The document discusses principles of studying the Bible. It notes that the Bible was written over 1500 years by over 40 authors from various backgrounds, yet maintains a unified message. It was written in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek on 3 continents. The Bible is divided into the Old and New Testaments. It is the authoritative word of God as it is inspired, infallible, and inerrant. Proper interpretation involves understanding what the author intended rather than individual reader interpretation.

1. Welcome to “Learning and Living the God-centered life” Carmel Baptist Church October 5, 2008 www.learningandlivingtheword.com

2. “ Digging Deeper” Question and Answer Session November 2 – Sunday night 5:30-7:00 PM Jack and Jeanette Bickett’s home Dinner and Discussion

3. Principle #1 - The Bible is one Book that is comprised of 66 books. Old Testament - 39 books New Testament - 27 books The Bible was written over a 1500 year time period. Moses wrote the Penetauch around 1400 B.C. The apostle John wrote the book of Revelation around 90-95 A.D.

4. The Bible was written by over 40 different authors from 40 unique walks of life. Moses was a political statesman David was a shepherd and a king Joshua was a warrior Ester was a Persian Queen Nehemiah was a cup bearer Matthew was a tax collector Peter was a fisherman Daniel was a Prime Minister Mark was an evangelist Luke was a doctor and historian James was a carpenter Job was a wealthy farmer Amos was a poor fig picking farmer Ruth was a housewife Paul was a Rabbi and tent maker

5. The Bible was written on 3 different continents Africa Asia Europe The Bible was written in three different languages Old Testament - Hebrew and small amount of Aramaic New Testament - Greek

6. The Bible was written in different genres Historical narrative Doctrine Biography Law Poetry Proverbs Autobiography Epistles Figurative The Bible was written in various moods David while on the run from King Saul King Solomon writing Eccesiastes probably while in the castle

7. The Bible is written in various locations Moses in the wilderness David in a cave Paul in prison John in exile on Patmos Luke in a boat Can you see the tremendous amount of diversity? And yet in the diversity there is an incredible message of unity all the way from Genesis to Revelation. Unity about God Unity about man Unity about how sin has impacted all people Unity about the only way sinful man can stand before a righteous and holy God

8. Principle #2 - The Bible has a unique structure Old Testament I. Historical narrative - 17 books Genesis - Ester This represents approximately 1/2 of the Old Testament and is what God did. Biblical Principle - If you want to know what God is doing today, then study what He has done. Because what He has done throughout history He is still doing today. II. Experience - 5 books Job - Song of Solomon III. Prophecy - 17 books Isaiah-Daniel (major prophets) 5 books Hosea-Malachi (minor prophets) 12 books

9. New Testament I. Historical narrative - 5 books Matthew-Acts This represents approximately 1/2 of the New Testament and this tells us what God did. II. Experience - 21 books Paul's epistles (Romans-Philemon) - 13 books General epistles (Hebrews-Jude) - 8 books III. Prophecy - 1 book Revelation

10. Principle #3 - The Bible is the AUTHORITATIVE word of God The Bible is INSPIRED (God-breathed) The Bible is INFALLIBLE (can't fail) The Bible is INERRANT (without error) The Bible is Inspired: ( 2 Timothy 3:16-17) Let's talk first about the inspiration of Scripture and what that really means. Inspiration is the act where God superintended the authors of the Bible so that they composed and recorded without error God's message to mankind in the words of the original writings. As the author wrote each of them wrote exactly what God wanted them to write .

11. Questions to ask from 2 Timothy 3:16-17 How much of Scripture is inspired? Answer - ALL OF IT 2. For what reason is it written? Answer - in order to teach us, reproof us, correct us, train us in righteous so that we might be adequately equipped for kingdom work! ( learning correctly in order to live correctly) This is the "fact" of inspiration . But there is another verse we need to consider. 2 Peter 1:20-21 - "But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God." This is the "act" of inspiration .

12. The Bible is infallible The second category we are dealing with under the authority of Scripture is that of infallibility. Infallible simply means that the Scriptures will never lead us astray in matters of faith and practice. The infallibility of Scripture emphasizes the trustworthiness of the Bible. Psalm 111:7 - The works of His hands are truth and justice; All His precepts are sure. The Bible is inerrant The third category we need to look at under the authority of Scripture is that of inerrancy. This means when all the facts are known the Scriptures in their original autographs and properly understood will be shown to be wholly true in everything that they affirm, whether it be: Doctrine, Morality, Social, Physical, Life Sciences

13. This is a very critical point that we must look at for a few minutes. The Bible speaks with truth, truth about God, man, sin, Christ, the Spirit and salvation. As you probably know there is much debate today about truth even within the church. Is truth absolute or is it relative? We have 3 main divisions in the evangelical church. This is may be an oversimplification but it will do for the sake of this point regarding the truth of God's word. 1. Orthodox - we at Carmel are considered to be orthodox in our beliefs. We believe as part of the doctrinal statement that the Bible is the word of God. 2. Liberal - in these churches they tend to believe that the Bible contains the word of God. 3. Neo-Orthodox - in these church they tend to believe that the Bible becomes the word of God.

