TUESDAY NIGHT TUNE-UPS February 21, 2017 The Way and Worth of Bible Study

Why Study the Bible? It is God’s Word – “Your word is...” (Ps. 119:105) It is God’s breath – “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God” (II Tim 3: 16) Literally, it is “breathed out by God.” Literally, it is His breath, His voice, His speech. It gives light – “...a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Ps. 119: 105)

instruction in righteousness...” (v. 16) It is profitable for many things – “for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness...” (v. 16) It is powerful as it makes a person complete and equips him or her thoroughly for doing good (v.17) It leads to many blessings (Ps. 119:2), to proper sight (18), to delight (24), to avoiding shame (31), to keeping away from worthless things (37), to sound judgment (40), to liberty (45), to comfort (50), to good judgment (66), to knowledge (66), to true riches (72).....

It converts the soul (Ps. 19: 7) It makes the simple wise (7) It rejoices the heart (8) It enlightens the eyes (8) It is worth more than gold, even a lot of gold (10) It brings about great reward (11) It cleanses the heart of secret sins (12) It keeps one away from presumptuous sins (13) It leads to blamelessness (13)

It builds you up – “the word of His grace, which is able to build you up” (Acts 20: 32) It forms you – “that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work” (II Tim 3: 17) And no wonder for this Word is inspired, infallible and inerrant. It is characterize by authority, sufficiency and perspicuity. It is self-authenticating – “from God ... fulfilled” (Article 5, BC)

Myths About Bible Study It is too difficult It is out of date and old fashioned It is boring It no longer applies It takes too much time It leads to disagreements and divisions It makes one narrow-minded

The Mechanics of Study Find a quiet place Coat your study in lots of prayer Read the passage over and over again Consider the context Ask lots of questions: why? where? when? what? how? who? Diagram the passage Identify its major and minor parts Make an outline

Rules for Interpretation I Scripture interprets Scripture (aka the analogy of faith) Interpret the Bible according to it literal sense (aka sensus literalis) Take into account genre (different kinds of writings: poetic, prophetic, historical, apocalyptic) Handle metaphors (like or as) carefully

Rules of Interpretation II Use the grammatical-historical approach – pay attention to literary forms, grammatical constructions, and historical contexts) Is it a question? Is it a command? Is it a declaration? Is it descriptive or prescriptive? Is it a parable? Is it a prophecy?

Rules of Interpretation III If studying a Bible book, pay attention to The author The time The circumstances The background The main players The main events The basic issue or issues The flow of the argument or the structure The benefit or profit of studying it

A Helpful Approach CMA [C]ontent – means reading, analyzing and dissecting the passage word by word, verse by verse What is God saying? [M]eaning – means interpreting the passage as to its meaning then and what it is today How am I to understand this? [A]pplication – means applying the passage to our life today What difference does it make?

Tools for Bible Study A good set of translations A good Study Bible Use more than one Use both formal and dynamic formal equivalent approaches – KJV, NKJV, NASB, ESV dynamic equivalent approach – NIV Paraphrase approach – NLT A good Study Bible KJV Study Bible (Beeke) ESV Study Bible (Crossway) Spirit of the Reformation Study Bible (Pratt) Zondervan Study Bible (Carson)

Psalm 134 A song of ascents A priestly – people Psalm An antiphonal psalm – to be sung in turns First, the people sing and encouraging the priests in the verses 1 and 2 A wish of blessing is expressed They are called “servants of the LORD” They urged to life their hands and bless the Lord Second, the priests sing and bless the people They speak in the name of the Lord They bless the people from Zion Application – in the church there needs to be mutual support between members and office bearers

The Book of Revelation Type – apocalyptic (be careful) Structure – built around the number 7 Seven churches (ch 2 - 3) Seven seals (ch 5 - 7) Seven trumpets (ch 8 – 11) Seven figures (ch 12 – 19) Seven plagues or bowls (ch. 15 – 19) Seven things that are no more (ch. 20 – 21) Seven things that will be (ch 21 – 22) Purpose – to comfort the persecuted church Application – Look who wins!

Discussion Points What is the best translation of the Bible? Which Bible books are easiest to study? Which Bible books are hard to study? What about reading the Bible in a year? What about Scripture memorization? What to think of the King James Only debate? Should a church federation recommend a translation? Should pronouns referring to God be capitalized?