In Tonja’s last post, she touched on the notion of studying theology, with the very good point that if we don’t study formal theology we tend to make up our own. Yes, we’ve all got a theology – even “I don’t believe in any of this nonsense” (my own position for 30+ years of my life) is a theological position because of the assumptions that underlie the statement. If only I’d known.

You can gather from the above that I’m fairly new to the idea of studying theology. I got interested because I have the good fortune to belong to a church where people not only study the Bible on a regular basis, but are also being encouraged to take things a step farther. This is possibly because we are a short drive away from a seminary of which not a few of our congregation are either active students, like Tonja, or alums.

Our church has been running a series called FencePosts, which is a systematic theology course for laymen, over the last couple of years. I hope it’ll get published some day, but in the meanwhile I’m pretty sure you can download the materials from our website. Being able to discuss these matters with a group of people who also were not necessarily familiar with big words like aseity has been a very useful way for me to begin demystifying a subject that, let’s face it, isn’t exactly Discovery Channel material.

I also, all on my lonesome, discovered a website called Reclaiming The Mind, which also provides a systematic theology course aimed at lay students. You can download the materials for free, or pay a modest fee to get a diploma for finishing the course. I chose the cheapo option, of course, although I did buy the recommended foundation books: Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology and The Mosaic of Christian Belief by Roger Olson.

It may have occurred to you by now, as it did to me at some point, that all of these sources are written from a theological standpoint that may, or may not, be right. And what’s “right”? Theologians, I have discovered, are notorious for disagreeing among themselves. Then again, the church you’re in may teach from quite a different standpoint and recommend different books to the sources I found. What’s a layperson to do?

That brings me to the question I probably should have asked about three paragraphs back, namely what am I trying to achieve by studying theology? I can think of the following goals:

• avoid the big silly mistakes that may result from trying to think things out all by myself (my brain functions quite well but I’m the first to admit I’m no Einstein)
• understand what people from the aforementioned seminary are talking about when they get together (and thus avoid embarrassment)
• grasp what people who’ve spent their lives trying to get to know God better have been thinking and talking about through the centuries
• get a better idea of my relationship to the greater Christian community by understanding what my church teaches in relation to what other churches have taught and are teaching

I was struck, when I embarked on all this, by the fact that theology and Bible study seem to have little to do with one another. Theology, it seems to me, is more about the history of ideas that have been developed by Christians from reading the Bible; so while a knowledge of the Bible is of course essential to understanding the basis for theological arguments, it’s a starting point rather than a boundary that’s constantly in view. The original chapter and verse tend to get obscured by a bunch of long words, definitions, creeds, and concepts that then spawn ever more of the same.

The danger, it seems to me, is that you can become so wrapped up in all the different arguments that you can effectively disassemble your own faith – I’ve come across seminary students who come close to losing theirs altogether because they can’t find the simplicity that defined their world in their pre-theological days. I find that my own safety net consists of making certain assumptions of what is “right” from the outset, such as that I will favor Protestant theology over other flavors, and start out from the conservative evangelical viewpoint of my own church.

Olson’s book is pretty useful in that respect, as it attempts to define the main outlines of the Christian faith over the last two thousand years, noting those beliefs that the church as a whole has decided are heresies (i.e. plain wrong) and those that are merely points of disagreement.

My last thought is, that theology, while useful and interesting (it really is, folks!) is no substitute for studying the Bible, which is the primary source of all this theology. So I don’t neglect the latter for the former. Otherwise I think I’ll end up like the emperor with no clothes: lots of pomp and circumstance, but nothing to keep the cold out.

Question for Tonja: has any one theological idea really turned your world upside down?

One of Jane’s last posts really got me to thinking about how we approach the Bible.  Certainly there is merit in simply reading the text – how else are we to become familiar with what is actually written.  But the ultimate journey as a Christian is transformation, and I would argue that simply reading the bible will not prompt a whole lot of transformation.  So how is this transformation prompted from the biblical text?  Unfortunately there is no formula that I can write that would work for everyone.  But the good news is that there is an infinite number of ways that one can read for transformation, so please take these ideas and make them your own.

