Intro to Hermeneutics

Sovereign Grace Family Church

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June 13, 2019

00:07: Well, again, welcome to our course, Fundamentals of Bible Study, the Art and Science of Hermeneutics.
00:17: This is part of Sovereign Grace Academy series, our teaching courses here at the church.
00:25: It's our academy, which is in partnership with the Jacksville Baptist Theological Seminary.
00:33: If you've come tonight and you're interested in pursuing a degree with the seminary, this course can be used to apply for credit.
00:42: It is three credit hours toward a degree.
00:46: An associate's degree is 60 hours.
00:49: Bachelor's is 120.
00:51: And then you have master's level and doctoral level that you can pursue as well.
00:55: So if you are interested in a degree with the seminary, they have both undergraduate and graduate, see me afterward and I will tell you how you can apply this course.
01:05: There is a charge for that, but there is no charge for simply taking the course.
01:09: So if you're here tonight, you don't owe anything for being here.
01:13: But if you want to get credit, the seminary will charge for the credit hours that they apply.
01:19: That being said, this class did have some prerequisites that you were supposed to fulfill prior to your coming.
01:28: Now, some of you may not have known that.
01:31: And so you have a week to rectify if you have not done your prerequisite work.
01:37: The prerequisite work for this class is that you purchased our course book, which is Living by the Book by Dr.
01:47: Howard Hendricks and our course workbook, which if you have a wonderful administrative assistant like I do, she took and put mine in a notebook to make it a lot easier for me to teach out of.
02:00: If you don't have one of those, I recommend them.
02:02: They're very, very useful.
02:05: But she did that.
02:07: Yes.
02:08: Yes.
02:08: My assistant is one of the best.
02:10: And and she helped me.
02:12: She put it in a notebook so that whenever I'm teaching out of the workbook, I don't have to sit there and try to hold it open.
02:16: I just be able to lay it open and use it.
02:20: The other thing that we're going to do, we take a break about an hour after we begin.
02:25: And then we have the class is an hour and a half.
02:28: So we take a break right at the hour mark for about five, seven minutes.
02:31: Get water, get go to the restroom.
02:33: And then we do the last 25 minutes or so.
02:36: And that portion is going to be a little more interactive.
02:39: But during the break, I need everyone because I did not know how many we had.
02:44: So many new students this time.
02:45: I wasn't able to create a course roster.
02:48: Please print your name legibly.
02:51: And if that is impossible for you, if you are a doctor of some sort and you do not have legible handwriting, ask someone else to do it.
02:59: But please make sure your name goes on this list.
03:01: If your name is on if your name is not on this list, you don't exist when it comes time to get credit.
03:07: That's just the way it is.
03:08: This list is the master list.
03:10: So please, during the during the break, make sure your name goes on the list and that I can read it.
03:15: And if you are going for a certificate that you write it how you want it on the certificate.
03:22: So if you want it to be John Smith or John C.
03:25: Smith or what have you, write it as you want it.
03:30: And again, make sure I can read it.
03:33: Also, I believe everyone has handed one of these in.
03:37: But if you did not get a course application, this is required by myself and our church elders.
03:45: This class is specific to people who are seeking to grow in their Christian ministry pursuits, whether it be for a lay person or for a person who is in ministry.
03:57: And so we ask you to give us your information, including telling us how you came to Christ.
04:02: So that is part of this sheet.
04:04: If you have not turned one in, please take this home and bring it back next week.
04:10: This is part of the requirement for the class.
04:13: Last on the requirements, you should have received a copy of our course syllabus.
04:20: This not only tells you what you have to do to complete the course and receive credit, but it also gives you the dates of the classes and what is required every time you come.
04:33: I have a few extra if you did not get one.
04:35: So again, if you didn't get one, see me at the break and I will give it to you.
04:39: The big thing is this.
04:41: Fourth of July is on a Thursday this year.
04:44: So that week we will meet on Wednesday because we do not want to have class on a holiday evening.
04:51: But I didn't want to miss a week either because in August I'm leaving to go see my son graduate from basic training and I didn't want to miss the end.
05:01: So we had to push it the way we could.
