DISCOVERING THE BIBLE

Tips from the scholars.

I don't always find the Bible easy to understand. Do you have any tips on how to study the Bible?

THIS IS a question that is often asked by people who are seriously reading the Bible for the first time. I was curious. I wondered what advice biblical scholars would give to those who want to learn more from their Bible reading.

'People ask me this kind of question often,' said Willard Swartley, professor of New Testament studies. 'Usually I ask them if they have any method for studying the Bible.'

Douglas Stuart, Professor of Old Testament studies, said: 'I try to get people alerted to truly systematic Bible study and the methods that go with it.'

Method. The word kept cropping up. A method - an organised procedure or system - of studying the Bible is what the scholars discussed.

Getting Started

'First of all, I would recommend a couple of English versions of the Bible' said Robert H Gundry, professor of New Testament and Greek. 'I would use both a more staid, literally translated version and a more loosely translated one and make comparisons as I did my study,' said Gundry.

As most of us don't have a background in Hebrew or Greek, we read the Bible in translation. Comparing different translations gives insights into the meaning of the Scriptures.

Gundry recommends the New Revised Standard Version and the Revised Standard Version as good literal translations. For translations that allow some paraphrasing, he recommends the New International Version and the Good News Bible, However most homes in Britain contain King James Version which can quite happily be supplemented with an inexpensive, more modern version to help with difficult passages or for ease of reading.

Checking different translations allows you to see alternatives in text and meaning. These established versions will give you access to the most likely variations of text and nuances of meaning. After you decide on the Bibles you will use, John Hartley, professor of Old Testament studies, recommends you choose one version and read it through.

'It's important to gain perspective,' he said, 'This way, when you read the Gospel of Mark, you know what comes before it, what comes after it. Or if you pick up a prophet like Haggai, you have some understanding of where it is in the whole story of the Bible.' Hartley does not think the Bible has to be read in order, book by book. He has known people who have tried to read the Bible in sequence, cover to cover, who invariably got bogged down, usually in the ordinances and genealogies of Leviticus and then gave up.

Thus, Hartley advises that people regularly alternate the sections they read.

Clark Pinnock, professor of theology in Ontario, in Canada, agrees with Hartley's approach. 'One of the things I've done in the past,' said Pinnock, 'is to put book marks in different places of the Bible. For example, I'd start them at Genesis, Ezra, Matthew and Acts.

'Then I'd work ahead from all of those places, reading a few chapters from one book one day and few from another book another day. This way I got a cross sampling of the Scriptures, and I covered the Bible in a year or so.'

Having four entry places allows you flexibility in your study. If one place is less appealing you can read from that section one day and the next day read in a more inspirational place. Even when you focus your study on individual books, the practice of studying two or more sections is effective. In one book you can study more intensely. In another, perhaps the Psalms or the Gospel of John, you can read for inspiration.

These two approaches to the Bible - the one for study and the other for inspiration - complement each other. Sometimes you're ready for a full-course meal; other times you want something lighter and easier to digest.

A closer Focus

There is an old saying: 'When you realise that a story has a beginning, a middle and an end, you're then called a Bible scholar.' Overly simple? Perhaps not. Lifting verses out of context is often the first step in misunderstanding them. Effective Bible study focuses on the context, or landscape, of the Scriptures.

Thus, the next step in Bible study is to focus on individual books, not on individual verses or topics. Imagine a camera with a zoom lens. You start at the wide angle - the entire Bible - and then zoom in on your subject, taking photos as you close in. Each photo will show less landscape but more detail, helping you understand your subject in the context of its surroundings.

'Context is king,' continued Stuart. 'The context of a word or phrase or sentence or a paragraph is by far the most important indicator of its meaning.' Take a very simple example: the word run has several possible meanings. An athlete can 'run' a race, a television programme can 'run' overtime and if you have hay fever, your eyes may 'run'.

It may sound obvious, but one common mistake in reading the Bible is to misunderstanding a particular shade of meaning. Words take on different meanings in different contexts, so do sentences and even paragraphs.

Pinnock said: Generally, you'll want to read an individual book consecutively. You get the discourse of the entire book and see the individual verses in context.'

Read Inductively

Four of the five professors mentioned the inductive approach to Bible study. This approach has three steps: 1) observe, 2) determine the original meaning and 3) apply the meaning to your own personal situation. Though the professors had variations in their technique, in general terms, here's how inductive Bible study works.
Step one: Observe. Select a book of the Bible; take a short one, like 1 John, to get started. Read through the book to get the flow of ideas. Try to ignore the chapter divisions. Sometimes they unnaturally divide the book, breaking the flow of thought.

You might want to take notes of what happens in the book. Don't yet focus on individual verses; focus on the flow of ideas. Next, reread the book. The New Testament was written 2,000 years ago, parts of the Old Testament more than 3,000 years ago. The cultures of the Bible were different from ours, including writing style and thought processes.

When you reread the book, you will often see patterns of organisation and thought that perhaps you missed the first time. Again you might want to take notes. Try to limit yourself to observing what is happening in the book. Resist the urge to interpret just yet.

Step two: Determine the original meaning. After you're familiar with he contents and flow of the book, read background material about it in a survey of the Bible, a commentary or a study Bible. These introductions will help you place the book in historical and cultural context. Introductions also give outlines of the books of the Bible. An outline helps you se the flow of ideas and subjects in the book and helps you divide it into logical sections.

