Youtube Read a Verse in the Bible and Explain That Verse

 

The Bible is not just any volume. It is God's Word to us, given using a number of literary genres, through the stories of a cast of rotating characters, and over the bridge of a few thousand years.

So how do we read such a book?

This question is of import when picking up any document, from paperback to newspaper. You wouldn't read a historical novel on WWII the same way you would a nonfiction historical account of the same fourth dimension. And nosotros read the paper'due south forepart page differently than the opinion-editorials (or at least, we ought to read them differently).

How, and then, should nosotros read the Bible? It starts with context.

InChrist from Get-go to End, authors Trent Hunter and Stephen Wellum outline six different contexts—three specific, 3 general—to assistance yous read the Bible well. For Hunter and Wellum, understanding these half dozen contexts is like reading the directions earlier playing a board game:

If you lot know the rules, the game will make sense and you might even enjoy it. But learning the rules can be a scrap tedious and frustrating until you start to see how they fit into the larger game. (41)

The same is true for the Bible. Grasping these rules will help you read the Bible in context and therefore assistance you meliorate study the Bible.

1. Consider the Historical Context

"Every passage of Scripture emerges in the form of history" (47). Which is whyin society to read the Bible in context, we need to read information technology in its historical context—first with the author and the original audience.

"When thinking about the original audience," Hunter and Wellum explicate, "we should distinguish the original characters in the story from the original readers, those who were reading Scripture about those characters" (47). For example, we read about Abraham and his journey from Moses' betoken-of-view equally he led State of israel through the wilderness on the way to the promised land. An of import question to ask, then, is: "What is Moses teaching the Israelites about Abraham and the Patriarchs?" (47).

The Gospels serve as another instance:

[I]n his Gospel business relationship, John tells his post-resurrection readers about events that weren't fully understood until afterwards the resurrection, non only preserving historical accuracy but also reminding us that the original audience was reading the Gospel subsequently Christ'due south resurrection. (47)

Equally with the V Books of Moses, the Gospels illustrate the principle that the historical context of the Bible is informed both past the original authors and the original audience.

2. Consider the Cultural Context

Coinciding with historical context is the cultural context of a biblical book. This includes the original cultural circumstances that gave rising to the book, likewise as the cultural features of the fourth dimension.

Consider Revelation iii:14–22, where John wrote to seven churches addressing specific circumstances."We should non forget that these were real churches with real locations in the commencement century" (47).

And in Revelation 3:fifteen–16, the Laodicean church building is described every bit neither "hot" nor "cold"—reflecting the cultural features of two nearby cities: Hierapolis had hot springs that were of medicinal value, while Colossae had cold springs that brought nourishment and refreshment; Laodicea'south water was lukewarm, tasteless, and useless. The cultural features of Laodicea inform the historical circumstances: "the spiritual life of the church building had become similar her urban center's water supply— lukewarm and useless" (47–48).

Retrieve that at that place were real-life circumstances that gave rise to the Bible's narrative books and poetry, the Gospels and the letters. Hunter and Wellum help readers agreement these circumstances along with the cultural features of the time, helping us read the Bible in context.

3. Consider the Literary Context

"Reading a text in its literary context involves interpreting it in low-cal of its flow of words and the form the words take" (45).

First, considering the texts literary flow involves reading a text in terms of the words around it. "Words hateful something in the sentences, paragraphs, chapters, and books in which they are used" (45). That's why nosotros don't offset reading a novel in the middle, because each discussion, paragraph, and chapter all add up to something important. And yet this is often how nosotros approach the Bible, by starting in the middle with little regard to the literary menstruation that adds up to specific significant. Hunter and Wellum explicate:

Since it's a long book and pastors preach out of unlike sections each week, nosotros get used to entering and exiting portions of Scripture without considering the context of the books in which they are institute, permit alone their location in the residual of the Bible's storyline… But this practice can besides reinforce our tendency to read passages in isolation. (45–46)

The authors offer a solution: "if you take the time to read and reflect on a book equally a whole, so every role of that book will get-go to brand more sense" (46).

2d, properly reading the Bible in its literary context means considering the literary form the author chose in writing. "The Bible's words are written in the form of minimally 3 different kinds of texts: discourse, narrative, and poetry" (46):

• " Discourse texts are simply words spoken or written from one person to another" (46)
• " Narrative texts are words that tell a story" (46)
• " Poetic texts …[convey their] meaning through images, and [these texts are] structured" formally; consider English poetry's rhyming lines (46)

While these three are often combined, forming other genres, "learning to spot the class or the kind of text the author writes will greatly help you lot in your personal Bible reading" (46).

SWITCHING GEARS

That concludes a summary of the iii specific contexts for understanding a biblical text. The summary but scratches the surface of what Hunter and Wellum discuss in their book.

Now we transition to a summary of three general contexts:

four. Wait Down at the Close Context

"When we look down at the page, we seek to understand the words in their immediate context. The close context takes into account the divine inspiration and human graphic symbol of the words written" (42–43). This general kind of context includes the chosen words, communicated ideas, and the specific book we're reading, understood within its historical setting. Information technology's everything we meet when we read the folio in front of us, both the divine and human aspects of the book.