05:03: If you have church on a Wednesday night and you cannot miss church or you don't want to miss your own church, I understand.
05:09: You're completely excused, but I will ask that you go through the audio and complete the course whatever you miss for July the 3rd.
05:19: All right.
05:20: I think that is everything.
05:22: Oh, if you did not get a course book yet, maybe you didn't know you had to do it.
05:28: Maybe you just decided today you wanted to come or maybe you couldn't afford it up until now.
05:33: If you would write your name on this sheet before we leave, I will order you one and have you one.
05:39: You'll have to pay me back, but I will get one and make sure you have one by next week.
05:44: So if you did not get a course book, come and write your name down at the break.
05:49: Is there any questions about those things? Okay, wonderful.
05:54: Good.
05:58: Another part of the prerequisite for the class was that you had a pre-class reading.
06:02: Now, if you didn't have the book, you didn't do the reading.
06:03: So obviously you'll have to do some catch-up next week.
06:07: The pre-class reading for this class was you were supposed to read pages 13 to 47.
06:15: And on top of that, you were supposed to take Romans chapter 12 verses 1 and 2 only and write 10 observations from Romans chapter 12 verse 1 and 2.
06:33: By show of hands, how many of you did that? Wonderful, wonderful.
06:39: Okay.
06:40: All right.
06:40: If you did not do it, we are going to later in class go over that assignment.
06:46: So you'll be able to somewhat have a leg up by listening to some other observations, but I still need you to do it.
06:52: I need you to turn that in next week as part of the course requirement.
06:56: So if you came tonight, you didn't bring your 10 observations, add that to your homework for next week and bring that in.
07:03: But if you did, at the end of the course tonight, I need you to turn it in with your names on it so that I can simply give you credit for having done it.
07:09: I will return it to you next week.
07:12: Everybody understand? Fantastic.
07:15: Wonderful.
07:16: All right.
07:19: Excuse me.
07:24: Can't keep doing that.
07:27: Well, let us very quickly go over our course overview, our goals and objectives, and then our required text.
07:36: Our course overview.
07:37: This course will aid the student in building a solid foundation for proper Bible study.
07:44: It will cover methods for observing and investigating a text of Scripture, applying appropriate hermeneutical and exegetical principles.
07:55: I will explain those words later if you do not know what they mean, and arriving at a correct understanding and application of the text.
08:04: The goals of this course are to cultivate an appreciation for the value of Bible study, to learn about the methods which are involved in good Bible study, and to be introduced to the concepts of observation, interpretation, and application as they pertain to Bible study.
08:25: Now, we mentioned the required texts are Living by the Book by Howard Hendricks, Living by the Book Workbook by Howard Hendricks, but you also will need a Bible.
08:37: I will be using the English Standard Version of the Bible as my primary text for teaching.
08:45: You are welcome to borrow one, if you do not have one, from the sanctuary, as long as you please do return it at the end of class, if you want to make sure that your text is the same as mine.
08:58: This is our pulpit translation, and we use this in the church.
09:02: However, you are not required to use the ESV as part of this course.
09:08: You are welcome to use any translation you wish.
09:11: However, in Lecture 2 next week, I am going to talk about some of the ones that you may want to avoid, simply for the fact that they are not literal renderings of the original languages, and we're going to talk about more why certain Bibles might be better for study than others.
09:31: We'll look at that next week.
09:32: But again, you have the choice of choosing whatever translation you would like to use for this course.
09:41: I also want to add, I recommend a couple of other books, if you would like to write these down.
09:48: You do not have to read these, but if you want to increase your learning, not only over the next eight weeks, but over the rest of your life as a student of Scripture, I would recommend that you read How to Read a Book by Mortimer Adler.
10:08: How to Read a Book was written in the 40s.
10:12: It is a tremendous work.
10:15: It is now a classic that has been edited and redistributed many times, and I will tell you this, most of what you're going to learn over the next eight weeks is that you need to learn to read better, because observation, part of observation, in fact, the biggest part of observation is simply learning to read.
10:39: Douglas Moo, a New Testament scholar, he said about 30% of Americans read at or below a 5th grade level.
10:49: That's almost, I mean, that's more than 25%.
