Posted at 11:59 pm by Dr. Roy Lucas, on July 21, 2019
“Good morning folks. For our guests this morning, let me introduce myself, ‘I am Hugh. I am the teacher for this Sunday School class. A few of us have studied the purpose of Mark’s Gospel the last several weeks. Refer to the last 2 week’s blogs for information: ”
“Today, we will touch upon seven important backgrounds for the study of Mark’s Gospel. These backgrounds will supply us with important information each time we approach the study of Mark’s Gospel. These seven backgrounds will aid your study of any Bible book. These will aid you in determining the intended meaning of the biblical author, and ultimately, the Bible’s Author, God.”
“Before, I begin to touch on the seven important backgrounds, let me tell you an interesting story which hopefully illustrates my point about not knowing essential background information.”
“The Cilician
pirates of the Aegean Sea in 75 BCE failed to consider the background of a
Roman citizen they captured. This 25-year-old Roman nobleman had set out to
study oratory in Rhodes when the pirates seized him. The story is recounted in Plutarch’s
Parallel Lives.”
“When
the pirates asked for 20 talents for his ransom, this nobleman scoffed because they
did not know who he was. He suggested they ask for 50 talents. The Roman nobleman
sent men from his own entourage to raise the 50 talents for his ransom and
settled in for a period of waiting.”
“In the
meantime, this nobleman ordered the pirates to obey him. Wanting to sleep, he shushed
them to silence. He recited poems and speeches to them, even when they didn’t
want to listen. He mocked them and called them illiterate barbarians if they
did not applaud his work. The nobleman played their pirate games with them. Yet,
always, he ordered them as if he were their superior and they were his
inferiors.”
“Being such an important Roman nobleman, he threatened the pirates with crucifixion. They laughed and saw these threats as coming from a jokester who was boisterous and slightly insane.”
“Thirty-eight days passed, and the ransom arrived. The Roman nobleman left the island, raised a naval force in Miletus, even though he did not hold any political office or military power. He set out to find his pirate captors.
He captured them and returned the pirates to the governor of Asia. The local ruler wasn’t sure he wanted to do anything about the pirates, so Julius Caesar stormed the prison where they were held and promptly crucified all the pirates. If the pirates had researched the background of the nobleman they had captured, things might have turned out different”.[1]
“This
week, we will seek to define seven important backgrounds that every student of
the Bible needs to explore as much as possible before tackling a specific
biblical text.”
“Hugh, can I ask a question before you get into our lesson this morning?”
“Of course, David.”
“Hugh, what difference does knowing this information make when we believe God is the ultimate author of the biblical text. His Holy Spirit inspired the writers to write what they recorded. So, does it really matter where the writers lived and what they experienced?”
“David, that is an excellent question. We have no doubt that God was the ultimate author of our biblical text as you say. But, God laid out eternal, theological truths in His Word. We want to know the principles he placed in the Word so we can extract from His Word what He intended us to live by in this world. Do we agree that God communicated to Abraham and Abraham obeyed what God told him to do? Didn’t that happen in a historical environment?”
“When Paul wrote his letters to the Ephesians, Galatians, as well as 1, 2 Timothy and the others, wasn’t Paul living in a special geographical location? Aren’t many of his letters direct results to circumstances happening in those places or to those people?”
This helps us ascertain the proper method to apply God’s Word in our lives. J. Scott Duvall and J. Daniel Hays, say, “We do so because it offers us a window into what we must recapture God’s original intended meaning as reflected in the text and framed by the ancient historical-cultural context.’[2] Does that help answer your question, David?”
“Thanks,
Hugh. That helps.”
“Alright, allow me to write my life of the seven backgrounds on the board before I start my explanation.”The author’s backgrounAuthor’s Background
Author’s Background
Reader’s Background
Political background
Social background
Religious background
Economic background
Geographical background
The video will explain and illustrate the 7 background
from scripture.
“Class, let me warn you about one thing related to the study of backgrounds. –
Please understand that these backgrounds are not always an end all. Sometimes details become the only thing one studies, and the principle of truth is lost or overlooked.
