Reading the Bible for Growth and Edification, Part 5

September, 2008

by: Jack Hughes

I am back from Brazil and want to continue our series on Reading the Bible for Growth and Edification. Many people can read, but this doesn’t mean they know how to read the Bible in a profitable way. The Bible is unlike any book. It is the Book of Life. It is the book that is alive, energized by the Holy Spirit. The Bible contains the life saving message of the Gospel and transforms believers into the image of Christ. The Bible is not just a book – it is God speaking to us! Many know this but struggle in their reading of the Bible. They don’t struggle because they are illiterate, but because they don’t understand the Bible’s uniqueness, its culture, its lack of chronology, its literary types or its application to modern day readers. We have sought to address many of these common problems in previous Calvary Review articles.

So far we have learned that in order to have edifying times in the Word of God:

1. You must truly be saved.
2. You must have your sins confessed
3. You must believe the Bible is the very Word of God and without error in what it teaches.
4. You must remember that the Bible is not a history book but a theology book that contains history.
5. You must remember that God gave us the Bible so we could be saved and grow in godliness.
6. You must keep in mind that God gave us the Bible to reveal truth to us, not hide it.
7. In order to have thrilling times in the Word you must understand the context of what you are reading.

Continuing with basic steps to profitable Bible reading we want to look at two more important things to keep in mind when you read your Bible.

8. In order to have thrilling times in the Word you must understand the theme and purpose of the book you are reading. When you decide to read the Bible it is helpful to ask yourself, “What is the theme of the book I am reading?” The theme is the author’s main purpose for writing the book. When you understand the theme, it helps you better understand what you are reading. Let’s say you are reading in Genesis. What is the theme? It is “beginnings” in the first part of the book and “the sovereignty of God in making and preserving the people of Israel” in the second part of the book. Just knowing the theme will help you see things as you read Genesis that you might not ever notice.

Sometimes you may encounter two books that are similar but have different themes. For instance, you might realize when reading through the Old Testament that II Samuel and I Chronicles are very similar. They both speak of the life of David. You might wonder, “Why have two books which talk about the same thing?” The answer is simple, both books speak of the life of David but have different themes. II Samuel’s theme is the strength and weaknesses of David’s reign as King. I Chronicles theme is the divine view of David, the Davidic Covenant, and true temple worship. This explains why the faults of David are left out of I Chronicles, except for his numbering the people. The sin of numbering the people is included because that sin led to David purchasing the temple mount. Knowing the theme helps you not only understand the reading better but the two life accounts of David and why they differ.

The Gospels provide a four fold example of why understanding the theme of a book is very important. There is only one Gospel story but it appears four times. Why? Because each author emphasizes a different aspect of Jesus and His ministry. Four different accounts of the same story allow us to have a more complete picture of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. Also, each author comes from a different background and writes to a different audience. This makes the Gospel more accessible, understandable, and personal to a wider reading audience.

Matthew is the author of the first Gospel in the New Testament. He was a tax gatherer, called by Jesus to be an Apostle. Matthew is a Jew writing to Jews. His theme is to present Jesus as the King of kings. As you read through Matthew you will see Jesus’ kingship emphasized throughout the book. This doesn’t mean he never talks about other attributes of Jesus, but he emphasizes Jesus’ kingship more than others.

Mark was a traveling companion of the Apostle Peter and Barnabas. Mark writes his Gospel to Gentiles and emphasizes Jesus as a servant. Mark’s gospel account is action packed, moves quickly, and mentions many events in the life of Jesus, but not in a lot of detail. Mark’s desire is to show that Jesus came to earth to serve others.

Luke was a close traveling companion of Paul. He seems to have been highly educated. His Gospel is the most well written. Paul refers to Luke in Col. 4:14 as the “beloved physician.” He writes to Gentile readers like Mark. Yet his theme is to present Jesus as the Son of Man. Luke speaks much about Jesus’ humanity, His birth, growing up as a young man, living as a man, suffering as a man, and dying as a man. He mentions many details others don’t mention and is very interested in sickness, disease, demon possession, and other medical issues. He also has much to say about the women involved in Jesus’ ministry.

John is the disciple that likes to refer to himself as “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” He wrote to emphasize Jesus’ deity, that He was the Son of God. In order to show that Jesus is the Son of God, John includes seven key miracles in the life of Jesus in the first eleven chapters of his Gospel. Each miracle argues for Jesus being the Son of God. Jesus changes water into wine (Jn. 2:1-10) which shows that He has power to transform matter. Christ heals the Nobleman’s son (Jn. 4:46-54) which shows that He has power to overcome short term illness. Christ heals the man who has been sick for thirty-eight years (Jn. 5:1-9) which shows us He has power over long term illness. Christ feeds the five thousand (Jn. 6:1-14) which shows that He has the power to create. Christ walks on water (Jn. 6:15-21) which shows that He has the power over the laws that govern creation. Christ heals the blind man (Jn. 9:1-14) which shows us that He has the power to heal genetic disease. Christ raises Lazarus from the dead (Jn. 11:1-44) which shows us that He has the power over death. Each of these miracles argues for Jesus’ deity. You can see how not knowing the theme of John’s Gospel might cause you to miss the significance and purpose of the miracles previously mentioned. However, knowing the theme, you see how each miracle argues for Jesus’ deity.

