Introduction
I take it that all of us here this morning are committed to the idea that God’s word is vital for today because it is everything that God wants to say to us so that we can be thoroughly equipped to live for him and server him in this world.
I also take it that we are committed to the idea that teaching God’s word is an essential part of church ministry and happens in many different ways in the course of a normal week in the life of a church.
Obviously we have people teaching God’s word on a Sunday, preaching it from a pulpit or platform to a mixed group of people who call themselves church. We have the word of God probably being taught at a Bible Study midweek too. Different people do those in different ways but the idea is still that whether in a more interactive way or not God’s word is communicated effectively to the people who are there.
Teaching God’s also happens at youth groups, ladies meetings, Sunday School and house groups if you have such things.
But often forgotten, Bible teaching also goes on in one to one conversations. You may be in the habit of meeting with someone to read and pray on a regular basis, a discipline that is extremely useful and I would want to encourage, but also another time when God’s word is studied, taught and applied all be it in a more informal setting.
The point I am simply trying to make here is that many of us teach the Bible and we do it in a variety of different ways.
The point of this part of the Teesocs course is to help us do that better. Why do we want to do it better? Well because God expects us to make a good job of it:
2 Timothy 2:15 (ESV)
15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.
I want to handle God’s word correctly whether I am preaching a sermon, leading a Sunday School class or reading one to one with someone. I want to know why the idea that it can mean anything to anyone is wrong and I want to know what the Bible does mean when it says what it says.
That being so what we will be doing over the next 12 months is looking at tools and techniques that help us understand the text of the Bible then alongside that dealing with issues of presentation and delivery that will help us to not only rightly understand what we are reading but also communicate it more effectively.
That’s a tall order in 10 sessions but I’m not aiming to cover anything to a great depth rather to give us a set of tools in our hands that we can use and a general appreciation for some of the issues involved in doing the job properly.
Bible Versions
Now I want to begin proper by simply talking about Bible translations and the way we use our Bible translations. When Isaac Watts wrote his questions for young ministers in the second section he had these words:
“Do I give attendance to reading meditation and study? Do I read a due portion of scripture daily, especially in the New Testament, and that in the Greek original, that I may be better acquainted with the meaning of the word of God?”
Now to be frank probably most of us here today haven’t got time to study New Testament Greek. And that’s fine at one level because we have many excellent tools available to us that help us to get to the meaning of the original texts. But while we recognise that God’s word is still God’s word even if it is translated poorly that doesn’t mean that we should neglect to use the many different translations that we have available to us.
What of course is bewildering is the sheer number of translations available and while you may be tempted to see that as something of a drawback I want to encourage you that it is nothing of the sort.
Now at a very simple level let me split the translations into three main categories. I admit this is a little two neat because most of these are along a line and vary slightly from each other but you will get the general idea better if we work like this.
| Literal | Dynamic | Free |
|---|---|---|
| AV | NIV | Good News |
| NASB | New Living Bible | Living Bible |
| ESV | CEV | The Message |
The table in a very simple way shows something of the way that different translations function. Understanding that will help us to approach different translations in a different way. That is not the same as saying that a free translation is worse or better than a more literal translation, it is simply say that once I understand that the Good News Bible is as much an interpretation of the Bible as perhaps a commentary might be then I can use it accordingly.
One of the first tools that you need to make use of in preparation is having at least two translations open so that you can compare and contrast those translations. Why is that? Well, a translation is just that, it’s a translation. That means the translator or translators have had to make decisions about what to do with the original language, either Greek New Testament or Hebrew Old Testament (and a little Aramaic) when they put it into English. Some bits of the translating process are fairly straightforward while others are more complex. If you find a difference in the two translations you are reading it flags up for you something that is worth looking up. It’s a sort of warning signal that you need to find out why there is a difference there and what made them make different decisions.
That of course raises the thorny issue of how you decide. If you have two translations that are good scholarly, reputable translations how do you pick between the two? Well unless you are proficient in Greek or Hebrew then that is the time to be turning to a commentary. A word of warning though: DON’T run to the commentaries too fast. I will give more instruction on the proper use of commentaries later in the course. But when you come to difficult bits that translations differ over then you will need some help to see the issues, and that is where a good commentary will help.
I don’t want to overstate that though. Don’t be looking for difficult things in the text that baffle you and running off to study those things straight away. The Bible is not written as a technically demanding book, it is God’s communication to us and you will be surprised how with a little work you can get to the bottom of seemingly difficult bits with just a bit of perseverance and the right questions.
While on the subject of translations it’s probably worth me saying something about paragraph and chapter headings.
Talk about headings (not inspired)
Look at paragraph divisions
Comparing divisions as well as words.
At this stage we are simply trying to notice how other people have thought the passage splits itself up. We’re starting to get an idea of how bits in a passage or section fits together and then making decisions ourselves about whether the title headings are right or wrong and whether the section divisions themselves are helpful or not.
Now, this is all preliminary work, it is thinking through the text from a couple of different ways so that we are getting the words and ideas into or heads and so we are then thinking about what the Bible says rather than just what we want it to say or even think it might be saying.