Scripture every bit a divine book means it is unified, from one Author, coherent, sufficient, perfect, and urgent. These truths carry several implications for how we read the Bible:

• "We should read it with creaturely humility because these words are from our Creator and Lord"
• "We are to read with expectation"
• "We should too read with caution, recognizing that nosotros are inclined to misunderstand what God has written"
• "We should read the Bible patiently to accurately discern what God has said"
• "Nosotros don't stand up over Scripture; nosotros stand nether information technology in submission to God" (44–45)

Since the Bible is also a homo book, we need to pay attending to its human aspects. Nosotros must not focus on the Bible's divine character to the extent we fail its man ones. Hunter and Wellum remind u.s. that "God speaks to usa through what the authors wrote, which demands hard work from u.s.a. to discern what the authors intended to say. Reading a given text in its shut context means reading it in its literary and historical context" (45).

Hunter and Wellum remind u.s. to "accept seriously every give-and-take and read them in keeping with their divine and human intent" (48).

v. Await Dorsum at the Standing Context

Since the Bible was written over time and spanning several centuries, "we must look back in the story to detect how a given passage relates to what preceded information technology" (49). We need to discern the deeper shape and menses of the story, understanding the movements of characters and events and how they relate to the underlying structure of the Bible.

But how? Ane way is simply to work through the Bible, starting at the first with Genesis. Only this has limitations because the Bible isn't necessarily compiled chronologically as we oft think of books. Instead, Hunter and Wellum advise we concentrate on tracing two of the Bible's major divisions: its plot movements and covenants.

Start, the Bible'south story can be outlined in iv major plot movements, which explains the story of reality: cosmos, autumn, redemption, and new creation. "These four plot movements are helpful because they follow the Bible's ain plot and help us think about the Bible'southward unique worldview against other worldviews" (51–52), which answers four major questions:

• Where did we come from? (Creation)
• What went wrong? (Autumn)
• What is the solution to our trouble? (Redemption)
• Where is history ultimately going? (New Creation)

Second, the Bible's covenants bring lodge, direction, and focus to God's story. What is a covenant? "A covenant is a called relationship between two parties ordered according to specific promises" (55). In our case, God's human relationship to humanity and his promises to us. Hunter and Wellum identify five important covenants that define the contours of the Bible'southward story:

• God's covenant with creation through Adam and Noah
• God's covenant with Abraham and his children
• God's covenant with Israel through Moses
• God's covenant with David and his sons
• God's new covenant in Christ

"Equally we read the Bible's story, nosotros are always asking ourselves, How does this covenant reveal the God who saves and the Savior he sends?" (62) Hunter and Wellum help you explore this question and make sense of the covenants.

half-dozen. Wait Ahead to the Complete Context

"The complete context—what we tin can also call the approved context—is where we expect ahead to detect the fullness of God's intent in light of the fullness of Scripture's message" (63). At that place are at least two ways Scripture connects the details of the Bible's large picture.

The first way is the promise-fulfillment theme, which centers on Christ. "At that place is continuity between the promises God makes and the fulfillment he brings. Promise and fulfillment glue the Bible's diverse phases together. Knowing this helps the states discern how a given part of Scripture relates to the Christ of Scripture" (64). The Old-New Testament distinction best reveals the promise-fulfillment construction of Scripture. It reminds us how God'southward promises are now fulfilled in Christ. In other words: "the Old Testament is the story of God's promise and the New Testament is God's fulfillment of all he has promised" (64).

The second style is the unfolding of typology through the biblical covenants. Typology is the mode in which sure thematic patterns are traced through the covenants as the Bible's story unfolds. These types or patterns "assist us see how the revelatory features of God's unfolding program in the past relate to his new revelation in Christ" (65). There are three general categories of these types: people, events, and institutions. One instance is how Moses points to Christ every bit a greater prophet than himself. They also outline several characteristics these types share:

• Types are patterns rooted in history . "Types are non merely imaginative ideas; they are real people, events, and institutions that signify something greater to come up" (67)
• Types are designed by God . "Types are not random; they are purposeful in God's plan" (68)
• Types involve progression toward fulfillment in Christ . "As types are unpacked through the covenants, they motility from lesser to greater in scope and significance for God'south purposes, especially as they come to final fulfillment in Christ" (68)

Why We Need to Written report the Bible (Not Just Read It)

"If you've been puzzling over the Bible for a few years, you might be in a place where you're familiar with its many parts simply are unsure of how they fit together" (27–28). This is why nosotros need to take the fourth dimension to written report the Bible, with all of its various components and pieces—and not just read it. Equally the authors explain:

Like a puzzle, the pieces of the Bible—the various books, letters, characters, and stories—do fit together. The Bible contains mysteries, but its meaning is not intended to be mysterious or hidden from the states, especially in its central didactics. God does not endeavor to hide truth from u.s.a.; he reveals it. The Bible reveals more a picture for the states to bask. It reveals a person for us to know. (28)

And, like any puzzle, we need to put the pieces of the Bible together in order to get a clear agreement of the Bible's unity and fundamental bulletin. When nosotros practice, we will become more competent in reading the Bible for ourselves—all in order to do equally Paul says: comprehend "how wide and long and high and deep is the dear of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses cognition—that you lot may be filled to the measure out of all the fullness of God" (Ephesians 3:18–xix).

Justin Taylor says of Christ from Beginning to Cease, "In this book you'll learn what Scripture is, how to read it, and how information technology all hangs together. Who wouldn't want to pick upward a book like that?"

Pick up your re-create today to amend empathise how every part of Scripture fits together to reveal the glory of Christ Jesus, and read the Bible in its many contexts.

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Source: https://zondervanacademic.com/blog/bible-context