Bible Study

 Wow. I think I kicked over a hornet's nest in my last article! (See comments on "WOMS" posted by Amonite.)

All right, just so I'm not viewed as some kind of anti-intellectual, touchy-feely pastor who just wants people to love Jesus and reduce their knowledge of God's Word to pretty poems and children's Bible stories, please allow me the opportunity be clear on my position. Especially to you, Amonite, since you sort of took me to task in your comments. (Which I fully appreciate, by the way.) After all, "As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another" (Proverbs 27:17).

I am absolutely, completely, profoundly and fanatically FOR Bible study in all its forms and manifestations. I love studying what is beneath the text... learning the proper context of the biblical stories... being wowed by understanding the depth and richness of meaning found in the etymology of the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek words... and, perhaps most importantly, being taught to "see" the forms and shadows of the coming Messiah in nearly every page of the Old Testament. I deeply love the "science" of studying God's Word. I went to seminary, and for nearly seven years of my life, I read books about the study of the Bible. I wrote endless papers on biblical criticism, hermeneutics, exegesis, and other methods of scholarly Bible study.

For me, Bible study opened up a whole new, utterly beautiful avenue of understanding more about the God of the universe, who created all, and knows all, and watches over all, and loves all people. This powerful, gracious, patient, holy God MUST be properly studied and revered... His Word is simply too powerful and too big for us to ignore, or become passive, or lazy. We cannot afford to walk in ignorance or arrogance about who God is... and the only way we can discover more and more things about Him is through in-depth study. I'm not sure I buy your 2 Peter 1:3-11 argument fully... but nevertheless, I passionately believe in the power of wrestling with God's Word, using any and all tools available for the task. It would be sinful not to engage one another, challenge one another, teach one another, and learn together from the Holy Scriptures.

And yet...

Bible study is a funny thing. As with all things utterly human and laced with sin... Bible study does not in and of itself equal relationship. Can we agree on that? God is not pleased to be the SUBJECT of our study... He demands to be the OBJECT of our thoughts, our ideas... that is, our worship. As a husband, I don't merely "study" my wife - I relate to her. I listen to her. I love her, and choose to spend time with her... not merely to learn, but to simply be. She is not merely the subject of my thoughts, but the object of my affection.

I have heard it put this way: In truth we do not interpret the Bible, so much as it interprets us. It is not a dead document to be analyzed... it is the living Word that reveals the Almighty One to those who posture themselves with a humble attitude of listening to what He has to say, and willingness to obey His will.

I have met many smart Bible scholars who simply do not know Jesus as Lord. Oh, they know the technical details of the Word... they know the philosophical intricacies of the Hebrew and Greco-Roman cultures... they know the unfolding history of the Hebrew/Israelite nation... they know all kinds of things ABOUT God. But they do not know God. They have no relationship with the Savior. So... I ask you, Amonite, where has all their scholarly Bible study gotten them? Are we saved by our superior knowledge of Christ...? Or by our simple, childlike faith in Christ? What shapes us and molds us into the image of God...? By how well we can exegete a text? Or by humble obedience to the One who reveals Himself (and all that we need for salvation) through His Holy Word?

My strongly felt... no, my utterly passionate belief about the state of Christianity in 21st century America (and the West in general) is that we are a spiritually impoverished nation, and as such, we are thoroughly biblically illiterate. We all have 10 Bibles on our shelves... and yet, maybe 1 in 100 people have actually read ONE of their Bibles ONCE ever in their entire lives. As a pastor, I find that horrifyingly wrong.

Printed Bibles may be a relatively new phenomenon... but then again, the saints used to gather daily to publicly read (i.e., hear) the powerful Word of God. We are obviously far removed from that kind of assembly... so reading the Word privately (as well as corporately) is a sufficient and necessary endeavor.

We, however, are a frantically busy people, stressed and stretched beyond belief. We're on the move constantly, here and there every single day. Work, play, kids, family, trips, vacations, more work... you get what I'm saying, right? And when we have free time... when we come home at night after a long, exhausting day, what is it most of us turn to as a therapeutic way of calming down? Well, take your pick: television, or the internet. I know firsthand... 'cause that's so typically me! Unfortunately, those avenues lead to several potential problems in my thinking... perhaps chief among them is that people are not spending time engaging in the basic spiritual disciplines. You know... stuff like soaking in God's Word, time in prayer, and intentional, meditative silence, with an ear toward the soft, still voice of the Lord.

So... since we're so frantically busy. Since we don't have the time (or energy) to actually READ the Bible for ourselves, what do we do? We farm it out to others!

