The latter part of the Old Testament records the works and words of the prophets. There are 4 ‘major’ prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel) and 12 ‘minor’ prophets (the last 12 books of the OT). The words ‘major’ and ‘minor’ refer only to the length of each book, not the significance of the prophet’s message. Some of the most memorable and powerful phrases of Scripture come from the so-called ‘minor’ prophets e.g “The righteous will live by his faith”¹ and “In the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ they will be called ‘sons of the living God.'”². These books were written between about 760 and 460 B.C.

Prophecy can be difficult to understand, because it is so different to what we come into contact with day by day – second only to apocalypse, in my opinion. Let’s explore together what the role of the prophets was in Old Testament Israel, and then how their message extends to us today.

Understanding the prophets

The first thing we need to be aware of when considering the words of the prophets is the role that the prophet had in Israel.

The role of the prophet

Contrary to popular opinion, prophecy is not primarily about telling the future. Less than 2% of prophecy was messianic³; less than 5% describes new covenant times⁴. In most cases, the prophets spoke of the immediate future of Israel, Judah and their immediate neighbours.

This is because the primary role of the prophet was to act as God’s spokesman. Specifically the prophets were responsible for reminding Israel of the covenant they were in with God, and pronouncing the enforcement of the covenant, either positive of negative. Sometimes they were called to pronounce blessings (life, health, prosperity, agricultural abundance, respect or safety) such as in Amos 9:11-15. Other times, such as in Hosea 8:14 and again in 9:3, they were required to speak God’s words of judgment and punishment (death, disease, drought, dearth, danger, destruction, defeat, deportation, destitution, disgrace).

It is important to note that their message was not their own. This is reinforced by the frequent use of phrases like “This is what the LORD said to me…”⁵ and “The LORD Almighty has declared in my hearing…”⁶. Their role was similar to that of a modern ambassador: they were appointed by God to go and speak on his behalf⁷. If a prophet presumed to take the office of prophet upon themselves, that was a good indication they were a false prophet⁸.

Equally important, the prophets’ message was not original. It may have used new words, it may have been presented in a new way, but the message was always a reminder of the original covenant. Consider, for example, Hosea 4:2: “There is only cursing, lying and murder, stealing and adultery.” Whilst the words are different, this is a reference back to what we call the Ten Commandments. Although it only mentions 5, and not in the usual order⁹ people would have been prompted to think about the others, and to assess for themselves whether they were living up to them.

How to read prophecy

The first step in reading any of the prophets is to understand the background of the prophecy. Check out the introduction to the book in your Bible, or consult a Bible Dictionary, to get a feel for the historical circumstances surrounding the prophet’s message and ministry. Other information might include an outline for the book, special features of form, issues of interpretation etc.

It can sometimes be difficult to read the prophets in one sitting, particularly the longer ones like Isaiah and Jeremiah. Whilst this is still a valuable exercise, a better approach is to identify individual ‘oracles’ within the overall message of the prophet. An oracle is a specific word or judgment from God. It may be tied to a specific occasion¹⁰, or may occur over a period of time¹¹. Each oracle is complete in and of itself, but also needs to be understood in terms of the overall message.

There were several types of oracle:

• Lawsuit: God (through his prophet) takes the subject of his judgment to ‘court’, with God himself as plaintiff, prosecutor, judge and bailiff. Each lawsuit includes the following elements: summons; charge; evidence; and verdict¹².
• Woe: An announcement of distress, followed by the reason for that distress and a prediction of doom¹³.
• Promise/salvation: This kind of oracle is one of comfort and hope. It is characterised by: a reference to the future; mention of radical change; and a promise of blessing¹⁴.
• Enactment prophecy: The prophet is instructed to ‘act out’ some aspect of the prophecy, in order to reinforce the words¹⁵.
• Messenger speech: This is a word-for-word relay of God’s words¹⁶.

The words of the prophets were often presented in the form of poetry. Refer to the notes on reading a psalm for more details on this.

Applying the prophets

As with all of the different types of Bible literature, applying the words of the prophets is a matter of first understanding what they were saying to their original audience. When we do, even if our situation is quite different, we will often hear it afresh in our own setting.

The majority of future events described by the prophets are immediate, although some look all the way forward to the end of history. And sometimes the two are mixed, and that’s where it gets a little more difficult to understand. It’s kind of like looking at 2 disks (see image below). When you look at the 2 disks from the straight-on view, they appear to be close together, and perhaps even the same object. When you look from the side-on view, however, you understand that they are actually a long way apart.

To the prophets, looking forward in history, their view was like the straight-on view, and so everything appears as though happening at the same time. We, however, have more of a side-on view, allowing us to distinguish between those things which were events immediately following the prophet’s ministry, from those which refer to much later times. Some things that a prophet says may well belong to the end-times¹⁷ but be careful not to push temporal events into the future as well.

More generally, my advice is to avoid looking for ‘fuller meanings’ for the words of prophecy. Where the prophet’s words may be applied to events immediately surrounding his time, that is the most likely meaning. The exception to this is where NT writers have done so¹⁸.

Finally, remember that the prophets consistently encourage not only correct belief, but also correct action.

Further reading

• Gordon D. Fee & Douglas Stuart, “The Prophets: Enforcing the Covenant in Israel” in How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth (Third Edition, Zondervan 2003) pp. 181-204

Endnotes

1. Hab 2:4
2. Hos 1:10
3. i.e. foretelling Jesus
4. i.e. times after Jesus
5. Jer 27:2
6. Is 5:9
7. Is 6; Jer 1; Ezek 1-3
8. Jer 14:14
9. ‘cursing’ refers to the 3rd commandment, about using the Lord’s name in vain; ‘lying’ to the 9th; ‘murder’ the 6th; ‘stealing’ the 8th; ‘adultery’ the 7th
10. e.g. Is 5, which probably occurred at a harvest festival
11. e.g. in Is 20, Isaiah went around “stripped and barefoot” for 3 years!
12. e.g. Is 3:13-26
13. e.g. Hab 2:6-8
14. e.g. Amos 9:11-15
15. e.g. Is 20, Ezek 4:1-4
16. e.g. Is 38:1-8; Jer 35:17-19
17. e.g. Joel 3:1-3; Zeph 3:8-9
18. e.g. in 1 Cor 10:4, Paul explains the ‘fuller meaning’ of the Rock of Ex 20 and Num 21.

Most of us understand the concept of a law – it tells you what you are and aren’t allowed to do, and usually specifies the consequences if you transgress. We have laws covering many aspects of our lives, and particularly the way that we relate to one another. Everyone knows what is expected of them, and what is likely to happen if they don’t live up to those expectations. As a result, where laws are fairly come by, most will respect them. Experience shows that, without law, civilisation quickly descends into anarchy.

All of this is true of the laws we have preserved in the Bible. But there is more than that. To an Israelite, the Book of the Law (i.e. the first 5 books of our Bible, also known as the Pentateuch) is representative of the relationship between God and the nation of Israel. In a sense, it is the Law which distinguished Israel from all of the nations around them, for God had chosen to reveal himself to them alone. The Law formalises the relationship between them. In fact, the Law was a gift from God to establish the ways they should live in community with one another, and in relationship with God. It also established boundaries for the relationships between Israel and the surrounding nations.

This was a source of great rejoicing to the Jews:

He has revealed his word to Jacob,
his laws and decrees to Israel.
He has done this for no other nation;
they do not know his laws.
Praise the LORD.¹

Unlike our laws, however, the only way we are able to understand the biblical laws is to read them in the context of the narratives in which they are embedded.

Understanding the law

The Law as a whole constitutes a covenant between God and Israel. A covenant is a binding contract between two parties, usually an overlord or ruler and a vassal or servant. By agreeing to the covenant, the vassal would receive various benefits: protection, provision etc. In return, the vassal was expected to be exclusively loyal to the overlord – often on pain of death. Should the vassal transgress, it was expected that the overlord would act to punish them.

Ancient covenants follow a rigid structure:

• Preamble: This spells out the parties involved in the covenant. e.g. “I am the LORD your God”².
• Prologue: A brief description of how the parties came to form the relationship being formalised. e.g. “… who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.”³.
• Stipulations: The individual laws and commands to be followed.
• Witnesses: Those who will enforce the covenant. e.g. usually “the LORD” but occasionally “heaven and earth”⁴ indicating the global importance of honouring this covenant.
• Sanctions: Blessings and curses pronounced upon those who honour or don’t honour, respectively, the terms of the covenant. These were the incentives for compliance⁵
• Document clause: A provision for regular review of the covenant⁶.