10:52: That's more than a quarter of Americans, one out of every four reads below a 5th grade level.
10:58: Becoming a better reader will make you a better Bible student.
11:02: So, How to Read a Book by Mortimer Adler is a tremendous help, and I recommend it.
11:09: Also, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth by Gordon Fee.
11:17: How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth by Gordon Fee will help you, particularly in the area of biblical genre, and we're going to talk about that later in the course.
11:31: But what that means is this, there are different forms of literature that the Bible comes to us in.
11:38: We have the narrative form, the didactic form.
11:42: We have the poetic form, the apocalyptic form.
11:46: These are all different forms of literature that require different methods of interpretation.
11:52: And if you are not familiar with the rules of how to use those types of literature and interpret those types of literature, you will become very confused, particularly in books like Ezekiel and Revelation that are highly difficult to understand if you don't understand the rules that go along with translating, or rather interpreting and understanding apocalyptic literature.
12:17: So that book, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth, spends a great deal of time giving you insight into different biblical genre and how to interpret those things.
12:28: So these are all just helps that I certainly do recommend.
12:34: All right.
12:35: So now all of that was introduction to the introduction.
12:38: Now let's do the introduction.
12:41: How can we know what the Bible means when we read it? How can we know what the Bible means when we read it? This is a vital question and one that is often quite controversial.
12:56: We have all heard someone say, well, that's your interpretation.
13:02: You've heard that before? Well, that's just your interpretation.
13:08: One of the most common objections to arise when discussing the claims of the Bible is that Scripture itself is not sufficient or not clear enough to build our faith on.
13:24: This is why many groups demand that an outside authority have the power to officially determine the meaning of the Bible.
13:34: Many of you just finished our church history course.
13:37: We talked a lot about Rome and the Roman Catholic Church throughout that history course.
13:42: And the Roman Catholic Church has what they call the teaching magisterium.
13:47: The magisterium is responsible for giving the official interpretation of scriptural texts.
13:57: Well, that's convenient.
13:59: We have an official interpretation.
14:01: But then you have people that have to interpret the interpretation.
14:04: So it kind of just becomes an ever regressing problem.
14:07: But the reality is they have a body who's responsible for giving them their interpretation.
14:16: This is not something that I'm creating out of thin air.
14:19: The Second Vatican Council says this, quote, sacred tradition and sacred scripture make up a single sacred deposit of the Word of God, which is entrusted to the church.
14:28: The task of giving an authentic interpretation of the Word of God, whether it is in written form or in the form of tradition, has been entrusted to the living teaching office of the church alone, end quote.
14:40: Essentially, that says as an individual person, you do not have the right to interpret the Bible for yourselves.
14:46: The teaching magisterium has the right to interpret the Bible only.
14:52: And of course, because of that, Rome blames sola scriptura for the fact that there is such a division within Protestantism.
15:02: They argue that the reason why there are thousands of different denominations and thus thousands of different churches is because we rely on the Bible alone and who's to say what it means.
15:15: So that's the argument.
15:16: We have an authority that tells us what it means.
15:20: You have thousands of people who all have different interpretations.
15:26: Who's to say? The Jehovah Witnesses are not that different.
15:32: They have also an authority called the Watchtower Society.
15:38: The Watchtower Society is the group responsible for interpreting the scriptures for the Jehovah Witnesses.
15:46: In fact, the Watchtower clearly says, and I quote, all who want to understand the Bible should appreciate that the greatly diversified wisdom of God has become known only through Jehovah's channel of communication, the faithful and discreet slave, end quote.
16:00: The faithful and discreet slave being the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society.
16:04: They have an authority.
16:05: So Rome has her authority, the Magisterium.
16:09: The Watchtower is the authority for the Jehovah Witness.
16:15: So what's your authority? You say it is the Word of God.
16:20: I hope, but you must seek to understand it.
16:26: And you must seek to understand it correctly.
16:29: If you are going to take up the right to interpret, you have then also bore the responsibility to interpret it correctly.
16:41: I hate to be a person who quotes a superhero, but Spider-Man, if he did not teach us anything else, taught us that with great power comes great responsibility.
16:54: Yes, and that is the case.
