we add the rest of verse 4 and all of verse 5, it doesn’t shed sense on what we are reading. We have to connect it back to verse three. If we do that, then we have Paul thanking God in his remembrance of the Philippians, always in every prayer of “mine”. Let’s pause. How does that line connect back to verse 3? Paul thanks God in his prayers. Good. Let’s keep going.
He says “for you all making my prayer with joy.” How does “for you all” connect back to what we have already seen? Paul is praying for the Philippians. He thanks God when he remembers the Philippians and he prays for the Philippians. Very good. Then he says “making my prayer with joy.” Is there anything in this line that we have seen before? Right, “prayer.” Where have we seen “prayer” already? Praying for the Philippians. Now he says that he makes his prayer, with what? Joy. Right.
Before we move to verse 5, let’s put verses 3 and 4 together. Can someone summarize verse 3 and 4? Don’t make connections to our lives yet. Just summarize what the text “says.” Paul thanks God in his prayers, joyfully, when he remembers the Philippians. Great. Let’s continue.
Paul writes next, “because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.” Now, I know we see the word “gospel” in here, so listen carefully to my next question. When we think of grammar, how the words and phrases connect together, what is the most important word, grammatically speaking, that we see in verse 5? Correct, “because”! Why is that word so important? It gives purpose or result, which has massive impact on the meaning of the passage.
Before you can apply a passage to your life, before you ask the question “What does this passage mean to me?” You have to ask “What is [in] this passage?” Then ask, “What does this passage mean?” Then finally, “What does this passage mean to me?” We find out what is in the passage by looking at it, drawing connections between words and with the grammar, then we get to the meaning of the text.
Okay, we see “because.” Paul joyfully thanks God in his prayers when he remembers the Philippians because of what? They partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. Great. We don’t know what that partnership is yet, and that is okay. Perhaps the book of Philippians will reveal that later to us. For now, we just need to know the “because.” We also don’t know exactly from the text what the “first day” is. We can be pretty confident what “now” is. It is up to the point of Paul writing this letter. We can make a pretty accurate guess as to what the “first day” is. Likely, Paul is referring to the initial moment of their salvation. Perhaps the passage will reveal that. let’s continue with verse 6.
And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
What do we see in verse 6? Let’s look at the first phrase, “And I am sure of this.” Who is sure? Paul is. What is he sure of? The work God began in the Philippians will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. Let’s put it all together. Verses 3 through 6. Can someone summarize it for us? Paul joyfully thanks God in his prayers for the Philippians when he remembers them because of their participation, or partaking in the gospel from the moment of their salvation to now. Paul is confident that the work God started in them, he will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
Now, we will stop there and move to the next step because that is a good chunk of text for us to interpret and understand.
Understand the Text
We looked at the text, identified who is speaking, who they are speaking to, and what they are saying based on connecting these words together with grammar. Now, what does it all mean? Specifically, we are looking at what it means for the Philippians first.
Why does Paul thank God for the Philippians? They are participating in the gospel. How does that connect to verse 6? Paul is confident that God will complete his work in them
Live the Text
