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A Crucial Question to Help You Find the Main Point of a Bible Passage

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This is a guest post by Brian Stenson and Lincoln Fitch, who serve with DiscipleMakers in eastern Pennsylvania. They share a love for good coffee, good books, and good Bible study.  Listen to their talk on Bible study from the DiscipleMakers Fall Conference here.

Why the Main Point Matters

Can you imagine pouring yourself into your study of a passage, only to discover you were missing the main idea?

I (Lincoln) had that experience a few months ago. After reviewing my notes for an upcoming sermon, my ministry supervisor asks me straight out: “What would you say is the main point of the passage?” And upon hearing my answer, he holds nothing back. “I don’t think that is the main point of the passage.” Though it is hard to hear this, I know he is right. I can’t even justify my proposed main point to myself. And now I feel like a total failure. Will I ever be able to understand or teach the Bible accurately?

While finding a text’s main point is not easy, it is crucial. Consider what happens if we teach the Scripture without grasping the main ideas. At the very least, the message (even if it has some real truth) doesn’t arise clearly from the page to stick in your listener’s hearts. At the worst, you could be working at cross-purposes with what God actually wants to communicate through the passage. But finding the main point empowers you to access the boundless power of God’s transformative word. Whether you lead Bible studies, teach and preach, or study the Bible on your own, finding the main point of a passage is foundational to understanding and communicating who God is.

A Crucial Question

If you’re familiar with OIA Bible study, you’ve probably experienced the challenge of finding the main point. After observing, you ask questions, especially “why” questions. You consider the context. You try to figure out the author’s intentions. But often, you feel stumped.

We find one particular question to be crucial when it’s time to identify the passage’s main point:

Why did the author write the passage this way?

ed_needs_a_bicycle (2012), Creative Commons

It’s not a flashy or revolutionary question, but it usually gets the job done. And it does so by causing us to examine a few more specific questions.

  • What gives the passage its shape?
  • What does the author emphasize?
  • How did the author get from beginning to end?
  • How does the structure of the larger section, and the book as a whole, help us see what the author is trying to get across in this passage?

For example, notice how the shape of John 6:60-71 reveals much about the author’s main point:

  • This relatively short passage concludes a long discourse between the Jews and Jesus. These final verses show the responses to Jesus’ teaching.
  • The passage begins with many disciples following Jesus but ends with few. John 6:66 says, “After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.” This statement serves as a turning point in the narrative.
  • This turning point raises the following questions: 1) “Why did so many people turn away?” and 2) “What was the difference between those who turned away and those who continued to follow Jesus?”
  • The disciples who turned away gave a reason: “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” (John 6:60). Jesus also knew they were grumbling and asked if they took offense at his words (John 6:61).
  • After many turned away, Jesus turns to the Twelve and asks if they want to go away as well (John 6:66). Peter explains their reason for staying: “You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God” (John 6:69-70).

Do you see how both groups of disciples comment on Jesus’ words? The first group turns away because they are challenged and offended by Jesus’ words. The second group keeps following because they hear Jesus’ words and receive them, knowing them to be the words of eternal life. This text reveals a lot about people by their response to Jesus’ words, and by the inherent contrast in the structure.

Here’s where we think John is going: People’s responses to Jesus’ words demonstrate whether they’ll follow him or fall away. There is our main point.

You could state the main point in many ways, but the passage clearly highlights both Jesus’ words and what we do with them. May the Lord help us to hear and love the words of eternal life found in the Scriptures!

Conclusion

Do you see why structure matters? The passage has a significant change (the number of people following Jesus) from beginning to end, which shows us the author’s intentions: to demonstrate the impact of our response to Jesus’ words. This insight arises from examining why the author wrote the passage this way.

Finding the main point of a passage is not easy, but it’s worth it. The main point is your front-row ticket to the revealed glory of God, and it will equip you to think and speak with clarity and power when you teach the word.

The Main Message of Your Bible

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In an excerpt from the ESV Men’s Devotional Bible, Bryan Chapell summarizes well “The Main Message of Your Bible.” Here is a taste:

God doesn’t intend for this divine crusade of redemption merely to interest us. As the apostle Paul writes, “Whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope” (Rom. 15:4). The history, poetry, symbols, and instructions of Scripture vary greatly in style but not in their intention: all are intended to affect our response to life in our fallen world. Though evil is always present and frequently prevails, we are not to despair. With a patient confidence in God’s ultimate providence, and the assurance of the Scriptures that his redemption is ongoing, we always have hope.

Check it out!