Matthew 19:23-24 mentions how possible it is for a rich
man to enter heaven. The possibility is connected to the ‘eye of the needle.’ An
explanation that never surfaced until the 6th century A.D. referred
to a gate where a camel would craw through it in order to get inside Jerusalem
at night.”
“The problem rests
on the fact that the ‘eye of the needle’ refers to just that, ‘the eye of a
sewing needle.’”
Jesus intended his
audience to understand the largeness of the camel and the smallness of the eye
of the needle. This illustration intended to show how hard it is for a rich man
to stop trusting in his worldly goods and turn to trust Christ for his daily
needs.”
Do you value these seven backgrounds? Why or why not?
Do you spend time exploring these when you study a passage? why or why not?
Any other areas you feel should be studied? Why do you make this suggestion?
[2]J.
Scott Duvall and J. Daniel Hays, Grasping God’s Word, 3rd
ed., (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2012), 117. The seven background are explained
in this textbook as well.
In his second letter the Apostle Paul exhorts his young protégé Timothy not to wrangle or fuss about useless words that lead to the ruin of the hearers.
Paul shares with Timothy to avoid worldly and empty chatter that leads to further ungodliness.
Paul instructs Timothy to be a workman who does not need to be ashamed, but a workman who rightly handles the Word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15).
We must be ready for such a task and give ourselves to the labor so that we, as Paul, can entrust what we have learned to other faithful men and women who will be able to teach others.
In this article we will look at some secular challenges to proper exegesis. We as ministers and students of God’s Word must recognize many of these secular systems arise from preconceptions, pre-understandings, and presuppositions that are imposed upon the Word.
We are no doubt familiar
with systems such as Dispensationalism and Covenant Theology. These systems are
both inherently Biblical in nature with the difference being in their
respective starting points. While Dispensationalism begins at the beginning and
moves forward, Covenant Theology begins in the New Testament and reads it
backwards into the Old Testament.
These competing systems end up with differing ideas in places. While there is much to discuss here, there is still the desire for proper exegesis working through time, culture, language etc. to perform our best attempt at delineating proper authorial intent.
There are however scores of additional theological systems that we may find ourselves influenced by or notice while studying other works that one needs to be aware of, especially with regard to proper exegesis.
The rule to remember is that whenever a system is utilized, and not all are bad, whenever we come to an issue or nebulous spot in the Text, the “system” will make the decision with regard to exegesis.
While the exegete tries to present the meaning of truth; the theologian, the system of truth.[1] Much of these issues arise out of authority and inspiration with regard to secular systems.
A frequently utilized secular system that offers challenge to proper exegesis is that of Liberation Theology. While its roots are in the Latin American Catholic church, its agenda is more political than theological, all the while using theology as its initial vehicle and standard for its (Liberation Theology) truthfulness.
Its ideas borrow
initially from Kant, as well as Georg Hegel and Karl Marx, which throws up a
huge red flag for orthodox Christians. They do not begin with any genuine
inductive analysis of Scripture but instead read it through their lens of
political ideology to interpret the Scriptures.
Liberation Theology violates
the injunction of Scripture concerning submission to government as outlined in
Romans 13. Their concern over social justice rolls completely over man’s
sinfulness and his need for a savior. This exegesis ascribes a totally
secondary meaning to the clear ordinary meaning of the Text.[2]
Another secular system that challenges proper exegesis this article will discuss is that of Process Theology.
This is a bit of a misnomer and deceptive on the part of Process Theology as it is actually a philosophy instead of a theology. It is some what akin to Open Theism many of you have heard of. Open Theism is the more “biblical” version and allows for more nuances regarding Divine activity than does Process Theology.
I know of some of our own
who have turned to Process Theology as they felt it helped them to deal with
Theodicy. Process Theology sees God as in process and always developing and
completing Himself. This notion rejects all ideas of supernaturalism and space
for the miraculous.
Coming to texts like Malachi 3:6 and James 1:17 with such a paradigm does violence to the proper exegesis with regard to the Immutability of God. Any idea of sin and atonement are ignored. Carl F.H. Henry states that this school of thought says Creation becomes evolution, redemption becomes relationship, and resurrection becomes renewal.[3]
This is beyond the bounds
of sound exegesis to no real exegesis at all. Philosophy is not bad in and of
itself, as we use it anytime we approach the Scripture to read and interpret,
but I believe this is exactly what Paul had in mind when he warns in Colossians
2:8 not to be taken captive through philosophy and empty deception.
