Fundamentals of the
Faith Week 2 – How to study scripture
Key
Scripture 1 Peter 2:2 Like newborn babies you must crave pure spiritual milk so
that you will grow into a full experience of salvation.
Assuming you have received Jesus Christ as Lord and
Saviour... You are sorry for your sin and have confessed your sin to God and
you’ve asked Jesus to forgive you and rule your life. You’ve acknowledged that
you cannot save yourself so you are trusting entirely on Jesus’ death on the
cross as payment for your sin debt. Since the Bible is God’s word it is essential
that Christians systematically learn what it says and what it means. The
Christian life must be characterized as nourishing on the word of God.
Let’s
look at the why:
Reason #1 Growth:
When we are born into the family of God; we are
characterized as newborns or babes. As such; we need nourishment in order to
grow towards maturity. 1 Corinthians 3:3
says: I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it.
Indeed, you are still not ready. In other words; we all need nourishment but
sometimes we are not ready for deep truth (meat) and require basic truth (milk)
Scripture can either be taught as milk or meat depending how deep are understanding
goes; depending on receptivity or aptitude. Colossians 2:6-7 says: So then, just as you received Christ Jesus
as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up
in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with
thankfulness.
Reason #2 Defeating
Sin:
Eph 6:17 Take the
helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of
God. We are unable to defeat Satan’s temptations if we are ignorant of the word
of God. The word is our offensive weapon against the enemies’ temptations. We
see this during the temptation of Jesus found in Mathew 4:1-11. Jesus defeats all of Satan’s temptations by quoting
scripture at him. Key Scripture: Psalm 119:11 declares: I have hidden your word in my
heart that I might not sin against you. The Holy Spirit brings to remembrance
the word that we’ve been exposed to as added defense but He cannot remind us of
something we are unfamiliar with. Psalm
119:9 declares: How can a young person stay on the path of
purity? By living according to your word.
Reason#3 Prepare for
Service:
We need God’s word readily available to us if we are to
perform Christian ministry work successfully. There is no substitute for the
word of God when we are doing God’s work.
Joshua: 1:8
declares: Keep this Book of the Law always on your
lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do
everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.
1 Timothy 4:6
says: If you point these things out to the brothers and sisters, you will
be a good minister of Christ Jesus, nourished on the truths of the
faith and of the good teaching that you have followed.
Reason #4 To Be
Blessed:
Do you want to be happy and blessed? Most of us desire to
live victorious happy lives. Those who study scripture receive just that! Psalm
1:1-2 affirms this: Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of
mockers, but whose delight is in the law of
the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. See also Joshua
1:8-9
Reason #5 To Help
Others:
There e are hurting needy people everywhere we go. We need
God’s solution to man’s problems in order to help ourselves and others. 2 Tim
2:2, 1 Peter 3:15 says: But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be
prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for
the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,
Let’s
look at the how...
Key
Scripture: 1 Peter: 2:1 Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all
deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave
pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation,
Principle: Confess
and repent of Sin before you attempt to study scripture. Sin blocks us from
learning truth. If you are angry, telling lies, acting like a hypocrite,
envying and talking bad about people behind their back; you are not craving
that which is good for you...the word of God. Prepare yourself for study with a
time of prayer and confession if need be so that you can effectively learn.
James 1:21 confirms this: Therefore, get rid
of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the
word planted in you, which can save you.
How do we study scripture?
Obviously, we have
to read Bible! Even a book people are afraid to read (Revelation) promises that
those who read it will be happy (Rev1:3) Paul instructed Timothy (2
Tim 4:2) to read the Bible. The key is repetition.
Key Scripture: Isaiah 28:10 For
precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon
line; here a little, and there a little:
You should try
reading one new testament letter once a day for 30 days. Start with 1 John
because it is short. At the end; you
will know what the book contains. This will allow your mind to remember the
book and where the stories in it are found and you will develop a mental
picture of the text your Bible. People can also write in their Bibles to give
themselves more visual cues and reminders. For longer books like the Gospel of
John; divide the 21 chapters into 3 and read the first 7 chapters every day for
30 days, then chapter 8-14 once a day for 30 days, and finally 15-21 once a day
for 30 days. After 90 days; you will
know the Gospel of John! This method may seem tedious but think about this...
We have our whole life to learn the scriptures...We might as well learn them
properly. With this strategy; you’ll complete the entire new testament in 2.5
years. The old Testament is mainly
history and narrative so reading it straight through throughout your life is a
better strategy for learning it.
A quick note about
translations: According to John McArthur: ”The most popular dynamic-equivalency
translations, which dominate the evangelical world, are the New International
Version (NIV), Today’s New International Version (TNIV), The Message (MSG), The
Living Bible (TLB), the Good News Bible (GNB), and the New Living Translation
(NLT). Of those, the NIV is the most reliable... The four most popular formal
equivalency translations in English are the King James Version (KJV), the New
King James Version (NKJV), the New American Standard Bible (NASB), and the
English Standard Version (ESV). “
Now unto studying...
Now that you’ve read
your entire New Testament in 2.5 years; you are mostly able to interpret the
meaning since scripture the Bible is best interpreted by itself. Multiple
passages can reinforce the meaning of one another.
As far as studying goes; choose a topic that interests you such as prayer and start searching for
the different prayers offered up by different people in the Bible. Find out
what they asked for and how God responded. Or choose a character such as David
and study their biography. You can study God’s attributes and learn how God
consistently acts.
Study Aids: You
can also supplement your study with Christian literature to get some outside
perspectives. Watch out for poplar books that is mainly fiction or a testimony
that is a superficial one time read; choose books that will supplement your referencing
capabilities. A concordance is a book that has word definitions in it. The
popular ones are: Strong, Young, and Crudens. Another important tool is a
topical index. A topical index contains all the Bible verses on a particular
topic. There is Monser’s Topical Index; there is Nave’s
Topical Bible. Finally; A good commentary explains the meaning of
every verse in the Bible such as Wycliffe Bible commentary.
Teach others what you learn: Motivate yourself by having someone to pass on your knowledge. This will
help to keep you motivated to keep learning. We should be responsible to God
and fulfill our charge in the ministry. If you are a new Christian or only know
a little... remember, someone out there is a newer Christian than you or not a
Christian at all.
Find a pattern that you can copy: Find a mentor, a pastor, a Godly person, a
brother or sister. Keep a relationship with the person so that you can speak
concerns, ask questions, and learn experiences that can apply to you.
Key Scripture: 1 Corinthians 11:1 Follow
my example, as I follow the example of Christ.
Find good teaching...Make sure whoever is teaching you is teaching you the word of God. Submit
yourself to systematic teaching of the Word of God someplace.