The individual stipulations generally come in 2 forms:

• Commands (apodictic): Explicit, generally applicable instructions⁷. It is important to note that not all situations are described. It is instead intended that the laws be read as a paradigm (model) upon which to base ones actions. That is to say it was expected that people follow the spirit of the law, not just the letter of it.
• Case-by-case (casuistic): These were usually conditional laws, describing how to act in a particular situation⁸.

The Law was sufficiently important to Israel that it not only got stated twice⁹, each king was instructed to make a copy of the entire law upon taking the throne, and then to keep it with him and read it every day¹⁰.

Applying the Law

The first thing to understand about the Law is that it is not our covenant. Paul makes quite clear that a Christian is no longer bound by the covenant established in the Old Testament, but is instead an heir to a new covenant established in Christ. Indeed he refers to the old covenant as “the law of sin and death”¹¹, referring to the fact that nobody except Jesus was able to honour the entire spirit of the covenant. As a result, all were guilty and worthy of death according to the Law. The gospel is that “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom 8:1). The sanctions of the covenant have all been borne by Jesus on our behalf.

So, if it is not our covenant, does that make the Law irrelevant to us? No, not at all. What we need to remember is that the Law is God’s Word for us, but not necessarily to us. There is still plenty to be learned from it.

Some of the stipulations of the Law, particularly the ‘ethical’ ones, are reinforced in the New Testament. (As an aside, testament is another word for covenant.) For example, the gospels explicitly and implicitly reference the 10 commandments, and so we can reasonably expect to be bound by those instructions.

Interestingly, none of the case-by-case laws are referenced in the NT. We can, however, still learn much of the character of God through their provision. For example, God is the kind of God who cares about the safety of guests on rooftops¹², purity¹³ etc..

Ultimately, however, it always comes back to Jesus. God’s standard is beyond us. The Pharisees of Jesus’ day thought they could overcome this difficulty by observing the letter of the law, but Jesus is emphatic that much more is required¹⁴. Jesus is the only one able to live up to God’s standard – but because he did, and because he dealt with the penalty of our sins on the Cross, we are able to be declared righteous.

The law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law.¹⁵

Praise God.

Further reading

• Gordon D. Fee & Douglas Stuart, “The Law(s): Covenant Stipulations for Israel” in How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth (3rd Edition, Zondervan, 2003) pp. 163-180.

Endnotes

1. Psalm 147:19-20
2. Ex 20:2
3. Ex 20:2
4. e.g. Deut 4:26; 30:19
5. e.g. Lev 26, Deut 28-33.
6. e.g. Deut 17:18-19; 31:9-13.
7. e.g. Lev 19:9-10.
8. e.g. Deut 15:12-17.
9. Ex 20 – Lev 27 and again in Deuteronomy
10. Deut 17:18-19
11. Rom 8:2
12. Deut 22:8
13. Deut 22:9-11
14. See, for example his interpretations of many of the OT laws in Matt 5-7.
15. Gal 3:24-25

Wisdom literature was a common form of writing in the ancient world – everybody was keen on searching out the ‘right’ way to live, and documenting their findings for everybody else to follow. They were very much focused on teaching how to make correct choices.

The difference between other literature in the ancient world and that found in the Scriptures is the idea that wise choices are godly choices – or more precisely, godly choices are the only wise choices. “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom”¹. Only when wisdom is subordinated to obedience to God does it achieve its proper ends.

Wisdom therefore has nothing to do with IQ. According to James, God gives wisdom to all those who ask for it².

Reading wisdom literature

There are 3 main types of wisdom literature in the Bible:

• Proverbial: These were sayings to be memorised, focused on practical attitudes and behaviour. The book of Proverbs is the chief example.
• Speculative: This type of wisdom literature involves either a monologue (e.g. Ecclesiastes) or a dialogue (e.g. Job) that explores the nature of wisdom.
• Lyric: Lyric wisdom is the most abstract of the wisdom literature types. The main biblical example is the Song of Songs (or Song of Solomon), which is a love song looking at the “wise choice” of marital and sexual fidelity.

Here are some guidelines for approaching wisdom literature:

• Read in context. For example, Ecclesiastes 3:2 contains the famous line “a time to be born and a time to die.” By reading the surrounding verses, we understand this to be a comment on the fleeting and transitory nature of life. It is not a comment on God setting a particular time for birth and death.
• Follow the argument. This is closely related to the previous point – where there is an argument being presented, you need to keep on top of who is saying what, and what their argument is based on. For example, if you read “All their days the wicked suffer torment, the ruthless through all the years stored up for them,”³ you might be inclined to think that it is a teaching that wicked people cannot be truly happy. However by reading more carefully we find that Job vigorously refutes this view, and that God vindicates him for doing so.
• Understand the terms. For example, the verse “Stay away from the foolish, for you will not find wisdom on their lips,”⁴ is not a warning against people with intellectual disabilities but those who live selfish and indulgent lives.

To aid in memorability, wisdom literature often employs the same poetic techniques found in psalms. See the section on “How to read a psalm” for more detail.

Applying wisdom literature

Application of wisdom literature is mostly a matter of common sense. Some things to remember when doing so:

• Proverbs often employ parables and thus may point beyond themselves.
• Proverbs are usually practical, rather than theoretically theological.
• Proverbs are written to be memorable, rather than precise. Consider our proverb “The pen is mightier than the sword.” Then have a look at Prov 21:22, 15:19, 31:10-31 etc.
• Proverbs are not intended to support selfish behaviour, although reading them in isolation might cause you to think they do.
• They may need to be ‘translated’ into modern equivalents. Consider Prov 22:11, 25:24 etc.
• They are not guarantees from God, but poetic guidelines for good behaviour. See Prov 29:12, 15:25.
• They may use exaggeration or literary devices to convey a point.
• They give good advice, but are not intended to be exhaustive.

As for all Scripture, your best safety guard is to interpret in the light of Scripture i.e. make sure that whatever application you are taking away lines up with the rest of the Bible.

Further reading

• Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart, “Wisdom: Then and Now” in How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth (Third Edition, Zondervan, 2003) pp. 225-248

Endnotes

1. Prov 9:10
2. Jas 1:5
3. Job 15:20
4. Prov 14:7

From the Greek word αποκαλνψις (apokalypsis) meaning a disclosure or revelation, an apocalypse is a prophetic look at the end of the world. It is generally concerned with the coming judgment and salvation – looking forward to the end of history. The primary biblical example of apocalypse is the book of Revelation, although portions of the prophets¹ and portions of Matthew’s gospel² might rightly be considered apocalyptic.

Unlike the OT prophets, whose words were spoken first and then remembered and written later, an apocalypse was primarily a literary (i.e. written) form from the beginning. Compare, for example the instruction to John, “write, therefore, what you have seen,”³ to the instructions to the prophets to speak God’s word⁴. As a result, they generally had a particular, formally stylised, structure.

Apocalypse was usually in the form of visions and dream, often using fantasy images (e.g. a dragon with 7 heads and 10 horns⁵, a woman clothed with the sun⁶ etc.).

One big difference between biblical apocalypse and secular was that secular writers often wrote in the name of some historically important person (e.g. Enoch, Baruch), who was told to “seal it up” for a later day. John, on the other hand, feels no need to follow this formula in the writing of his apocalypse – perhaps because he knew that there were to be no “later days” because the end had already begun in Jesus.

Understanding an apocalypse

Here are some things to consider when reading an apocalypse:

• What was the author’s original intent? For example, John wrote Revelation to comfort those who were facing, or were about to face, suffering and persecution under the Romans.
• When the author interprets his own images, use these as a starting point for understanding the other images. There are several images in Revelation which John interprets for us: the Son of Man⁷ who is Jesus; the lampstands⁸ which are the churches; the stars⁹ which are the angels of the churches; the dragon¹⁰ who is Satan; the 7 heads of the beast¹¹ which are the seven hills; and the prostitute¹² who is Bablyon etc.
• Read to see the whole, rather than allegorically pressing details – much as you would a parable. Where details are included, they are generally done so for a) dramatic effect¹³; or b) to make sure readers will not miss the reference¹⁴.
• Be aware of Old Testament references. John references or echoes the Old Testament some 250 times in Revelation, so that every significant moment in his narrative is described almost exclusively in Old Testament language¹⁵. The OT context gives us clues as to how John’s images and pictures are to be understood.
• Apocalypse is seldom intended to give chronological details of the end of history.