If you are new to bible study, then there are some places where you can start.  I personally recommend joining a small group (also called Life Groups, Transformation Groups).  The advantage is that you will have a support group of people who are equally committed to reading, studying and living out God’s word.  There is no substitute for having this type of support group.  A good small group will have time of socializing, prayer and study.  Bible studies in these small groups can take on many forms, from using a book or a video tape system, or simply reading and discussing the text.

The biggest challenge that we face in reading and studying the bible is understanding its context.  We are, at minimum, 2,000 years removed from the bible culturally, and this is significant to our understanding or misunderstanding the text.  This is probably one of the most intimidating facts that we face as new students.  I often hear people say that “we only need to read the bible, no other book is necessary” and I strongly disagree with that because the bible is not always self-explanatory. If you can read the four Gospels and understand completely the cultural references that are there, then more power to you.  However, for the rest of us mere mortals, we will need help.

I’m going to outline one method for studying the Bible.  There are others, each with their own merit and I will get to them soon.  I’m choosing to start with a modified Inductive study because it starts with the Bible and ends with the Bible.  I’m also going to suggest some resources that will aid in your study, although they are not 100% necessary, so please do not run out any purchase all of these books.  They are merely suggestions.

The first thing that I do in an inductive study is to read the text several times. I will first read the whole book and then center on a particular text within the book.  You want to start with the whole first because it will give you the overall impression of what that particular book is about.   Then I will read through a passage several times.  Each time through, I circle words or ideas that are repeated, underline thoughts that are interesting to me, write down questions that are sparked and mark certain things like time, place, setting, who is speaking and to whom, etc.  I do this directly in my Bible, but you can always print out the text from online (I’ll provide you with a list of free bible resources at the bottom of this post) and mark that up instead.  I would also indicate thoughts or ideas that you particularly do not understand.  Make lists of things that are enumerated, find words/ideas that are repeated and note things that are compared and contrasted.  At this stage you are really interested in the 5 W’s and an H. (Who, what, where, when, why and how.)

The next thing that I would do is to divide my questions up into categories.  Culture, Theology, Teaching Points (or Main Points of the passage), and People are just a few.  I do this because for each category I might consult a different type of book, so this helps me stay organized.  Then I start to consult other books to help me understand the things in each category.

Culture
For cultural issues of the Bible there are dictionaries and background books that are useful.  I tend to like the books in this category that come from Zondervan and Eerdman’s and InterVarsity Press publishers.  Here are a few that I find useful:

Zondervan Compact Bible Dictionary
Zondervan’s Pictoral Bible Dictionary
All-in-One Bible Reference Guide
Eerdman’s Bible Dictionary

The key to these books is to look up things that are being done that we don’t understand.  For instance, I’m studying John chapter 13 right now and in the first half of this chapter Jesus washes the feet of His disciples.  What is the significance of this?  In consulting with Eerdman’s Bible Dictionary, I discover that this was something that was done in prominent households, but slaves were the ones washing feet.  That one fact alone sparks a whole other set of questions and images.  Jesus is doing the task that was normally relegated to slaves.  This means that Jesus humbled Himself before His disciples and became a slave to them, knowing that He had hours to live.  This was a teaching moment for Jesus, but teaching by actions as well as words.  That makes this whole chapter a little more interesting.

Theology
Theology is one area that most people gasp at.  “What, meread theology?  You’ve got to be kidding! Right?”  Nope.  Theology is not just for theologians.  Each and every single time that you read the bible, you form pictures and ideas of its message – which means that you are “doing” theology, whether you ever knew it or not.  The problem is that we can make up our own theology and this is a dangerous thing to do.  We need theological guidance as much as we need cultural insight into biblical times.  But you probably don’t have time to read a thick, heavy theology book, nor would you want to.  Let’s leave those books for the actual theologians and read something a little different.  In this category I’m only going to recommend one book, New Dictionary of Biblical Theology, edited by T. Desmond Alexander because this book is going to give you one of the best overall introductions to theology, the biblical books and then a topical arrangement of ideas.  It is a big book and a little pricey (around $55), but is extremely worth it. 

So taking the passage in John 13, we’ve seen how Jesus humbled Himself before His disciples and washed their feet.  What does the bible have to say about humility?  In the dictionary we can learn that in the Old Testament, being humble meant that it was before God only, man didn’t “humble himself” before other men.  But in the New Testament, Jesus adds this dimension to the word.  “God will humble those who exalt themselves and exalt those who humble themselves.”  This is a very profound thought and one that deserves some attention.

