The point of Bible study is to know God better, to understand God better, and to grow spiritually.

Three basic steps

OBSERVATION, INTERPRETATION, APPLICATION

Observation means just what do yo see, what does it say

Interpretation involves finding the meaning. What do the words mean

Application is applying it to yourself, what should the result be of the scripture in your life as a result of studying a particular passage.

This is opposed to the idea of the scripture being supernaturally revealed to us. The scriptures were supernaturally revealed to those who wrote them, like Paul, Peter John, etc.

While it is true that the spirit does enlighten the Word for us, we are still supposed to strive to find out the true meaning.

The interpretation of scripture is not an emotional issue. it is an issue of truth... an issue of investigating the facts, what is written.

Some have the idea that you read it and then the spirit reveals the meaning to you.... this idea is not biblical .

How do you know if something is true? How do you know if a teacher is teaching the truth.,

There are many teachings and religions out there, some are true and some are not

there are many that that use the Bible.

Jehovahs Witnesses, Mormons, New Agers, all quote scriptures to prove they are right

Example of radio preacher...about Hayzeus

How do we keep from being decieved, especially when people are quoting scripture at us.?

We should know it better than they do.

Even the KKK uses bible verses to justify their evil practices.

Just about any idea can be proven from scripture if you take it out of context.

People can take a phrase or verse, and put it by itself to make it mean whatever they like.

This is why we need to always keep it in context.

So we need to know the whole of scripture and have a good understanding of the teachings that are in there.

When paul wrote those words he was talking about people who believed in Jesus but they had perverted the message of the gospel. They wanted people to keep obeying the jewish law to be saved, and they wanted them to believe in some strange mystical things much like the new age of today. They also did not believe that Jesus was God.

So Paul was saying to not be taken captive by those people, because their teachings were based on basic principles of the world rather than on Christ.

So how do we know that our interpretation or teaching is correct?

The King James says to Study to Shew thyself approved.,,,,

We can know if our teaching is correct by doing our best to present ourselves to God, as a workman who does not need to be ashamed./

Why would a workman not need to be ashamed?

because he had done his work well

and a workman who does not need to be ashamed, can accurately handle the word.

It is very possible to incorrectly handle the Word.

Bible study is work.... you get out of it pretty much what you put into it.

But just like in any type of thing, it works better if you do it in a way that is correct, or if you have a good system.

A lot of people use their feelings to interpret scripture...... you feelings may or may not be right.

We also have preconceived notions about things, things we have been taught since we were children etc.

but they may not be right either.

The key then is to try to be objective, and look honestly at what the words say.

But always keep it in context, that is why it is important to read the bible in general, perhaps all the way through, several times, so you will have an overall picture

Look at one more verse

This should be our attitude. They received the message, but they aslo examined the scriptures. Paul often taught out of the scriptures, but at that time the only scriptures available was the old testament.

The Thessalonians had kicked Paul out of town because of his teaching, they did not even consider whether he might be right or not.

The Bereans however, did check out Paul.

That is what we should do. We should examine the scriptures ourselves to see if what we hear taught is true.

In seminary they teach us methods of study, and that is what I am introducing to you. It is fairly straightforward, but it does give you a clear picture of what you are reading.

The basic idea is a three-step process

called Observation, Interpretation and Application, which i mentioned earlier.

In some ways you do all three at the same time, but we are splitting them up so we can better understand all of them.

Often we want to go right to the interpretation stage, but if you will avoid that temptation, you will get a clearer understanding of the scriptures.

When you read a verse, you should realize that it is part of a larger context, and that context is part of an even larger context. This is where observation comes in.

WHen you observe you should question everything.

Dont assume you know what a word means, or what a phrase means.

Examine it carefully.

Another point is many people get a set of beliefs and then go and find the scriptures to match those beliefs. We have already seen the peril of doing it that way.

In a sense we are all theologians. Theology is just a set of beliefs about God. If you have any beliefs about God at all. .... even if you are an athiest ... you are a theologian. There are good ones, bad ones, sloppy ones, lazy ones etc.

So when you are studying the bible, be willing to let it change your beliefs.

I have changed beliefs several times on diffferent points, and even gone back and forth. that is ok. It is ok to be in a state of change on theological points.