Application

• Pictures of the future are just that: pictures. They express a reality, but are not to be confused with reality, nor is every detail necessarily to be ‘fulfilled’. For example, we should not necessarily expect a literal pouring out of the four disasters described in Rev. 8:6 – 9:16. Instead it is more likely that this is a reference back to the plagues inflicted upon Pharaoh, and the judgment that went along with them.
• Even where events described seem to mirror temporal (either present or past) events, be aware that there may be a “not yet” dimension.
• As already mentioned, John’s intention is almost certainly not to give literal details about the end of history. Don’t spend your time worrying about whether current events are the fulfillment of events described in apocalypse – instead, understand John’s message that God is in control, and will bring history to a close on his terms.

Further reading

• Gordon D. Fee & Douglas Stuart, “The Revelation: Images of Judgment and Hope” in How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth (Third Edition, Zondervan, 2003) pp. 249-264

Endnotes

1. See, for example Dan. 7-12.
2. e.g. Matt. 24
3. Rev 1:19
4. See, for example, Is 6:9 and Jer. 1:7
5. Rev. 12:3
6. Rev. 12:1
7. Rev. 1:13
8. Rev. 1:20
9. Rev. 1:20
10. Rev. 12:9
11. Rev. 17:9
12. Rev. 17:18
13. e.g. Rev. 6:12-14
14. e.g. Rev. 9:7-11
15. e.g. Rev. 1:5b-6 refers back to the sacrificial imagery of Ex. 19:6.

The psalms are some of the most-loved portions of Scripture – after John 3:16, Psalm 23 is probably the most recognisable biblical text for Christians and non-Christians alike. There is something about them that allows them to get through our guard and pierce us to the heart in a way impossible for, say, an epistle.

It has been said that the Psalter (i.e. the book of Psalms) is the hymn-book of the Jews, and this is indeed true. The psalms were generally set to music¹. It has been used in the same way by the Church over the centuries. Not all psalms are found in the book of Psalms – there are examples in the writings of many of the Prophets and mixed in with various historical narratives.

Understanding the psalms

The psalms as poetry

The psalms are Hebrew poetry. One of the things about poetry is that it is more easily remembered than prose. This was important to the Israelites, as it allowed them to transmit the psalms orally, thus making them available even to those unable to read.

One of the most obvious poetic features of the psalms is their use of parallelism. e.g. “The heavens declare the glory of God; / the skies proclaim the work of his hands.”². The psalmist is not trying to say that the heavens do one thing and the skies another. Instead, he is using parallelism to reinforce the idea.

Parallelism comes in 3 different flavours:

• Synonomous: The second line reinforces the first. e.g. “I have swept away your offenses like a cloud / your sins like the morning mist”³.
• Antithetical: The second line contrasts the first. e.g. “They do not cry out to me from their hearts / but wail upon their beds”⁴
• Synthetic: The second line adds to the first. e.g. “Deliverers will go up on Mount Zion / to govern the mountains of Esau”⁵

Psalms were addressed to the mind through the heart. We should be wary of overthinking them, or looking for doctrinal truths where none are intended. Psalmists commonly used what we might call ‘poetic/artistic licence’ in order to get their point across – consider, for example in Psalm 51:5, “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me,” the psalmist was not trying to say that conception is sinful, but was rather using hyperbole (exaggeration) to reinforce the idea of his sinfulness. This is an especially important consideration when reading the so-called ‘imprecatory’ (i.e. cursing) psalms, such as Psalm 137 above. In these the psalmist plumbs the outer reaches of human emotion, making for strong reading.

Similarly, psalmists often employ metaphor e.g. mountains leap like rams⁶, enemies spew out swords from their lips⁷ etc. It is important that we not press the metaphors beyond the author’s intent, or take them literally. e.g. the reader of Psalm 23 might make the mistake of believing that God wants them to be like sheep! Instead we need to seek the point that the psalmist is making through the metaphor.

The psalms as literature

The psalms come in many types:

• Lament: A lament psalm is one that speaks of struggles, suffering or disappointment. They can either be individual⁸ or corporate⁹. They assume a deep trust in God.
• Thanksgiving: Thanksgiving psalms express gratitude to God for what he has done, either for an individual¹⁰ or for the Israelite community¹¹.
• Praise: Praise psalms focus on God, without any particular reference to specific miseries or joys. God is variously praised as creator¹², protector/benefactor¹³ and the Lord of history¹⁴.
• Salvation: Salvation psalms review the history of God’s saving works¹⁵. These may have many different purposes e.g. celebration, thanksgiving, warning etc.
• Celebration/Affirmation: The psalms celebrate such things as the renewal of the covenant between God & Israel¹⁶, the covenant between God and the line of David¹⁷, kingship¹⁸, coronations¹⁹ and the special relationship between God and Jerusalem²⁰.
• Wisdom: Wisdom psalms praise the merits of wisdom and living a wise life²¹.
• Trust: These focus on God’s trustworthiness²².

Individual psalms often follow a formal structure, much like our own poetry e.g. a sonnet conforms to a particular structure and rhythm. Knowledge of that structure can help us to recognise transitions from one theme to another, or to usefully divide a psalm up for closer inspection. Similarly, the psalms abound with patterns – alliteration, assonance, word plays and acrostics – which are all but impossible to spot unless reading them in their original Hebrew.

It should be noted that the psalms were functional, inasmuch as they were written for a specific purpose, and often for a particular occasion. Careful consideration should be given to the original purpose behind the psalm before appropriating it for some other purpose. The royal psalms, for example, were composed to be sung at the celebration of Israel’s kingship and not at weddings!

For these reasons and more, it is important that each psalm be read as a whole, and not just a verse at a time. Otherwise, for example, readers of Psalm 51:16 might think that the sacrificial offering system was of no benefit… until they got to verse 19!

Applying the psalms

Unlike other portions of Scripture, the psalms are not necessarily a message from God to people, but are instead from people to God. For this reason they are not primarily for teaching.

They are, however, immensely useful as a demonstration of an honest relationship with God – he would rather that we pour out our feelings before him, allowing him to address them, than for us to bottle things up inside and try to ‘hide’ from him. The psalms are a useful help in expressing joys & sorrow, successes & failures, hopes & regrets – both individually and corporately.

The psalms demonstrate for us the importance of reflection and meditation on God’s works. They call us to prayer, to think on God’s Word, and to fellowship with other believers. They encourage us to trust in God in spite of our feelings, and to wait and to watch for the Lord’s deliverance.

Further reading

• Gordon D. Fee & Douglas Stuart, “The Psalms: Israel’s Prayer and Ours” in How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth (3rd Edition, Zondervan, 2003) pp. 205-223

Endnotes

1. indeed the word ‘psalm’ derives from the Greek word ψαλμοι (psalmoi), meaning “songs sung to a harp”.
2. Ps 19:1
3. Is 44:22
4. Hos 7:14
5. Ob 21
6. Ps. 114:4
7. Ps 59:7
8. e.g. Pss. 3, 22, 31, 39, 42, 57, 71, 88, 120, 139, 142
9. e.g. Pss. 12, 44, 80, 94, 137
10. e.g. Pss. 18, 30, 32, 34, 40, 66, 92, 116, 118, 138
11. e.g. Pss. 65, 67, 75, 107, 124, 136
12. e.g. Pss. 8, 19, 104, 148
13. e.g. Pss. 66, 100, 111, 114, 149
14. e.g. Pss. 33, 103, 113, 117, 145-7
15. e.g. Pss. 78, 105, 10, 135-6
16. e.g. Pss. 50, 81
17. e.g. Pss. 89, 132
18. e.g. Pss. 2, 18, 20, 21, 45, 72, 101, 110, 144
19. e.g. Pss. 24, 29, 47, 93, 95-9
20. e.g. Pss. 46, 48, 76, 84, 87, 122
21. e.g. Pss. 36, 37, 49, 73, 112, 127, 128, 133
22. e.g. Pss. 11, 16, 23, 27, 62, 63, 91, 121, 125, 131

The bulk of the New Testament is composed of epistles – what we would today call letters. These letters contain a wealth of different things that are helpful to Christians, but they have the following things in common:

• They were written to a specific person or group of people (although they were evidently ‘passed around’ – indeed Paul commands this on at least one occasion¹)
• They were written for a specific purpose or occasion.
• They were all written in the 1st Century AD.