One of the secular systems we are often confronted with is Feminist Theology. While it is vital that women be honored and respected on a personal level, in the home, and provided with ministry opportunities that the Scriptures do afford, there is a secular camp that has brought their own agenda to the table in the name of theology and its exegesis does violence to the Text of God and that is born out in its exegesis.
Feminist Theology takes Galatians 3:28 as its proof Text, pulled from its context, and says that everyone is the same before God.
Not being any difference between bond and free did not mean Onesimus was set free from his Christian master.[4]
The context is in a
salvific sense. Feminist theology rejects Scriptures authority and now with
regard to exegesis, makes decisions on exegesis based on experience and
personal inclination. Feminist theology says Paul’s statements in Ephesians
5:22-6:9 are “local and temporary”, but who determines what is local or
temporary?
The Feminist
interpretation becomes a pick and choose method, with reason and culture
sitting in judgement on Scripture.[5] Feminists continue as they
define kephale (head) as source. This
brings great lexical difficulty and is a claim with no solid factual support.
Research bears out this
reality and the feminist agenda is intellectually dishonest. This paradigm
leads to a deterioration within exegesis. If the feminist definition of head as
source is maintained, God becomes the source of Christ, which is a denial of
Christs deity and thereby a denial of the Trinity.[6]
These are but a few hindrances and systems we face with regard to proper exegesis. We may not fall prey to them but some we minister to will. It behooves us to know what is going on and how to best defend the Faith. Knowing some of the enemy’s tactics and techniques can prove helpful as we seek to properly exegete God’s Word.
If you found this helpful, please let Chad and myself know with a comment.
Chad Fultz is a husband, father, and Associate Pastor for Family Discipleship at First Baptist Church, Oneida TN.
Chad is a currently pursuing a PhD in Theology & Apologetics at the Rawlings Divinity School at Liberty University.
Chad desires to teach and equip the saints to better understand and defend their faith in Christ and His Word. Chad Fultz’s e-mail is: chadfultz77@gmail.com
[1] Charles Caldwell Ryrie, Basic Theology (Wheaton,
IL: Victor Books, 1986), 17.
Posted at 11:59 pm by Dr. Roy Lucas, on December 23, 2018
A NEW GOLD RUSH – WHO WILL STEP UP TO THE CHALLENGE?
Awake from his nap, Jason peered over his rusty, battle scared metal coffee mug. Jason watched the six hundred gold miners feverishly dig pot holes into the sandy and gravel bed of the creek. Each miner searching for easy gold. It is September 1851. Jason sat on his log chair on the edge of the shoreline in the bend of an old creek near Balarat, Australia. He had heard that the old miners deemed this spot, “Golden Point.”
Jason reflected over the holes he personally had
dug. Most of his holes seldom reached a
depth of more than three feet before hard clay was encountered. How frustrated
Jason felt as contemplated moving to another area to dig yet another three-foot
hole in search of that elusive gold. His meager tools consisted of a pan, a
cradle and a puddling trough. Most of
his miner friends as well as himself barely scratched out a mere half an ounce
of gold a day – if they were blessed.
Jason, like hundreds of other miners before him, abandoned
claim after claim here at Golden Point. Every direction Jason’s eyes scanned,
pot holes stretched across the horizon. He pondered on the thought, This hard
clay NEVER produces gold. To reach the hard clay was to reach the end of the
search for easy gold in this location.
Rumors had flooded the camp the evening before and most
of the miners broke camp heading for richer fields. More and more claims lay
abandoned until the old bend in the creek. Jason thought it looked like a
cemetery where someone forget to fill in the graves.
Jason was startled from his day dream by his older
brother, John. “Dig deeper! Today, we
must dig deeper! We have to dig deeper
than anyone else ever has! I believe the best gold lays at the bottom of this
stubborn clay.”
These hopeful admonitions of John’s broke the early morning
stillness. The Cavanagh brothers vowed over the last evenings late supper of
warmed beans that they would dig deep for gold. As far as they knew, no other
miners before them had been bold enough to dig through the hard clay. John and
Jason theorized that century’s old rich gold lay below in an old creek bed.
