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

2. Why Study the Bible?
It is God’s Word – “Your word is...” (Ps :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)

3. 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).....

4. 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)

5. 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)

6. 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It is out of date and old fashioned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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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?

10. 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

11. 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?

12. 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)

13. 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

14. 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!

15. 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?