Knowable Word

Helping ordinary people learn to study the Bible

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5 Ways Daily Bible Reading Will Change Your Life

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Keely Needham writes about “5 Ways Daily Bible Reading Impacts Your Life.” Sometimes we struggle to feel excited about daily Bible reading, and that’s normal. We shouldn’t expect a mountaintop experience every time. The daily discipline will, sometime imperceptibly, change our lives.

Why should we read the Bible every day? Does it make a difference? Is it just something good Christians do? Or is it a legalistic habit that’s unnecessary to a healthy walk with God? If we don’t understand why it matters, we likely won’t make it a priority. Here are five analogies to bring to life the purposes of a consistent, daily study of God’s Word.

Her 5 metaphors for how daily Bible reading affects us:

  1. A House: Getting to know God
  2. An Anchor: Renewing your mind
  3. Glasses: Giving clarity
  4. Chemo: Killing sin
  5. Vocab: Fuel for a living relationship

So as you keep plugging away, you are getting to know this true God, and you’re learning how to view yourself and live in God’s world. There’s often not much razzle-dazzle, but the transformation is still supernatural and glorious.

See the full article for more explanation. Check it out!

 

Great Deal on New ESV Bibles

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Westminster Bookstore has a limited supply of Open Box premium ESV Bibles, which they’re offering at 70% off. If you’re in the market for a new Bible or gift Bible, this is a great deal.

‘Open Box’ Bibles are in new condition, but have imperfect or missing packaging. We won’t ship it to you if there is any damage to the bible itself.

Check it out!

Disclaimer: If you click the link above to Westminster Books, this blog will receive a small commission. Thank you for supporting our efforts to help ordinary people learn to study the Bible!

Sample Commentary Usage with Psalm 44

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At the Logos Talk blog, Mark Ward writes about “How to Use a Commentary to Study the Psalms.” In the article, Ward describes his own process of studying Psalm 44, and how various commentaries provided helpful insights at the right times.

What Ward does well is show us his own attempts to wrestle with the text, as well as his willingness to consider the insights of others. He avoids the hubris of thinking he doesn’t need any outside help to interpret the psalm. And he avoids the laziness of allowing one or more commentaries to do all his thinking for him.

So for an example of how one might use such tools well, check it out!

Why Keep Reading When You Feel Nothing?

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Writing at The Blazing Center, Stephen Altrogge gives “5 Reasons to Read the Bible When You Feel Absolutely Nothing.” This is very good. Here is a taste:

God rewards those who seek him. Not those who feel him. Not those who get warm fuzzies or feel spiritual electricity coursing through their souls. When I read the Bible, I am expressing faith that God will reward me for seeking him. And (although this should be obvious), God will reward me for seeking him…

Reading God’s word is usually like planting seeds. I won’t see the fruit of it immediately, but eventually, that fruit will come forth. If you ever wonder why a particular Christian is so mature, it’s because they’ve spent many hours planting seeds in the soil of their heart…

As I sit on the couch, rubbing sleep from my eyes and gulping wake-up juice, God himself is talking to me. Glorious.

Here are Altrogge’s 5 reasons:

  1. It’s a way of acknowledging my dependence on God.
  2. God rewards those who seek him.
  3. Reading Scripture is primarily a planting activity.
  4. Because God did speak to me.
  5. God’s word protects me.

     

For the full article, check it out!

Top 10 Posts of 2016

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San Churchill (2007), Creative Commons

San Churchill (2007), Creative Commons

It’s hip and cool for bloggers to post their top 10 posts of the year. And we want to be hip and cool. Our hearts tell us to do it, and the Bible says to “walk in the ways of your heart and the sight of your eyes” (Eccl 11:9). So here goes.

10. Buying a Markup Bible

This post from Ryan Higginbottom in early 2015 saw a resurgence of interest in 2016. Do you have a decent markup Bible for study?

9. Free OIA Summary Booklet

We’re tickled by how this one took off. We wanted to offer a free resource that summarizes all the key ideas in one place. It’s not the best place to start, as it has no examples or illustrations. But it makes a decent reference.

8. You Have Enough Time to Study the Bible

This post, along with #6, was part of Ryan’s series answering common objections people have to studying the Bible.

7. 10 Old Testament Books Never Quoted in the New Testament

This post was part of my 2013 series analyzing every Old Testament quotation in the New Testament. This one seemed to connect with people this year. Good to know not only what’s said, but also what’s not said.

6. You Are Smart Enough to Study the Bible

This post, along with #8, was part of Ryan’s series answering common objections people have to studying the Bible.

5. Teach Bible Study to a 2-Year-Old

Many people really care about their kids! Just like Jesus (Matt 19:14).

4. Teach Bible Study to a 4-Year-Old

Many people care even more about their kids when they’re getting close to school age.

3. Top 11 OT Verses Quoted in NT

This post was part of my 2013 series analyzing every Old Testament quotation in the New Testament. This one focusing on verses seems to be the one people first stumble on to.

2. Summary of the OIA Method

We put this one into the top menu so people could find it easily. It pretty much explains why this blog exists, so we’re glad it gets a lot of pageviews.

