Episode 2 How to Read Your Bible Effectively

Episode 2

The New Christian Podcast

Title: How to Read your Bible Effectively

https://anchor.fm/james-arthur-chambers/episodes/Ep--2-How-To-Read-Your-Bible-Effectively-eadahk/a-a1bs03t

1.    Greetings

2.    My goal in the episode is not to bore you or bouge you down with what a seminarian would learn about the Bible but to give you a practical guide, a starting point in which you can better read, and learn from God’s Word.

3.    Introduction to the Bible: The Bible is 66 Books broke up into the Old and New Testaments. 39 OT, & 27 in the New. It is broken up in the OT by Genres Such as Narrative, Poetry, Wisdom, Prophecy, Gospels, Epistles, & Apocalypse (Like the Book of Revelation).

4.    In order to better understand the Bible, we have to take these genres into consideration as we read. The context of a book, chapter, or verse is key to understanding as well.  

Keep in mind that our goal is to grasp the meaning of the text God has intended. We do not create meaning out of a text; rather, we seek to find the meaning that is already there. However, we recognize that we cannot apply the meaning for the ancient audience directly to us today because of the river that separates us (culture, time, & situation).

5.    Interpreting the Bible is both an art (How one preacher differs in personality, the way they say what they say), & a science.  Fixed laws of interpretation. We use the term hermeneutics, which simply means the act of interpretation. D.L. cooper gives a good definition of this when he said,

“When the plain sense of Scripture makes common sense, seek no other sense, therefore, take every word at its primary, ordinary, usual, literal meaning unless the facts of the immediate context studied in the light of related passages and self-evident or unquestionable and fundamental truths, indicate clearly otherwise.”

-         Literal meaning the plan or normal meaning unless it is obviously a figure of speech or allegory.

-         What did the author intend for it to mean?

-         Historical background

-         Geographical locations

-         Cultural context.

-         Literary genres

-         Figures of speech (35).

What are some examples? Let take a passage that for many years now we have heard from non-Christians that we shouldn’t judge! Doesn’t your Bible say you should judge?

Let’s look at the passage in context: Matthew Gospel Chapter 7 verse 1 - 7 “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

They stop there, but the rest of the passage gives us the meaning and context. Verse 3-5 says, 3 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. (figures of speech).

You see, it’s not telling us to not judge it telling us the correct way to judge. First, correct yourself before you judge a person for something you are doing. A better way to say it is if you have a certain problem and you are judging someone for the same problem first get yourself right before God then, you will be better equipped to correct the other person. (But always in a loving fashion).

Finally, I want to address the issue of Bible translations, this topic always seems to hit a hot button with people.

1.    You see the original languages of the OT was Hebrew (Aramaic) and NT and older form of Greek (called Koine Greek). Unless you’ve been to seminary and studied these languages my guess is you would have a hard time understanding and reading these type of Bible.

2.    Translations of the Bible (i.e. KJV, NKJV, ESV, NASB, NIV, NLT, and The Message) are all examples of different translations. With all languages our English is no exemption, word meanings change over time. A word or phrase in 1950-1970 has a new or different meaning in the 2020s. So in order to stay relevant as the word meaning change Bible translation committees come together (all of which are experts & scholars) in not only the Biblical languages but other languages including English. Spending in many cases years carefully translating from the oriental languages to create a modern language version.

3.    Translations are broken up into 2 categories formal and functional. On the formal side which is a closer translation from the original languages are KJV, NKJV, ESV. The middle ground would be your NIV & NLT, closer to a functional (or thought for thought as it is sometimes called) the Message is a paraphrase version of the Bible.

4.    I have to say this because this can be a hot topic for some, that I believe all of these the translation is fine for study, but if I were asked what translation is best for most ages I would say, ESV, NIV, & NLT. These 3 give you the best in a word for word translation & middle ground study.

5.    So, what are we to look for when choosing a translation? Here are 3 criteria you can follow.

a.     Choose a translation that uses modern English, the whole point of making a translation is to move the message of the original text to a language you can understand.

b.    Choose a translation that is based on the standard Hebrew and Greek text. (this would include the ESV, NIV, NASB) The KJV is not recommended for young readers. All the translation I mention previously is committee translations.

c.     Give preference to a translation by a committee over against a translation by an individual. (NWT) JW’s.

I have only scratched the surface of what I studied in seminary on this topic, so please feel free to contact me on any of my social media platforms if you have any questions. I would be happy to discuss with you more about this topic.

I would love to hear from you which translation do you prefer and like to study from.

Thank you for tuning into this week’s episode and stay tuned to next week when we will look are How to recognize a good church.

Would you let me pray for you?