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I’m a new Christian. Where in the Bible should I read first?
What can I do, where can I read to become more spiritual?
Why are there so many contradictions in the Bible?
What’s the difference between the Old Testament and the New Testament?
Which Bible translation is the best one?
Is one part of the Bible more important than another?
Are the red letters the most important?
What can I do to get MORE out of reading the Bible?
How can I KNOW when my understanding is correct?
If you’ve asked any of the above, consider the 8-part study lesson MAXIMIZING YOUR BIBLE. I’ve known this material for almost 40 years. I’ve chewed on it, digested it, and seen the Word of God open up clearly and powerfully to my understanding. It’s one of the major reasons I am still strong in my faith in Christ today. Knowing this material has saved me from Biblical error in both doctrine and practice for all these years.
Here are some of the comments I’ve received from those who’ve taken the class.
“Now I read the Bible backwards. Because I keep wanting to know more and more of the CONTEXT! I’ve learned more of God’s Word in the last 4 weeks than I did in 20+ years at church!”….. 26 year old Army vet, married & father of 2.
“WOW, I went back and looked at the verses my pastor has been teaching me, and I’ve discovered that MOST of them were out of context.” …… 18 year old college student
“It’s so simple! I’m going to have to go back and rethink EVERYTHING I believe. For so long I just believed what I was told to believe, and only went to specific verses which seemed to prove my beliefs. NOW I see that my beliefs can actually come from out of the Word of God and be built by it.” …… mother of 7 and Christian for 35+ years.
‘THIS is what appeals to me. I want what you’re teaching!” …… 18 year old high school student
You do not need to spend the rest of your life going to others to understand the Word of God. It has been designed by God to be read and understood by every man and every woman who hungers to know the truth. This class is meant to uncover and explain for you that Godly design. I will not be explaining the Bible to you. You will be learning how to maximize your Bible yourself.
Below is an OVERVIEW, as well as LESSON ONE and now, LESSON TWO, along with a questionnaire at the end of each. After you’ve downloaded and gone over the material, as well as answered the questions, (these are just to test yourself to see if you’re understanding the material) you can continue with the next 6 lessons by e-mailing me at stevehartlaub@gmail.com, or by notifying me by comment on this Blog. If you’d include your answers to the questions for those first 2 lessons, just so I know that you’re understanding the material, I will then send you the next 2 lessons.
Go at your own speed, SET YOUR OWN PACE………this class will change your life……..and enjoy learning how to MAXIMIZING YOUR BIBLE.
MAXIMIZING YOUR BIBLE
OVERVIEW
How to learn the truths of the bible How to know when our understanding is correct. How we got the Word of God and what it’s good for. Our God-given right and responsibility to “rightly divide” the Word
KEYS TO THE BIBLE’S SELF INTERPRETATION
The Word of God interprets itself:
1) In the Verse
a) What is of men, what is of God in our Bible
b) Historical & contextual meaning of words
c) Literal or Figurative
d) Administrations – different epochs of time & the differences in how God dealt with man during each
e) To whom it is written, to whom it is addressed
2) In the Context
a) Immediate
1) Pronouns
2) Prepositions
b) Remote – look for it, look for it….don’t guess!
c) Gospel Harmony
3) In the Scope of the Topic
a) How it’s been used or defined before ….God defines and can change the definition
b) The few difficult verses MUST be understood in light of the many clear verses on the same topic
APPLICATION OF KEYS
Death and Hell
Heaven and the Kingdom of God Baptism Identity and Relationship of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit
ONE
ORIGIN & INTENT OF THE WORD
WHAT IS OF GOD, WHAT IS OF MEN
IN THE VERSE
Jesus himself teaches us the best way to learn the Word of God.
Mk 4:24 “take heed” is literally “use your power of vision” (Greek word blepo, one of 17 different Greek words translated “to see” in the Bible)……
Though this word is often used metaphorically, and is usually correctly translated “beware” or “take heed”, I like its literal definition.
Take the time to SEE what you hear and read. Get a picture……or…HOWEVER you learn best.
In the coming lessons, I will sometimes stop your study, and ask the question, “Get the picture?” Whenever I say this, please ask yourself (yourselves), “Do we see what is being said here? Am I getting the picture, in my heart, of the truth of what is being conveyed?”
II Cor 4:3,4 blindness……….blindness = lack of spiritual understanding
Eph 1:17,18 sight……….sight = spiritual understanding
There IS a way to know for sure that your interpretation, or understanding of the Bible is correct….or incorrect.
John 20:31 This is written, so that……….All NT understanding is centered in Jesus Christ.