Biblical epistles followed the same conventions as other letters of the 1st Century. Much like we are taught to write letters today, with our address, the date, greeting etc., 1st Century letters had a common form. The Microsoft Office AD letter template would have looked something like this (the examples are taken from 1 Corinthians):

1. Name of writer e.g. “Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes” (1:1)
2. Name of recipient e.g. “To the church of God in Corinth” (1:2)
3. Greeting e.g. “Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (1:3)
4. Prayer wish or thanksgiving e.g. “I always thank God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus…” (1:4-9)
5. Body e.g. (1:10-16:22)
6. Final greeting and farewell e.g. “The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. My love to all of you in Christ Jesus. Amen.” (16:23-24)

This is the general form, although there are some variations, particularly in #4 – for example it is missing in Galatians, 1 Timothy and Titus; in a number of Paul’s letters both thanksgiving and prayer are found; and in 3 of the New Testament epistles (2 Corinthians, Ephesians and 1 Peter) the thanksgiving leads into a doxology, which is an expression of praise to God.

Reading a Biblical epistle

The first and best thing you can do with an epistle is to read it through in its entirety, preferably in one sitting. This may involve setting aside an hour or more, but it is worth it to get the big picture. As you do, jot down your initial impressions and observations, but don’t get too distracted from the flow of the epistle by details – there will be plenty of time for these things later as you study smaller segments in depth. Here are some of the things to note:

• Recipients, author etc.
• The author’s attitudes
• Comments and references to specific events/occasion for writing
• The letter’s natural and logical divisions

The answer to the last question will help you to form a plan of attack for in-depth study. If the structure of the letter isn’t clear, many modern Bibles will include an ‘outline’ at the start of the book, which may be useful in formulating your plan. As you read each individual section, then, try asking the following questions:

• What is the historical context? Why was the epistle written? What were the author’s circumstances? What about the circumstances of the recipients? The answers to some of these will be readily apparent from the epistle itself (e.g. most of the epistles directly identify both author and recipients), but some will not. For these you may want to consult the introduction to the epistle found in most modern Bibles, or a Bible Dictionary.
• What is the argument? To find this out, you will need to trace the argument being made, paragraph by paragraph. For each paragraph ask:
  • What does the paragraph say?
  • Why does it say it at this point?

Sometimes you will come across ‘problem’ passages, which make little or no sense, or are ambiguous. I believe that, sometimes, the reason for this difficulty is that that portion of Scripture is not written to us, or perhaps is not written for us at that moment in time. As I said earlier, don’t panic if you don’t understand something as you’re certainly not alone in that. Where there are ambiguous or uncertain details, I’d suggest that you look for certainties first, before wondering about the merely possible. Sometimes we need to be satisfied with our own ignorance. I’d also recommend consulting a good commentary or a more experienced Christian friend, but do this once you’ve done your own thinking, rather than as a first resort.

Applying a Biblical epistle

One of the biggest problems in applying the epistles (and arguably any portion of Scripture) is the question of whether a given text is applicable to us in the first place, and if so to what extent. The reason that this is such a big problem is that everyone seems to have a different answer, and indeed a different method for arriving at that answer. For example, consider the following instructions from the book of 1 Timothy. Which ones do you consider applicable today? Why or why not?

• 1 Timothy 1:3
• 1 Timothy 2:1
• 1 Timothy 2:8
• 1 Timothy 2:9-10
• 1 Timothy 2:11-12
• 1 Timothy 3:4-7
• 1 Timothy 4:12-14
• 1 Timothy 5:9-14
• 1 Timothy 5:23

Get the picture? All of these are written by the same person, to the same person and at the same time. Yet there is such a variety of opinion what is universally applicable, and what is only applicable to the original recipient. Some are easily decided – none of us, for example, have ever felt called to make a special trip to Troas in order to deliver Paul’s cloak²! Similarly none of us would have any problem accepting 1 Timothy 6:10 (“The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.”) as being true today. But what about the more ambiguous statements? How shall we resolve them?

To help develop a consistent approach to answering this question, I want to suggest the following guidelines:

• As we discussed earlier, a given text cannot mean for us what it never could have meant for its author and/or readers.
• Whenever we share comparable situations, God’s Word to us is the same as God’s Word to them.

That seems straight forward enough, right? Well, perhaps, but there are still a few problems that need to be addressed.

Firstly, be wary of extended application. Here’s an example. Consider 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 – “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple.” This text is directed to the local church (“you yourselves”, plural), but some would look for a more general application (i.e. an extended application) here e.g. your body is God’s temple and so abusing your own body brings you under God’s judgment. In this case the extended application is correct, because it is spelled out in other passages where that is the intent of the passage³. Generally I would say that if you are only taught something by extended application, then it is probably not God’s Word.

Sometimes we find that a clear principle is being articulated, which is being applied to a specific historical circumstance. We should not necessarily throw away the principle just because the application seems, to us, irrelevant. Having said that, neither does such a principle become timeless, to be applied to any and every situation. Instead, it should only be applied to genuinely comparable situations. For example in 1 Corinthians 8, Paul forbids participation in temple meals based on the “stumbling block” principle. Some will interpret this to mean, “Don’t do anything that will offend another believer.” But this is not really comparable because the situation Paul was describing was one where the other person would be “destroyed by your knowledge” (11), not simply offended.

When it comes to questions of cultural relevance, you need to be consider what the New Testament sees as inherently moral and what is simply cultural. Those items that are moral are universally applicable, and those which are cultural may vary from culture to culture.

It is also worth considering whether there is a consistency across the New Testament. For example, the New Testament consistently teaches love as a Christian’s basic ethical response, non-retaliation etc. It is not quite so consistent when it comes to questions of women in ministry⁴, politics⁵ or wealth⁶.

Finally let me say that your best tools in resolving any of these issues will be common sense and Christian charity. We need to recognise that there are difficulties, communicate with one another, and have love for those with whom we differ.

Further Reading

• Gordon D. Fee & Douglas Stuart, “The Epistles: Learning to think Contextually” and “The Epistles: The Hermeneutical Questions” in How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth (3rd Edition, Zondervan, 2003) pp. 55-87
• E. Randolph Richards, Paul and First-Century Letter Writing, (InterVarsity Press, 2004)

Endnotes

1. Colossians 4:16
2. 2 Timothy 4:13
3. See, for example, 1 Corinthians 6:18-20
4. See, for example, Romans 16:1-3 vs. 1 Timothy 2:12
5. Romans 13:1-5 and 1 Peter 2:13-14 vs. Rev 13:-18
6. Luke 12:33 & 18:22 vs. 1 Timothy 6:17-19

We begin our look at the various forms (genres) present in the Bible by looking at narrative, because it is probably the most familiar to us.

Biblical narrative is best understood as a purposeful retelling of historical events. It is a story, designed to be told (not read) and remembered, but one that is historical rather than a fairy-tale. Narrative is the most common biblical genre. It is also the most similar to what we use today, as it is in many ways similar to a movie or a TV drama. In fact, many of the biblical narratives have been made in to blockbuster movies or theatrical productions e.g. The Ten Commandments, Joseph and his Technicolor Dreamcoat, Esther and various incarnations of Jesus’ life and times.

From an early age most of us have been indoctrinated with various story-telling conventions: “Once upon a time… they all lived happily ever after.”; the concept of a narrator; interior monologue (i.e. hearing a character’s thoughts) etc. Hebrew narrative has its own distinct characteristics, some quite similar to our own, some not. Here are some of the common features of Hebrew narrative:

• Narrator: The narrator tells the story, and is responsible for establishing the point of view. Most commonly in the narratives in the Bible the narrator is not identified. In the end, however, it is the narrator’s point of view that gives us our best clue as to God’s point of view on the events being retold.
• Scenes: Hebrew narrative is ‘scenic’ (i.e. made up of, and driven forward by, many ‘scenes’), much like a modern day movie or TV drama. Each scene has its own integrity, but it is the arrangement of them that tells the story.
• Characters: Unlike modern literature, Hebrew characterisation tended to have very little to do with physical appearance. More important are things like status (e.g. wise, wealthy etc.), profession (baker, carpenter etc.) and tribal affiliation (a Benjaminite, an Amalakite etc.). Characters often appear in contrast or parallel. For example, in 1 Samuel we receive a clear contrast between two Kings: Saul and David. Similarly in the book of Esther, Mordecai and Haman are shown to be opposites.