16:56: You have been given the power to interpret.
17:01: You too have the responsibility to interpret correctly.
17:07: In fact, we have even another step in this, and that is those who would argue that even the interpretation itself doesn't matter because they argue that the Bible has been corrupted.
17:23: There are those, for instance, such as those from Islam, who would argue that the Bible itself has not only a twisted meaning, but a twisted text.
17:35: And they would say that we can't rely on our interpretation because we're not even interpreting the right thing to begin with.
17:44: And I want to mention something because a lot of people have never dealt with this, and this is not the subject of the class.
17:52: However, it will come up from time to time, and so I need to at least mention it now.
17:59: How many of you have ever dealt with the subject of textual variation? Okay, a few of you.
18:07: All right.
18:09: Textual variation is regarding the differences in manuscripts that have been handwritten anywhere from the time of the 1st century down to about the 15th century when manuscripts went to movable type.
18:24: You understand that for 1,500 years the Bible was written by hand, not by machine.
18:31: And when the Bible was written by hand, there were introduced into those variations, whether they be misspellings, word order changes, words that were completely left out, sometimes by accident, sometimes on purpose, words that were added, sometimes by accident, sometimes on purpose.
18:49: And so we end up with a body of text that is right now over 5,000 strong.
18:58: The New Testament has over 5,000 handwritten manuscripts that date from the early 2nd century all the way to about the 15th century, and no two of them agree completely because they are all written by hand.
19:17: So you have to deal with that.
19:17: In fact, I want to just very quickly, if you have your Bibles, does anyone here have a King James Bible? Have a new King James? That might work.
19:29: Look up John chapter 5 verse 4.
19:33: Everyone else, if you would, look up John chapter 5 verse 4.
19:36: Now, this is usually not something someone does in the very first class like this, but I'm going to explain why I'm doing this later.
19:45: I think you need to know now.
19:47: Go to John chapter 5 verse 4.
19:50: What'd you say, brother? All right, you have a new King James.
19:58: What does the new King James say in John 5 verse 4? For an angel went down at a certain time to the pool and stirred up the water.
20:06: Then whoever stepped in first after the stirring of the water was made well of whatever disease he had.
20:15: Okay, very good.
20:16: Thank you.
20:17: Who has an ESV? Amber, would you read John 5 verse 4? It's not there.
20:26: At all.
20:28: There's not even a number, is there? It goes from John 5 verse 3 to John 5 verse 5.
20:36: Yeah, it's not there.
20:38: It's not there.
20:40: Now, if you have an NIV, there will be a number 4, but nothing next to it.
20:50: If you have a New American Standard Bible, it will have the text, but it will be, I believe, in brackets to identify that that particular text is what we call a textual variant.
21:04: And what that means is that it is not found in the most reliable manuscripts.
21:12: And so that particular text, which made its way into the King James Version of the Bible, is actually not a part of what John originally wrote.
21:24: And so we have to deal with that as a reality.
21:29: Again, if you are very interested in this, or if this bothers you in your stomach, and I wouldn't be surprised if it did.
21:35: I taught on this.
21:36: I was invited to a church to speak.
21:39: And the pastor said, what do you want to speak on? I said, how about textual variation? I'd love it.
21:46: By the time I was done, I thought they were going to stone me.
21:53: The worship pastor got up when I was done, and he said, well, that was something.
22:02: I think you all should go and study and see if he's right.
22:07: I've never had anybody give me such a confident encouragement when I was like, go study and see if he's right.
22:15: Honestly, though, this is another reason why this course is important.
22:22: Because it's better that you hear these things now than if you're ever engaging with a Muslim who's telling you your Bible's corrupted, and you've never even realized that there wasn't a John 5-4 in your Bible.
22:38: So here's my recommendation.
22:40: If this is an interest to you, and one day I may teach on this again.
22:44: I may even do a Sovereign Grace Academy course on this.
22:47: But if this is an interest to you, I do recommend that you go to our sermon audio page.
22:52: I did about 10 weeks on the history of the English Bible and how we got the English Bible.
23:00: And I recommend it to everyone because this is an important subject, and it goes right along with what we're going to be learning in this course.
