Digging Deeper!

I wonder if, like me, you have learnt the basic skills of something but always wished you could do more. Put me on an ice rink and I can get round fairly fast, I don’t fall over and I can stop without running into the barrier around the edge. Sounds good but I would love to learn how to go backwards as well as I can go forwards and do a little bit of fancy footwork – I strangely find ice hockey appealing, but…

This section focuses on developing your studying technique. It is about adding more skills or methods which will help you gain a deeper understanding of the world in which we live and God’s plans and purposes for it.

Remember the point of all this is not to gain knowledge but to change ourselves to become more Christ-like, to flourish as a Christian in 21st century western culture.

To be honest, nothing I say here is radically new, I have simply summarized useful insights from a number of books (some of which are mentioned in the resources section below).

Exploring the Bible in more depth

Which translation of the Bible to use?
At ENC we generally use the NIV (New International Version) translation of the Bible for our services. We believe it gives one of the clearest and therefore understandable translations of the Bible.

Sometimes by reading a different translation of the Bible we can notice things which we missed when studying a passage we have read many times before. The NRSV (New Revised Standard Version) Bible is a good slightly more formal translation whereas the NLT (New Living Translation) Bible seeks to make the English of the translation sound as natural as possible.

Try having two or three different translations open at the same page when you are looking at a specific passage.

The three step method
There are quite a few different books around offering different ways to study the Bible but they will all use the following three steps in some way:

Observation – what do I see? Like a detective looking at a crime scene searching for information you have to work carefully through a text looking at all the detail.

Interpretation – what does it mean? The aim of studying the Bible is not gaining factual knowledge but finding the meaning behind the facts; what is it trying to tell us?

Application – How does it work? The end result of your study should either be to confirm what you already knew and already do, or to challenge you to change both your beliefs and your behaviour.

Most of the information below is taken from, Living by the Book, written by a father and son team Howard and William Hendricks. It is a book that I keep returning to over the years. Remember there is no perfect method but as you explore the Bible you will discover your own method borrowing from different people; different people learn differently.

Observation
What follows are simply a number of pointers on how to really observe the text you are studying.

Read repeatedly – keep revisiting the passage, use different translations or on CD, MP3.

Read selectively – use the: who, what, where, when, why, questions.

Read meditatively – pray around the text and through it, seek the Spirit’s voice in it.

Read telescopically – think about how the passage fits in with the overall teaching of the Bible

Five things to look for

Things that are emphasized – amount of space devotes, stating purpose, order.

Things that are repeated – terms, phrases and clauses, characters, incidents, OT in NT.

Things that are related – from general to specific, cause and effect, questions and answers.

Things that are alike and unlike – similies, metaphors, irony, use of but.

Things that are true to life – authenticity, common for all, similar to your experience of life.

Finally always try and put what you are reading within the big picture of the entire letter and the entire Bible. The Bible has sometimes been compared to a five act play: Creation; Fall; Israel; Jesus; Church. We find ourselves in Act 5.

Interpretation
Having identified and studied a text next you need to ask and answer the question ‘What does it mean?’ If two people read the same passage and come up with two different interpretations can they both be correct? When the authors wrote their letters, gospels, histories etc., under the influence of the Holy Spirit, they had a specific audience they were writing to. Today we look at the text from a different place but the Holy Spirit meets us in our reading and helps us apply the teaching to our specific situation. Thus two different interpretations may both be correct but since we believe God is consistent, interpretations have to be consistent with the rest of the Bible’s teachings. Normally you start with trying to understand what the original author intended when they wrote the original piece before considering whether that interpretation applies to you today.

These five keys to interpretation below recognize that historical distance can separate us by language, cultural, literary and communication barriers:

Content – there is a cause and effect relationship between content and meaning.

Context – what kind of writing is it? Where did it happen? What did the person already know about God?

Comparison – How does it compare with the rest of the Bible?

Culture – How did the people live at the time? What did they do or think? Did the author agree or disagree with their culture?

Consultation – Check out your thoughts with other references: dictionaries, Bible handbooks, commentaries etc.

Application

When thinking about what the passage means for you, a helpful approach is to ask yourself the following questions of the text:

Is there an example for me to follow?

Is there a wrong pattern of behaviour to avoid?

Is there a promise about life for me to hold on to?

Is there a prayer to repeat?

Is there a command to obey today in the 21st century?

Is there a verse to memorise which will help me through life?

Is there an error to avoid?

Is there a challenge to face?

Exploring where we live in more detail
We do not live in a value neutral and philosophically empty world. Life is as it is because people, especially those with the power to shape our society, have values and beliefs which guide them in what they do and give them a vision about what society, in their opinion, should be like. As God’s people we need to work out for ourselves how to live faithful lives within the communities we find ourselves today. As a missional church we believe we should not separate ourselves from others but live among them and help reveal the presence of God to them as God’s Kingdom comes.

Studying the Bible can be easier than studying the world we live in. For a start if we want to study society there is no one single source of information we can go to. We have to keep our eyes and ears open all the time. While the Bible is assumed to have one goal and one central message, society has contrasting and even conflicting messages. It is certainly not easy to get the big picture on the world we live in.

Observation
While not wanting to teach you to suck eggs there are plenty of different places to look to observe the world around us, useful starting points are:

Work colleagues, neighbours, other school mums and dad etc, people down the pub, in the café, at the checkout. It can feel as if you are being a little nosey but people watching can be really interesting.

The TV in seeking to entertain or inform people is shaped by their audiences as well as the beliefs of the editors etc. The same goes for music, literature and other art forms.

Newspaper columnists also seek to comment on the world around them

Interpretation
There are a number of books or websites run by Christians who seek to help others identify the values and beliefs underpinning the people we live among; see the resource list. Once again we are asking the question: ‘What does it mean?’ on ‘Why are they doing this?’

Application
This time we are asking the question: ‘how does this affect me as a Christian?’ New knowledge may shape the way we interact with others, what we choose to join in with or watch. It may shape how we ‘do’ church and how we help others encounter God and His kingdom on earth.

Hopefully all this has encouraged you to dig a little deeper. Studying as a spiritual exercise is one of the most exciting and liberating activities we can do. We do it, not to pass an exam or feel superior to others, but to change, to be transformed, to become more Christ-like.

Resources