When I was taught to teach the Bible one maxim we were pressed with was read, read, read and read again. In a bible study or sermon or Sunday school class you job is not to teach the manual or guide your job is to teach the bible and so you need to be making thinking decisions about whether your guide has got it right or gone off down side lane.
It’s all an exercise in engaging with the text in a more hands on way. That means, it’s about thinking for yourself about what is being said rather that than running to a commentary and then letting someone else do the work for you.
Now, enough of me talking lets do some work together.
For our first exercise we’re going to have a go at doing a bit of translation work. Don’t worry I’m not going to give you some Greek to get your teeth into, instead what I’m going to do is give you a passage and ask you to put it into your own words. Again this is an exercise in looking at different translations, working out what is being said and then having a stab at saying that ourselves.
Don’t worry too much about how wonderful a job you do, just have a go.
And we’ll see where we go.
Exercise 1
Write out a translation of 1 Peter 1v13-16
Context
The next key thing to talk about that flows from that is context. Context in all kind of fields of work is extremely important and that is certainly true of the Bible. We have all no doubt heard sermons and talks from a verse that have nothing to do with what the verse really says, all the verse has been used as is a “hook” to hang the preachers own particular thoughts or ideas.
Now to my way of thinking that is a poor use of the Bible and allows for anything to be said as long as there is simply some word association or alike.
Show cartoon:
Now, that’s obvious fairly humorous but it does make a serious point: the bible is written to make clear and coherent points. It is not written as a piece of magic that can mean different things to different people. We have two authors at work in each section of the Bible. We have the human author who is inspired by the divine author. But both the Holy Spirit and human are writing words to communicate specific ideas. So what we do is work hard at understanding those ideas by using the tools available to us. Context is one such tool.
The way I have heard context explained helpfully is like this.
Each word in the bible has a number of contexts that each help us to understand the meaning of that word.
Now I do mean a number of contexts because there is not only the immediate context of a word but also more remote and larger contexts to a word too.
So imagine a word in the Bible, say the word grace, that particular word appears in a sentence, so that is it’s most direct and obvious context.
But of course each verse exists with in a paragraph which has a flow of thought and an over all meaning.
But then each paragraph fits into a section of the book or letter you are looking at.
The next context up is the book itself and it’s message.
And then finally we have the context of the whole of the Bible, how does it all fit into the overall message of the Bible.
You might like to think of this as the room, the house, the town, the country and finally the world.
So the verse is like the room, the paragraph is like the house, the section is like the town, the book is like the country and the Bible context is like the whole world.
The idea is that each of those contexts have some bearing on the particular word and verse you are look at.
Now if you pay some attention to that it will help you to not make the Bible say things it can’t possible be saying, it will help to keep you on track with the intention of the author and then the application that you should make from the passage.
Exercise 2
Setting verses into context
With each of these verses I want you to do these things:
Say what the verse means
Summaries the section or paragraph it comes in
What is the book about
How does that fit with the overall bible message
Colossians 1v15 “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.”
Mark 2v5 “Son your sins are forgiven you”
Revelation 3v20 “Behold I stand at the door and knock”
Historical Context
Now much of this will be covered in Biblical Theology over the next few months but it needs to be mentioned here because it is so important.
We’re not only interested in literary context, that is the context of paragraph, book and Bible, we are also interested in the historical context too. That is to say the Bible itself is not simply a book handed down from heaven with no setting; rather the Bible is a book written by particular people at particular times in particular places. That means the language of the Bible has particular historical and cultural references. When we want to work out the meaning of a word in the original Hebrew or Greek we need to find out what the word meant to the people of the time in their setting.
But even more than that the Bible is the record of God dealing with people in specific circumstances and times. So understanding when something happens in the Bible and what is going on in the nation and the world around it at the time is really key to understanding why certain things are said as they are.
That said it is ever so important to have a rough idea of where the Bible is going and the order in which things are happening.
Two minute overview of the Bible:
The Story of the Bible in 1,000 Words
The Old Testament begins when God created Adam and Eve in a perfect paradise. They later sinned and were driven out of the Garden of Eden, forced to live "by the sweat of their brow" in an imperfect world. As their offspring multiplied, sin multiplied. Eventually, humanity became so sinful that, as judgement God destroyed the earth with a universal flood, preserving only Noah and his immediate family on the ark to repopulate the earth.
Sin kept its hold over humanity, however, and once again people forgot God. As the years passed, God revealed Himself to Abraham (two thousand years before Christ), promising him a nation, many descendants, and a blessing that would ultimately extend to everyone on the earth. Abraham believed God and became the father of the Hebrew people. Abraham had a son, Isaac, and Isaac had a son, Jacob. The promises God made to Abraham were passed down through Isaac and Jacob. Jacob had twelve sons, and the promises were passed to all twelve sons, who became the fathers of the twelve tribes of Israel.