Because they are so similar to what we are used to, it is easy to fall in to treating biblical narrative the way we would treat any other story or history that we might read. It should be noted that biblical narrative:

• Doesn’t usually teach doctrine, although it often illustrates doctrine taught elsewhere.
• Records what happened, not what could or should have happened. We can’t necessarily take what we read as being an example for us to follow. e.g. in Judges 6:36-40 Gideon looks for guidance by laying a fleece outside overnight and interpreting the way the dew fell (or didn’t) on it to be an indicator of God’s will. Some have taken this to mean that we, too, should set out our own spiritual ‘fleece’ – “If someone from Wollongong calls this week it means God wants me to take a job down there”, “If she says yes then it was obviously meant to be,” or even “If iTunes pops out Michael Jackson on shuffle then God is saying I should go out dancing”! Looking at the story more closely, however, leads us to recognise that God answered in spite of Gideon’s lack of faith – after all, who needs signs like that when they’re already talking face to face with God¹?
• Doesn’t always tell us whether described events were ‘good’ or ‘bad’. We must work this out for ourselves, based on what is taught elsewhere. e.g. readers of 2 Samuel 11 won’t find a statement saying, “In committing adultery David did wrong,” but are instead expected to know because it is explicitly taught elsewhere².
• Doesn’t always have a ‘moral’. In this way narratives are different to parables, which always have a point that the listener is supposed to learn from.
• Doesn’t necessarily give all the relevant details. What is given is what the inspired author thought important for us to know.

How not to read Biblical narrative

Here are some of the most common errors of interpretation:

• Allegorising: This is where, instead of focusing on the clear meaning of the text, people instead decide that it is merely reflecting some other meaning beyond the text.
• Decontextualising: This refers to taking a given narrative out of its historical and literary context and studying it in isolation. This leads to us missing interpretational clues, and hence to some very strange interpretations indeed.
• Selectivity: Similar to decontextualising, selectivity involves focusing on particular words and phrases and ignoring the overall narrative. As an extreme example, one preacher reportedly argued that women should never wear their hair up in a topknot (i.e. a ‘bun’) because the Bible says “topknot go down” (“Let him that is on the housetop not go down”³ )!
• Moralising: This is the assumption that all passages contain some sort of principles for living. The narratives were written, however, to show the steady progress through history of God’s plan for redemption, rather than to illustrate principles.
• Personalising: Reading Scripture in a self-centred way, believing that certain or all parts apply to you in a way that they don’t apply to everyone else. e.g. “The story of David and Goliath is God’s way of telling me that I must overcome my own giants.”
  

  It is our conviction that the primary reason Christians have often read the Old Testament narratives so poorly, finding things that are not really there, is… the tendency to “flatten” everything because they assume that everything God has said in his Word is thereby a direct word to them. Thus they wrongly expect that everything in the Bible applies directly as instruction for their own individual lives.⁴

• Misappropriating: Using a text for purposes that are quite foreign to the narrative. e.g. ‘fleecing’ God as described above.
• Falsely appropriating: Reading into the text ideas that come from our contemporary culture that are utterly foreign to the text and context. e.g. some read 1 Samuel 20:41 where Jonathan and David “kissed each other” to mean they had a homosexual relationship. In reality, however, their relationship was one of covenant – read the next verse “Jonathan said to David, ‘Go in peace, for we have sworn friendship with each other in the name of the LORD'” (42).
• Falsely combining: This is taking elements from here and there in a passage, even though they are not connected in the narrative itself, to make a point that isn’t there.
• Redefining: This is where we redefine something to be something else. e.g. in 2 Chronicles 7:14-15, God promises that “‘If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place.'” Clearly this refers to the recently built temple, in Jerusalem, but we may be tempted to change “this place” to refer to Australia, or Sydney, or the Shire. The reality, however, is that we are to live as “strangers in the world”⁵, and as those “longing for a better country – a heavenly one,”⁶ not to be caught up in this land.

How to read a Biblical narrative

So far we have mostly looked at what not to do when reading Biblical narrative. Let’s now look at things a little more positively

Biblical narrative occurs on 3 levels:

• Individual scenes;
• Collections of scenes that form a bigger story; and
• Collections of stories that outline a major theme.

In understanding the narrative in its original context, then, we need to understand it on all 3 of these levels. For example, consider the account of Moses and the Burning Bush⁷. The individual scene shows Moses out in the desert tending his father-in-law’s sheep, when he stumbles across a bush that was burning but did not burn up. He then converses with God, who instructs him to go and seek the release of the people of Israel from Egypt. To properly understand this scene, however, you need to know that it is part of a larger story – the exodus (exit) of Israel from Egypt. By viewing it in this context, you learn that Israel had been in Egypt some 400 years, initially as guests and refugees from the famine in their own land, but more recently as slaves. Similarly we learn that Moses himself was a fugitive from Egypt, having killed a man⁸. This is the second level of narrative. The third level is bigger again – the theme is well summarised in Exodus 2:25 “God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them”. God has made promises to his people, and he is faithful to honour them. Those promises don’t involve being slaves in Egypt, and so God is acting through Moses to set them free.

Here, then, are some of the questions to ask of a Biblical narrative:

1. Who are the characters? What do we know about them?
2. What are the events of the passage? Why are they significant?
3. What is the narrator’s perspective on the events and characters of the story? What is God’s perspective?
4. Is the story intended to teach us something? If so, what?
5. Is this story part of a larger story? What is its role in advancing that larger story?

For example, let us consider the story of David and Bathsheba⁹.

Who are the characters? What do we know about them? Clearly the central character of this passage is David. He is the one responsible for all of the actions in this passage – he sends Joab and the army out to war (1), sends for Bathsehba (4), recalls Uriah (6), and orders Joab to have Uriah killed (14-15). We know that he is the King of Israel.

What are the events of the passage? Why are they significant? David, having sent his army off to war but stayed home himself, spots Bathsheba bathing and has sex with her. When he learns that she is pregnant, he first tries to cover it up by trickery, and when that fails he resorts instead to murder. All of this is significant because it show God’s anointed king, David, acting contrary to God’s laws.

What is the narrator’s perspective on the events and characters of the story? What is God’s perspective? The narrator gives us a little bit of implicit commentary right from the start of the passage. “In the spring, when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army.” (1). So David was not acting as the king was expected to act, by staying home. The narrator is also quite clear on the fact that David knew what he was doing was wrong – he knew that Bathsheba was married before he sent for her, and his conscience obviously impelled him to try and cover up afterwards. The narrator also sets David up in contrast with Uriah – Uriah’s self-discipline is emphasised in order to further condemn David’s lack¹⁰.

Is the story intended to teach us something? If so, what? Much of the interpretation of this story is found in the next chapter, 2 Samuel 12, but even without reading that chapter we can learn some things:

• David’s decision to stay home from war gave him opportunity to sin.
• Disobeying God’s law (e.g. “You shall not commit adultery.”¹¹) has serious consequences.
• By trying to cover up his sin, David only lead himself to commit more sin.
• … and many others!

Is this story part of a larger story? What is its role in advancing that larger story? Back in 2 Samuel 7, God made some promises to David, including:

• A place for Israel (10)
• A house (i.e. a lineage) for David, who will rule God’s kingdom forever (11-16)

We understand from this story, then, that David is not God’s ultimate king, who will rule forever – he is an imperfect foreshadowing of that king.

Special notes for Acts

In many ways, the book of Acts may be treated in exactly the same way as any Old Testament narrative. However most Christians do not read Acts in the same way they read from the Old Testament. This is because the Old Testament is commonly seen as ‘pre-Christian’, and therefore we do not necessarily consider the customs presented there as being ‘examples’ for us or our church. Even those that we do, such as the ‘fleecing’ of God mentioned above, we treat metaphoriaclly – we do not put an actual fleece out.

Acts is different, though, because it is a part of the Christian era. Many churches today aspire to being able to ‘return’ to the church depicted in Acts. They, rightly or wrongly, consider the Acts church to be normative, that is to say they consider it to be an example that all churches should be modelled on.

Whilst there is some validity in this view, I do not believe it is as easy as that. For example, should we give up all of our possessions to be held on our behalf by the church¹²? Should we expect that God will strike down those who skimp on their giving¹³?

I would encourage you to keep in mind the earlier warnings for dealing with narratives, even when reading the book of Acts. e.g. Not every story has a moral, we are not always told whether actions are good or bad but should interpret based on other Scripture etc.

