1 / 17

Making sense of the Bible

Making sense of the Bible. The Life: Practical Insights to Christian Living @ MITACF By James Choung April 5, 2002. The Bible seems confusing…. Did God create the world in 6 distinct, 24-hour periods? “By the 7 th day God had finished the work…”

Albert_Lan
Download Presentation

Making sense of the Bible

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Making sense of the Bible The Life: Practical Insights to Christian Living @ MITACF By James Choung April 5, 2002

  2. The Bible seems confusing… • Did God create the world in 6 distinct, 24-hour periods? “By the 7th day God had finished the work…” • Are acts of aggression condoned? “Strike all my enemies on the jaw; break the teeth of the wicked.” • Some books in the Bible seem to have no logical flow (Trials to warnings v. rich). • Are there any helpful ways we can begin to understand these things?

  3. Perhaps, some helpful tools • Disclaimer: we’re not going to be able to cover everything. • Just a start: more resources will be provided at the end if you want to learn more.

  4. Types of literature • Newspaper v. Poetry • Different types of literature require a different ways of interpretation to get at its purpose and meaning.

  5. The Bible: not just one “book” • The Bible is a compilation of 66 distinct “books.” • Written over a 2,000-year span • Written on three continents • Written in three languages • Written by more than 40 authors, from different walks of life • Thus, we can begin to expect different literary styles of writing in the Bible

  6. Six literary types in the Bible • History • Law • Poetry • Wisdom • Prophetical Books • Letters • It’s all used to teach us about God, but in different ways.

  7. History: Gospels & Narratives

  8. Law: Biblical commands

  9. Poetry: heartfelt prayers

  10. Wisdom: stylistic teaching

  11. Prophets: a lawyer’s charge

  12. Letters: addressing a context

  13. Example #1: What happened at Creation? • Genesis 1, Creation account. Did God create the world in 6 literal 24-hour time periods? • Genesis 1 is poetic, if not poetry. • It’s trying to answer the question, “What kings rule over which kingdoms?” • God rules over all, and humans are his adjunct governors.

  14. Example #2: Breaking jaws is condoned in the Bible? • Psalm 3:7. “Arise, O LORD! Deliver me, O my God! Strike all my enemies on the jaw; break the teeth of the wicked.” • Again, poetry here highlights David’s anger. Doesn’t necessarily mean this is right. • Teaches us that we can come to God with everything, even our anger.

  15. Example #3: James, a hodge-podge of good advice? • The book of James looks like a bunch of disjointed stuff at the outset. • Context: Rich v. Poor, almost a riot. • Rest of James makes sense in this context. • “Faith without deeds is dead” (2:26) in the context of serving the poor. • The meaning of the verse is nuanced or made richer by understanding the context of this letter.

  16. Interpreting the Bible • To understand the Bible, we need to know that the Bible is more of a compilation of books, with different authors, styles, genres and intent. • Each type of Biblical literature attempts to highlight who God is and our relationship with Him, but in very different ways.

  17. Follow-up resources • Fee, G. & D. Stuart (1993, 2nd ed.). How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth

More Related