We are doing a Message Series on the Word of God. Again, our key passage for this Message Series is 2 Timothy 3:16-17. Open your Bibles there and read along with me, 2 Timothy 3:16-17…..
We had noted that this passage is truly for us today as we are living the Last Days as much evil is happening in our world as listed in 2 Timothy 3:1-5. And in order for us Believers of Christ to do good in our lives in these last days, we must know Scriptures, our Bibles! All Scriptures both Old and New Testaments are God breathed; in other words, God spoke and had people write them down for His divine purpose and for the good of people. How good are we doing these last days?
Last week we noted, that in order for the Bible to be useful for us, it had to be translated to a language we can understand; and God coordinated and protected the transfer of His word to different languages. God continues to protect the Bible, but we must be diligent in listening to God and knowing Him and not be swayed by man’s philosophies through the translations. We noted that when we study the Word of God, we must not use a paraphrased translation but either a “word-per-word” or “thought-per-thought” translations. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching; but how can we teach the right way if we don’t study the Bible the right way? We will discuss this today.
There are 3 other verses this morning that I would like us to keep in mind:
Matthew 4:4 - Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.' " We cannot truly live without feeding ourselves with God’s Word! We need God’s Word daily!
2 Timothy 2:15….
Since the Bible is the Word of God, we can do our best for our Creator/Savior God by studying His word well!
Revelation 1:3…
We are to take to heart what we read and study from the Bible (in other words, LOVE the Word of God; love the hearing and studying of the Word of God!)!
How should we study the Bible? Of course, there are many ways to study, I am just giving you suggestions and key points today.
1. Get the “tools” you need for a good study:
a. A reliable translation of the Bible you can follow (either “thought-per-thought or “word-per-word” translation or both)
b. A concordance and dictionary (concordance tells you which verses has the same word)
c. Pen and paper for notes
d. A comfortable place and time
e. If possible, have access to the Internet
2. Have the right attitude! Pray…
a. God, You are my /Creator; I humbly listen to what You say.
b. You love me with an everlasting love through Jesus Christ; I desire and hunger for what You have to say.
c. With my finite mind, help me understand what I need to understand.
3. Choose a Book of the Bible. (If you’re just starting out, start with Ephesians)
a. Who did God choose to write it?
b. In general, what do you know about the writer?
c. To whom was the Book written to and what can we say about them?
d. Also note the timeframe of when it was written; note the dispensational age; God has a schedule!
4. Daily read a section of the book for at least 15 minutes.
5. At least weekly, spend at least one hour studying a Chapter.
6. Steps for general studying:
a. Read the whole chapter and note the main topic and sub-topics.(as you are reading, jot down notes)
b. If it is clear, divide the chapter with passages for a sub-topic
c. Summarize what God is saying in the passage or verse.
d. In context*, what is the main point of a passage or verse?
*does not contradict anything within the passage, chapter, book, or the whole Bible?
e. What is a Biblical Principle to be applied to life today? Remember this as the main point!
7. Deeper study:
a. Read a different English Translation of the chapter.
b. What words are different? Did the “thought” of the passage change?
c. Does looking into the original Hebrew or Greek word help?
d. Is there a deeper truth to grasp?
8. Pray to give thanks for God’s truth and to commit to godly actions.
Let us conclude by practicing what we just learned. Let’s learn from James 5
Take your blue handout and pen and let us practice a Bible Study…
1. What “Type” of Bible Translation do you use? Write it down….
NIV (thought-per-thought translation)
2. Pray… see above
3. James: Who wrote it? To whom was it written to? Answers are usually at the beginning…. James 1:1… write down your answers
The title should really be Letter BY James; you see, if you go to a book like Titus, it wasn’t written by Titus and should really be titled A Letter FOR Titus. This is why it is important to know the writer.
We read James wrote it but who is this James? A concordance search will give you 3 different James; most Bible Scholars believe James who wrote a letter was the half-brother of Jesus; but since All Scripture is God-breathed, we can truly just listen to God as we read the Letter by James! And to whom was it written to? – to Jewish Christians (this can be significant in some of the truths stated in the letter! Now,
4. Let’s assume you have read Chapter 5 and you have divided it to sub-topics. You find v12 can stand on its own…
5. V12 – What is it saying in general? – write down your answer.. To the audience the letter was written to (the Jewish Christians), they should not swear and be sure of what you say!
6. Applicable today? Why? – write down your answer….
First of all, we note the statement “above all things”, in other words this instruction is very important and we too should listen; also, it states to “brothers”, in other words to Christians; and so, All Christians (including us) must not swear and be sure of what we say!
Deeper Study:
1. Other English Translations – I initially used the NIV (thought-per-thought translation) and so, I will look at a word-per-word translation like the MKJV, ESV, and NASB
2. Are there different words used? – I found no differences; however, we should still look at the original Greek word… and we find…
3. Greek word means “swear” or to ”take an oath” – what does this mean then? Review it in context! Write down your answer….
First of all, the letter was originally written directly to Jewish Christians; Jews of 2000 years ago supposedly easily swore and took oaths when they actually didn’t mean them (thus we note the follow-up command of let your yes be yes and no be no!)
Secondly, swearing and taking oaths can easily be sinful (the verse speaks of condemnation)
4. Is there then a deeper truth to grasp? – write down your answer….
I believe, basically God is saying, do not speak or take an oath which is sinful! Remember James 3 which spoke about watching what we say? And when you take an oath, do it with God in mind and make sure you really mean it!
5. Close in prayer…. Give thanks and make a commitment…