So while you’re pondering that one, I’ll finish this post for today.  I’ll come back soon and continue to outline the Inductive bible study method for you.  Hope this has helped.

Aslan

When Tonja mentioned the Chronicles of Narnia in her last post I was suddenly a teenager again – about 15 I think – lying on my bed re-reading one of the Narnia books for the nth time. And I suddenly realized who Aslan was. It was, literally, a hair-raising moment – these have happened a few times in my reading life, and I’ve always remembered them.*

You have to understand, I was not raised in a Christian home and by that time had given up on all things church, so the Narnia books were, to me, just entertaining fantasy that I’d probably discovered at school, my source for most books. (My parents didn’t read much either – I used to feel a certain disdain towards them about that, until some research into wartime Britain made me realize just how disrupted their education – and childhood in general – must have been.) So I wasn’t expecting to find anything significant in there. Aslan was Jesus? WOAH!

A couple of years later I was told by my English teacher that every serious student of English literature should read the Bible, as pre-20th century literature (and, I would argue, anything written up to at least World War I, if not WWII) is full of biblical references. C.S. Lewis, of course, was a Christian by the time he wrote the Narnia books, and they are a conscious allegory of the Christian faith.  He had been an atheist until well into adulthood, but I don’t think he wrote much in those days – in fact it seems as if becoming a Christian is what really made him into a writer. Anyone care to correct me on this?

In the last ten years since I became a follower of Christ, I’ve become a lot more aware of the presence of biblical references in secular literature. This is perhaps because I now read the Bible, so I can spot those references faster. The Book is, in fact, woven into books from the Western cultural tradition in general, and the extra richness you get from understanding those references and what they mean in the context of the Bible as well as in the context of the book you’re reading is quite eye-opening.

It also amazes me how useful literature can be in reinforcing the Bible’s messages. A couple of days ago I found myself comparing becoming a Christian to expecting to be given a big comfy cushion and finding that what you are, in fact, carrying is a stick of dynamite. And the next thought that came into my mind wasn’t a Bible verse but a line from the Narnia Chronicles: “He’s not a tame lion, you know.”

Obviously, studying the Bible itself – on a daily basis if possible – should be an important part of a Christian’s life. But that doesn’t mean you should give up novels! You might find yourself reading with greater purpose and thoughtfulness, and – I’ve heard this so often that I don’t know where to attribute it – running what you read through the Christian filter in your mind. And you might, especially if you’re fond of older literature, find some treasures in your reading that you might not otherwise have noticed.

Today I’m going to challenge Tonja (and anyone else reading this is welcome to get their answer in first). Which of the Harry Potter books contains three direct quotes from the Bible? In what context are these quotes given? And a subsidiary question: why do you think they’re there?

* Other notable occasions were the “We are the dead” scene in 1984, and the climax of Jude the Obscure (I won’t say what it is, because it’s a real spoiler).

I have this perception that most people believe in God (i.e. aGod), but struggle with what to do with Jesus.  Jesus is certainly someone that deserves our attention, but is He really a stumbling block to faith?  I have a friend who thinks that “Christians” are too opinionated, too restrictive, too “goody-two-shoes”, and most certainly exclusivists.  And yet she is puzzled by the simple fact of my genuine friendship with a woman who is very openly lesbian.  Can you hear my friend?  “Aren’t Christians supposed to hate lesbians?”  In fact no, we aren’t.  “Why?”  Because of Jesus.  “But I thought the Bible says that lesbianism is wrong.”  Well, it does in fact say that, but it is the act that is wrong, not the person.  Jesus associated himself with sinners of all natures and loved them unconditionally.  How do I know this?  Because I’ve read the bible thoroughly.

There is an old argument that goes like this.  There are three, and only three, things that you can think about Jesus.  

1. He was a liar, plain and simple.  He was not God, He knew He was NOT God and therefore He openly lied about this fact to everyone.
2. He was a lunatic.  He thought He was God, but was only delusional, and therefore a lunatic.
3. He was who He said He was: God.