23:09: Why is John 5-4 not there? What is the Kamiohonium or the Pre-Ecuphe Adulterae? These are passages that are what we would say spurious.
23:22: They are variants that were in the manuscripts that were later, but not in the manuscripts that were earlier, and thus we would say are likely not a part of the original.
23:32: So I encourage you to find that.
23:34: And if you want the link, email me.
23:37: You all should have my email address because you have the course syllabus.
23:41: And I encourage you email me.
23:42: I'll send you the link and you can listen to those lectures.
23:47: But again, my point in all of this is to simply say this.
23:50: I'm not trying to raise in your mind doubts about the Word of God.
23:53: What I am trying to help you understand is that before we even begin down the road of this process, you have to understand what we are getting into.
24:03: This is not just a Sunday School investigation.
24:08: This is how you do scholarly research.
24:12: And how do you do scholarly research? First, you begin by understanding what you're dealing with.
24:18: This is a 2,000-year-old text.
24:24: It is translated from two primary languages and one secondary language.
24:29: The primary language of the Old Section or the Old Testament is Hebrew, which is still in use today.
24:36: The second language is the New Testament, which is Greek, which is not in use today.
24:43: The Greek that is spoken in Greece today is Modern Greek, not Koine Greek.
24:49: Koine Greek is not used anymore.
24:52: We do not know how it was supposed to sound.
24:54: Thus, if you hear somebody speaking in Koine Greek, they're not really speaking in Koine Greek.
24:58: When I say words in Greek, I am speaking as best I understand how it would have been said.
25:04: But I'm not accurate because nobody knows how it sounded, because it is called a dead language.
25:11: What is the third language? Anyone know? Aramaic.
25:15: A lot is made of Aramaic.
25:17: Aramaic is simply a Hebrew dialect, and it is used very few times.
25:22: A few times in Daniel and a few times in the Gospels.
25:25: When Jesus said to the little girl, Talithi Kumi, little girl, Arise, that is a translation of a Aramaic phrase.
25:34: And so it translates, it transliterates the Aramaic for us, so that we could see what Jesus was actually saying when he spoke those words.
25:44: But again, we want to understand what we're dealing with.
25:47: We are dealing with a 2,000 year old text.
25:50: We have to take that text and seek to understand it.
25:56: We have to take that text from when and where it was written, and bring it to where we are now, and do so without losing any of its valuable parts.
26:09: So many people take the Bible as if it were a fortune cookie, and they take little bits and pieces out, and they use it as if it were like a book of sayings.
26:23: The Bible is not a book of sayings.
26:26: It is a literature, it is a work of literature, with different genres and different forms, written over 1,500 years, written over 40 different authors, in three different languages, and we are seeking to understand it.
26:46: That's the job, and thus it is a big job.
26:50: So, it is part of the heritage that was handed down to us by the Protestant reformers that we are even able to do this, because for the first many hundreds of years of the church, and even past the first millennium of the church's existence, the Bible was relatively kept out of the hands of the average folks.
27:15: You've heard stories of Bibles that were chained to pulpits.
27:19: Some people think that was the reasoning for that was to, and that literally did happen, the Bibles were locked to the pulpits.
27:25: Some people think the reason for that was to keep people from reading it.
27:28: It wasn't, it was because the Bible was so valuable.
27:30: They didn't want it stolen.
27:32: I mean, it's sort of like one of those things you see at Walmart, that they attach the computers with those steel cables.
27:37: It's not so much that they don't want people to touch it, it's just they don't want it gone, and the Bibles were valuable.
27:43: Think about how long it would take you to handwrite Scripture.
27:49: Think about how long it would take you to handwrite the Gospel of John.
27:55: And this is how the Bible was brought down through the ages.
28:01: The Protestant Reformers, falling on the heels of the Renaissance, which was a rebirth of art, science, and technology, gave us the Scriptures in our language, so that we would be able to interpret it for ourselves.
28:18: The Roman Catholic Church said, this is a bad thing, because if you give the Scriptures to all these people, they're going to misuse it.
28:25: They're going to misinterpret it.
28:28: Martin Luther said this, a simple layman armed with Scripture is greater than the mightiest Pope without it.