The brothers selected an abandoned claim and began to dig
the hard clay. The Cavanagh brothers dug
with abandon. Inch by inch the brothers dug, only to find another inch of hard
clay. The brothers dug through blisters and through blood. Jason wondered if
all this effort would pay off or if the other miners would be correct? Would
there be no end to the hard clay?
Jason and John admitted they had dug the first day
without a hint of reward. The second day, the brothers determined to keep
digging as more miners left the Golden Point area for those richer finds
upstream. Some miners laughed and mocked
the Cavanagh brothers for their persistence in digging the hard clay so deep.
With resistance like two tug of war teams pulling a rope
in opposite directions, the clay put up a ferocious fight. But the hard clay
continued to slowly yield its hard contents as John and Jason repeatedly dug
and rested. First John would dig, then Jason dug. The process repeated itself
so many times the brothers lost count.
As the sun began dropping behind the horizon on the
second day, and after two back breaking days of digging the hard clay, the
brother reached between 6 and 7 feet. The Cavanagh brothers dared not stop
because of dark. Somehow, innately they knew
they were about to hit pay dirt. They dug until their lights died.
Finally, exhausted, John and Jason forced themselves to
try to sleep. Sleep proved to be elusive to Jason. His mind could not escape
what he hoped to see on the third day. In
the early light of dawn, the brothers surveyed their work and prayed this day
would be the day gold would be theirs. Sore and fatigued the boys went back to excavating.
Shortly, Jason stopped digging. He hit
something. It was a gravel layer. He
lowered his light into the hole so he could see better. He spied it. A large cache
of gold. He yelled for John.
Jason and John Cavanagh victoriously walked into Geelong,
Australia on September 20, 1851. The brothers both carried saddlebags filled
with 30 pounds of gold. News spread as far as Adelaide and Hobart in a very
short time. Every able-bodied man hurried to the Golden Point to dig through
the hard clay. Jason and John were set for life. Digging the hard clay proved
worth the effort and the ridicule.
How about today’s believer and the book of Revelation?
What about you?
The gold of Revelation may be like digging in the hard
clay, but the rich rewards await the faithful, diligent, and tenacious
interpreter. Gold can be found in the most
difficult places.
Early Christians experienced a growing and intensifying persecution
for their faith (Revelation 1:9). Specifically, the Ephesian church endured
suffering and hardship (Revelation 2:3). Even the church at Smyrna stayed
faithful through slander and adversity (Revelation 2: 9-10).
In the city of Pergamum, Antipas, a faithful believer
died for his faith. The church with little strength, Philadelphia, stayed
faithful to Christ and did not renounce His name (Revelation 3:8).
John, the Apostle, mentioned the faithful martyrs who
were slain because of the Word of God and their testimonies in Revelation 6:9. Revelation rehearses the frequent deaths of
the saints (Revelation 13; 16:5-6; 17:6; 18:24, 19:2 and 20:4).
The Roman Emperor Domitian (A D 81 – 96) appears to begin
this persecution against Christians. Roman historians, Pliny, Tacitus and
Suetonius describe Domitian as “savage, cruel, devious, sexually immoral, mad,
and evil.”
Suetonius states that when his brother Titus fell
seriously ill, Domitian ordered the attendants to leave him for dead before
Titus breathed his last breath.
Suetonius continues to paint a demented picture of Domitian as he says
that he would stay in his room alone for hours and often would catch flies only
to stab them with the needle-sharp pen.
Pliny the Younger, (ca AD 61-113) describes Domitian’s
palace:
[It is the] the place where . . . that fearful monster
built his defenses with untold terrors, where lurking in his den he licked up
the blood of his murdered relatives or emerged to plot the massacre and
destruction of his most distinguished subjects. Menaces and horror were the
sentinels at his doors . . . always he sought darkness and mystery, and only
emerged from the desert of his solitude to create another (Pan. 48.3-5).
