5 laws for Studying the Bible

1 Peter 2:1 like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation

The Importance of the Bible in the Christian life
The reading and study of the scriptures is central to growth in the Christian's faith-life.  The Jews believed that when a baby was nursing, the love and content of God's law was transferred in some fashion through the mother's milk.  When Peter wrote what he wrote above, he wrote, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, about the nourishing, life-giving power of the scriptures. 

A tool you can use to study and trace the Bible's major themes
We know that the Bible is crucial to Christian life.  By it God the Holy Spirit works forth the convicting power of saving faith. (Romans 10:17; James 1:18)  By the scriptures you and I come to know not only truth about God through Jesus Christ, we also come to know God through Jesus Christ. (2 Timothy 3:15-17; 1 Peter 1:23)  With that said, how can we go about studying it?  How can we learn to actually take a theme or a topic mentioned in the Bible and trace it through the scriptures?  Today I want to introduce you to a tool that has been around for years and that I have used in my own study of God's Word. A tool that we can call: The 5 laws or principles of studying the Bible.

1. The law of first mention.  This is where God first mentions a word or an idea.  So for instance, lets consider the emphasis the scripture places upon "God's name".  Genesis 4:26 first mentions people calling upon "the name of the Lord".  

2. The law of illustrative mention.  Whenever you are trying to understand a concept or idea in God's word, it is helpful to find a concrete person or event elsewhere in the Bible that visibly illustrates that idea.  So for instance, the word "name" in the Bible refers to a person's character, as seen Nabal's name in 1 Samuel 25:25, whose name means "fool".  As you read the account of his life, you can see his opposition of David as being fraught with foolish decisions and actions.  What he did and thought was in line with his nature, or the way he was "internally wound or wired". 

I learn from other passages that when a person was concerned about someone's name, they identified with the authority and reputation of that person.  When you read about David for instance in 1 Samuel 18, you discover that His "name" was connecting you to his "authority" or "reputation".  (Compare 1 Samuel 18:30)  We can use examples such as these to understand things like "God's name", since His name stands for His character, reputation and authority.  

3. The law of progressive mention.  God's revelation in His word is a progressive revelation.  God doesn't reveal all the details of a given topic all at once.  God knows that we need things delivered in bits and pieces over time.  Tracing ideas like "The Name of God" through the Bible can be a study of discovery.  According to one resource, the phrase "the name" occurs some 385 times in the Old Testament and almost 200 times in the New Testament in reference to God or Jesus Christ.  Seeing how God progressively reveals Himself is like watching the unfolding of Eternity's most beautiful rose.

4.  The law of full mention. Its always great to find a chapter or major section in the Bible that summarizes a given subject, with all of its facets, in one place.  Revelation 19-22 gives us one section where we see most of the major themes of "God's name" which are revealed throughout the Bible.  At least 6 times do we find reference to "The Name", giving us the full treatment of all that is meant by that phrase.  With this particular law you can "check your interpretation" of that phrase that you gained through the other "laws of mention".

5. The law of final mention. This law, as its name implies, deals with the final place a given idea or thought is mentioned in the Bible.  So for example, the final mention of "the name" or God's name is in Revelation 22:4.  Often a word or idea in its final mention gives you the fullest and most mature form of that idea.  It is like comparing an acorn to an oak tree.  The acorn being the "first mention of an idea", and the oak tree being its "final mention". 

Over the course of the next few days, by God's grace,  I want us to not only see how these laws of Bible study function, but also show you how you can begin to raise your study of God's Word to a whole new level.  Christ and His word is worth everything. 

 

Christian Meditation

Psalm 19:14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my rock and my Redeemer.

What Christian meditation is not
In the 1960's a movement, rooted in Eastern thought, swept through our country and became popularized in what was called the TM movement or "transcendental mediation".  Movements such as TM spawned the wide sweeping popularity of other practices rooted in Eastern religion and mysticism such as Yoga and the like.  Unfortunately, when people hear the word "meditate", they conjure up images of a person sitting cross legged with hands outstreteched, finger-tips touching and the hum of the word "um". 

As popular as this conception is, the Christian mediation spoken of here in Psalm 19 is of a completely different sort all together. It alone constitutes genuine mediation - the only type that is acceptable and beneficial to the Christian life. 