Some Bible Outlines are More Helpful Than Others

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mkorsakov (2014), Creative Commons

mkorsakov (2014), Creative Commons

Bible outlines help us simplify and organize the author’s message. That’s why expository sermons outline passages and study Bibles outline books. I can’t remember the last time I read an introduction to a book of the Bible that didn’t propose an outline for the book.

But some outlines are less helpful than others.

Take, for example, this outline of Job 4-14 from the NIV Zondervan Study Bible:

  1. First Exchange: Eliphaz (4:1-5:27)
  2. Job’s Response to Eliphaz (6:1-7:21)
  3. Second Exchange: Bildad (8:1-22)
  4. Job’s Response to Bildad (9:1-10:22)
  5. Third Exchange: Zophar (11:1-20)
  6. Job’s Response to Zophar (12:1-14:22)

This outline succeeds at observing Job’s structure, but it does little to help us understand Job’s message. Many outlines stop short of significant usefulness when they state all the “what” but little of the “why.” In other words, they outline content but not meaning. They outline observation but not interpretation. They give us summaries but not main points.

What’s usually more helpful is to outline the logic of the passage. Figure out how the main points of each section flow into and out of one another, constructing a theme or message that the author wants to communicate to his readers. When an outline packages the building blocks of the book’s argument, readers are more likely to benefit from it quickly.

For example, consider this outline of Job 4-14 from The Reformation Heritage KJV Study Bible:

  1. Eliphaz: You Strengthened Others but Now Are Fainting (4:1-5:27)
  2. Job: You Do Not Know the Weight of My Grief (6:1-7:21)
  3. Bildad: All Agree that God is Just (8:1-22)
  4. Job: But How Can Man Be Just Before God? (9:1-10:22)
  5. Zophar: Does Your Talk Justify You? (11:1-20)
  6. Job: I Know that I Shall Be Justified (12:1-14:22)

I might argue that the last statement should be broadened to better capture the main point of Job’s entire speech in chapters 12-14—I would state it as “My Dangerously Unpredictable God is More Trustworthy Than My Clearly Logical Friends”—but that would be a minor quibble. The point is that the editors of The Reformation Heritage KJV Study Bible give us more than the order of speeches; they attempt to state concisely the message of each speech. In doing so, they help us get farther down the road in our study of the book. And for this I applaud them.

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Top 10 Curses of Study Bibles

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I’m facing a parental dilemma. The young man renting our spare bedroom offered to take a few of my children to a shooting range to teach them to handle firearms. This fellow is training to be an officer in the United States Navy, and he’s responsible and trustworthy—but still!

Should I allow it or not? I’m no curmudgeon when it comes to risk; I practically taught my children to climb trees before they could walk. But might they still be a shade too young and immature for this responsibility? We already tend ample wounds from plastic swords, light sabers, and Nerf weaponry; can these children handle a Marlin .22 caliber rifle or a Sig Sauer Mosquito handgun?

Sig Sauer Mosquito HandgunI’m mildly consoled by the fact that our resident midshipman has no interest in a joyride. On his watch, nobody can touch a gun without memorizing four rules:

Never point a gun at anything you don’t want to shoot.

Treat every gun as if it were loaded.

Keep your gun on safety until you are ready to fire.

Keep your finger off the trigger until you are ready to fire.

Regardless of where you stand on pacifism or gun control, I’m sure you’d agree that guns are dangerous and require extreme caution. In this way, guns are just like study Bibles. We should have rules about how to use them safely.

Last week, I wrote about the 10 blessings of study Bibles. I also consider it my duty to caution you about their 10 curses. Some of these curses are inherent in the “study Bible” genre; other curses are common but not insuperable weaknesses. Thus, some study Bibles avoid some of the curses.

Physical Size

1. They are big and bulky—Rarely will you catch somebody carrying one in a backpack. To be fair, though, the ESV Study Bible has a compact version and convenient online access. Others offer similar options.

They draw your attention away from the biblical text

2. Not much text per page—Especially in the New Testament, and especially in Paul’s epistles. When study notes abound, there’s less incentive to read passages in the context of the chapter, section, or book (one must do a lot of flipping).

3. Cross-references receive greater attention—Not only do you get the usual center-column cross-references, but every 2 or 3 study notes highlight even more cross-references. But cross-references are way overrated. Along with word studies and harmonization, they are one of the most common distractions from rich, contextual Bible study. You’ll do better to ignore them, at least until you understand the passage at hand. Get the main point; then correlate with other texts.

