Scriptural Background
God has revealed himself to us in the words of the Bible—his only written revelation to man. We are called to study diligently what has been revealed and apply it to the way we live our lives. Within the pages of Scripture, we find many exhortations to use what God has revealed in a way that honors him. We also know that as we trust in the Lord with all our
heart, and do not lean on our own understanding, he will direct our steps through the wisdom of his Holy Word (Proverbs 3:5–6).
In his second letter to Timothy, Paul stated, “All Scripture is breathed out by God” (2 Timothy 3:16). The Bible is the inspired (“breathed out”) Word of God, transmitted not by the will of man, but through holy men of God as they were directed by
the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:20–21). These men, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, wrote without
error all that God instructed. It is the only inerrant, infallible Word of God, and we can trust it to guide us in all things.
How does it guide us? Paul tells us that it is useful for doctrine—teaching Christian truth ;reproof—telling us when we are wrong; correction—showing us how to correct our wrong actions; and training in righteousness—teaching us how to obey God (2 Timothy 3:16–17). These are the general guidelines—they are expounded on again and again throughout the Bible.
God has spoken to reveal his plan for history, his purpose for mankind, and his will for us. More than 2,000 times the Old Testament states, “Thus says the Lord,” or something similar, claiming that God himself is the author. In the New Testament we observe that Jesus preached the Word of God (Luke 5:1), the early church preached the Word of God (Acts 4:31), the Word of God was preached to the Gentiles (Acts 11:1), and Paul preached the Word of God throughout all of his missionary journeys (Acts 13:5, 18:11, 19:10).
The Word of God is living and active (Hebrews 4:12), given to us by God himself—to teach us the principles of our faith, to reveal our sin, to show us how to deal with sin, to instruct us how to live in a manner that pleases him, and ultimately, to reveal to us how we can be redeemed into everlasting life through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Historical/Apologetics Background
Many people chide Christians for reading the Bible literally. The Bible contains many different types of literature, but all of them communicate God’s truth to us. When we say we take the Bible literally, we really mean that we take it in the sense that it was written. Some sections of Scripture are meant to be read as historical accounts, while others are poetic.
The process of understanding what Scripture says is called hermeneutics—the process of trying to understand what the Bible means. Learning proper hermeneutics opens a whole new world of truth found in the Bible. There are many different
schools of biblical interpretation. These range from liberal approaches (mystical interpretation, naturalistic interpretation, etc.) to the more conservative approach we’ll be using (where ideas are considered in context and Scripture is used to interpret Scripture). This second, more conservative method may be new to you. It is often referred to as the grammatical-historical method of interpretation because it takes into account the grammar and context of the passage as well as the historical and cultural setting of the author and the original hearers. We will call it the inductive Bible study method.
As we seek to understand what God has said, we should not import our own ideas into Scripture but rather allow Scripture to inform and evaluate our ideas. Drawing ideas out of the text is called exegesis (ex- meaning “out of”), while adding our ideas into the text is called eisegesis (eis- meaning “into”).
Take Genesis 1 for example. If we simply read that chapter as it is plainly written, we would conclude that God created the universe in six normal days—an accurate exegesis. On the other hand, if we consider that same text by starting with a belief in evolutionary processes occurring over millions of years, we might be tempted instead to interpret those “days” as long ages. In that case, we would engage in eisegesis since we imported the idea of long ages into the text—a practice which can lead to the dangers of compromise and distorted conclusions.
In order to properly exegete a passage, we include three essential components in an inductive Bible study: observation, interpretation, and application. These steps can be subdivided in various ways, but we will stick to three basic parts to teach the process.
To observe, we simply ask who, what, when, where, why, and how questions about the study passage. For example, who is the author writing to? What words are repeated or emphasized in the passage? When was this written? Where is the event taking place? What type of literature is being used (history, poetry, parable, etc.)? What is the main point of the passage?
By taking time to observe the text, we become familiar with the important words, commands, and main themes that are present. Once we are familiar with the passage, we are ready to interpret what we have read.
To interpret, we look at the passage in light of what the rest of the Bible has to say on the same topic. We may identify cross-references, cultural considerations, specific word meanings, context, commentaries, or parallel passages that tell of the same account or provide the same idea. We should be careful during the interpretation stage because there is always the danger of trying to read our own ideas into the text.
After we have observed what the text says and interpreted the key ideas, the next step is to apply the Word to daily life. Scripture is full of God’s commands to believers to apply what he has communicated—we are to be doers of the Word, not just hearers (James 1:21–24).
Ultimately, Scripture is to be the source of truth in our lives. Evangelical tradition is built on the belief that every Christian can read and understand God’s Word. The fancy term for this idea is the perspicuity of Scripture. The Reformers fought to make the Bible available in the language of the people so all could personally read, study, and learn from it. This was highly condemned at the time, and many lost their lives in the process of defending the truth that God’s Word is for everyone.
Having the Word of God so available is a privilege that many in the world still do not have. As Christians we should be grateful for our Bibles and take advantage of its availability, while being diligent to read, study, and handle the Word carefully as we use it to direct our lives and proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Studying God’s Word
Introduction
? Last week we talked about the Trinity using a method of studying the Bible known as inductive Bible study. What are the three basic steps we talked about?
It involves observing, interpreting, and applying the text.
We will be using this method to look at the Bible passages we will be studying throughout this curriculum, so if you don’t have it down quite yet, we will continue to practice it.
? Why is the Trinity such an important doctrine for us as Christians?