This is a line of arguments that CS Lewis presents most clearly in his book The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.  Lucy, the youngest sibling, has discovered the wardrobe that takes her to the land of Narnia, but the other children can’t seem to bring themselves to believe her.  Then her next older brother, Edward, discovers Narnia but subsequently denies this fact.  What are the two oldest children to believe?  Who should they trust?  Edward, who is prone to lying and deceit, or Lucy, who has never lied?  They choose to believe Lucy because to do otherwise means that they have to treat her as a liar, which they can’t do, or as crazy, which doesn’t make sense to them either.  Once they choose to believe her, their eyes are opened and they too can see the magical land of Narnia.

They key to this line of reasoning, though, rests entirely on you knowing who Jesus is.  Peter and Susan, Lucy and Edward’s two oldest siblings, were able to believe Lucy because they knew her.  And in order to get to know Jesus you have to read the best book ever written about Him: the Bible.  In the last post, Gospel Truth, Jane brings up some interesting points.  Each of the gospel books (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) are written from different perspectives and were written to different audiences.  Collectively they give us the complete picture of who Jesus was.  They depict His humanity and His divinity.

But Jane’s question is, which one to read first?  Most pastors, and I believe my pastor would be in this camp, would say to read John first because John is about Jesus as God.  John focuses most of his attention on the fact of Jesus divinity and is writing to prove that one, single point.  However, John is a bit lofty, and if you are not familiar with the basics of Jesus as human, i.e. what He taught and did while on earth, John’s gospel may not make the most sense.

I am under the line of thought that says you should probably start with Mark.  Mark is short and factual and will give  you the best introduction to who Jesus is as a person and what He taught and did while living.  Then I would move to Luke who provides much more detail about the facts of Jesus’ life.  Then I would move to John and then I would read Matthew.  I’ve chosen to close with Matthew because Matthew makes the connection between the Jewish understanding of God and the foretelling of the Messiah (the Old Testament), which is an important connection to make when trying to understand Jesus as both human and divine. 

The key to all of this, though, is to get to know Jesus.  Learn what He taught (read Matthew chapters 5-7) and the miracles that He did (read Mark and Luke) and read how John makes the connections between these physical things as proof of Jesus’ divinity.  The decision that you will have to make is this: is the message that He taught, and the miracles that He did consistent with someone who is also divine?  Can someone be good and teach good, moral truths, and be lying about being God?  Can someone be coherent and sound of mind, teaching great and profound truths, and yet be completely crazy enough to believe that he is God?  Or just maybe, just maybe, He was who he really said He was.  Mark. Luke. John. Matthew.  Go read.

So here I am, parked in Mark, and I started wondering about the Gospels in general. Obviously they had different writers at different times, and were written with different emphases. A quick look at my handy-dandy Study Bible tells me that:

•  Matthew presents Jesus as King;
• Mark presents Jesus as Servant;
• Luke presents Jesus as the Son of Man;
• John presents Jesus as the Son of God.

Which probably seems a bit contradictory if you’re completely new to Bible study, but believe me it all starts to make sense after a while.

A couple of moments’ more research tells me that the Gospels were written in around AD 50, AD 68, AD 60, and AD 85-90 respectively, so they’re sorta kinda in chronological order (the church fathers who sorted the various books into the shape we know today probably weren’t quite sure about Mark and Luke, I suppose). And that the first three Gospels contain pretty much the same material, so they’re known as the Synoptic Gospels (synoptic = taking a common view).

Wowee. I now know about 50% more about the Gospels than I did five minutes ago. And this teaches me, dear Reader, that a study Bible is a good investment.

Parenthetically, my study Bible is a red-letter Bible, which means the words of Jesus are printed in red. The huge amount of red strewn across the pages of the Gospels tells me that what Jesus said was very important to the writers. And in fact, it was the words of Jesus that finally convinced me that the whole Christian thing was true – I’ve read an awful lot of fiction, and it’s clear to me that you couldn’t make this character up. Quite apart from the things He says, which are extremely impressive once you actually sit down and think about them, He’s obviously way, way smarter and more knowledgeable than the people who are actually writing the books. A genius writer will create genius characters; a writer of ordinary intelligence will create maybe slightly smarter characters, but only to a point; a very ordinary person could NOT come up with a fictional Jesus.