They can be strong at “what” but weak on “why”

4. Study notes that miss the mark—They usually have only enough space to do one of two things: 1) observe the text well but leave no room for interpretation, or 2) provide interpretation that rings hollow because it’s not supported through explicit observation.

5. Book introductions that answer questions you aren’t asking—Some book intros are superb; others get bogged down with too many details. Often the difference lies in whether the intro clearly presents the book’s logic (train of thought), or whether it delves into topics like the exact dating of Mark’s Gospel and whether Mark was written before or after Matthew.

6. Outlines that summarize but don’t explain—Most outlines focus on observation (summarizing content), not on interpretation or logic (following trains of thought). This helps you find certain episodes within a book, but it doesn’t do much to help you understand their placement. In addition, many study Bible outlines treat Bible books like stream-of-consciousness term papers: I, II, III.A., III.B., IV., etc. I just saw one that went from I to XVI with no further subdivisions! I always check out Dorsey’s Literary Structure of the Old Testament when I study an OT book. I wish there were a comparable volume for NT books.

7. Lack of clear main points—You’ll find pages of word analysis and historical background. And many study Bibles have summaries of content. But a summary is different from a main point. Only the most courageous editors take the risk of stating “the main point (or the main theme) of this book is ____________.” Even better is when they give you main points for not only each book, but also for each chapter.

They can hinder discovery

8. They train you to micro-analyze the text—Words often get more attention than sentences, which get more attention than paragraphs, which get more attention than chapters, etc. Study Bibles sometimes train our senses accordingly, like the young pastoral candidate I once interviewed who thought he’d attain maturity in his sermons when he could preach on a single verse.

9. They train you to observe (and observe small) but go no farther in the study process—This point follows from points 4-8 above. Some folks think they’ve studied the Bible because they’ve read the notes and looked up the cross-references. But have they learned to ask questions and answer them? Can they figure out (and fight for) the main points? Have they learned to apply the same truth to different groups of people?

10. They lead you to believe you can’t study the text on your own—If I locked you in a room with nothing but a pencil and a clean text (no study notes or cross-references), would you know what to do with it? Would you even think it possible you could know what to do with it?

Study Bibles deliver amazing blessings, but please use them with extreme caution.

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3 Tips for Bad Bible Study, Part 2

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In the first post of this series we looked at a tried-and-true method for achieving bland, ineffective Bible study. Today we’ll add a second method to our arsenal:

2. Find Your Own Meaning

The Bible calls itself a “sharp double-edged sword.” That sounds awfully dangerous, doesn’t it? No need to worry; you can keep that sword safely in its sheath by looking for a private, personal meaning for every text you read. Just come up with a summary of the text which you can claim is true for you (and not necessarily true for anyone else), and you’ll be safe from being pricked by the Word.

You need to know this tip because there are people out there who still hold to the idea that a text has an objective meaning. They would say that an author has a single main point in mind while writing which he or she wants to communicate to readers. The problem with this is that you’re left dangerously exposed to any number of ideas which might upset the serene status quo of your own thinking!

Here’s a quick example: John 3:16. Ask one of those objective types what this verse means, and he’ll start yammering on about “context,” being “born again,” etc, etc. What’s worse, he’ll probably land on a rather unsettling conclusion involving sin, death, faith, and the need for repentance. So much for safe, empty ritual! A much simpler and safer approach would be to say, “I’m so glad God loves the world. That means He loves me. That makes me happy.” Why go further than that?

So instead of asking, “What does this text mean?”, ask, “What does this text mean for me?” See the difference those two little words make? They’re all you need to protect yourself from annoying life-changing truths!

Here’s a few particular suggestions for applying this tip:

  • Remember to apply our first tip for bad Bible study: assume you already know what the text says. You’ll be much better positioned to make up your own meaning if you start with what you think the text says rather than what it actually says.
  • Avoid thinking about the fact that the text you’re reading was written by a particular person (in a particular place at a particular time). Instead, imagine the words floating ethereally. This makes it easier for you to attach your own meaning to them.
  • Similarly, try not to think about the fact that the text was written to a particular audience. If you start thinking about other people who have read the same words you’re reading, it’s harder to make up your own private meaning.
  • In Bible study meetings, keep the discussion centered on feelings. If you have to say something about the text itself, stick with vaguely spiritual statements like, “Wow, it’s just amazing that it says such-and-such.”

Give it a try! Apply this tip in your Bible reading, and I guarantee you’ll stay safe from stinging conviction, tumultuous encouragement, and lofty joy. Instead, you’ll stay in control and you’ll know just what to expect: nothing much at all.