Actually, all understanding of Scriptures, centered in Jesus Christ, lines up with the eternal purposes of God. (Ephesians 3:11)
If you happen to be reading the Old Testament, and have an understanding that takes you away from your knowing of Christ, then you have not yet arrived at a true understanding of what you are reading. As your understanding of what you read fits into Christ, you become sure it is accurate.
I John 1:2-5…….The correct understanding of the Word of God brings: Life (fruit), Joy, Light (spiritual understanding) and Fellowship (heart open to others)
Is 55:9 – 11: The true understanding of God’s Word will please God & cause prosperity and fruitfulness
We never guess what the Word means
II Pet 1:20, 21 ……… Ever been to a bible study or fellowship, where everyone sits around sharing what they think the verse means? No power in all those opinions. We want God’s opinion.
II Tim 3:16, 17 ……it is all profitable……RIGHTLY DIVIDED….And it equips, fully, the one who serves God. For those who are not serving the God of love, it can be used to bludgeon and condemn (and thus is not profitable), but for those who serve the God of love, the Father of Jesus Christ, it is used to edify, instruct, lovingly correct….to add to, not subtract from.
II Tim 2:15 ……we each have the privilege & responsibility to rightly divide (cut) ”Study” = “Apply yourself diligently”……We need to wean ourselves from relying on pastor, book writer, others, etc. We stand approved as we rightly divide, which does not mean rightly argue, or even rightly explain….but rather it means rightly understand and rightly live in that understanding.
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WHAT IS OF GOD, WHAT IS OF MAN IN THE BIBLE
Original Greek texts did NOT punctuate, have verses, chapters, capitalization, italics.
All of these grammatical notations were added by man!!
The originals looked like this……… ABKDKJOWIJUEIOEJFKJEOIUSFOJSEIJIFPFIDMFOSIJEFMOISEMFMSOIEJSE KABIDLOE>S><<JEE*(JERJ”ERJW”EJFJKJ.…all caps, no breaks, no hyphens where a word was interrupted at the end of a line and continued on the next, etc.
(the above are not actually from the Greek alphabet)!
Center references, page headings…..added by man! Any and all notes included in margins. Added by man! Maybe they help you, maybe they don’t….but in no wise are they ever to be inferred the respect accorded to God’s Word.
Italicized words (in King James & others)…The translators had such respect for the word of God, that the words they added (to help the translation flow from one language to another) they italicized to let you know they added them.
You can read the text, leaving the italicized words out, and you aren’t changing the word of God one bit.
You decide if the italicized words are correct…..or add your own….to help it flow in your understanding. It’s your right. It’s your responsibility. Get the picture?!!
What I’m getting at here is that man has already changed the Word of God, sometimes (according to my right dividing) helpfully, sometimes unhelpfully. God has given me and you the right…..the right….to translate the word of God which we read ourselves….in order to aid in our understanding and believing of it.
If what you change is rightly dividing the Word, then you’ll get the results promised above, and you’ll be closer to Christ. This class is to help you do just that….rightly divide the word of truth.
Ex: John 7:53…8:1….translators started new chapter right in middle of thought.
WHICH VERSION is best? …all are flavored by the theology of the translators.
(Ever wonder why sometimes “Holy Ghost” is used, and sometimes “Holy Spirit?” It’s because the 2 different groups of translators who were working on what we know as the King James version each had their own liking of how to translate the exact same Greek word….pneuma…….each group felt so strongly that it was decided to leave both in the final translation. They kind of “took turns” using their translation)
King James, or New King James has the most help books (lexicon, concordance, interlinear, etc.) RSV (Revised Standard Version) and ESV (English Standard Revised) are very accurate. Amplified Bible very good, though wordy. The Message is good, someone else’s spiritual understanding of what they read. Living Bible….generally bad. Any version which tries simply to make the Bible easier to understand, without regard to the accuracy of which words are used…..cannot be trusted. Every once in a while they’re good. International Version is okay. These are just some thoughts about what I think….based on my right dividing of the Word…..for which I stand approved (or not approved) before God.
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The Bible interprets itself….
#1) IN THE VERSE (most widely applicable key), keeping in mind…
A) Historical & cultural context of the whole, as well as the individual words Examples: Jn 13:3-17 washing of feet (dirty job, left to lowest servants)
Today, instead of feet washing rituals, we could have bathroom cleaning rituals…that’s right, go to another person’s home and clean their toilet! That is the cultural equivalent of what Jesus did by washing the feet of his disciples.