1. Details of the OIA Method

See the previous post, unless you want less of a summary and more of a detailed explanation. Then see this post instead.

The Only Book You Must Read This Year

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As you set your reading goals for this new year, please remember there is only one book you must read. As John Piper writes:

I have never called any book a “must-read” except one, the Bible. I suppose that’s because I take the word “must” so seriously. I mean, “Must,” or you perish. “Must,” in order to make it to heaven.

Now there you go, turning salvation by grace into salvation by works. Salvation by Bible reading!

Probably anyone who responds like that is not very saturated with the Bible. For the Bible makes plain that there is a practical, ongoing “holiness without which no one will see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14), and that this holiness is produced by the Holy Spirit through the word of God. Hence Jesus prays for us, “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth” (John 17:17).

This is how we confirm that we are truly his disciples, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples” (John 8:31). And if we are not found to be his holy disciples in the end, we will perish. This is what Paul meant when he said, “I warn you . . . that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God” (Galatians 5:21).

The truth of God, rising continually through the roots of faith planted in God’s word, is the way God keeps Christians alive and enables them to bear the faith-authenticating fruit of love, so that they will not be castaways in the last day. This is the essence of why I say the Bible is a “must-read” — the only must read.

Piper then goes on to give 7 inspiring reasons to read the Bible. I can’t list them here, as most of them consist of a long sentence. But Piper’s reflections are motivating and worth considering.

Check it out!

HT: Andy Cimbala

Don’t be a Second-Hander

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In this short clip, John Piper describes his experience reading commentaries: often helpful, but rarely igniting his devotion to the Lord. To learn from the Book, you’ve got to look at the Book—and keep looking! Don’t go elsewhere for all your material.

https://vimeo.com/189824100

This year, may we be a people motivated daily by the best source material in existence. May we look and look and look and not let go until the Lord blesses us.

Check it out!

The Most Important Component of Children’s Ministry

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In a blog post last week, Russell Moore makes an critical point about “The Cosmic Importance of Children’s Sunday School“:

Sunday school transformed my life.

What I needed was the slow repetition, over years and years, of the Word of God. What I sometimes find among Christians is knowledge of systematic theology in one tribe or of biblical moral principles in another—without knowing the narrative of the text itself. Some Christians know how to argue their view of whether Romans 7 describes pre- or post-conversion experience but don’t know the difference between Rehoboam and Jeroboam, between Abigail and Michal. We would all—as gospel Christians—affirm the entirety of the Bible as necessary and profitable but still might, if we’re honest, think that knowledge of the text’s details—rather than the theology or life principles arising from it—is more about Bible trivia than the Christian life. If so, we are wrong.

Now the exact structure of the education—that is, what we think of as “Sunday school”—is much less important than the form of the education—the slow repetition, over years and years, of the Word of God. And Moore nails his point here. The next generation needs to be fed God’s Word. Principles of theology are important, but not sufficient. Lessons in morality are important, but not sufficient.

The Church’s little ones are depending on us to get this right. Please consider what Dr. Moore has to say on this topic. Check it out!

Don’t Freak Out Over Translational Variations

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Earlier this year, Dr. George Guthrie wrote a wonderful piece with “6 Reasons We Shouldn’t Freak Out over Word Variations in our Modern Translations.” He addresses the concern often expressed about whether we can trust the Bible in English when there are so many differences in various translations. Yes, there are differences. Yes, sometimes the differences should concern us (when they are careless or unfaithful to the original language). But most of the differences are so minor as to be of little concern.

Guthrie gives 6 reasons for his recommendation:

  1. They are translations, and translations have various ways to express an idea accurately.
  2. Modern translations generally follow one of two main methods of translating.
  3. Our primary English translations are consistently very good, for which we should praise God.
  4. Variants in the manuscripts behind our translations do not affect the message of the Bible, neither the theological truths, nor the exhortations and commands for living.
  5. All the variations in wording can be studied by any person willing to learn.
  6. Variations in wording keep us humble, seeking God for understanding, growing in our study of God’s Word.

In addition, Guthrie offers this marvelous advice:

In reality, there is no such thing as a strictly “literal” translation, since all translations involve interpretation, all translations must render Greek and Hebrew grammar in ways that are understandable in English, and all translations have places that are “functional” in nature. At many points a literal rendering of Greek and Hebrew word order, for instance, would sound like gibberish in English!

If you’d like to understand Guthrie’s reasons better, see the full article. Check it out!

Big Audio Bible Sale

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The website Christianaudio.com is in the middle of their twice-yearly sale, where a large number of books are available for $7.49, no membership required. They have included many audio Bibles in this sale, with the result that these Bibles are for sale at a steep discount. (My favorite audio Bible, the ESV Hear the Word Audio Bible, normally sells for $28.98.)

If you’re interested in listening to the Bible, and you’d like the flexibility of taking the audio with you (as opposed to simply streaming it), this is a great opportunity. At this time of year, you might consider an audio Bible gift for a friend or family member.

Check it out!