One word of caution: Finding your own meaning will help you read the Bible without danger of learning anything, but be careful not to apply the strategy too generally. There are times when it’s a good idea to consider what the author intended to say. For example, I would not recommend finding your own meaning in the following types of writing:

  • Emails from your boss
  • Instructions for operating power tools
  • Anything written by the IRS

Main Points for all 66 Books of the Bible

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NIV Proclamation BibleLast week’s review of the NIV Proclamation Bible got me excited about its concise main points for every book of the Bible. I couldn’t resist listing them here for your reference. I don’t agree with every one. For example, the proposals for Joshua and Nahum are summaries and not main points, and the proposal for Job misses the centrality of the fear of the Lord. But they all are worth considering.

You’ll have to buy the Bible to see a 2-4 paragraph defense for each main point.

Books of Moses
Genesis: The Creator God is faithful to his covenant promises and redeems humanity through the promised line, despite their sin and rebellion.
Exodus: Trust, obey and worship the redeeming, covenant-making God who is with us.
Leviticus: The holy God makes his people holy, calls them to be holy, and provides atonement through blood when they are not.
Numbers: God has saved us and, as we travel through the wilderness of this world, we need to go on exercising faith to enter the inheritance Christ has secured for us.
Deuteronomy: God’s people are called to respond to God’s salvation with love and loyalty, worshiping the one true God in the midst of surrounding cultural idolatries and living in the midst of the nations as a community shaped at every level of life by God’s character of grace, justice, purity, compassion, and generosity.

 

Historical Books
Joshua: God gave the land he promised and Israel took it (Josh 11:23, 21:43-45, NIV).
Judges: The book of Judges demonstrates that if the Israelites survive the dark days of Canaanization under the judges it is entirely to the Lord’s credit.
Ruth: The Lord is committed to his people even in the darkest days, and will preserve his plan of salvation through a godly king, for both Jews and Gentiles.
1 and 2 Samuel: Even the best human leaders fail us, but God is faithful to his people and promised a king who would be powerful, wise, righteous and faithful.
1 and 2 Kings: Ruling justly and wisely depends on obeying God’s word, and disobeying has serious consequences.
1 and 2 Chronicles: Restore the people, raise up the king and renew the temple; then God will pour out his blessings.
Ezra-Nehemiah: In response to God fulfilling his promises, his people should repent, reform and “follow the Law of God,” or literally, “walk in the Law of God” (Neh 10:29, NIV).
Esther: God fulfils his redemptive promises through his divine providence.

 

Wisdom Books
Job: The obedient suffering of a believer brings glory to God.
Psalms: Praise the Lord: meditate on his circumstance-defying covenant love in the Messiah!
Proverbs: Proverbs recognizes the difficulties of living in God’s complex world and offers wise words to live by.
Ecclesiastes: Death and judgment are the only fixed realities in life, and everything else is uncertain and often subject to frustration and sorrow.
Song of Songs: Desire wisdom, desire your husband or wife, and above all desire Christ.

 

Prophets
Isaiah: God will rescue and renew a faithful, obedient people for himself, out of the ashes of Israel’s failure and exile, through the coming of his Servant King (the Messiah).
Jeremiah: “Therefore that he may raise, the Lord throws down” (John Donne).
Lamentations: “In your righteous wrath, O Lord, remember mercy!”
Ezekiel: Align yourselves with the God who has acted in judgment on Judah, and with the Israel that God is restoring.
Daniel: God always remains the true God, so stay faithful to him despite pressure to compromise.
Hosea: “Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress. Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes” (Hos 3:1, NIV).
Joel: Judgment day is approaching, so sincerely repent, call on the name of the Lord, and you will be blessed.
Amos: The sovereign Lord will not tolerate a proud and complacent people, but will judge all human evil with perfect justice so that his kingdom may come.
Obadiah: Divine sovereignty is the audacious theme of Obadiah, seen in the impending role reversal of Edom and Judah on the day of the Lord.
Jonah: “Salvation comes from the Lord” (Jonah 2:9, NIV), who is the Creator and Lord of the nations.
Micah: “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8, NIV).
Nahum: The Lord will bring inescapable and deserved judgment on mighty Assyria, and this is good news for God’s people, Judah.
Habakkuk: Be joyful and secure in an unjust world, by trusting in the God who promises to deliver his people and defeat evil.
Zephaniah: God will judge the sin and rebellion of the world, but there is hope because of the character and promises of God.
Haggai: The rebuilding of the Lord’s temple will bring about an even greater glory.
Zechariah: In a time of economic and spiritual crisis, the prophet Zechariah challenges a new generation to become participants, not spectators, in the plans the Lord Almighty has for the restoration of temple, city and society, and to welcome the Lord, the King of Jerusalem and the King of the whole earth.
Malachi: “‘I have loved you,’ says the Lord” (Mal 1:2, NIV).

