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.