Seven Arrows

Hey Guys

Thanks- i hope this will be profitbale for all of you.

Lets pray.

Make sure you get a book if you haven’t gotten one yet. I still have a few left.

At this point you should have read chapters 1-2. If you haven’t, at least watch this video and then go back and read those later.

Also if you haven’t watched the first two videos, go back and watch those before you watch this one.

Last week we spoke about Arrow #1

Arrow 1- What does this passage say?

The goal of that arrow was to make observations. To slow your self down when you come to the text.

The end goal of arrow number 1 is for you to come away from reading the passage and having a general idea as to what is going on.

A good rule of thumb is that after you complete arrow number 1, You ought to be able to summarize in your own words what that text said.

So last week we talked about different things to look for in the text to help slow you down.

The goal when we read our Bibles should not be just to get through it and read our reading for the day.

If that ever become our motive, we’re missing something.

The goal should be for us to understand the text. I don’t know about you, but I ‘ve been reading something before and honestly I have read every word, but if you asked me to go back and tell you what it said, I’m confident I could not do that.

Our Bible reading should be better than that. When we come to read the Bible, the goal is not to get through it so that we can get on to more important things.

There is no more important thing that we wil do today or any day than to spend time in God’s Word.

So Arrow #1 was mean to help us slow down whenever we are reading.

The second Arrow, which is what we will discuss today is a little more difficult than just reading and observing.

With this Arrow, we are going to have to do a little digging.

Arrow #2 is- What did this passage mean to its original audience?

So if the first question is aimed at getting a basic understanding of what the text says, Arrow #2 is aimed at understanding what it meant for the people to whom it was originally written.

Keep in mind, when we come to the Bible, we are AT LEAST 2000 years removed from the orginal context.

The New Testament was completed most believe before 100 AD. The Old Testament context, we are much further removed from their context.

With that said, its going to be vital to understanding the text, to understanding what was going on in and around the time and people surrounding the text.

And the goal of studying those things is to arrive at the answer to the second arrow.

What did this passage mean to its original audience?

There are two things I want to highlight and I want you to remember concerning this arrow.

I’ll tell you them both first and then I’ll explain.

A passage can never mean what it never meant.

Context is Key.

A passage can never mean what it never meant. What I mean by that is this. We don’t get to take a text of Scripture and make it mean something for us that it didn’t mean for the people to whom it was written.

Thats an upside down way and approach to interpreting the Bible.

Essentially, we come to the Bible lording over it rather than coming to the Bible recognizing that it rules over us.

Second, Context is key. We have to understand the context of a passage if we are going to understand the meaning. i think we spoke about this in Arrow 1, but Context determines meaning.

We have to know that when we come to a text of Scripture, that the text we are reading was written by a specific author who has an intended meaning, to a specific group of people or individual, in a specific place and time.

All of those things come into play when we start interpreting the Bible.

When we read 1-2 Timothy we need to know the author and the recipient of the letter. We need to know their relationship. We need to know why the letter is being written, or it makes no sense.

So let me remind you again of the two key principles

A passage can never mean what it never meant.

Context is Key.

Now I will just tell you that there is a lot of bad preaching and bad interpreting of the Bible out there. I’m not trying to be hateful by saying that, but its just true.

People ignore these two rules of interpretation ALL THE TIME.

Good preachers are good interpreter of the Bible. Good preachers tell you what God says by coming to the original meaning of the text, and then applying it to your life today.

I want to give you an example of how not to interpret the Bible. This was a real story of a real pastor my preaching professor used in our preaching class.

Turn with me in your Bible to Genesis 11:6

The story goes that this pastor was leading this church, and the church had been growing, and it was time the pastor though to lead them into a bulding program.

He felt like the church needed to build a bigger building to accomodate the people they were having.

He had spent some time pitching this idea and they finally agreed to start the building program.

So to encourage them, he wanted to preach a sermon encouraging the people in his church to be united and start this building program and complete it.

So he preached Genesis 11:6

If you have your Bible, read that verse with me-

Genesis 11:6 NASB95

The Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same language. And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them.

So He preached his sermon. He preached three points.

We need to be united.

We need to start building.

Nothing will be impossible for us if we are united and we just start.

Now thats sounds great, right?

But heres the question:

Is that what this text meant to its original audience?

Is Genesis 11 about encourgaing a church to do a building program?

Is Genesis 11 saying that God is so pleased with people when they are unified and when they just start something that he will make things possible for them?

Lets just read the text for a minute.

Read Genesis 11:1-9

Explain.

Do you see the problem here?

Verse 6 is not a positive thing in light of building something.

Verse 6 is a negative thing.

In Genesis 2-and in Genesis 9- They were told to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth so that the name of God might be known and worshipped over all creation- and they chose to disobey God make a name for themselves and stay right where they were.

God did not bless them. He cursed them he spreaded them out forcibly.

You see the problem here?

This passage is not about a church building program.

They were unified, but they were unified in rebellion against God, and he broiught judgment on them all.

What essentially happened, is that pastor came to the Bible wanting to say something, and found any verse to say what he wanted to say.

That is backwards. We come to the Bible not trying to say something. We come to the Bible to hear something. This is God’s Word. Not ours. So when we say what Scripture says, when we interpret what the Bible says, we have to understand what it meant to the original audience.

In the chaopter of the book, Dr. Mathis gives some helpful resources.

He mentions cross references, maps, OT and NT commentaries, and other tools to help you understand what is going on in the context of the passage.

I want to add one thing to the list.

A good study Bible will have all of these resources included.

3 I recommend regularly.

ESV Study Bible

Reformation Study Bible (Presby Warning)

Macarthur Study Bible.

Three things to remember from this video.

A passage can never mean what it never meant.

Context is Key

Get a good Study Bible. If you need help, let me know.

Arrow 1- What does the passage say?

Arrow 2- What did this passage mean to its orginal audience?

Arrow 3 - Next week- What does this passage teach us about God?

Any question on this, please let me know!