I also remember that in at least one place the writers make it clear that they are only really selecting a part of what Jesus said and did, and that there was much, much more. So what we’re actually getting here is a kind of Cliff Notes instead of the full version. I remember seeing somewhere that Bible experts believe there was another document (called Q, isn’t it?) that was used as a reference by some of the Gospel writers – do they think it was the full version?

So anyway Tonja, here’s this week’s question to confront you when you emerge from your finals: should we read the Gospels in the order they’re presented, or is there a better way to do it? Why are so many evangelicals all over the Gospel of John? Is it better than the others? Do tell.

Jane posted a rather good question last week, one to which I believe a lot of people struggle with.  Daily Bible Reading.

One of the best ways to become familiar with the Bible is to simply read it.  This is reading that is more for content (what does the text say?) than for meaning.  It is not the same as bible study – here you are to simply read.  Dr. Carson, a professor at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, recommended to my class last year that we should be reading the bible through, in its entirety, at least once every 2 years.  This is in addition to bible study or devotions that you may already be doing.

There are so many different bible reading plans out there to choose from.  One, two and three year plans are in abundance.  A really good reading plan will have you reading from several different parts of the bible at the same time.  Below are some links to some good online resources for finding a plan.  (This was produced from a simple Google search for “bible reading plans”.)

BibleGateway – They have several different plans available.  I like the premise behind this site because they also give you the scripture right there to read.  You just have to remember to visit them every day.

ESV BibleResources – They also have a variety of plans and they also have a variety of options for delivery.  You can visit the website every day or subscribe via RSS feed or even put things on your calendar (iCal).

BiblePlan dot ORG – This is a very interesting service.  There are options for translation and language as well as a variety of plans and how often you want to read through different sections.  It seems like the mixing and matching is endless.  One drawback: it only comes via email.

Bible-Reading plans – This is a plan developed by a guy named Michael Coley.  He has divided the week by the different parts of the bible and has you reading from a different part each day of the week – so on any given day you are only in one section of the bible at a time.

One of the more popular plans is by M’Cheyne, who was an early 19th century Scottish pastor.  His plan takes you through the Old Testament once a year, the New Testament twice a year and Psalms twice a year.  You will be reading from 4 different parts of the bible at any given time, so the reading will be varied.  Dr. Carson, uses a modified M’Cheyne plan himself.  You can find copies of the M’Cheyne plan and Carson’s plans here.

Of course, there is also a plethora of One Year Bibles that you can purchase.  I have one of these myself and have only used it for a few months.  The drawback for me was that I had a difficult time referencing other scripture, should something that I read spark an interest.  I will grant that a reading plan should be just that: reading.  But sometimes when I’m done reading, something of interest was generated and I feel like I want to do some research.  For simply reading, though, it was good.

You can also read the bible through in chronological order.  This site offers a 52-week reading plan that does just that.

Lastly, if you use bible software, chances are that it has a way of generating a bible reading plan for you – so that you can customize the plan entirely to your liking.  If you’ve never used bible software before, check out e-Sword.  It is free and you can add on numerous different resources to your liking.  Some of the resources cost money, but for the most part, this is an excellent free tool to use.

The key to remember is this: daily bible reading is for reading purposes only and is to supplement any daily devotional or study you may do.  And, a successful bible reading plan will take you through the entire bible in 1-2 years, 3 years max.  The good news is that with the plethora of plans out there, you should never get bored with any one particular method or plan.

Do you read the Bible?

Let me put that another way. Do you – not as part of a Bible study group, not in church when the pastor tells you to, not just occasionally when “you need comfort” – actually crack open your Bible on a daily basis?

If you said No, I wouldn’t hold it against you. I’m certainly not the one to cast the first stone here, because I’ve ONLY JUST managed to establish a genuine Bible-reading habit, and it’s taken me years. I do own one of those chronological “daily Bibles”, and that was pretty useful when I was a new Christian and actually needed to read the instruction manual. I managed to get through my daily readings two years in a row, although sometimes I got behind and would have to do catch-up sessions. Sometimes, particularly in Chronicles and Numbers, my reading was more like skimming. Actually, even in some of the more readable bits I was often skimming, as if the Bible were a school textbook I’d been assigned to read and just had to plough through.