So where do you find what the theme of the book is? Well you can do it yourself by reading the book over and over again, or you can use one of many helpful resources. Study Bibles, Bible dictionaries, commentaries, special introduction books will tell the theme of the books of the Bible. Once you know the theme you will from that time on be better able to understand the purpose of the book you are reading or studying and notice things you didn’t notice before.

9. In order to have thrilling times in the Word you must understand how to find personal application from the text you are reading. This is a subject that could be given an entire series, but let me give you some basic guidelines that should help you understand how the ancient text of the Bible applies to your life today. The most important part of Bible reading is not knowledge, but wisdom. Knowledge is knowing facts, wisdom is being able to put those facts into practice in your life. Therefore the goal of all Bible reading should be the great “So what?” What does the text have to do with you, as a Christian, living in the modern world? How does the text apply to you as you live in this world as a worker, friend, mom, dad, or neighbor? This becomes especially difficult when reading the Old Testament. You are reading about people, places, and cultures that have nothing to do with your life or experience today. So how do those texts apply, especially since we aren’t living under the Law of Moses any more? Below are some ways you can find application from the text.

Ask yourself, “What is the main idea of the text?” Not only does every book of the Bible have a theme, every text has a main idea. The main idea is the interpretation of the text “what it means” or “what the original author meant for his original audience to understand by what he wrote.” Once you discover the main idea of a text you are well on your way to discovering how it applies to your life. For instance the “big idea” of Eph. 2:1-10 is the salvation of believers. But if you look at the text you will see that it mentions our spiritual deadness, the grace of God, the mercy of God, the love of God, the free gift of eternal life and how we were saved by grace to obey God. Yet all of these topics relate to our salvation in Christ. The “big idea” drives the many smaller ideas that speak about it. Once you find the main idea then you can find spiritual truths or principles which lead to specific application in your life.

Ask yourself, “What does this text tell me about the character and nature of God?” Let’s say you were studying Ex. 4-13 and you knew the theme of the book was redemption but you wanted to focus on one of the grand themes of the entire Bible itself, “God.” Redemption in the book of Exodus is the “redemption of God.” So you look at each of the plagues and you ask yourself, “What does this text teach me about the God who redeems? What do I learn about His character and nature?” Then once you answer those questions you can consider how what you learned about God should affect how you live for God today.

Ask yourself, “What does this text tell me about how God responds to man?” Using the same example from Exodus above, you might ask yourself, “What does this text tell me about God’s relationship to man?” This of course would lead you in any number of directions e.g., He redeems men. He answers the prayers of His people. He desires to show His power to men. He hardens the hearts of men as a form of judgment. He desires to reveal himself to men. He shows mercy to men. He judges men, etc. Once a specific principle is discovered then you can consider how the principles apply to your life. Ask yourself, “What does this text tell me about mankind?” Using the same example from Exodus we can observe many things about mankind in general. Men are sinners. Men have hard hearts. Some men are unconvinced by miracles. Some men are cruel towards those who try to help them. Some men need to suffer greatly before submitting to God. Some men want blessing from God but don’t want to obey Him, etc.

Ask yourself, “What theme or doctrine does this text mention which is taught in many places in Scripture?” Sometimes a text may mention a certain doctrine taught throughout Scripture. It may not be the theme of the book, or the main idea of the text itself, but it is a well established doctrine or theme in the Bible. Once you spot a doctrine, look up cross references, find other Scriptures that talk about it, learn about that doctrine and how it applies to your life today.

If studying narrative, ask yourself, “How or in what way does this text illustrate a good or bad behavior? In I Cor. 10:6 & 11 the Apostle Paul tells us that the narrative portions of the Bible are written so we can learn from the examples of those who came before us. We can learn from the example of both godly and ungodly people. Their example shows us how or how not to follow God today. Abraham is a great example of faith and doubt. Yes, he had faith in God at times but also doubted God and gave his wife to another man – twice! The general principles “trusting God in faith” and “not trusting God but self” certainly apply to our lives today.

So start reading your Bible and apply the practices mentioned in this series. You will soon discover that the Bible is the most wonderful, practical, and life changing book in all the world. You will become one of those people who say, “I love reading my Bible!”