 

New Testament Narratives
Matthew: Become disciples of Jesus, so that you may participate in the kingdom of the heavens, and make further disciples in all the nations.
Mark: Jesus, God’s Son, King, and Servant, has come, died and risen that we may know, confess and serve him.
Luke: You can be confident that Jesus, in his life, death, resurrection and ascension, heralds the fulfillment of all God’s promises in the Old Testament.
John: Believe that Jesus is the Son who came from the Father to reveal him, and has returned to the Father to open up the way to life for his people.
Acts: The ascended Lord Jesus continues to draw people from every nation to himself, growing his church through the preaching of the word and the ministry of his Spirit.

 

Epistles
Romans: God is glorified in a united missionary Church humbled together under grace.
1 Corinthians: All believers in Christ are God’s holy temple and should live in keeping with that holy status by becoming unified, shunning pagan vices and glorifying God under the lordship of Christ.
2 Corinthians: Be confident in the “weak” but authentic ministry of gospel proclamation.
Galatians: The grace of God in the gospel and the promised Spirit are sufficient both for salvation and the Christian life.
Ephesians: You are one in Christ now, so be united and stand firm in him.
Philippians: Live joyfully as citizens of God’s kingdom in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.
Colossians: “Just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him” (Col 2:6, NIV).
1 Thessalonians: Be reassured of the truth of the gospel and press on in living it out, despite opposition, until Jesus returns.
2 Thessalonians: While waiting expectantly for Christ’s glorious return, live lives of faithful perseverance, patient vigilance and obedient service.
1 Timothy: Local churches need gospel-driven leaders to guard their conformity to gospel truth.
2 Timothy: Guard for future generations the precious deposit of God’s glorious, life-giving gospel, despite opposition.
Titus: Change in belief by the power of the gospel leads to changed lives, so straighten out those deceived by false teachers.
Philemon: The gospel is powerful to reconcile deeply (and understandably) estranged people.
Hebrews: Because Jesus is utterly supreme, Christians should stick with him alone whatever happens.
James: Christians need to be entirely focused on God in all that they do.
1 Peter: God’s chosen people should live God-glorifying, Christlike lives amidst suffering and persecution, assured of ultimate glory themselves.
2 Peter: Those who are truly known by God, and know him in Christ, are those who resist the theological and moral laxities of godless preachers and remain robustly tied to the apostolic message.
1 John: You can know you are Christians because you believe Jesus is the Christ, you recognize your sin and you love fellow Christians.
2 John: The one who knows the truth loves God, through obeying his commandments, loving his people and not being hospitable to the false teacher.
3 John: The one who walks in the truth will be in partnership with Christians, and not reject them.
Jude: Contend for the faith in the face of godless denial and immorality.
Revelation: Willingness to suffer for faith in and worship of the sovereign God and his Christ is the path to ultimate victory and the triune God’s glory in the new creation.

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How to See Clearly When Looking for Jesus in the Old Testament

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James Demetrie (2010), Creative Commons

James Demetrie (2010), Creative Commons

When you read the Old Testament, I hope you’re looking for Jesus. Otherwise, you’re in danger of sucking from the fountain without first pushing the button to get the water flowing (John 5:39-40).

But many are afraid of getting it wrong, and for good reason. We see no lack of grumpy scholars waiting eagerly to dispense demerits to the simple, uneducated folk who draw superficial conclusions and chase christological apparitions through the pages of Hebrew Scripture. We outgrew the Alexandrians long ago, and we’re tired of hearing about the blood of Jesus—I mean Rahab’s scarlet cord—every time a newbie gets a hankering to Jesusify his devotional life.

I’ll confess I’ve served my time as one of the grumps. And I’ve been known to chase an apparition or two. Is help available?

Help!

I recently came across a valuable quote about the nature of biblical typology. Before I give you the quote, however, let me define a few terms. Trust me; it’ll be worth it.