Having accumulated a certain glow of pride (not for nothing is that the deadliest of all sins!) in having read the Book from lid to lid, I then entered a period of Bible Avoidance. It came handily disguised as “Staying in the Word” which is a lovely vague term Christians use to mean all sorts of things: daily devotionals which reference Bible verses (I didn’t read those, thought I probably knew them, you know how it is); lectionary emails that would pile up in my inbox till I got round to reading, ahem, skimming them; Bible podcasts for the car (which I then proceeded to tune out, especially during Chronicles – I definitely have a problem with Chronicles) and so on.

Then God started to do that nagging thing He does – you know when you get EXACTLY the same message in every blog post you read, sermon you hear, conversation you have with a friend? Well, having heard 3,000 variants of “you need to crack open the Book” I finally gave in, pulled my nice zippered study Bible off the shelf (during the Bible Avoidance period I managed to purchase three, because I am a victim of Avoidance-Accumulation Syndrome)* and opened it up to the Book of Mark.

Well, I’m still in Mark, so this habit really is very, very new. While I’m on this confession jag, I will also admit to a new glow of pride about my Personal Bible Study, which probably negates its effects on my soul by about, ooh, 75%. I need to pray about that. But let’s not get started about my abysmal prayer life – yet.

The one big thing I’ve learned is not to hurry. I linger, I re-read, I think, I question. After all, I’m never supposed to get to the end of this Book. My name is Jane, and I hope I’m going to become a Bible addict.

[Note: Tonja kindly invited me to contribute to this blog some months ago. It took me a while to feel ready to begin. I accepted Christ as my savior about ten years ago at the age of forty, having imperiled my soul on a regular basis for many years before that. I have a long way to go, and I invite you to share my journey.]

I intend to end each post with a question for Tonja, and today’s is: how would you suggest a person start reading the Bible?

*A serious condition characterized by the acquisition of books/projects that you have no time to read/do. More prevelant in the female of the species.

I’ve already tackled the problems of genre and bible translations.  Now I would like to discuss a few final thoughts about how we are to read the bible.   These are some random thoughts, so for lack of better organization, I’ve just enumerated them here.

1. When reading a passage, be sure to know the passages before and after the one you are reading.  A word belongs to a sentence; a sentence belongs to a paragraph; a paragraph belongs to a chapter and a chapter belongs to a book.  With the Bible, all the books together form one larger, coherent piece of work.  If you read a sentence that seems out of context and doesn’t make sense, it is better to back up and read a broader section of text in order to determine what the meaning is. 
2. Authors tend to use words consistently within their writing.  Keep in mind that words can have multiple meanings – particulary in the Bible – and especially because there is never a perfect translation of a meaning of a word from one language to another.  If you are in doubt as to how a particular word is being used, consult the concordance at the back of your bible and do a quick word study within the book/author you are reading.
3. Always be aware of cultural biases that you may have.  This is a tough one to come to grips with.  What I mean is this: particularly with the Old Testament, there are cultural norms that are between 2000 -3500 years removed from the time and place in which we live.  While God’s word is timeless – meaning that God’s truth applies to all people of all ages – there are particular cultural understandings that we can never know or completely understand.  One question I’ve heard many times is: why did God order the Hebrew nation not to eat certain foods?  Or wear clothing of mixed fibers?  And the list could go on.  These are, in part, cultural issues that we are going to find extremely difficult to understand.  (If you want the good, theological explanation as to why God would order these wierd lifestyle things, please let me know and I’ll write a post on it.)

I think I’ve said this before, but I’ll say it again now.  The bible is a single body of work, comprised of numerous types of literature, serving one, single purpose.  The message is consistent.  It is a work that is inerrant, which means that fundamentally the text is without errors – names, dates, times, places, and the literal content – are all without errors.  There may be some transcription problems, the they are extremely far and few between, scholars know what the issues are and the ones that pose any serious debate and extremely rare.  The bible is a book and a message that can be relied upon 100%.

By saying all of this you shoud also understand that when people or philosophies claim that their basis is “christian” based, then our task it to compare it to the bible.  If there are inconsistencies with other people’s writing, then the inconsistency is on their part and not the Bible’s part.  Let me give an example:  the Mormon religion claims to be based in Christianity.  But if you were to read the Book of Mormon, you will very quickly note that there are contradictions with the message of the Christian Bible.  Which one should you trust?  Short answer: the truth, that is to say, the Bible.  The one whose message has not changed for 3.500 years.