28:39: A simple layman armed with Scripture is greater than the mightiest Pope without it.
28:44: And he did believe that it was possible that people would twist the Scripture.
28:50: And I think we all would agree that is right.
28:54: But he said, such is the cost to get the Scripture into the hand of every person, that they can read the words of their Lord for themselves, that they can hear God speak to them in their own language.
29:11: Martin Luther was responsible for translating the Bible into German.
29:15: John Wycliffe was the first to translate it into English.
29:18: We stand on the backs and the shoulders of these great men tonight, because were it not for men with the audacity to do these things, we would not, good evening brother, we would not have this opportunity to do what we're doing.
29:34: How many of you read Greek? Some? How many of you read Hebrew? So in this class, were we only to have the Greek or the Hebrew? How about Latin? Okay, if we only had the language, we would only have two in the class who could participate.
29:53: So we praise God for these translations, and yet we understand the weaknesses therein as well.
29:58: All right.
30:02: As I said, along with the right of responsibility comes, or rather along with the right to interpret comes the responsibility.
30:10: And so we want to be fair and seek to do the very best that we can.
30:18: I want to read to you a passage of Scripture from 2 Peter chapter 3, verse 14 through 16.
30:25: If you want to write it down or open up your Bible, it's 2 Peter 3, 14 to 16.
30:31: Peter obviously is speaking, though there are some who would debate whether or not Peter actually wrote this.
30:36: I believe that he did, but that's a conversation for another day.
30:42: 2 Peter 3, 14.
30:44: Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by him in peace, spotless and blameless, and regard the patience of our Lord to be salvation.
30:54: Just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do all the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.
31:17: Notice that the Bible places its own weighty condemnation on those who would distort the Scripture.
31:27: It places a condemnation on anyone who would intentionally seek to misuse the Scripture.
31:37: And it says something else.
31:39: It says that not all Scripture is equally easy to understand.
31:45: Notice he says in that passage that the writings of Paul, some of them are hard to understand.
31:52: That's the very words of Peter.
31:54: He says that some of what Paul wrote is hard to understand.
31:59: The Reformers believed in something that is an important concept, and it is called the perspicuity of Scripture.
32:13: The perspicuity of Scripture.
32:17: That word simply means the clarity of Scripture.
32:22: The clarity of Scripture.
32:27: They said the Scripture is clear enough that anyone born again would be able to understand its essential meaning.
32:42: However, even though they believed in the perspicuity of Scripture, they did not believe that all Scripture was equally easy to understand.
32:54: Gordon Fee in his book that I mentioned earlier says this, not all plain meanings are equally plain to all.
33:03: Not all plain meanings are equally plain to all.
33:07: You ever heard someone say, well, that's obviously the plain meaning of that text, and it's way like boo, you know.
33:12: Brother Mark, you had to have dealt with this.
33:15: People who come into your ministry, and they say, well, the plain reading of this text is obviously not what it says.
33:22: I mean, they don't say it that way, but that's the idea.
33:25: That's the plain meaning.
33:27: Well, plain to whom? Perspicuity is the argument that it is clear, but 2 Peter 3, 14 through 16, tells us that not all of it is as clear as others.
33:45: So what we are engaging in, as I've already said, is serious business, and it's going to take a serious investment from you all.
33:55: But my prayer is that you will recognize the tremendous value, and the effort will be worthwhile.
34:03: There is life-changing value in learning to understand the Bible for yourself.
34:16: So tonight we're going to look at four points of study.
34:22: We're going to look at, this is our outline for the lecture, that was the introduction, this is our outline.
34:29: First thing we're going to look at is why people don't study.
34:32: Second, we're going to ask why we should study the Bible.
34:37: I guess I'll finish this sentence.
34:38: Why people don't study the Bible, why people should study the Bible.
34:42: And then we're going to overview the process that we're going to be studying over the next eight weeks.
34:48: Finally, we're going to discuss what should have been your first assignment.
34:52: That'll be what we do after the break.
34:55: So let's look first at why people don't study.
34:59: If you read your textbook, the pages that I gave you, you will have read Dr.
35:04: Hendricks pointing out several reasons why people do not study.