  • Typology is the technical term for what we’re talking about. It’s the process of recognizing specific pictures or shadows of Jesus (or his attributes) in the Old Testament.
  • Types are the Old Testament pictures or shadows. Something is typical if it serves as a type.
  • Antitypes are the New Testament realities pictured by the types.
  • To typify is to purposefully put those pictures or shadows there, intending to communicate a deeper reality of something to come.
Len Matthews (2014), Creative Commons

Len Matthews (2014), Creative Commons

So, when Paul says “the Rock was Christ” (1 Cor 10:4), he recognizes typology. The rock from which Moses drew water was a type that pictured Christ the antitype who gives living water. Paul suggests that Moses wrote of this typical Rock in order to typify what Jesus would later do.

Now that you have the lingo, you’re ready for the quote:

A type can never be a type independently of its being first a symbol. The gateway to the house of typology is at the farther end of the house of symbolism.

This is the fundamental rule to be observed in ascertaining what elements in the Old Testament are typical, and wherein the things corresponding to them as antitypes consist. Only after having discovered what a thing symbolizes, can we legitimately proceed to put the question what it typifies, for the latter can never be aught else than the former lifted to a higher plane. The bond that holds type and antitype together must be a bond of vital continuity in the progress of redemption. Where this is ignored, and in the place of this bond are put accidental resemblances, void of inherent spiritual significance, all sorts of absurdities will result, such as must bring the whole subject of typology into disrepute. Examples of this are: the scarlet cord of Rahab prefigures the blood of Christ; the four lepers at Samaria, the four Evangelists. (Geerhardus Vos, Biblical Theology, Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1948, pp. 145-6)

Vos goes on to use the example of the tabernacle in Exodus. The tabernacle clearly symbolized God’s presence among his people, and this symbol was clear to the original audience of Exodus. We can take that symbol (God dwelling with his people) and look to the New Testament for its development and fulfillment. Jesus is the new tabernacle, the Word become flesh who dwells among us (John 1:14). His body is the new temple (John 2:19-22). He is Emmanuel, God with us (Matt 1:22-23). He is with us to the end of the age (Matt 28:20).

And with his Spirit in us, we are also God’s new tabernacle/temple, both individually (1 Cor 6:19) and corporately (Eph 2:21-22, 1 Tim 3:15). So the Old Testament tabernacle is a type of both Christ and his body, and the pathway to recognizing the type is to first recognize the original symbol.

How do we do this?

Vos is on to something here, but I think he overstates it a bit. He goes too far to require a type to first be a symbol in the Old Testament passage. By his definition, Paul would be wrong about the Rock in 1 Cor 10:4 (since it doesn’t clearly symbolize anything in the book of Exodus).

However, Vos uncovers useful boundaries that prevent us from befriending the deep end of typological interpretation.

  1. Consider the history. OT characters really existed, and OT events really happened. Our interpretation of the OT will go wrong if it treats the history as irrelevant.
  2. Consider the original context. Always ask what the OT passage meant to the original audience. If your interpretation takes you to Christ in a manner wholly divorced from the original meaning, you’re out of bounds.
  3. Fight for the main point. When the main point of the OT passage leads you to Christ, many of the details are sure to follow. But when you lead with the details, you might leave the point behind. And when you find Jesus, he’ll send you back where you came from with his trademark “Have you never read…?” (Matt 12:3, 5; 19:4; 21:16, 42; 22:31; Mark 2:25, 12:10, 26; Luke 6:3).

 

Don’t Neglect the Lesser-Known Commands of God

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I spend most of my time on this blog focusing on the main points of passages. I’ve said we should fight for them and move our study groups toward them. I’ve even promised to follow this practice on point #2 of this welcome page. But in the interest of balance and completeness, I must take some time this day to highlight some of the lesser-known commands of God.

These commands are no less inspired than the biggies. Of course we should love God and love our neighbor; nobody denies this. But that’s not all God wants us to do! The problem with most churches today is that we’ve lost our commitment to God’s word, and we run afoul of God’s explicit will for our lives. And not only do we practice such things, but we also give hearty approval to those who flout these plain imperatives with a high hand. I’m speaking of all those supposed “Christians,” “pastors,” and “disciples” who ignore the clear and plain sense of commands such as:

  • “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Drink, be drunk and vomit, fall and rise no more'” (Jer 25:27).
  • “Thus says the Lord God: ‘Set on the pot, set it on'” (Ezek 24:3).
  • “Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom” (Hos 1:2).
  • “Come to Bethel, and transgress; to Gilgal, and multiply transgression” (Amos 4:4).
  • “You are to entice him, and you shall succeed; go out and do so” (1 Kings 22:22).