Jacob and his family of about seventy people were living in the land of Canaan when a famine hit. They were forced to migrate to Egypt to get food. In time, they became so numerous that they were perceived as a threat by the Egyptian people, and the Egyptians enslaved the Hebrew people for nearly four hundred years. Finally (approximately fifteen hundred years before Christ), God raised up Moses to lead them out of Egypt. With many astounding miracles, including the crossing of the Red Sea, they escaped Egypt and went to Mt. Sinai, where they received the Ten Commandments. Then they rebelled against God again and, as a judgment, wandered in the wilder¬ness for forty years. When their time of judgment was up, they were allowed to enter the Promised Land. Moses died, and Joshua led in the conquest of the land.
Israel lived in the Promised Land in a loose governmental system, ruled by judges, for the next four hundred years. Samson and Samuel were the most famous judges. Then Israel insisted on establishing a monarchy (approximately one thousand years before Christ), and the Hebrews were ruled by kings for the next four hundred years. Saul, David, and Solomon were the first three
kings, who ruled over a united monarchy 120 years (forty years each). When Solomon died, the nation divided over the issue of taxation. There was now a northern kingdom, which kept the name Israel, because a majority (ten) of the tribes were loyal to the north, and a southern kingdom, which was called Judah, because Judah was by far the larger of two southern tribes.
Because of the accumulating sin of Israel, Assyria, a nation to the northeast, came and conquered Israel and scattered many of the people throughout that part of the world. About one hundred fifty years later, because of the accumulating sin of Judah, Babylonia came and conquered Judah, destroyed Jerusalem, and took many of the people into captivity in Babylonia. About seventy years later, Persia defeated Babylonia, who had previously defeated Assyria. Thus Persia now ruled the entire part of the world from the eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea to the borders of India. The king of Persia allowed the Israelites living in captivity in Babylonia to return to Jerusalem to rebuild it. Fifty thousand people returned (approximately five hundred years before Christ), rebuilt the city, rebuilt the temple, and restored ceremonial worship of God. They continued to live that way for the next four hundred years. During that time, Persia fell to Greece, and Greece in turn fell to Rome. Rome was ruling, that part of the world wheel Jesus was born. The ministry of Jesus was preceded by the ministry of His cousin, John the Baptist, who warned the Jews to get ready for the coming of the Messiah. Jesus was born in Bethlehem, near Jerusalem, in fulfilment of Old Testament prophecy: Then Jesus and His parents, Mary and Joseph, moved back to their home-town in Nazareth, in the northern part of the country, just west of the Sea of Galilee. There Jesus lived an apparently normal childhood until the age of thirty, when all teachers, by Jewish custom, began their ministry: Jesus began His ministry in Jerusalem and in the surrounding area of Judea. His ministry was highlighted by authoritative teaching and remarkable miracles.
Because of mounting opposition to His ministry on the part of the Jewish religious leaders, Jesus went north to the area around the Sea of Galilee, making Capernaum on the north shore His home base. Much of His three-year ministry was conducted in the area around Capernaum, though many events did not actually take place in Capernaum. Eventually He returned to Jerusalem and, because of the jealousy of the religious leaders, was soon crucified. Three days later He rose from the dead, and He showed Himself to His disciples several times over the next forty days. Then, with His disciples gathered around Him on the Mount of Olives, just outside Jerusalem, He visibly ascended into heaven.
He had commissioned His disciples to take the new message of salvation through Christ to Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria (the surrounding regions), and to the uttermost parts of the earth.
The church was established in Jerusalem, and the first Christians were Jews. The church there was overseen by Jesus' apostles. The spread of the gospel to the surrounding area and uttermost parts
of the earth focused primarily on the apostle Paul, who conducted missionary journeys into areas of Asia Minor and Greece. Finally, Paul was arrested and taken to Rome, where he was eventually executed for his faith. There were enough disciples, however, not only n Jerusalem, but also in Asia Minor, Greece, and that the message not only lived on, and grew…
Adam and Eve
Noah
Abraham
Twelve tribes – into Egypt
Rescued by Moses
Wandered in the wilderness 40 years
Joshua – into the promised land
Judges who rescued the people
Kings - Saul, David Solomon
Kingdom splits - kings in the north, kings in the south
North taken away by Assyria
South taken into captivity by Babylon
Return to rebuild the wall and temple
Jesus’ life, death and resurrection
Ministry of the apostles taking the gospel out to the world
Letters to those planted churches to confirm them in the gospel and apply it to their situations.
Exercise 3
Look at Exodus 20v1-17
Answer three questions
1. What is the passage about roughly?
2. What is the historical context for this passage
3. Why is that important?
Frame Work
Talk about framework and text
Diagrams
Start – framework (systematic theology) shapes the text e.g. the theology about sacraments and baptism influenced many commentaries in the past to find baptism liturgies all over the place.
Shape the text by our theology
What should happen is that we start with a framework, hopefully a good one but then as we engage with the text our framework is being changed
DON’T BE AFRAID TO LET THE BIBLE CHANGE YOUR MIND!
Homework
Do your own translation of 1 Peter 1v3-12
Use at least two translations to help you
Write down any major differences between the two translations