35:08: You'll remember he mentioned, the first was that people fail to recognize the relevance of the Bible.
35:14: That's one of the reasons people don't study.
35:16: They'll say, I just don't understand how it applies to me today and why it matters.
35:20: Other people might feel inadequate for the task.
35:23: They say, well, I don't know how to do this.
35:29: Another reason might be that they fear too much time is needed to be invested.
35:34: And they say, I just don't have the time.
35:36: I'll tell you this.
35:36: Stop right there for a second.
35:39: If Twitter and Facebook have done anything, they have proven to us that we have time to do whatever we want.
35:50: Twitter and Facebook are going to stand as judgments against all of us for too little prayer on Judgment Day.
35:57: But now I'm getting into preaching, so be careful.
36:02: Number four, some people find the difficulties of the Bible too problematic.
36:06: They have doubts about the Bibles.
36:08: What I told you earlier, some people would hear that.
36:10: They immediately start to have doubts.
36:11: They do it and they can't get past it.
36:14: Number five, they say they can't make it interesting.
36:19: They can't find the joy in it.
36:23: Let me ask you, on top of those things that I just gave, which were Dr.
36:28: Hendricks's reasonings, five of his reasonings, what are some of the reasons that you think people do not study the Bible? And this, yes, please interact.
36:39: I want to hear your thoughts.
36:40: Plus I want to get a drink.
36:41: Laziness.
36:44: That's that's bold and right out of the gate.
36:45: Yes.
36:47: Okay.
36:48: Laziness.
36:48: Yes, ma'am.
36:51: That's a that's very thoughtful.
36:53: That's a very good answer.
36:55: Yes, and not that yours wasn't, but yours was the answer too.
36:58: No, but laziness is true.
36:59: And yes, people are people.
37:01: The Bible is like a mirror and it shows us areas that we need to change.
37:05: We don't want to see that.
37:06: So we don't want to study, you know, it says that sin will keep you from this book or this book will keep you from sin, you know, and that's true.
37:13: People don't want to be kept from their sin.
37:14: So they don't want to get into the book.
37:16: Yes, sir.
37:17: Johnny.
37:23: Yeah, that and you know what? And you know, honestly, I'm not saying it's a good excuse, but that is a reasonable problem that people do have not knowing where to begin.
37:39: It's a big book.
37:40: It's a it's again.
37:41: It's 2,000 year old at its earliest.
37:44: It's 3,500 years old at its latest.
37:48: I mean, well, I guess I get that backwards.
37:50: The earliest part of it is 3,500 years old.
37:53: The latest part of it is 2,000 years old.
37:55: They don't think they know how.
37:58: So again, going back to Dr.
37:59: Hendricks, they feel inadequate for the task.
38:02: Anyone else? Yes, ma'am.
38:04: Some people are deceived about their salvation.
38:09: Yeah.
38:10: Yeah.
38:10: Could be there.
38:11: They're lost and don't realize it.
38:13: Or they I'm going to kind of that sort of goes along with one of the ones that I have.
38:16: I have a few thoughts that I wrote down.
38:17: So yes, that I'll get you right in a minute.
38:19: James Zach, you had your hand up.
38:21: Oh, I thought it started.
38:22: Oh, it was you.
38:22: I kind of tell myself, well, even if I read all the time in the Bible, it's hard for me to remember stuff.
38:31: So I have to keep going back.
38:32: So it's a lot more extra time to read it.
38:35: So I can actually process it.
38:41: It's kind of like a hinder.
38:42: I mean, I'm kind of telling myself, well, I don't remember it anyway.
38:45: But then again, you know.
38:49: Yeah.
38:50: So what's the point if I'm not going to remember it anyway? Yeah.
38:52: Yeah.
38:53: Well, I think that people have lost the grasp on the importance of it because we live in a disposable world.
39:04: Our strength may be staying involved because everything is for you.
39:11: And then it can be replaced.
39:12: And it's just living a throwaway society.
39:15: Right.
39:15: So I'm not.
39:16: Yeah, I would say that.
39:18: Yeah.
39:20: Priorities, right.
39:21: He talks about that a little bit in the book about the fact that people, you know, and I found this.