I mean, who really does these things? I wish I could join a truly faithful church, but I have yet to find one. And we can’t simply claim ignorance of the prophets, either. Jesus was just as clear:

  • “Leave the dead to bury their own dead” (Luke 9:60).
  • “Why were you looking for me?” (Luke 2:49).
  • “Go to the sea and cast a hook and take the first fish that comes up” (Matt 17:27).
  • “Take nothing for your journey” (Luke 9:3).

The Bible is full of imperatives that couldn’t be any clearer. I’d love to hear what other commands have impacted you over the years, so we can encourage one another to greater faithfulness.

And may this first day of April inspire a new season of fruitful Bible study for those among the chosen remnant. “If the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring, we would have been like Sodom and become like Gomorrah” (Rom 9:29).

Move the Group Toward the Main Point

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The best piece of advice I received as a beginning blogger was to make sure each post had just one main point. I’ve not always followed the advice perfectly, but I’ve generally seen greater success when I do.

The same goes for Bible studies. Have you been part of a discussion that felt directionless? Have you tried to lead a discussion without being sure how to rein things in? You know you’re there to study the Bible, but how do you balance flexible compassion (giving people freedom to speak what’s on their hearts) with intentional leadership?

The difference often lies in having a clear main point to work toward.

This isn’t the place to explain how to come up with a strong main point. I’ve done that in my series about how to study the Bible and with these 3 skills. I’ve argued that the main points are the ones worth fighting for. In this post, I’d like to show how to lead a group toward the main point.

The Main Point about the Main Point

One principle drives me: If (what I think is) the main point is truly the (biblical author’s) main point, then I should be able to trace a path from any observation of the text to that main point. Therefore, I don’t need my group to follow exactly the same path to the main point that my personal study followed. Therefore, I don’t have to force the discussion into a certain rut, exhausting the group members and guaranteeing that I will remain the authoritative guru who has all the answers. People will never learn Bible study on their own that way.

czechian (2010), Creative Commons

An Example

Let me illustrate. In a recent small group meeting, we studied Romans 2:1-16. My main point was: “God’s wrath is revealed against moral, upright people who cannot practice what they preach.”

The chief observations that had led me to that main point were:

  • Romans 2:1 contrasts with Romans 1:29-32. Paul shifts from those who approve of evil behavior to those who disapprove of it.
  • Repeated words: practice, righteous, condemn, does, law, judge/judgment.
  • Paul’s use of Psalm 62 in Romans 2:6.

As we got into our discussion, however, group members mentioned few of my observations. Other things in the text affected them.

  • Romans 2:4 describes a lack of repentance as contempt for God’s kindness.
  • Repeated contrast between Jews and Greeks in Romans 2:-16.

One woman got particularly hung up on Paul’s claim in verse 11 that God shows no favoritism. “If he shows no favoritism,” she remarked, “then why does Paul keep saying ‘to the Jew first, and also to the Greek’!?” Others jumped in to assure her that Paul gives Jews first dibs on both reward and judgment, but she still struggled with the supposed claim to impartiality.

I could have tabled the discussion to get them back to the observations I thought most important. But the discussion was so juicy, and the members were forced to dive into the text to answer each others’ questions. I didn’t have the heart to cut that short.

But my key principle kicked in. If I was correct about the main point, I should be able to steer us in that direction even from this discussion of God’s impartiality. When I thought of it that way, I could celebrate my loss of control, and guide the group gently to the main idea. It wasn’t difficult to ask why Paul is so committed to clarify God’s impartiality. God’s wrath plays no favorites! He’s just as mad at the “good” people as he is at the “bad” people! All of them need the gift of his righteousness.

A Few Suggestions

Ryan Higginbottom already covered some of this ground in his excellent guest post on asking good interpretive questions. Here are a few of the skills that have served me well.

  1. Come to the meeting prepared with a clear direction (a strong main point for the passage).
  2. Hold your pathway to that main point loosely. Let the discussion take on a life of its own.
  3. If the group sees things you hadn’t considered, be willing to reconsider what you thought was the main point.
  4. Keep asking “why?” questions until you help the group arrive at a clear main point.
  5. State the main point simply and clearly.
  6. Connect it to Jesus and move into application.

People need you to lead them. They need your help to learn these skills. So please lead.

Don’t lead with such an iron fist that the discussion becomes an exercise in reading your mind and feeding your ego. But lead in a way that inspires them with confidence to continue their study on their own. Your leadership will thus become far more effective.

Keep the Context Front and Center

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Last week, I read some amazing things in the New York Times:

The president’s announcement was the first official confirmation of his death.

“They were disappointed, frankly, that I didn’t have some breakthrough.”