Like the difference between free will and election. Both are clearly taught in scripture, But at times you may lean more one way than the other. Not all issues are like that, but there are some biblical issues where you will not be able to get a clear black and white answer.

So always be open to new discoveries, new insights, and even be willing to change. Also be patient with yourself. It took the early church about 300 years to figure out their theology of how Jesus could have been totally God and totally man.... so it it takes me or you a few years to figure out some point of theology, it may not be that bad of a thing. You cannot know everything right now and as long as you keep your mind open to God, you will eventually get there.

Question everything, try to think of as many questions as possible., Sometimes finding the answer to one question leads to another question, and an even deeper understanding. Just like in any kind of investigation, finding the right quesitons is more than half the battle.The right questions are those that lead to to answers,.

Even when you get an answer, dont always think that is the end of the story. That is the end of the story for now, but as you study deeper and deeper, new things will come to light

Understanding scripture then is the result of Studying. Throughout the New Testament we see references to people being in the temple studyng the scriptures. Paul was continually in the temple explaining the scritptures. It is not written anywhere in scripture that meanings were supernaturally revealed.

I beleive the idea of the meaning scripture being supernaturally revealed to us is just an excuse to be lazy.

It is the easy way out to wait for God to supernaturally reveal it to you.

we have His word, so we should be willing to do the work to discover hte meanings.

On a very basic level it is very simple, but you can go as deep as you like.

That is one of the wonderful things about the bible.,

It can be understood by the smallest child, and by the deepest intillectual,

So go deep in your understanding.

So far the keys we have seen are.

Keep it in context

Keep digging

Be open.

This is part of the stage we called observation

So in the observation stage the point is to find out exactly what is being said.

At this stage ask questions... maybe even keep a notebook of your questions.

Ask as many questions as possible... even as you get answers, that will lead to new questions

The answers to your questions should be based on facts, on what the scripture says. Realize of course that you also need to understand the context of what is being said. Your observations should be based on fact only at this point in the process.

The answering of those questions leads us to the second step which is Interpretation.

interpretation is determining the meaning of the scriptures. To a certain degree, as you answer your questions from the observation state, you will find the correct interpretation.

Here is where context is so important.

You can determing the meaning of one verse, for example, but then you ned to compare it to the immediate context. what is this verse teaching.....

thhen compare it to a larger context such as the whole chapter or book.

After those two stages, you are ready for application,

Once you know what the teaching of the verse or passage is, and what it means, then you are able to see how this impacts you as a person, and this is application. At this point you are ready to say with confidence...."this is what it means to me"

Lets try this on a verse

You probably all know Philippians 4:13

Before you look it up, lets talk about what people say the verse means..

Philippians 4:13

Does this verse mean I can become a professional basketball player if i really want to?

Don’t people point out that it says i can do all things through Christ?

It does say that doesn’t it?

or does it?

Lets use our three step formula to interpret this verse.

First observation

Look carefully at the context. He is closing out the letter to the Philippians. He starts to thank them for their generosity in verse 10, and the idea goes through verse 20

What is the everything... or all things .... that Paul is talking about here? what questions do you have?

What is the context?

Interpretation

THe context is that Paul is grateful for their generosity to him, and he has learned the secret of being content regardless of the situation.

The context then is one of contentment.

He has learned the secret of contentment, and while he is grateful for their gift, even the gift itself is not the source of his contentment.

Step three.

So Paul is not saying he can do anything at all that he wants to do through Christ,

He is saying he can be content with his life because of Christ who gives him strength.

So instead of believing that he can do anything, even impossible things, he is believing that he can be content with his life in any situation because of Christ.

There are also lots of tooks you can use that will help you in all three stages,

Bible dictionairies and encyclopedias are very helpful in answering questions.

Commentaries are ok, They are the result of another person’s work. It is better to do your own work.

Self discovery is the best kind of learning.

But it may be good to check a commentary after you have done your homework to see if it is different.

It probably wont be a lot different, If after careful research, you come up with something different than what all the scholars have come up with, you may be missing something. Usually that wont happen, but if it does, it might be good to go back and do some more research.

Also the strongs exchaustive concordance is a very valuable tool.

We can look into that next week.