Pliny continued to describe Domitian in his Panegyricus
33.4:
He (Domitian) was a madman, blind to the true meaning of
his position, who used the arena for collecting charges of high treason, who
felt himself slighted and scorned if we failed to pay homage to his gladiators,
taking any criticism of them to himself and seeing insults to his own godhead
and divinity; who deemed himself the equal of gods yet raised his gladiators to
his equal.
Domitian demanded to be called dominus et deus noster (our lord and god). For a believer to refuse to say words of
loyalty and allegiance to the emperor was equal to treason. This brings
trouble. He built a huge temple
dedicated to himself at Ephesus.
Christians suffered at the hands of Roman Emperor
Domitian, partly due to a misunderstanding related to the practices of the
Christian faith. Christians were misunderstood and vigorously rooted out. All a
Christian needed to do was to worship the pagan gods and the imperial cult to
be freed. Some Christians did just that.
Others refused to recant their faith in Jesus Christ. All
a suspected Christian had to do to escape horrible treatment, and maybe, death,
was to sprinkle a few sands of incense in the eternal flame burning in front of
the statute of the emperor. Those who
refused might be burned alive, killed by lions in the arena or crucified.
THE PURPOSE OF REVELATION AS HISTORICAL CONTEXT
Revelation presents those facing such futures with a
brighter future and a realistic world view.
Revelation stresses the need for believers to gain an eternal view of
the world. It presents the reader with the opportunity to worship the true God
with his host in heaven. It helps the reader see suffering as triumph in light
of the future glories presented by the Lord of heaven.
Revelation is seen as comfort to Smyrna and Philadelphia
who experience suffering now. It stands as a warning to the churches of
Thyatira and Sardis, churches that are already dead. The judgments found in Revelation
come as invitations for the world to repent.
SEVEN STEPS TO READING
REVELATION WITH PURPOSE AND AWARENESS
Seek to set aside your preconceptions, presuppositions, and preunderstandings.
Preconceptions, presuppositions and preunderstandings
color and possibly taint what we believe the biblical passage to mean. Often,
the reader uses these without any awareness or evaluation of them. Always be willing to read the text afresh and
recognize that your former understandings may need to be altered or
deleted. Retain a teachable spirit and
mind. Let the Word have supremacy in interpretation.
2. Strive to understand the passage as the first readers understood the passage.
Never is the goal to understand what the text means to
you! John’s intended meaning is the goal
of your study. Refuse to ignore those
first Christians and the setting in which they lived. Begin with the question, “What
did John, the apostle, intend for his first readers to understand?” While parts
of the book do gaze into the future, remember that you, the interpreter, must
see that future meant to Revelation’s first readers. How would they have understand
Revelation’s message?
3. Resist the temptation to put everything into a tight chronological order.
Remember Revelation’s purpose is to transform the first
reader’s worldview from one of the temporal world to God’s eternal rule. Thus, Revelation will not always fit tightly
into a chronological line. Sometimes the picture maybe compared to a telescope.
The first part allows for a certain object to be brought into focus. The second
extension shows more detail than the first extension while the third extension provides
greater detail than either the first of the second.
Read Revelation 6:12-17 and the sixth seal account. This
seal culminates with the great day of judgment. When the seventh seal is opened
(Revelation 11:15-19), the end of the world is in focus again with the judging
of the nations. Additionally, the first bowl in Revelation 16:1-2 shows another
set of judgments. Revelation 19-22 presents another detailed picture of end
time judgments. Thus, more specific information is gained from each extension
of the telescope.
4. Separate what is intended literally and what is intended symbolically
As always, John’s intended meaning is key. John uses pictorial or symbolic language to
convey historical reality. This implies
that pictorial language needs not be literal. The genre of symbolic language
needs to follow that genre.
Would you literally expect to see a woman sitting on seven
hills if you read Revelation 17:9? Why not?
We take the symbol seriously, but not literally. First century believers naturally took it to
refer to Rome.
5. Seek to correspond John’s definition of an image in one place with subsequent places.
Two clear examples include John’s reference to the son of
Man in Revelation 1:17 which is Christ and in Revelation 1:20 the golden
lampstands are the churches. The reader
needs to note these clear definitions. When
Revelation 11:3-4 refers to lampstands again, it seems natural to understand
that as referring to a church as well.