Minutes earlier, she had fled there for safety as she called 911, telling the operator that her fiancé had thrown her on the bed and hit her in the face and head. She was two months pregnant.

Thousands of people attended hundreds of enrollment events around the country at public libraries, churches, shopping malls, community colleges, clinics, hospitals and other sites.

Are you amazed?

Enrique Burgos (2010), Creative Commons

Enrique Burgos (2010), Creative Commons

The Problem

Though all these quotes came from a single publication with a single editorial board, they also came from a variety of articles, written by different journalists, and spread out over a few days. Each article had a different topic, designed for a different column, reporting on a different sector of the news. But my selection of quotations doesn’t really mean anything to you without more information. You need the context for each one to make sense.

Do you read the Bible like this? Do you find a remarkable sentence or two here and there, memorize them, and base your hope on them? You don’t read anything else in this way. Not newspapers, novels, letters, emails, blogs or textbooks. Sure, sometimes you’ll scan. Other times you’ll highlight key statements that you want to remember. But you won’t limit your reading to isolated sentences.

Do you teach the Bible like this? Do you string together verse after verse to make a point? It’s fine to do so, as long as you’re not doing violence to what those verses meant in context (Paul does it in Romans 3:10-18, David does it in 1 Chronicles 16:7-36, and Jonah does it in Jonah 2:1-9). But Satan can quote isolated statements from the Bible in support of evil intentions (Matt 4:6). Plenty of folks today likewise excel at sampling Bible verses to mix some truth with catastrophic error.

The Challenge of Bible Studies

In a Bible study meeting, you may have 30-90 minutes to dive into a particular text. You’ll look at the details, ask many specific questions, and try to make particular applications. As you work on a small portion of text, how do you keep the big picture (the context) front and center? How do you prevent the group from moving through one isolated text to another, week after week, without ever fitting them together?

A Proposed Solution

These suggestions are not the only ones you could follow, but they summarize what I’ve found most helpful.

1. Do a good book overview

When leading a study through a book of the Bible, I always dedicate the first meeting to a book overview. This overview gives us clarity on the historical context: author, audience, occasion, and structure. But more importantly, it enables us to discuss the entire book’s main point. For example, in my church small group, we’re studying Romans. Our book overview led us to a pretty clear main point: Paul wants to preach the gospel to those who are in Rome (see Rom 1:15-17).

2. Remind the group of where you’ve been

Each week, I make sure to summarize the text’s argument over the last few chapters. This enables us to situate the present text within the book’s flow of thought. For example, our last study in Romans 3:9-20 came as the climax to Paul’s argument that began in Romans 1:18. Before tackling Rom 3:9-20, we briefly reviewed the section up to this point: God’s wrath is revealed against the immoral (Rom 1:18-32), God’s wrath is against the moral (Rom 2:1-16), God’s wrath is against the outwardly religious (Rom 2:17-3:8).

3. Make sure to grasp the passage’s main point

It’s worth it to fight for the main point. By definition, doing so enables you to focus on what God considers most important. Incidentally, it also helps you not to get lost in the sea of sub-points and minutiae that so easily commandeer your attention. As you keep main points front and center, you’ll decrease the likelihood of missing the context.

4. Connect each passage to the book’s main point

Every week, as we study a new section of Romans, we ask, “How does Paul preach the gospel (good news) in this passage?” The key here is to take the passage’s main point and show how it advances the book’s main point. Of course, in Romans 1:18-3:20, there is not much “good” news yet. We’ve had profitable discussions about why it’s so important to understand the extent of the bad news before the good news will seem truly good.

5. End with a book review

A book review is just like a book overview, except that it takes place at the end instead of the beginning. When you’ve completed examining all the book’s pieces, take time to put them back together. You may even need to revise your overview in light of what you saw as you dug deeper through the details. So I find it helpful to dedicate an entire meeting to reviewing what we learned from the book, both themes and applications. This review may solidify the lessons and help people to remember them when they return to this book in their personal study.

Conclusion

When you lead people in careful, contextual Bible study, you’ll be amazed to see that some of your favorite memory verses don’t actually mean what you once thought.

For example, in context, Romans 8:28 doesn’t mean that “all things” you could ever experience work together for the “good” you might hope for. No, Paul is saying specifically that all of “our present sufferings” (Rom 8:18-27) work together for that single good purpose which God predestined from the beginning: that we might be conformed to the image of his Son (Rom 8:29). Romans 8:28 offers not so much an alleviating comfort as a promise of crushing, suffocating pain — albeit a pain that will make you more beautiful for having gone through it.