Further Reading

• Gordon D. Fee & Douglas Stuart, “The Old Testament Narratives: Their Proper Use” and “Acts: The Question of Precedent” in How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth (3rd Edition, Zondervan, 2003) pp. 89-125
• Julius A. Bewer, “Early Narratives” in The Literature of the Old Testament (Revised Edition, Columbia University Press, 1933) pp. 21-29.

Endnotes

1. See the rest of Judges 6.
2. Exodus 20:14
3. Mark 13:15 KJV
4. Gordon D. Fee & Douglas Stuart, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth (Third edition, Zondervan 2003) pp. 102-103.
5. 1 Peter 1:1
6. Heb 11:16
7. Exodus 3
8. Exodus 2:11-25
9. 2 Samuel 11
10. Interestingly, this parallel is the reverse of the situation between David and Saul, where Saul is shown as being out of control but David in control of himself – see 1 Samuel 24 & 26
11. Ex 20:14.
12. Acts 4:32-36
13. Acts 5:1-11

Because of its incredible diversity – of background, form and content – it is sometimes difficult to know how to approach the Bible. All of us have, at some time or other, found ourselves frustrated over some obscure reference, comment or ‘problem’ passage. How should a Christian react, for example, to the instructions from Deuteronomy 22 that “A woman must not wear men’s clothing” (v. 5) or “When you build a new house, make a parapet around your roof” (v. 8)? Should we take the Genesis account of creation literally, and thus discount more ‘scientific’ explanations? Or consider Psalm 137:

<blockquote>Remember, O LORD, what the Edomites did on the day Jerusalem fell.
“Tear it down,” they cried, “tear it down to its foundations!”
O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction,
happy is he who repays you for what you have done to us –
he who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rock.¹</blockquote>
Huh?

Then, too, many of us will have heard (or heard horror tales of!) people misusing and abusing the Bible in order to justify their own theories. These range from the well-intentioned but misguided (e.g. “Take up the 5 stones of… and defeat your personal Goliaths!”) to the truly evil (e.g. those who use the Bible to justify slavery). Satan himself was not above attempting to turn scripture to his own purposes².

It is important, then, that we have some sort of control over the way we use the scriptures to ensure that we hear what God is saying, rather than putting our own words and ideas in God’s mouth. We cannot afford to be Christians who hear only what they want to hear. God desires that we be conformed to his image and will, not that we attempt change him to suit ourselves – that’s idolatory.

The remainder of this course, then, is designed to help us to develop our ability to ‘listen’ to God’s word.

There are two tasks that we must undertake in order to correctly understand any section of the Bible: first we must understand what it meant to its original recipients; then we must translate that meaning across into our own 21st Century context for application to our own lives. Failure to do the first is the most common cause of misunderstanding the Bible. On the other hand, failure to complete the second task of translation across the centuries relegates the Bible to being just ‘another book’, an intellectual and historical curiosity.

By the way, if you’re interested, the fancy-schmancy technical terms for these tasks are <span style=”font-style:italic;”>exegesis</span> (understanding original context) and <span style=”font-style:italic;”>hermeneutics</span> (applying to today’s context).

Let’s examine these tasks in a little bit more detail.

<h2> Understanding in the original context </h2>
Here are some of the questions that would be typical of this task:
<ul><li><span style=”font-weight:bold;”>What is the source of the text? Who wrote it? When? Where? Why?</span> If the passage was written to a particular group of people, or for a particular circumstance then knowledge of that group or circumstance will help us to understand exactly what is being said. </li>
<li> <span style=”font-weight:bold;”>By what process have we received this text? What oral or written traditions are involved?</span> e.g. it is generally believed that the first five books of the Bible were written by Moses… even though he wasn’t actually present in the Garden of Eden! It is probable, therefore, that he learned about creation via an oral tradition (stories told by the campfire from generation to generation). This might lend credence to a suggestion that the Creation account is metaphorical rather than literal, as metaphor is a common device in story telling.</li>
<li> <span style=”font-weight:bold;”>What form does the text take? Is it poetry, narrative, a letter?</span> e.g. we should read a psalm differently to a narrative because poetic devices such as hyperbole (exaggeration) and metaphor are commonly present in psalms but not in narratives. We will be exploring this in more detail later on.</li>
<li> <span style=”font-weight:bold;”>What role (if any) did the editor(s) take in assembling the work?</span> e.g. as you read through Acts, we know that Luke (as a gentile) was at pains to point out that God’s gift of his son was not only for the Jews but also available “in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”³</li></ul>

There are a number of tools available to help you in answering these questions:
<ul><li><span style=”font-weight:bold;”>A good translation:</span> The fact that you are reading the Bible in English suggests that someone, somewhere, has translated it for you. But how do you know it is accurate? Personally I tend to use the New Internation Version (NIV), partly because it is what I have grown up with, partly because it is the most commonly used translation.⁴</li>
<li><span style=”font-weight:bold;”>A good Bible dictionary:</span> A Bible dictionary is good for looking up concepts that you may not have come across before, getting background on particular authors and characters in the Bible, as well as details such as weights, currencies etc. Often you will be able to find some of this information within your Bible itself – I use an NIV Study Bible which contains many of these details.</li>
<li><span style=”font-weight:bold;”>Good commentaries:</span> A good commentary should help you to gain a deeper appreciation of the passage that you are reading. It should not, however, be your first port of call! Take time to read through your passage carefully first and glean what you can first. Going straight to a commentary is like a person who, searching for treasure in a still pond, immediately digs in to the mud at the bottom. In this way, they totally obscure the ‘obvious’ treasures that are otherwise clear to see.</li></ul>

One warning. Always consider the text in context. Don’t read one verse without considering the paragraph, chapter and book it falls within. The better your understanding of the big picture, the better you will understand how that particular verse fits into the whole.

<h2> Understanding in my context </h2>
It is the matter of the here and now, how it can be applied today, that brings us to the Bible in the first place. So why not start with that? Why worry about what it meant then? Can’t the Spirit, who inspired the writing of the Bible, equally inspire me in the reading of it? Well, far be it from me to limit the work of God’s Spirit, or to claim that he cannot or will not work in that way, but it is my belief that that is not his ordinary way. Instead he expects us to be disciplined in the way we approach God’s Word. And that discipline requires us to first understand the original context.

The reason we don’t begin with the here and now is that our only control in application of a given text is found in the original intent of that text. That is to say, a text cannot mean what it never meant.

Let me give you an example. 1 Corinthians 15:29 says “Now if there is no resurrection, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them?” On the basis of this verse, Mormons have a practice whereby they can be baptized for someone who has already died. In fact they have an entire theology whereby there are Mormon missionaries in the afterlife, who continue to preach to those who have not become Mormons in life. (So much for resting in peace if you still have to get up and answer the door to Mormons after death, hey?) But because these dead converts cannot be baptised in the afterlife, someone must be baptized in their stead. They have started with their own ideas about what happens after you die, and have then read 1 Corinthians 15:29 through that filter. In reality, Paul is merely using a contemporary custom as an illustration within his overall argument that if there is no resurrection then all that happens in this life is pointless.

This task of application is the more difficult of the two, and so it is difficult to give much in the way of general ‘rules’. As we go through the rest of this course, however, we will consider some appropriate ways of applying each of the specific genres.

Some final advice. As you read through the Bible, you will come across things that seem impossible to understand. That’s OK – don’t stress about it. As C. S. Lewis writes:

<blockquote>Whenever you find any statement in Christian writings which you can make nothing of, don’t worry. Leave it alone. There will come a day, perhaps years later, when you suddenly see what it meant. If one <span style=”font-style:italic;”>could</span> understand it now, it would only do one harm.⁵</blockquote>

By all means ask people around you, look stuff up etc. Just don’t be upset if you still can’t understand everything you read – in that you are hardly alone!

<h2> Acknowledgements </h2>
I must acknowledge up front that I am indebted to to Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart for their excellent book <span style=”font-style:italic;”>How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth</span>⁶, upon which much of the structure and content of this course is based. I can also recommend their companion volume <span style=”font-style:italic;”>How to read the Bible Book by Book</span>⁷ as an excellent introduction to the form and content of each of the books of the Bible. In addition, I have drawn material from a number of John Dickson’s books and talks⁸.