What Christian Mediation is
In the original language of this Psalm, the word "meditation" has to do with a "deeper pondering" over the meaning and significance of the words of scripture.  Ancient Christian writers often spoke of a fourfold process one went through when interracting with the Bible:

a. Reading the text
b. Meditating on the text
c. Disciplining yourself to live out the text
d. Knowing that you got the meaning of the text by praise and worshipping God



How do you meditate on God's Word?
When you "meditate on scripture", you may do the following:

1. Read the text
2. Read it again (outloud or silently)
3. Read it a third time, marking down your initial thoughts
4. Walk away and think on what you read
5. Come back to the text again and repeat steps 1 through 4

Why meditate on God's Word?
Every blog I write, sermon I preach, lesson I teach, quiet time I do or sharing of God's word that I communicate is rooted in meditation of God's Word.  When you and I meditate on scripture, we are aiming to get it from our before our eyes or in our ears into our hearts.  Meditation is what you do "in between" your times in the scriptures.  You can mediate while waiting in line at the grocery store, on break at work or at lunch room at school.  What mediation does is break down the artificial wall between "Christian spirituality" and "the rest of life".

Notice the benefits that comes as a result of mediating on God's Word here in Psalm 19:14:

1. Right Attitudes - The Psalmist desires to please God.  Only scripture can stir up the Christian to want to live more for the Lord. (1 Peter 2:1-2)

2. Right Thoughts - How many of you want a better thoughtlife?  Cleanse your mind with the scriptures.  Meditating on the scripture cleanses your heart and mind.  Jesus even talks about this particular quality of the word of God. (John 17:17; Ephesians 5:26).

3. Right Words -  He wants the right words to flow from his mouth.  God's word makes your "have to's" into "want to's".  As Jesus teaches, out of the overflow of the hearts comes forth the words of the mouth. (Matthew 15:18)

4. Right Motivation - The Psalmist ends this Psalm by praising God, His "Rock" and His "Redeemer".  We know from the names of God in the Bible that the term "Rock" refers ulitmately to Jesus Christ.  Though the Psalmist lived 1,000 years before Jesus Christ came to this earth, He writing under Divine inspiration was referring to Him.  When you and I meditate on the scriptures, we will be motivated to live for Jesus Christ.   

The Mirror that keeps you from spiritual defeat

Psalm 19:12-13 Who can discern his errors? Acquit me of hidden faults. 13Also keep back Your servant from presumptuous sins; Let them not rule over me; Then I will be blameless, And I shall be acquitted of great transgression.


The Mirror of God's Word
In the midst of definite statements about the Bible, the Psalmist suddenly changes the tone of the text with a question: Who can discern his errors? 

Have you ever had someone say to you: what's that on your face?  What is your response?  Try as you may, you can't look at yourself apart from going into a bathroom to look in the mirror.  A mirror shows you what's really going on.  People are funny - either they will primp in front of a mirror for hours, seeing what they want to see, or people will be the exact opposite and avoid a mirror so as not to see what must be seen.

The point of today's text is that apart from the mirror of God's Word, you cannot accurately evaluate the true condition of your soul.  The scriptures function as a mirror.  James 1:23-25 states - "For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; 24for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. 25But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does."

How the mirror of God's Word enables us to defeat the greatest hindrance to Christian growth
When the writer states: "Aquit me from my hidden faults", he is referring to those hidden areas, those "blind spots" that hinder us in our Christian growth. What is the greatest hinderance to Christian growth?  Pride. 

The idea of "presumptuous sins" refers to those sins that are done with an arrogant, prideful disregard for God and the things of God.  It is when you and I assume we have the "right" or "entitlement" to sin.  Only the mirror of God's Word can show us the true ugliness of the pride that can fuel ongoing or hidden sin patterns.  James 4:6-7 tells us - "But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE.” 7Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you." 

How the mirror of God's Word enables you to really live for God
The most practical way to submit yourself to God is by consistent "mirror time" in the scriptures.  At first, you may feel uncomfortable by what you see.  Yet what God will do is show you that He sees you as He sees His Son - Jesus Christ.  The scriptures are what drive me to conclude that in Christ and Christ alone is my confidence.  By the power of God's word, you and I don't have to be ruled by the "baggage" of our hang-ups.  Through the power of God and His word, we can push past those and really live for Jesus Christ!

In Christianity, to humble yourself leads to the greatest of blessings.  It is where you experience the Grace of God needed to resist the enemy and live forth the Christian life. As the Psalmist concludes in this short prayer recorded in Psalm 19:13 - "Then I will be blameless, And I shall be acquitted of great transgression."   As the old saying goes about the Bible: "Either the Bible will keep you from your sins or your sins will keep you from the Bible." Don't neglect getting in front of God's mirror - the Bible. 

How valuable is the Bible to you?

Psalm 19:10-11 They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb. 11Moreover, by them Your servant is warned; In keeping them there is great reward.