14. We need to define the following terms and understand them as we study the Scriptures: Exegesis Interpretation Meaning Application

15. Exegesis means to unfold, to pull out or to declare. It considers the question "what does the Scripture say." We could say that exegesis is the process of interpreting the Bible. In John 1:18 - "No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him." In this sentence the word of explained is "exegeomai" and means that Jesus is the exegesis of God to us. Jesus is the revelation to us of God the Father, for us to see and know Jesus is to see and know the Father. In other words Jesus is the interpretation of God to us. When we hear that a preacher exegeted the text, this refers to the process used to pull out or unfold the truth of the Scripture. And hopefully we can see from John 1:18 and other verses that when we pull truth from Scripture correctly we see Jesus revealed or disclosed.

16. Howard Hendricks in "Living by the Book" describes the method he uses to exegete the Bible. Observation - which includes but is not limited to things like the author's background , plan of the book and theme of the book in order to get a big picture of the material. 2. Interpretation - this involves a more detailed study of words, grammar and also being able to relate the text to the whole Bible. 3. Application - which generally means how does this truth translate itself to my life on a day to day basis

18. Exegesis (explanation of text) Principles of Bible Study Homiletics (application of text to hearer) Original Text Contemporary Hearers

19. Interpretation of the Bible is what actually resides with the reader . Most of us naturally think that we understand the things that we read. But whenever we read we bring into our reading all of our life attitudes, beliefs, values, feelings, ideas, education, personality traits and temperaments that impact how we interpret. Therefore when we are dealing with the word interpretation we are focused on what the reader of the Scripture thinks it means. Have you ever participated in a Bible study like this? Someone reads a particular text and then everyone in the room gets to comment on what they think it means. Question - in that particular scenario how many possible interpretations of the Bible can you have? Answer - as many as there are readers.

20. Meaning is what resides with the author. Or we might say it the following way; "it is what the author intended for us to understand by what he or she wrote." Which brings us to a critical point which I am going to refer to as A CARDINAL RULE FOR PROPER BIBLE STUDY. There is only one accurate interpretation for any one Scripture. This means that the accurate interpretation is equivalent to the what the author meant when he wrote it.

21. Now think back with me a few weeks ago when we talked about the 3 eras in American history. 1. Agricultural - family totally together. People worked together and had a unified approach to their work. 2. Industrial - the first time the family is divided and goes from farm to city 3. Technological or Informational - the greatest dividing of the family and the promotion of a total consumer mindset. It's not about the family but more about the individual. We have moved from a give for the good of the whole to a receive for the good of me! Examples from our culture Burger King - “have it your way” Visa - “It's everywhere you want to be.” Daytimer - “it’s all about you” L'Oréal - "Because I'm worth it."

22. This whole cultural mindset has filtered right into and through the church. And now when we meet those in the Neo-Orthodox church we hear this kind of language "well that particular Scripture means that to you and that is wonderful but this is what it means to me." Now what we have is the meaning no longer gets to reside with the author but in our culture the meaning gets to reside with the reader. Do you see why this is so very, very dangerous!

23. Just 30 years ago when there was a debate, the strategy was to convince a person by using a series of logical arguments and to persuade them either to your side or vice versa. There was actually a thought process that truth is absolute to the point that there was a right and a wrong. However in the 21st Century the rules have changed. And now when you get into a debate with someone instead of one person being right and the other person being wrong, guess what? Both parties get to be right! What? Yes, that is exactly where we are in the culture and many churches today are moving into that mindset and thinking when it comes to the very Bible.

24. The Cardinal Rule for proper Bible Study There is only one accurate interpretation for any one verse in the Bible, and that is what the author meant by what He wrote. Therefore the correct interpretation for any Scripture is equal to the author’s intended meaning.

25. The interpretation (engine) done by the interpreter (engineer) The station represents the author’s intended meaning or what the text means

26. The goal of proper Bible study is as follows: The engine of interpretation and the engineer (the interpreter) are to arrive safely with others at the station ( author’s intended meaning )