How to Study the Bible

Week 4

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When I was going into 8th grade, my brothers were going into their senior year of high school.

My dad had been saving for a long time to take us on a road trip and … we did it.

9000 miles around the USA.

The Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Yosemite, San Francisco, Sequoya trees, Redwood Trees, Glacier Natonal park…

It was the trip of a lifetime.

There was just one problem…

We had rented a 15 passenger van and there was 7 of us.

My parents, my 2 brothers, me, an my grandparents.

Being 3 teenage boys, tensions could get high at times.

At stops, we enjoyed kicking a soccer ball or playing catch with a baseball and our gloves or a frisbee.

Now… like I said, tensions could get high.

One day, Caleb and I were mad at my brother Josh for something… don’t remember what exactly.

But, Ca and I were playing catch.

Josh wanted to play too and we told him no.

So I had the ball and Josh stood between Ca and I and said “I’m playin” and I said, “Well I’m throwing, You have 5 seconds to move.”

Do you think I mean’t that literally or figuratively?

In other words… Sometimes brothers say to one another, “Dude, I’m going to kill you if you do that...”

Do you mean that literally or figuratively?

Figureatively!

Yes, It’s a figure of speech. You’re trying to communicate, Hey man! I’m going to hurt you if you do this…

Well, in this case with my brother, he didn’t move, and I mean’t it literally.

I threw the ball. It hit his nose.

And just before we went to Mount Rushmore, my brother had to get a busted nose.

TRANSITION:

Sometimes, when you read the Bible, it’s tough to know if it’s speaking figuratively or literally.

Now after we study in our groups tonight, I’m going to tell you a story that’s going to BLOW YOUR MIND.

It will help us interpret Genesis 11 in fact!

But that’s what we are discussing tonight and wrestling with.

How am I supposed to read and understand the Bible when it uses different literary tactics?

Before we even answer this question though I want to point out another question.

Why does all this matter?

Why do I need to be taught how to study the Bible? Don’t I just read it?

Have you ever walked into Barnes and Noble?

I know bookstores are kind of old school now so I won’t assume you’ve been in barnes and noble.

But if you walk in and say, “Can I have a book?”

What’s the next question they are going to ask you?

“What kind of book?”

Cause guess what there are tons of different kinds of books!

Fiction, non-fiction, biography, autobiography, fantasy, cookbooks, childrens books… it could go on and on.

You can’t just say “I’ll take any book!” because … that doesn’t get you closer to your goal of reading a book…

They are all different. You need to know what you might be interested in reading before you look for a book to read…

The Bible is like no other.

1. It’s inspired by God. 2 Timothy 3:16-17, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”

2.It’s from God, teaching us about God, so we can learn to live as God intends us to live!

3. It’s Eternal. Matthew 5:18 “For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.”

All that is true! It’s foundational to approach the Bible with this mindset.

This is God’s word from Him, about Him, For us to know Him!

But, The Bible was also written by 40 different authors over 66 books over 1500 years in 3 different languages!

There’s alot going on in there!

Different authors wrote in different ways

We have books of law, History, poetry and wisdom, prophets, and narrative.

Trying to figure out what the Bible says sometimes is TOUGH!

For that reason, we always need wisdom from God to help us read His word correctly!

And we need tools to help us understand it too!

I’ve given you 7 questions to continually ask and those will be up on the screen later, but for tonight here are two more tools we need.

How do I know when its literal or figurative?

When it’ hyperbole, exaggeration, or metaphors?

Examples of figures of Speech.

1. Metaphor - Description that uses comparison.

ex. Psalm 23, “The Lord is my shepherd.”

- Are you really a sheep? Is God really a Shepherd?

So what is that trying to communicate then?

In the time of David, what was it like to be a Shepherd? How do Sheep act? How does a good Shepherd care for his sheep?

- Answering these questions helps us understand what David means when he says, “The Lord is my Shepherd.

2. Simile - A comparison that uses “like” or “As”

ex. Matthew 13:44

Matthew 13:44 (ESV)

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

3. Personification - Speaking of a nonliving thing as if it were human.

Psalm 98:8 , “Let the rivers clap their hands; let the hills sing for joy together”

4. Hyperbole - exaggeration for effect

John 21:25 - “Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.”

5. Irony - saying the opposite of what is meant

Luke 9:24 (ESV)

For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.

6. Euphemism - substitute something polite for something that might be unpleasant or offensive.

Acts 7:60 ESV

And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

7. Literal - it means what it says it means.