Acts 16:11-15 Lydia (seller of purple….she was well off)
Go to now …James 4:13………come on now
Wot ye not….Rom 11:2…………don’t you know
Contextual meaning of word – “line” in dance is different than “line” in drugs, different than “line” in carpentry, different than “line” in mathematics, different than “line” in……
All things….Rom 8:28 look at context! Then read I Cor 2:10-15……all things of the spirit!
Colossians 3:16…where should the punctuation be?
QUESTIONS TO LESSON 1
1) How, according to Jesus himself, is a great way to learn what he teaches? Cite reference.
2) What are some ways to tell whether or not we are going in the right direction in our quest to understand the Word of God?
3)How did we get the Word of God, and what is it good for? Cite references.
4) What’s the best version of the Word of God? Explain.
5) Give me a reference, and type out the verse, that speaks to you regarding the power, purpose and/or effectiveness of the Word of God.
6) In YOUR Bible, what is of God and what is of man?
7) How, would you describe, is the FIRST (and primary) way the Word of God interprets itself?
8) Type out Colossians 3:16, punctuating it according to YOUR right dividing of its truth.
TWO
IN THE VERSE
ADMINISTRATIONS
TO WHOM IT IS WRITTEN
IN THE VERSE Figurative or Literal – The Word of God was written in the vernacular of the person doing the writing. In other words, he/she was a person just like you, and wrote like you might write.
Figurative:
Figures of Speech are God’s way of emphasizing. They demand the reader’s attention, invite his mental involvement.
There are over 70 different figures of speech used in the Bible.
For example: idiomatic usage, irony, personification, simile, metaphor, allegory, asyndeton, oxymoron, polysyndeton, malefaction, hyperbole……
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Figurative or literal – you decide whether what’s written is literal or figurative. Prov 1:20 – wisdom cries out
Mark 1:5 – all – really? Every single person?
I Thess 3:8 – live – you mean otherwise he’d die?
Contextual meaning of words (words can have more than 1 meaning) A “line” can be to stand in a line, a line of cocaine, a line dance at a country bar, a line in geometry. Has a different meaning depending on context.
all things Rom 8:28 – context is “all things of the spirit” law Rom 8:2,3 – 3 laws.. The law (of Moses), the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus, the law of sin & death…..in the last 2, the word “law” must be understood like “the law of gravity”. Meaning, it’s the way things work.
Verse 7 – “the law of God” ….. absolutely cannot be speaking of the law of Moses
heaven Acts 14:17 rain from heaven I Cor 15:48, 49 Heaven is either the realm of God (spirit), or it’s physically the place above the earth. How do you know which? Context.
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Administrations – oikonomia, meaning, “rules of the house.” Each administration in the Bible is determined by the manner in which God related to people. If you don’t discern the administration environment (how God is working with people at that time), you’re going to have a lot of contradictions and confusion as to what God wants from you!
There are 8 different administrations in the Bible. They are:
Original Garden – Gen 2:16,17 – what were the rules in the garden? What was sin? Patriarchal – Rom 5:12-14– they died even though they didn’t sin
Law – Gal 3:16,17 Sin means breaking the law of Moses Kingdom of Heaven – John 1:14 – 18….Matt 15:8 Rom 15:8 – Jesus on the earth
Grace (Mystery Revealed) – I Cor 2:7, 8 Hey, this is NOW! What is sin today? Tribulation/Wrath Millenial Rule – Jesus rules on the earth, with his body (us) helping him carry out his rule, for 1000 years. What will be sin then?
New Heaven/ New Earth – where the righteousness of God dwells and has its way. No sin!
When you read a book in the Bible, knowing who wrote it, to whom, and for what purpose will go a very long long way in you understanding God’s will for your life…..and whether or not to apply what is written at that place literally to your life today.
To Whom it is written
Isaiah 1:1 Jeremiah 1:5 Gospels – written about the son of God, fulfilling God’s promises to Israel.
Matt 15:24 – “I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
Romans 15:8 Jesus was sent by God to Israel. He lived under the law of Moses, and fulfilled the law of Moses, thus rendering it unnecessary (Rom 10:4).
Paul’s ministry
Rom 15:15,16
Gal 1:15, 16; 2:7, 8
I Tim 1:15, 16
Eph 3:1-9
QUESTIONS TO LESSON 2
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Who was Jeremiah sent to minister to?
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What is the most important part of the Bible today?
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What were the “rules of the house” during the time of the Kingdom of Heaven?
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What are the “rules of the house” during this time of the grace of God.
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What’s another name for this age of grace in which we live?
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Why were the 4 gospels written?
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Is Galatians 2:20 figurative or literal?
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Jesus is called the “Son of God.” Is that figurative or literal?