Group Work
Straight into groups so that we can share our theme and aim sentences for Romans 1v18-32
Discuss your theme and aim sentence with the other people in your group, what was good or bad about the other theme and aim sentences?
My Theme and Aim Sentences
Theme
God is angry with this world because we have turned our back on his general revelation to all people and gone our own way, therefore in judgement on us he has let us sink even lower into all sorts of detestable practices.
Aim
To repent of what we have become and cry out to God for rescue from the mess we are in. To be committed as Christians to speaking out the good news to a messed up world.
Introduction
What have we covered so far?
Comparing translations so we can start asking intelligent questions about differences between texts.
Jotting down difs and dibs so we can again start asking questions about things we don’t understand or things that seem particularly important.
Putting things into our own words as a half way step to doing a structure diagram. Getting some order into the way we think about a passage, working out the flow and the main ideas.
Writing a theme and aim sentence so that we can work out what the main message of a passage is and how we want our listeners to respond to that.
Now all of those are general tools. That is to say we can use them on pretty much any type of passage in the Bible. This morning we are going to start looking at more specific tools and ways of handling specific types of biblical literature.
Genre
When we speak about genre we are talking about types of literature in the Bible. At one level as Philip has helpfully said the Bible is all history, that is to say it is written to particular people in particular situations about particular events. It has what is called “Historical particularity”
But it is still useful to break down the Bible’s 66 books into groups, styles or genres.
For ease for this course I’ve broken them down into six Genres that we will look at:
Epistles, Old Testament narrative, Wisdom, Gospels and Acts, Law and Old Testament Prophecy.
We can of course break down further than that but in general terms that’s a simple and easy to remember division.
Today we’re going to look at Epistles.
What is an epistle?
An epistle is often described as a letter from an apostle. And for the most part that is a helpful way to think. When thinking about the letters at the back end of the New Testament we tend to dive them up into two main groups:
Pauline Epistles – letters written by the apostle Paul
And
General Epistles – those letters written by other people
Pauline General
To Churches Hebrews
Romans James
Corinthians x2 Peter x2
Galatians John x3
Ephesians Jude
Philippians
Colossians
Thessalonians x2
To Individuals
Timothy x2
Titus
Philemon
Epistles are:
• Gospel focused. The great concern and theme of the gospels is the death and resurrection of Jesus.
• Historically Particular. These are letters written to first generation Christians in specific circumstances. Need to be aware of the danger of taking the comments and directions out of historical context
• Eschatological. That is to say they have a great appreciation for the future that has begun now in part but is yet to be realised fully.
• Ethical. The epistles are concerned with the implications of the gospel: what does it mean in terms of practical living in your family in your town in your country.
Half a telephone conversation
Listen to this:
Ring Ring, ring ring
Yes hello…[pause]
Ah yes, I popped it in the post yesterday…[pause]
But the letter said 15 calls at 42pence each and I was certain I didn’t make those calls…
That seems a little harsh, can’t you even accept any responsibility? [pause]
Well that’s very kind and I guess I’ll just have to make up the rest myself. Thanks for your help.
Learning that the New Testament letters are half a telephone call, they are about hearing some of the comments, the comments that come from Paul or John about the situation the Christians are facing. We have everything we need in order to gain the truths that God wants us to understand BUT we don’t understand everything.
For instance what does Paul mean by baptism for the dead?
Which bits of Paul’s letters does Peter find difficult to understand?
You get the idea
Logic in the epistles
Paul tends to build his arguments as he goes through his letters
James tends to work slightly differently and work with themes that come in and out of his letter as I think I mentioned last week.
Grammatical Analysis
A4 sheet of paper sideways on (landscape)
Write out from a more literal translation
Look for:
Main Statements
An independent clause that has a subject and predicate and makes sense when standing alone
Dependant clauses
Subject and predicate but depend on something else
Locate Phrases
Linking Bits
Underline the linking words
Let me give you an example:
Colossians 1v15-20
See PowerPoint
Explain about doing it grammatically and theologically.
Group Work
Do a grammatical analysis diagram for Romans 1v18-23
If time do a grammatical analysis of 1 Peter 1v3-9
Drawing Points from the Text
Now the end goal of using this tool is a highly organised layout of the passage and as you look at the things that appear on the left hand side you will usually be able to see the main points of the talk or sermon.
The idea is to make sure that the main points you speak on arise from the text and NOT from the vain imaginings of your own brain as Calvin would say.
If there are three main points then wonderful but if there are four or two then let the passage determine that, not your own particular addiction to three points.
Use of cross references
Cross references in Bibles where do they come from?
Should I use cross references in the talk?
Only if they illuminate directly
Keep them to a minimum
Don’t let them control the talk, let the passage you are speaking on control the talk.
Looking for the Keys
Where did people used to keep the keys for their house in the old days?
Under front door mat or above the back door.
Epistles often have the keys at the beginning or the end or sometimes both.
Beginning
1 Peter 1:3-6
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials,
(ESV)
End
1 John 5:13
13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.
(ESV)
Both
Romans 1:5
5 through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, (ESV)
AND
Romans 16:25-26
25 Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages 26 but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith—
(ESV)
Just to confuse you, occasionally the key will be in the middle of the letter but experience and familiarity with the letter will help you find the key.
Homework
Write a 500 word talk on Romans 1v18-32.
Use your structure diagram, grammar analysis and Theme and aim sentence to keep yourself on track.