The Amplified Value of God's Word
The two verses in today's blog deal with the desireability of God's Word.  Let me ask you this question: How valuable is the Bible to you?  In the passage above we see the Psalmist using a feature in Jewish Hebrew Poetry where you take an idea, and continue to build and amplify that idea until you take that idea to its highest and greatest limit.

Like sticking a microphone up to a speaker, the value of God's word is amplified many times over.  If we were to take the above text and translate it from the original language in which it was written, this is what we would see with regards to the value of the scriptures:

"They are to be desire more than gold
even more than gold, how about the finest gold
even greater than that, the sweetest honey
even more than the sweetest honey, the fresh honey from the comb itself
indeed of even greater value to your servant (than anything else) is in how the (scriptures) give warning
with the greatest reward being achieved by obeying them."

O.k, maybe that translation may seem quite wordy to our English ears, but for the Psalmist who was writing under Divine inspiration, there was no question as to the value of the scriptures. 

Why the scriptures are of such great value
When you take the first phrase: "They are to be more desired than gold" and the last phrase "with the greatest reward being achieved by obeying them", you come to understand the point of the passage.  Nothing is greater in value than the scriptures and the Christ to whom they point.  As Jesus Himself demonstrated, the scriptures' chief focal point is Himself. (Luke 24:44)

You and I need the valuable scriptures to live a life that values Christ
2 Timothy 3:16-17 states: "All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; 17so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work."  Truly the scriptures that are more precious than gold and honey accomplish in you and me the thorough equipping needed to live the Godly life.  In this passage, like Psalm 19, we see the true value of the scriptures as stated by that word in 2 Timothy 3:16 - "profitable":

1. For teaching - which tells you what is right
2. For reproof - which tells you when your not right
3. For correction - which tells you how to get right
4. For training - which tells you how to stay right

It is by the golden Honey of God's Word (Psalm 19:10-11) I gain the amplified blessing of valuing and treasuring the scriptures.  According to 2 Timothy 3:17, when you apply yourself to the scriptures, you will be thoroughly equipped for every good work.  By valuing the scriptures, you end up valuing Jesus Christ.  When you value Jesus Christ, you value doing what He says - which is the chief mark of your love for Him. (John 14:15, 21-23)



 





 

The Lord's Flashlight

Psalm 19:8b-9 The commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes. 9The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the LORD are true; they are righteous altogether.

One of the most common descriptions given of scripture is that of "light", "shedding light" or "enlightenment".  In the verses above, we see three more descriptions of the Bible in Psalm 19.  All of them explain what scripture does in leading a person to the goal of Godly Living. 

1. The Lord's flashlight is pure commandments enlightening the eyes
What is the only way you can see the value of Godly living?  Through the scriptures.  Psalm 119:9 describes how can a young man keep his way pure, by paying cloose attention to the word of God.  Not only does the Bible give me "sight" to follow God, but "insight" to follow God all the more.  If I were to direct you to a dark cave with a sign marked: "cave of diamonds", you may venture in, but then have skepticism about whether or not its worth it.  However if I hand you a flashlight, as soon as you shine the light, the diamonds shimmer and shine.  It then won't take any amount of coercion to get you into the "cave of diamonds".  Thats what the Bible does for the Christian - both new convert and "saved for years" believer.  The Bible shows us that value and worth of living the Christian life. 

2. As the Lord's flashlight, The Scriptures bring to us the fear of the Lord, and will endure forever
The fear of the Lord describes what it means to hate sin, to reverence God and to make fellowship with Him your highest priority.  Only the scriptures can "shine light" on that truth and make it the desire of your heart.  Scripture's light exposes the flippancy that can attend our Christian walk in the areas of worship and daily life. 

As the Lord's flashlight, this quality of making me desire God more than sin & desire His Glory above anything else is an unending resource for the Christian.  Unlike a flashlight whose batteries wear out, I can always turn to the scriptures to cultivate a healthy "fear of God" - for they endure forever. (1 Peter 1:25)  The Scriptures accurately show me who God really is, and why it is I not only must reverence Him, but why loving Him is the greatest thing you can do.

3. The Lord's flashlight are judgements which are true and righteous altogether
Truth has to do with the reality of things, and righteousness has to do with right living for God.  Does truth and righteousness rank on your priority list?  If not, let the Lord's flashlight shine into your heart to show you how they are to be prized in your daily life.  A Christian life is marked by the desire for God's truth and holiness. (Romans 7:22; 2 Peter 1:3-4)  By turning to the Lord's flashlight, the scriptures, you can cultivate the desire for truth and righteousness - for the scriptures themselves are by their very nature those very things!