Ya... I know I should read the Bible - after all, it is the Word of God... the most profound, unique book in all of human history... the revelation of the Holy One, etc. Most of us agree that it's an important book. But hey, it's HARD to understand! But rather than take precious time to struggle through it all, I'll read books from really smart people who have already done it... and can condense it down to a list of the most important things I'm supposed to get from it. Oh, I STUDY the Bible... in that I read my devotional books (that have 2-3 verses at best) and consider what the "professional" has mined from its riches. I have my Bible reading plan... one that chunks up the grand, epic story of God's salvation into four, daily, bite-size pieces that completely destroys the context of the narrative story. I read tons of books and articles from those who have done the dirty work of interpretation... and I love to read about how these authors inform me I'm supposed to think and respond to God, based on what they write. I even listen to tons of podcasts of really articulate, very intellectual super-preachers who know how to move me, and tell me the truth!

But read the Bible for myself...? In context...? As an epic story that teaches Truth beyond the gate of my intellectual mind...? From cover to cover? No way... I simply don't have the time! It's too big, man... too boring, too confusing, too offensive, too detached from my circumstances... and too open to my wrong interpretation. It's not worth the investment of my time to read it like that. It's not meant to be read like a story... it's more like a reference book at the library... like an encyclopedia, full of necessary information, data and wisdom... but hey, you don't read a full encyclopedia volume! You don't even check one out... you just look up whatever you're hoping to address at that time. Right?

Man... that is just plain wrong thinking! I believe powerful, profound things can change in a person's evil heart when they take the time, effort, discipline, and determination to read the Bible in an oh-so-simple way - from Genesis all the way through to Revelation! It happened in my life, and I've seen it happen in many other people's lives as well. Are we called to read it in a one-dimensional, ignorant, self-serving manner? Absolutely not! We enter the pages prayerfully and humbly, and expectantly. As we read, we see ourselves in the story, and all of a sudden, it becomes our story. We are Adam, we are Israel, we are fickle, we are hard-hearted, we are stiff-necked... we truly are a mess! But God is holy, God is good, God is patient, God is a consuming fire, God hates sin, God gets frustrated with our lack of trust in Him... God is love, and His love has always been present... and His grace has always been revealed, even in those strange, often violent stories found in the Old Testament. In fact... the whole thing leads us to desperately crying out for an answer to the sin problem. We realize we're utterly screwed because of the curse upon us all. We simply are not able to change our rebellious streak, no matter how hard we try. Not even the law can save us. We need an outside source of strength. We NEED a Savior!!! God does not change... but He does reveal Himself to us more and more as we immerse ourselves in the beautiful, often mysterious adventure of faith found only in His holy Word. And through it all, the Gospel becomes the Good News... the profoundly good news!

Should we study the Word? Absolutely! Of course! But as I said before, only secondarily to placing ourselves at His feet and HEARING what He desires to say to us through continual reading of whole chapters, whole books, whole testaments... yes, even the whole Bible - learning who God is throughout the magnificently written 66 books of the biblical canon. If the laypersons, who do not have time and/or desire to "study" in a scholarly way, were to spend their time reading the Word itself rather than ONLY other people's (book, internet, devotional "study") interpretation of what the Word has to say and how it should shape us... I believe the Church would once again become a praying Church... a loving Church... an involved Church... a passionate Church... and we would more closely resemble the royal priesthood and holy nation that the gates of hell can not overcome. Amonite, perhaps we're stumbling on the word "study" - whereas I believe interpretation (within a community of faith) is absolutely part of the reading and hearing exercise. Study, to me, is more about turning to outside sources for clarity and information.

Of course we are called to interpret what we read... to wrestle with the text. That's where Bible study is of paramount importance to making disciples - that is, enhancing the whole reading/interpretive process. That's where involvement in the Body of Christ equips us for right belief (orthodoxy) and right behavior (orthopraxy). That's why pastors preach. That's why small groups are utterly important. That's why apologetics is a good and necessary tool. That's why we're called to gather together in communities... and openly discuss (even debate) what we're hearing from God together. We are not meant to live in isolation, or interpret the Word in an individualistic manner... no way! We are wired by God for deep community. We keep Satan at bay through our constant fellowship, through our prayers together, through serving one another... and through our continual discussion of what new life the Word is breathing into our otherwise dead beating hearts. Just because I want people to read their Bibles and engage in the epic story of salvation... doesn't mean I want them to do it in isolation.  Heck no... that's why we have church - to prevent us from moving inward and isolating ourselves from the ecclesia... the fellowship of the believers. But (and this is a big but!), I believe we all too quickly turn to "hired guns" of the faith and allow their much-studied interpretations become our interpretation (that is, apart from wrestling with it ourselves). Shortcuts are shorter, but they don't always get us to where we need to go. We need to READ and INTERPRET together, in community. In addition to that... yes, we can and do learn a great deal more by turning to scholars, pastors, authors, teachers, etc. who are not part of our local community. There is a wealth of information to help us STUDY certain aspects of discipleship in greater detail... and therefore enrich our reading/interpretive process... but they're only secondary to the primary task of learning the depth of biblical Truth together.

Church: I'm for it! It ain't always pretty, but it's absolutely necessary, and sometimes (often in spite of itself) it reflects an utterly beautiful portrait of Jesus Christ to a world in desperate trouble.

And that leads me to this Sunday's sermon topic: Christian Assembly.