<h2> Further Reading </h2>
<ul><li>Gordon D. Fee & Douglas Stuart, “Introduction: The Need to Interpret” and “The Basic Tool: A Good Translation” in <span style=”font-style:italic;”>How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth</span> (3rd Edition, Zondervan, 2003) pp. 17-53. </li></ul>

Endnotes

1. Psalm 137:7-9.
2. Matt. 4
3. Acts 1:8.
4. For a detailed description of the translation philosophies and a comparison of the relative merits of the most common translations available today, see Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart’s <span style=”font-style:italic;”>How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth</span> (Third Edition, Zondervan, 2003) pp. 33-53.
5. C. S. Lewis, <span style=”font-style:italic;”>Christian Behaviour</span> (J. And J. Gray, Edinburgh, 1943) p. 60.
6. 3rd Edition, Zondervan 2003.
7. Zondervan 2002
8. Available at time of writing via podcast at the <a href=”http://fm1032.com.au/”>fm 103.2 website</a>.

‘More than eighty gospels were considered for the New Testament, and yet only a relative few were chosen for inclusion – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John among them.”Who chose which gospels to include?’ Sophie asked.

‘Aha!’ Teabing burst in with enthusiasm. ‘The fundamental irony of Christianity! The Bible, as we know it today, was collated by the pagan Roman emperor Constantine the Great.’

‘I thought Constantine was a Christian,’ Sophie said.

‘Hardly,’ Teabing scoffed. ‘He was a lifelong pagan who was baptized on his deathbed, too weak to protest. In Constantine’s day, Rome’s official religion was sun worship – the cult of Sol Invictus, or the Invincible Sun – and Constantine was its head priest. Unfortunately for him, a growing religious turmoil was gripping Rome. Three centuries after the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, Christ’s followers had multiplied exponentially. Christians and pagans began warring, and the conflict grew to such proportions that it threatened to rend Rome in two. Constantine decided something had to be done. In 325 AD, he decided to unify Rome under a single religion. Christianity.’¹

OK, I’d better stop there before I get struck down by God (or by Rod!) for perpetuating lies. In case you didn’t recognise it, that was an extract from Dan Brown’s bestselling novel The Da Vinci Code. I can tell you, however, that with the exception of the year of the first Council of Nicea (325 AD), not a single one of Brown’s ‘facts’ in that extract checks out.

Brown raises an interesting point though. As he pithily observes just a page earlier:

‘The Bible did not arrive by fax from heaven… The Bible is a product of man… it has evolved through countless translations, additions and revisions. History has never had a definitive version of the book.’²

If, as Brown rightly points out, “the Bible did not arrive by fax from heaven” then how exactly did it arrive? If it’s a “product of man” then where does God fit in to the equation? Who decided what should or shouldn’t be in the Bible? If it has “evolved through countless translations, additions and revisions” how do we know that what we call the Bible is the same as what was originally written?

The Bible: work of man or of God?

It is true that all of what we call the Bible was, originally, written by men. In that sense it is a “product of man”. Why then do we call it the ‘Word of God’? The answer has to do with what we call ‘inspiration’.

Inspiration recognises the role of the Holy Spirit in producting the Scriptures. Specifically, inspiration refers to the supernatural guidance of the writers by the Holy Spirit which resulted in every word being accurate and reliable in the original manuscripts. When we talk about the authorship of Scripture, we recognise dual authorship. God wrote the Bible using human authors.

This is not the same, however, as the way a boss might dictate a letter that a secretary then types. There are places in Scripture where this sort of thing happened³; in most cases the style and selection of words reflect the personality and background of the writer. Consider, for example the four Gospels:

• Matthew was a Jewish tax collector, who was most impressed that Jesus was the King of the Jews – hence his Gospel begins with a royal genealogy.
• Mark, a young disciple of Peter, mirrors his mentor’s activism in his writing – hence his Gospel is liberally scattered with the words “straightaway” and “immediately”.
• Luke’s Gospel is more methodical, reflecting his education and his historical interest and integrity.
• John’s Gospel, written by one “whom Jesus loved,” seems to be obsessed with love for Jesus and his love for others.

Though each of the four Gospels reflects a different style and a different perspective, they do not contradict each other. Instead, they harmonise to give us the fully inspired, accurate record of the life of Christ.

Whilst it may seem paradoxical to examine the Bible’s credentials based on what it says about itself, the question must be asked: if the Bible truly is the Word of God, what greater authority can we refer to? Let us consider, then, some of the Biblical statements about the nature of the Bible:

• “For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” (2 Pet. 1:21)
• Moses acknowledged the source of his writings: “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.” (Deut. 29:29)
• At his trial, Stephen recognised the Scriptures as the revelation of God. After citing the teachings of Moses, Amos and Isaiah he continues, saying, “‘You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit!'” (Acts 7:51)
• Speaking of Paul’s letters, Peter writes, “Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom the God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.” (2 Pet. 3:15-16) In Peter’s eyes, therefore, Paul’s letters are on the same level as the Old Testament Scriptures.
• “From infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2 Tim. 3:15-17)

The Bible: who decides what’s in and what’s out?

Some religious groups today accept the Bible as on of their religious books but they also accept other so-called “revelations from God”. For example the Qur’an testifies to the Scriptures as being of God, but then goes on to add to them:

Allah! There is no god but He, the Living, the Self-Subsisting, Eternal. It is He Who sent down to the (step by step), in truth, the Book, confirming what went before it; and He sent down the Law (of Moses) and the Gospel (of Jesus) before this, as a guide to mankind, and he sent down the Criterion (of judgment between right and wrong).⁴

Similarly, the Mormons supplement the New and Old Testaments with the Book of Mormon, purportedly a translation of a set of golden plates delivered to Joseph Smith, Jr. by an angel in 1827, and translated by him before being returned to the angel in 1829.

How is it, then, that we do not accept these additions? How do we justify the inclusion of the 66 books that we do have? Who decides what is ‘in’ and what is ‘out’?

The 66 books of the Bible form the completed canon of Scripture. ‘Canon’ is a fancy word that comes from the Greek word kanon, meaning a rule or measurement. A canonical book is one that measured up to the standard of Scripture.

Josephus, a Jewish historian during the time of Jesus, states that the books of the Old Testament were brought together during the reign of Artaxerxes Longimanus (464 to 424 B. C.) during the life of Ezra the scribe⁵. In the third century B. C. they were translated into Greek, and compiled into a book since referred to as the Septuagint⁶. (It is this Greek version that gives us the ordering of books adopted in our Bible.)

The New Testament was assembled over time. By the end of the second century, all but 7 of the books we have today (Hebrews, 2 & 3 John, 2 Peter, Jude, James and Revelation) were recognised as being apostolic. By the end of the fourth century all 27 books in our Bible were recognised by all churches, and ‘locked in’ for western churches at the Councils of Rome (382 A. D.) and Carthage (397 A. D.).

The books included were selected on the basis of having been penned by the first generation of Christian leaders i.e. by those whom Jesus appointed (Peter, Paul, John, James etc.) or their immediate colleagues (Mark, Luke etc.)

The Bible: is it accurate?

Have you ever played ‘Chinese Whispers’? It is a game where everyone gets into a chain. The first person whispers a secret message to the second, who in turn whispers it to the third etc. This continues until the message reaches the end of the chain, who then declares the message aloud for all to hear. Depending on the length of the chain and the faithfulness of the individual whisperers, the message often becomes distorted.

The Bible is in some ways like that. Because of the relatively short durability of papyrus and other materials upon which the Scriptures were originally written, the message had to be periodically recopied in order to overcome issues of wear and tear. But how can we be sure that these copyists have not distorted the words they were copying?

Let us return to our game of Chinese whispers. There are 2 things we can do to ensure that we maximise accuracy: decrease the length of the chain; and ensure that our whisperers are accurate in their message reproduction. The first will minimise the number of chances for an error to occur, the second will reduce the likelihood of an error occurring at each transmission.

Similarly, historians develop confidence in the accuracy of a given text (the Bible documents included) by seeking manuscripts for as close to the events as possible (minimising the chain) and by examining the details about how the manuscript came into our hands to understand the copying/transmission methods.

In terms of the first criteria, the earliest Old Testament manuscripts now extant are amongst the much-publicised Dead Sea Scrolls, found at Qumran, in the Judean desert, in 1947. These documents are dated between the middle of the 3rd Century B. C. and the 1st Century A. D., and include portions of the Old Testament. When these were compared with our modern Bibles, the accuracy was clear: what we read today is, in fact, what was written more than 2000 years ago. The earliest New Testament manuscripts are even closer in age to when they were originally written – there is a fragment of John’s Gospel generally dated about 125 A. D., with almost complete New Testament manuscripts dating back to the early 4th Century A. D. In historical terms, this is almost unprecedented – and each new find only serves to reinforce what we already have!