Rightly understanding who God is lays the foundation for our belief in him and
our worship of him. If we do not rightly understand the Trinity and apply that
knowledge, we run the great risk of not understanding salvation properly. As we
saw in 1 John 2:23, if we do not have true fellowship with the Son we do not have
fellowship with the Father. The Trinity is a key doctrine that will help us rightly
understand God’s works revealed in Scripture.
We also talked about the doctrine of the Trinity last week. We saw from
Scripture that God is One God, yet three persons—Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit.
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Scripture Came from God
We are going to look at several questions: where the Bible came from, how
it came to us, and what it is useful for. We will examine several passages
of Scripture that will help us answer these questions and assure us of
God’s goodness in revealing himself to us in the pages of the Bible.
2 Peter 1:19–21
Look for any ideas that may need to be interpreted. Looking
back in this epistle (a letter to a certain audience), we know that the
author is the Apostle Peter and that he is writing to his fellow Christians
(1:1–4). For context, this epistle is filled with encouragement for a people
who were being persecuted by governments and religious leaders and
threatened by false teachings. Peter is explaining how he has personally
seen Christ, has a desire for the purity of the message he is proclaiming,
and wants this message to be preserved for their benefit (1:15–18). Not
only that, but Peter clearly describes where the Bible came from—one of
the questions we are trying to answer today.
? Who is the “we” in verse 19?
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? What does Peter call the readers to “pay attention to” in the passage?
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? What is this prophetic word compared to?
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Psalm 119:105
? How does Psalm 119:105 relate to this passage from Peter?
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? What word or idea do you see repeated in this passage?
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? Knowing that this was an audience in the first century, to what would
they equate the references to prophecy?
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? Who are the men who “spoke from God” Peter refers to?
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? What does the word “prophecy” mean?
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? Verse 20 starts with the phrase “knowing this first of all.” Is this
intended to be a reference of the message’s order?
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? In verses 20 and 21, two qualities of the prophecies are given that are
not true. What are those two qualities?
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? Were men involved in the writing of Scripture?
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? Was God involved in the writing of Scripture?
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? What does the passage tell us about the Holy Spirit?
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Discover the Truth
We are trying to answer the question of where the ideas in the Bible came from, and this passage should give us a great starting point to understand the answer.
? If the Holy Spirit was the Bible’s author, would we expect it to contain
errors of any sort?
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? How does this passage answer the question about the source of
Scripture?
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? How could we summarize the main point of this passage in a simple
phrase?
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If we think about the Bible in its full scope, it was written by some 40 different authors over a period of roughly 1,600 years. Yet, it contains a consistent message that progressively reveals the truths God has for us and points to the only way of salvation—Jesus and his finished work on the cross. This confirms that this book is indeed the Word of God.
Impossible for God? Activity
Opening Thoughts
Earlier we considered this question, “Is anything impossible for God?”
? Do you believe that there is anything that God cannot do?
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? Is it reasonable to use the Bible to make an argument to support the Bible?
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Let’s take our questions to the ultimate authority
by seeing what God’s Word has to say.
What Does the Word Say?
Read Hebrews 6:13–14
? In Hebrews 6:13–14, what does God base his oath
on?
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Read Hebrews 6:18
Read Titus 1:2
? What common idea do you find in Hebrews 6:18
and Titus 1:2?
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Connecting the Dots
? How do we know about God and his will and
decrees?
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? If God wrote the Bible (2 Peter 1:19–21), is there
any standard greater than the Bible?
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? If God cannot lie and God wrote the Bible, what can
we conclude about the contents of the Bible?
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? It is often said that God can do anything, but we
must be careful with that claim. What impossibility
did you find in the passages we looked at?
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Connect to the Truth
? Why is it reasonable for God to swear by himself when we would not
accept the same from any of us?
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God’s Word Is Profitable
2 Timothy 3:16–17
? What is the main subject of this passage?
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? What is the source of Scripture according to this passage?
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? What is Scripture profitable for?
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? From verse 17, what is the goal of inspired Scripture?
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? How does this passage connect to the 2 Peter passage we looked at
earlier?
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? What promise do we find in this passage?
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? What does the passage tell us about God?
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Discover the Truth
? The Greek word that is translated “breathed out by God” is a very
important part of understanding the source of Scripture. Does
anyone know what that Greek word is?
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? That word literally means “breathed out by God,” so Paul is reminding
Timothy that Scripture comes directly from God. Some translations say
that the Bible is “inspired.” What does that mean?
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? People often talk of works of art or music as being inspired. Is this the
same sense we use when talking about the inspiration of Scripture?
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? The second is reproof. What is meant by reproving or rebuking
someone?
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? Is it possible to reprove someone in the absence of doctrine?
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Application
? What is the ultimate source of Scripture and what passages can we use to
support this idea?
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? How were the Scriptures delivered to us?
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? Why can we trust the Scriptures?
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? According to 2 Timothy 3:16–17, in what four areas is the Bible useful?
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? It is likely that you know people who doubt the truth of the Bible. They
might say things like, “We can’t trust the Bible; it was simply written by
men.” How would you go about discussing this idea with them?
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? Is it wise to leave the Bible out of the discussion about the authority of the
Bible?
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? As we look to apply the four uses of Scripture, let’s think
about your personal devotion time or family Scripture reading. How
could you put these four guiding principles into practice?
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Group Prayer Time
• Praise God for his faithfulness.
• Ask for understanding of the passages and how to put them into
practice.
• Thank God for giving us his Word and for guiding us into all truth