Making your have to's into want to's

Psalm 19:8a The precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart

For the past couple of days we have been exploring the descriptions given of the Bible in Psalm 19.  Today we will be looking at a word that you may not see often - "precepts".  When the Bible is described as "precepts", the Lord is concerned in explaining the Bible's quality of telling us "how you ought to live in light of the Lord's will".  Precepts then spell out how you and I ought to live.  

Duty and Delight in the Christian life - not opponents, but friends
Do you ever find conflict between what you know you ought to do - duty, and what you really want to do - delight? For instance, Christians know they "ought" to go to church, they "ought" or "should" give 10% of their income, they "ought" or "should" be sharing their faith without shame rather than trying to "fit-in" with the crowd.  Why is it so hard to live the Christian life?

Because the things that we ought to do conflict with what this world, and at times even ourselves, desire to do.  Some Christians will try to resolve this conflict by being all about "duty".  They'll put a stiff upper lip on their face and "try harder" to love God.  Why?  It's your duty.

Others will say - no, Christianity should only be about what makes you happy.  Isn't God concerned about your joy as well as holiness?  In these types of situations, it appears that what we "ought to do" and "what I want to do" can never meet and be the same.  Which is why the Psalmist writes what he writes above.  It is only through the scriptures that my duty toward God and my delight in God can be one and the same.  You have the ability given to you at salvation to desire God.  Knowing God and Jesus Christ whom He sent is the purest definition of what it means to have Eternal Life. (John 17:3)


Only in the scriptures can my "have-to's" be made into "want to's"
This is why we have the precepts of God.  The Bible has this inherent quality of making your "have to's" into "want to's".  How many of you reading this blog have a hard time memorizing scriptures?  Many will say: "I can't do it" or "I just don't have the time".  Have you ever thought of first praying about it?  Take Psalm 19:7-14 and begin memorizing it one verse a week.  According to the verse above, as you expose yourself to the Lord's precepts, you'll being to "delight" in the word of God. 

What was formerly a "have to" now becomes "a want to".  Only by the scriptures can your spiritual life and hunger for God grow.  1 Peter 2:2 states - "like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation".  God never said you could live the Christian life.  All He said was that in you and through you He desires to live it through you so that you can live it for Him. (Galatians 2:20). 


 

The life giving power of God's word

Psalm 19:7a The law of the LORD is perfect, restoring the soul;

Today's description in Psalm 19 describes the Bible as "The Law of the Lord".  That word for "law" in the text is the Hebrew word "Torah".  When the Psalmist describes the "Law of the Lord" as "Torah", He is referring to the ability the scripture has to guide and lead one to spiritual and moral change.  Scripture makes you less "self-centered" and more "God-centered".   

Now as God's law or Torah, scripture is revealed with other qualities that lend to its description here as "The guiding reference point" or "Torah" or "Law of the Lord":

1. The Law of the Lord is Perfect.  This means that there is not one area, word or syllable that contains nor can lead anyone to error.  The scriptures by their very character are without error.  This is one of the strongest statements in the Bible concerning its quality as being without error (what Bible teachers call "inerrancy"). 

2. The Law of the Lord restores.  As the perfect book, the scriptures function to "restore" or "convert" the soul.  The word here for "restore" means to literally "bring about a turn around".  Perhaps you reading this blog today are needing a "major turn around" in your life.  Scripture has that inherent quality.  Romans 10:17 tells us that by the hearing of scripture faith comes.  

3. The Law of the Lord works in the soul.  What is the soul?  You as a person are made up of three basic areas: body, soul and spirit.  Your human spirit is the innermost part of you, what we sometimes call the "heart" or the "inward man". (Matthew 22:37-39; Colossians 3:15-16)  The human spirit is where salvation and conversion takes place.  It is where the Holy Spirit comes and lives at salvation.  The spirit is your center of "God awareness". 

The Body is of course that physical part, composed of the five senses and is the center of "world awareness".  Your soul is the true you.  You don't merely have a soul, you are a soul, composed of mind, emotions and will.  The soul interracts between your spirit and the body.  Think of your "spirit" being clothed by you (your soul), with your soul (you) in turn being clothed by your body. 

The Scriptures function to bring your soul (mind, emotions, will) into allignment with what God the Holy Spirit is already doing in your spirit.  When you take in or memorize the scripture by the thinker of your soul - "the mind", the emotions follow along and before you know it, your decider of the soul - "the will", chooses to do what God says.  Without scripture, no spiritual life nor desire to live for God can begin nor be maintained. (1 Peter 1:23)  That is the life giving power of God's word.