Conclusion

In summary, then, there is no good reason for anyone to doubt the authority and accuracy of the Bible. The impact of the Bible on so many lives, combined with its own testimony about itself, serves to convince us of its divine authorship. The careful consideration of the Canon of Scripture by the early Christians has ensured that we get only what God has inspired and keeps us from being deceived by further ‘revelations’ such as those espoused by Mohammed (the Qur’an) and Joseph Smith, Jr. (the Book of Mormon). The historical evidence suggests that we have received exactly what was written.

Further reading

• Lee Strobel and Garry Poole, Exploring the Da Vinci Code (Zondervan, 2006).
• John Dickson, The Christ Files (Blue Bottle Books, 2006), particularly Chapter 4 “Behind the New Testament” and Chapter 5 “Before the Gospels”.
• John Dickson, “God in a Book: Making Sense of the Bible” in Hanging in there (St Matthias Press, 1991) pp. 26-32.
• Elmer L. Towns, “Understanding the Doctrine of the Bible” in Concise Bible Doctrines (AMG Publishers, 2006) pp. 21-56.

Endnotes

1. Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code (Corgi, 2004) pp. 313-4.
2. Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code (Corgi, 2004) pp. 312-3.
3. See, for example, Rev 2:1 – 3:22
4. Surah 3:2-3 (tr. Abdullah Yusuf Ali).
5. Antiquities XI.v.
6. Antiquities XII.ii.

Every week, in thousands of churches and homes across Australia and the world, Christians get together and read a book. Referred to variously as the Word, Scripture, the Old Book or just the Bible, this book takes centre stage in our preaching & teaching, forms the basis of our authority and spells out the message of Christianity in a way that no other book or speaker ever can.

Sadly, however, many Christians have either a limited or non-existent understanding of the Bible and its uses. Even though it is the number-one best-seller of all time, the Bible is possibly the most misunderstood book in history.

For some, it is an ornament or sentimental thing that gathers dust on a shelf, perhaps because it is written off as being an historical (or perhaps even fictional) book, with no real relevance to today. Others dismiss it as being for preachers, pastors and “super-spiritual” people. Still others find the Bible scary because it is hard to read and so not worth the effort, or because they have seen it mis-used and mis-applied.

Just about everyone has something to say about the Bible. Perhaps you’ve heard one or more of these:

• “It’s a pack of lies.”;
• “It’s irrelevant.”;
• “It’s a good story.”;
• “You can make it say whatever you want it to say.”; or
• “It’s been changed over time.”

As John Dickson writes, “It’s interesting to meet people who hold these opinions. I’m often amused to see them blush when I ask if they’ve actually read this ‘irrelevant fairytale’ for themselves.”¹

Well, the aim of this course is to:

• Help you understand what the Bible is, and what it may be used for; and
• Give you some practical strategies for making the most of the Bible.

What is the Bible?

Before we can answer the question of “Why read the Bible?”, we must first understand what it is. People have come up with many answers to this question over the years:

A library

The first thing to know about the Bible is that it is a book. In fact, the Bible is the single biggest-selling book of all time.

Actually, the Bible is a library of books – several books all kept together in one volume. It covers a variety of material: narratives, laws, ritual instructions, poetry, songs, sermons, prophecies, wisdom sayings, parables, letters and genealogies.

A history

Unlike many other religions, Christianity in general and the Bible in particular are set very firmly in the context of history. The Bible records many, many historical events that can be readily verified by independent sources. Even those who reject the Bible’s message find themselves unable to challenge the historical authenticity of the Bible.

A revelation

More important than either of these things, however, the Bible is the way that God has chosen to reveal himself. We can certainly understand some things about God from his creation and from our own thoughts, but we can’t get the full picture on our own. Perhaps an illustration would help. John Dickson writes:

Imagine, if you will, what my wife looks like… Suppose now you draw a sketch of my wife as she appears in you mind, scan it, and email it to me for review.

Even if a thousand readers took part in this odd experiment (please don’t!), the chances of any one of the sketches accurately portraying my wife are pretty slender. Some of the drawings might be beautiful… others may be works of great intelligence or artistry, the sort of thing that, while not accurate, would still be worthy of our admiration. In the end however, unless one of you had met my wife, the sketches would all be guesses. A beautiful, intelligent and artistic guess is still a guess.²

The point is this: we have in the Bible, and more specifically in the person of Jesus, a portrait of God. Whilst we can’t understand everything there is to understand about God from it, it gives us a much clearer picture than just guessing or relying on second-hand stories.

So why read the Bible?

The first reason to read the Bible, then, is that it is the way we get to know God. It is God’s Myspace. (Work with me here!) On his profile, God lists his interests, records his thoughts, puts ‘pictures’ of himself with his friends and advertises upcoming events! But we can only learn about him what he chooses to tell/show us. He even invites us to sign up as his friends!

As if that weren’t reason enough, however, the Bible holds another very practical use. It is a manual for life.

To get a pilot’s licence, you have to get an “instrument rating”. This means that you understand the instruments that your plane is equipped with – compass, altimeter etc. – and are capable of flying your plane using those and nothing else should the need arise. This is important, because otherwise it is easy to become disoriented when flying through fog or cloud. In some circumstances it is even possible for pilots to suffer what is called vertigo – ‘up’ and ‘down’ become confused, and you feel like you’re upright when you’re actually upside down.

To be able to fly using instruments only, a pilot needs the following:

• Good instruments: What’s the point in relying on your instruments if they are telling you the wrong thing? Even a slightly misaligned compass can lead you a long way off course.
• Understanding: You need to know how to use your instruments in order for them to be useful. You could hand me a compass, or a GPS device, but unless I had been taught how to use it it would be nothing more than a paperweight to me.
• Faith: Sometimes a pilot has to believe his instruments, even when they are in direct contradiction to what his senses are telling him.

I believe that Christians, too, need to get an “instrument rating”. Too easily we can get caught up in what our senses are telling us about the world that we are deceived. I believe that this is what happened for John the Baptist, when he sent word to Jesus to ask if he really was the Messiah, or if they should be looking for someone else³. This was a bit of a strange question, really, since John had been one of the very first to proclaim Jesus as the Messiah⁴, and had witnessed “the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting on him.” (16) and the “voice from heaven” proclaiming “‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.'” (17).

Things had taken a bit of a bad turn for John since then, however, and he was now in gaol and facing death. Is it any wonder that he began to think that something must have gone wrong somewhere?

Jesus’ response serves to remind John of his instruments. First, he suggests that John needs to consider more than just his immediate surroundings – he tells the messenger to let John know about all the wonderful things that are happening. The things he specifically directs the messengers to take not of, however, are particularly important as they are things spoken of in the scriptures as being indicative of the Messiah. Jesus is commanding, “Go back to your Bible and compare what you find there with what your disciples report – then answer the question for yourself.”

The Bible is Jesus’ answer to not knowing which way is up and which way down. When being tempted in the desert⁵, it is scripture which Jesus relies upon in overcoming Satan. If he allowed himself to be caught up in his own situation (I love the subtly understated “After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry” (2)!) then Satan’s suggestions would no doubt have seemed like good sense – after all, how could he possibly be any good to anyone if he starved to death? Perhaps it would be easier to accept the world from Satan’s hand as a gift, rather than pay the price to buy it back. But Jesus knew the scriptures and trusted that the words spoken there were truth, even though his senses and his understanding of the world he was in right then and there were screaming there was a better way.

We need that instrument for ourselves. We need to know what the Bible says in order to know what is right. We need to rely on scripture to navigate us through the fog of this life. We need to trust God’s word, even when it seems totally contrary to what our senses are telling us.

This course is designed to help you become an “instrument rated” Christian. It won’t tell you everything there is to know about the Bible (if we had 3 years rather than 3 weeks I still don’t reckon we’d reach that!), but hopefully it will give you a sound basis for reading and understanding the Bible and then applying it into your own life.

Endnotes

1. Hanging in there (St Matthias Press, 1995) p. 26.
2. John Dickson, If I were God I’d make myself clearer (St Matthias Press, 2002) pp. 56-57.
3. Matt. 11:2-6
4. Matt. 3:13-17
5. Matt. 4:1-11