Outlines vary in detail and sometimes in the way they divide the book. Generally, the more detailed the outline, the more useful. Next, reread the first section of the book as divided by the outline. Here you begin your in-depth study. Start asking questions. 'In any kind of Bible study,' advises Gundry, 'the key is always to ask questions of what you're reading. You will process the material only to the extent that you ask questions.'

As a starter list of questions for us, Swartley recommends asking what the repeated words or the key words of the text are. As a section may be several chapters long, you may end up with 10 to 15 major theme words frequently repeated. Look these words up in a Bible dictionary to learn what they meant in biblical times.

To your list add names of places or people mentioned in the text. Continue asking questions. Are there other natural divisions in the section you are studying? How do individual verses fit in the context? Answers to your questions are often within the Bible itself. If not, check a commentary.

'If you go to a commentary just to read what it says, that's somewhat helpful,' said Stuart. 'But it's far more helpful to go to a commentary with a list of questions.' This way you enter into a dialogue with the commentary and have more control over what you learn from it. If you go to the commentary first, you many listen to the commentary instead of the Bible.

Step two of the inductive method of Bible study helps you re-create the historical and cultural context of the scriptures as their original audience viewed them. (Move to step three for the section of the book you are studying, then repeat steps two and three for other sections as divided by your outline.)

Step three: Apply the meaning to your situation. 'The purpose of Bible study is not to know the Scripture for its own sake,' said Pinnock, 'but to allow God to speak to you.'

When the Word of God speaks to you, it challenges your values, your opinions, your actions - you. The Bible challenges you to change. James, the half-brother of Jesus, wrote: 'Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says' (James 1:22).

In the first two steps of the inductive method, you ask what God was saying to the original audience. Now you ask what he says to you. Take time for spiritual reflection. Meditate on the meaning of the text. At his pint, you may want to reread the section in a different Bible version. How does its lesson apply? Is this lesson an inspirational teaching about God? Is it a lesson in the Christian walk with Jesus Christ? Or perhaps a lesson in doctrine?

Ask why the writer believed this message to be important. Ask why it is important to you. How will remembering the lesson help you in your day-to-day life? ' Through meditation, the Scriptures challenge your value structure and that's where spiritual growth takes place,' said Hartley. To guide the application of Scripture, some people like to take the words they have studied to God in prayer. They ask God to help them apply the biblical lessons for personal growth.

INTERVIEW The Bible for All Its Worth Douglas Stuart is professor of Old Testament studies at Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary in Massachusetts in the United States. He has written numerous commentaries and books, including the acclaimed introduction to Bible study, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth, which he co-authored with Gordon Fee. Question: After people determine the original meaning of a biblical text, how should they apply the text they have studied to modern spiritual life? Douglas Stuart: The first strategy is not to assume the original application has changed. Knowing the cultural background helps a person understand why a thing is said the way it is. But Scripture was always written with the intention that there would be a modern time as well. In other words, God knew there would be a 20th century when he inspired the Bible and the Scripture speaks to the 20th century. The Bible is largely pan-cultural, pan-historical in its ability to convey information and in the kinds of ethical behavioural standards it asks. Where it is culturally specific is more in the particular manifestations of that. For example, nothing in the book of Romans requires you to be a Greek in the ancient Roman Empire to understand it. Any modern person can figure out what he or she needs to know about ancient Greece to follow the descriptions and illustrations. Q. Even though we need to know about the cultures of the Bible to understand the Scriptures, you're saying the Bible is not culturally bound? A. Right. In fact, I would say the Bible was never really at home in any culture. The Old Testament teachings were not at home in ancient Canaan, nor were the teachings of the New Testament at home in the Roman Empire. For example, a true orthodox Israelite's beliefs were completely contrary to the culture. In those days, everybody worshipped by idolatry. Everybody. We know of no culture at the time that was not idolatrous and yet the Israelites were told not to be idolatrous. Today, we have plenty of nonidolatrous cultures. In this sense, the Old Testament is closer to some modern societies than to its own. Likewise, the laws and standards we have in the Old Testament - a classless legal system - were contrary to everything anybody knew about in ancient times. All other ancient law systems were class conscious. There were different penalties if you were a noble, a free person or a slave. In the modern world, we have classless law, at least in theory. But that was unique in ancient times. In several areas the Bible was hostile to its native environment, even more in Bible times than now. Of course, in some area it was less hostile, so I think it evens out. Still, the Bible has never been completely at home in any culture. It is an otherworldly book. Q. For the Bible to speak to us today, some people believe they need to resort to liberal approaches to Scripture. In your books, you disagree. A. The vogue in liberalism is what is called the New Hermeneutic. That's not a new term, of course, but it is in vogue. The New Hermeneutic says that since we all read any literature partly through our own filter and bring our own sense of meaning to it, we should go right ahead and do that all the time with Scripture. I disagree with its approach. In the New Hermeneutic, a person asks: 'What do I want Scripture to say? How would I Iike it to speak to me?' A more objective view of Scripture, which I think should be that of conservatives, is to ask: 'What did God put here? And, whether I like it or not, what am I supposed to do about it?'

In addition to your private Bible study, spiritual reflection and prayer, you will also benefit when you discuss what you learn with other Christians.

Ask how they view the original meaning of the text and how it applies today. How they found the text helpful or challenging? Meaningful dialogue with other Christians helps you to see different perspectives on the Bible and on how to apply its teachings.

Gundry said: 'We are a community of faith, so we need to ask others what they think the Bible has to say. We need to learn from one another.'

by George Hague