A Word of caution – be aware that John uses precise
definitions with some images and he is fluid with other images. Check out his usages of star in Revelation
1:16, 20; 2:1; 3:1 with 8:10-12 as well as 22:16.
6. Study the Old Testament with its corresponding historical context and symbols.
How can the modern reader ever figure out what the
various symbols refer to if John did not provide the correct definition? Two answers are available for the reader. One
has been covered earlier with the historical context. The second is the Old
Testament.
While Revelation possesses NO DIRECT Old Testament quote,
it does contain more Old Testament references that any other New Testament
book. The Old Testament shows up in
almost 70% of Revelations verses (Craig S. Keener, Revelation, NIV Application
Commentary (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2000), 33. The four major Old Testament
books are Psalms, Daniel, Isaiah and Ezekiel.
7. Separate the main idea from the surrounding details.
The basic strategy to understand Revelation is to begin
with the big picture and work towards the details. This is just opposite the
normal manner of biblical interpretation.
Locate the major theological ideas of Revelation and write them in one
succinct sentence. Keep the main point
of the section in view always.
Now, if you had not understood the need for hard,
persistent, and consistent work in understanding Revelation, you should
now. Revelation will yield its rich gold
when the interpreter persists through the hard clay. Remember the first century
world context and the seven steps to reading Revelation.
What is your preferred manner to interpret Revelation and
why?
Posted at 11:55 pm by Dr. Roy Lucas, on December 9, 2018
The man I write about was not a greedy man. He died in a mine in Corbin, Montana. Reported to be a decent, kind, and mostly jovial man, he occasionally helped fellow miners, struggling to make ends meet. He modeled what it means to be decent with his interactions with other men.
Colonel Thornby, a local newspaper owner in Deadwood, South Dakota, described this man in the Weekly Pioneer-Times, July 13, 1905 issue as a man who possessed a balanced mind – a mind more balanced than most of the miners he encountered.
Our man prospected throughout the west when he came upon the gold rich ground of the Black Hills. His prospecting side kick was Hank Harnesy, a Texas cowboy.
Moses! Our gold mining friend carried the name: Moses. When Moses and Hank came to the outcroppings of what became their gold mine in 1876, Moses grasped gold-rich raw materials in this hand, and while looking at it, Moses eyes streamed with tears dropping to the ground.
Moses turned to Hank, his partner as he said, “There is a homestake!” For Moses and Hank and other miners, a “homestake” was a local expression meaning that this is a sufficient amount to take back East. Hence, Hometsake Mine was named.
Hank, Moses his brother Fred and a Mr. Alex Engh co-owned the mine. A few months later, a H. B. Young purchased a few feet of the mine claim. In 1877, about a year after the founding of the mine, the infamous, Mr. George Hearst, father of the media tycoon, William Randolph Hearst, desired to purchase the 10 acre Homestake Mine.
Moses represented himself and his partners. The men met in the Welch House Hotel in Deadwood. The walls of the rooms consisted of board sheathing covered by a thin cloth. Any conversation spoken in one room could be heard in the adjacent room.
After a rather intense session of negotiation, Mr. Hearst and Moses agreed on a price between $70,000.00 and $75,000.00. Mr. Hearst had a set price and Moses wanted more. Finally, Mr. Hearst argued that neither Moses nor he could see into the ground. As a result, if the mine failed, Hearst’s partners would call this adventure “One of George Hearst’s foolish follies.” Moses agreed to the price Hearst offered.
Upon meeting with the newspaper editor, Colonel Thornby, Mr. Hearst said this about Moses, “Moses Manuel is a philosopher. In all my experiences I have never met a more intelligent prospector. Had he been an educated man, he would make a great lawyer. He made the best argument I have ever heard, and I have heard thousands on the sale of a mine. “
Between 1876 and 2001, the Homestake Mine produced 40 MILLION ounces of gold. The price of gold on December 9, 2018 is $1250.00 dollars per ounce. Forty million ounces today would be worth $5 billion dollars.
Rule 1 – Letters are the major literary form of the New Testament.
Rule 2 – Letters were generally less formal, more personal and based on past relationships. See Philemon as an example.
Rule 3 – Letters often corrected or exposed a situation in a local church or in the life of a person or persons. See Galatians, 1 Corinthians, Philippians and 1 Thessalonians for samples.