Next up: how to start studying the Bible

Every week in my women’s bible study there are at least 3 different translations being used.  Most of the time one of us reads a passage and then we all simply discuss.  There are times, however, that we struggle with the passage and then I suggest we read it in another translation.  When we do this, oftentimes there is the question as to the validity of using different translations.  So today, the focus will be on why there are so many choices and which one should be used.

Anytime you are translating something from one language to another, whether it be spoken or written, there is never a one-to-one translation.  Each language has its own rules and nuances that can never be fully translated.  So it is with translating the original Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek manuscripts.

History
The Old Testament was written largely in Hebrew, with a few smatterings of Aramaic (most of Daniel was written in Aramaic).  As Hebrew people started moving across the Near Eastern world and acclimated themselves to other cultures, they would translate their Scriptures into the new language – or at least sections of their Scriptures.  The largest undertaking would be the translation into Greek between 300-200 BC also called the Septuagint, or the LXX.

All (that I know of) the New Testament manuscripts were written in Greek.  The next major undertaking was the translation into Latin, called the Vulgate, by Jerome in the late 4th century AD.  Jerome used both Hebrew and Greek manuscripts for translation.  For hundreds of years afterward, at least in the Roman Catholic Church, the Vulgate was the only authorized version.

The first known translation of the Bible into English was by John Wycliff in the 14th century (c1380’s).  Because the only authorized version available was the Vulgate, that is what Wycliff used.  The problem with this should be obvious: Wycliff translated a translation of the original texts – meaning that the true nuances and rules of the original language are now once removed.  The King James version followed suit and used the Vulgate as its base.  (There were several translations into English between Wycliff and King James but those translations are not used today.)  If you would like more history then check out this website: Greatsite.

Our Current Situation
As I walk through the Bible section at my local Family Christian Store, I feel completely inundated by the selection of Bibles.  There are almost too many to choose from.  Here are some guidelines to help you choose.

Word-for-Word Translations
Some translations committees go the route of thinking that only a word-for-word translation of the original Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek texts is the way to go.  While I applaud this idea, the English is often very awkward and is not easy to read.  This type of translation is also called a Literal Translation.  Versions that fall into this category: King James, New King James, New American Standard Bible, English Standard Version (ESV), Amplified Bible (AMP), Revised Standard Version (RSV).

Meaning-for-Meaning Translations
This is also known as a Dynamic Equivalence methodology.  This method attempts to take the true meaning of a text and translate it in a way that it produces a more readable text for us while conveying the true meaning behind the text.  There are degrees to which this can be done.  Versions in this category: New International Version (NIV), Today’s New International Version (TNIV), New American Bible (NAB), New Jerusalem Bible (NJB), New Century Version (NCV).

Paraphrase
This last, broad category, is the taking the original text and putting it into your own words, or paraphrasing it.  This method probably produces the easiest text to read, but meaning and accuracy of original intent get lost.  Versions using this method include: The Message, New Living Translation (NLT), Contemporary English Version (CEV), Living bible.

The ultimate question you should ask is: which one should I use?  That is a question that I cannot answer for you, but I can offer some thoughts.  The most important thing is that YOU ULTIMATELY NEED TO KNOW WHAT IS WRITTEN DOWN.  If you can’t understand the language, style or thoughts, then you’ll never have the opportunity to be transformed because you’ll be struggling with what the text says.  Keeping that in mind, I would probably start with a New International Version as it has the most readability for its accuracy level.  I would then probably progress to something like the English Standard Version, which is more word-for-word (i.e. more accurate) and read them side-by-side.  Then if you find that you still need a little bit of help, I would reach for a New Living Translation.  Working with three bibles open will provide for you a broad range of readability, accuracy and conveyance of meaning that you would never get from using one translation exclusively.  I actually use the ESV as my standard version, followed by the NIV and TNIV, the RSV and on rare occasions I’ll pick up a King James.  I’ve toyed with getting the new NLT Study Bible, but haven’t justified owning another bible (I actually use 8 different study bibles, each with its own purpose.  I’ll talk more about that next time.