Rule 4 – Epistles tend to be more formal, self-explanatory treatises written to a wider audience.
Rule 5 – The distinction between Paul’s letters and epistles often blur.
Rule 6 – Paul’s letters and epistles from early were addressed to churches with the intention of being obeyed (2 Thess 3:14), swapped (Col 4:16) and understood to be the Word of God (1 Cor 14: 37-38; 1 Thess 2:13).
Rule 7 – Paul’s letters and epistles gained the reputation of being binding on both churches and individuals, even for churches founded by others (2 Pet 3:15-16).
When beginning to study the letters or epistles of the New Testament, remember these five elements may or may not be found in every letter. However, these five parts are normative and should be expected. If one is missing, one might desire to discover the why it is missing, if possible. Only a brief explanation of these 5 parts is presented here.
Part 1 – Salutation – normally there is a reference to author/sender of the letter and the recipients – “Paul, an apostle, to the Thessalonians…” This is followed by a tradition greeting of blessings. Occasionally the author states whey he is writing.
Part 2 – Thanksgiving and / or Prayer – All of Paul’ letters have a thanksgiving except Galatians.
Part 3 – Body – This normally contains most of the space of Paul’s letters.
Part 4 – Exhortation and instruction – See Romans 12:1-15:32; 1 Corinthians 3:1-16:18.
Part 5 – Conclusion – Wishes for peace, the offering of a holy kiss, a concluding paragraph, benedictions, doxologies, greeting to other believers, prayers and prayer requests are some of the concluding remarks found in Paul’s letters.
HOW CAN WE UNEARTH THE RICH GOLD FOUND IN THE EPISTLES?
Step 1 – Read the entire letter in one siting. If this letter was from someone special to you, you wouldn’t put it down until you had read, and maybe even, re-read parts of it. Why short change yourself by reading a few verses and the letter aside? You might find it helpful to use an online service where you can delete the chapter and verses before you begin to read. This may radically change how you read.
Step 2 – Read the letter seeking to learn its historical context. You may find it helpful to use study helps – Bible dictionaries, Bible encyclopedias, and commentaries. Look for information related to the author and the recipients: their cultural, historical, and relationship background. Discover the date and place of writing. Explore the reason for writing the letter. Highlight the circumstances before, during and after the letter was written, if possible.
Step 3 – Using a Bible with paragraph divisions, trace the flow of thought throughout the book. Notice important words and themes. You could number each paragraph and write a one sentence summary beside the paragraphs. Then, produce a working summary of the contents for quick review. Notice transition words, like, therefore, and, but, however etc. Complete this step with a ONE SENTENCE summary of what you feel is the author’s intended message to his audience.
Step 4: Write out theological principles discovered in Step 3. Make this present tense verbal statements summarizing the intended truths of the author as presented to his audience. Jack Kuhatschek in his book, Applying the Bible, presents three qualifying questions to use: 1) Does the author state a principle? 2) Does the broader context of the text state or reveal a theological principle? 3) Why was the particular teaching, exhortation or command stated?
Step 5: How does our theological principle(s) agree or disagree with the rest of the Bible? Are there other passages that teach the same truths or do other passages contradict my theological principle? Allow Scripture to interpret Scripture. Permit one Scripture to illumine other passages. We hold to a basic conviction that Scripture never contradicts itself.
Step 6; Ask how does a believer seek to live out the theological principles presented in Step 5? 1) Begin by reviewing the principle in light of the original situation in the epistle or letter. 2) Explore a situation in our lives which corresponds to the principle. 3) Be specific with the application in real life terms that match the truth found in the letters or epistles.
This week – Would you be bold enough to respond to this blog by sharing with me and others who read this blog what you are studying what God is teaching you through his Word. The same principles work with any other genre in Scripture that has an historical background to be discovered. How are you applying it today? I will start:
On Sunday evenings I am teaching through the book of Joshua with our small group at church. We will be exploring Joshua 8. As I studied this chapter, I discovered the principle that we can return to gain victory at places of previous defeat if we remind ourselves of that God’s plan leads to victory if we only trust God and obey Him completely.
Truth-Travelers 