Questions?  If you ever have any questions about this blog, my theology, my data or general thoughts, please feel free to comment.  I will answer all questions (if I can) on the blog.

Before we get started, I need to clear one thing up.  Lest you think that “interpretation” is best left to the professionals, i.e. our pastors and theologians, you would be wrong.  Here’s why: EVERY SINGLE TIME YOU READ THE BIBLE, YOU MAKE ASSUMPTIONS AS TO WHAT THE TEXT IS SAYING – WHICH MEANS THAT YOU ALREADY MAKE INTERPRETATIONS OF THE BIBLE.  Everyone does this.  So here will be some tools that should help you make those interpretive decisions better.

First up is taking a look at the genre. The bible is filled with many different types of writings.  We all know this and recognize this.  The trouble is that some people (many in fact) don’t know what to do with all the different types of writing.  It is important for us to get this right because our job is not to read the Bible passively: it is to be a central part of our lives, meaning that we are to read Scripture with transformation in mind.  If we get the interpretation wrong then we will most definitely get the application wrong.

1. Narrative.  A Narrative tells us the facts and even sometimes the motives for actions taken.  Narrative is not a flat out acceptance of a particular behavior.  Just because it is written that Solomon had hundreds of wives, does not mean that if we are to be wise like Solomon we also need hundreds of wives.  Narrative simply tells us what happened.  Narratives also illustrate for  us the fallibility of human nature – just because there is a story in the bible does not mean that it endorses that particular behavior – quite the contrary.  In fact, I would wager that most of the narratives in the Old Testament are the “what NOT to do” stories and illustrations.  Bear this in mind when reading narratives.
2. Law.  Law (or statutes) are prescriptive – they do tell us what we should and should not to.  However, not all Old Testament laws apply to us today.  A prime example would be the dietary restrictions.  How do we know this?  Because in the New Testament, in the book of Acts, chapter 10, Peter has a vision in which God tells him that God has made all things clean and that it is okay for him to eat of the foods that were previously restricted.
3. Poetry.  This should be self explanatory, but poetry is descriptive and imaginary and should not be read literally.  Mountains do not skip like rams (Psalm 114:6) and God is not a physical rock (Psalm 18:23).  These psalms are figurative and poetic.  They are humanity’s attempt to pour out their feelings (the good, the bad and the ugly) to God.  Read them for the emotions that they evict and the images that come to mind.
4. Genealogy.  The Old Testament is notorious for this.  They are simply lists of people.  Why are they there? Partly to highlight the brevity of life and partly to provide physical evidence that people are who they are.  David was promised the monarchy forever.  Jesus is a descendant of David, therefore Jesus is heir to the monarchy.  This is why Matthew and Luke open with genealogies.
5. Parable.  Jesus conveyed tough biblical concepts with stories – stories that are masked in such a way that they have double meanings: there is the literal meaning of the story, which is what most people “got” and then there is the theological meaning which most people did not “get”.  Don’t take parables literally, but look for the deeper meaning that is being conveyed.  It is important.
6. Wisdom.  There are a few books in the Old Testament that are considered Wisdom books: Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs (Song of Solomon).  Wisdom is is a topic of discussion in and of itself, but our purposes here, wisdom is what leads us into a better understanding of God’s sovereignty, His truth and His justice.  We humans have our own sense of fairness and justice that don’t always accord with God’s, so the wisdom literature helps us understand this.
7. Prophetic and Apocalyptic. These are two types of literature that are constantly misunderstood.  First, prophetic literature is calling God’s people into a better (right) relationship with Him by proclaiming the ways in which they are disobeying Him.  There is always an immediacy to prophetic literature that has the application in the day/time in which it is being proclaimed.  Sometimes, though, prophetic literature has a double application in that it also predicts what will happen in the future, i.e. the predictions in Isaiah of a Messiah.  Apocalyptic literature, on the other hand, is always future in that it has not happened yet and it always deals with the end times.  Apocalyptic literature is also highly figurative and poetic and therefore cannot, and should not, be interpreted as being literal.

Keep in mind that these are very broad categories.  There are probably some that I’ve missed, so if you have a question about a particular passage and its genre, please leave a comment.  I would love to hear those.