39:26: And this is to me, it's absolutely true, is that the things that are most important to us, we make the time for and the things that aren't, we don't.
39:36: And most of the time when people say I can't do something, it really means I don't want to because if we wanted to, we'd make the time.
39:45: But yes, I agree.
39:46: Priorities becomes very much.
39:49: I have two things I'd like to mention, but I don't want to overtake.
39:52: Does anybody else have a thought before I go on? Yes, ma'am.
39:59: Yeah.
40:03: Yeah.
40:04: And again, that's the hardest thing to do, I think, for an individual is to say you need to read your Bible.
40:09: And they open up to Leviticus and they don't know anything about anything.
40:14: And they start reading, you know, you know, and their eyes go across.
40:19: Yes.
40:20: So, yes, I think that's very true.
40:23: Yeah, absolutely.
40:25: Yeah.
40:26: What is it? Genesis 5 is just a list of names.
40:30: Yeah.
40:31: Yes, ma'am.
40:34: Yeah.
40:35: This begat that.
40:36: This begat that.
40:37: Yeah.
40:38: Well, here are the two that I thought, you know, again, because I wanted to just have a few things to think about.
40:42: I think two major influences have made their way into the church that have caused the lack of Bible study.
40:48: And the first one is the rise in what is called easy believism.
40:53: Easy believism is the concept that salvation experience can be reduced simply to a single crisis point in your life, where you did something in response to a message, whether it was walk an aisle, say a prayer, be baptized, some crisis point brought you to some event.
41:12: And because of that, you are now saved.
41:15: And that's all salvation is.
41:18: That's typically referred to as easy believism.
41:22: And I want to quote a pastor.
41:25: I will not mention his name, but I want to quote what he said.
41:28: And you just listen to this.
41:29: This is not something that he said in a book or in a blog.
41:33: This was stated from his pulpit to his people quote.
41:38: We don't teach from books of the Bible because it gets in the way of evangelism.
41:43: We don't offer different kinds of Bible studies because it gets in the way of evangelism.
41:48: We don't teach doctrine because it gets in the way of evangelism.
41:52: If you want to be fed God's word or have the Bible explained to you, then you are a fat, lazy Christian and you need to shut up and get to work or you need to leave this church because we only do evangelism.
42:09: Don't say his name for sake of the recording, please.
42:14: But you're not wrong.
42:16: The point of the quote, though, is to simply say this.
42:19: What is he saying? These things are not important.
42:24: Studying the scripture is not important.
42:26: What we do here is one thing and one thing only.
42:28: We grow numerically.
42:32: That's how they define evangelism.
42:37: That is the very apex of what I would say is easy believism.
42:42: What does it matter if we're growing spiritually? What matters is if we are growing numerically and that is why the church in large is a mile wide and an inch deep.
42:56: It's like the world's largest mud puddle.
43:01: And so that becomes a problem.
43:04: But I have another that I'd like to share with you a thought why people do not study and this I think would maybe hit a little closer home to some of us and that is an anti-intellectual mindset.
43:17: An anti-intellectual mindset.
43:21: Often people get the idea that because God is spirit, we engage him only spiritually.
43:28: Therefore we bypass the mind to relate to God.
43:34: That is simply not true.
43:36: The Bible never encourages turning off your mind.
43:40: In fact, it encourages you to be transformed by the renewal of your mind.
43:45: That was the scripture that we were all supposed to read and give 10 things on.
43:49: Renewing the mind is the call of scripture.
43:55: Anti-intellectualism is actually a relatively new situation in church history.
44:04: The church was once the fountainhead for art, literature and even scientific inquiry.
44:11: But now we have had a massive dumbing down of the church.
44:17: Consider this, the same teenagers who are going to high school and being forced to take advanced calculus and AP biology come to Sunday school on Sunday and draw pictures of Noah's Ark.
44:35: Now I may be exaggerating a little but you understand what I'm saying.
44:40: Church has become six flags over Jesus.
44:43: Everything has to be a big game and show and we remove intellectualism from the church and we end up with a mindless Christianity.
44:56: And that's no reason to study because what is the end goal? So that is my reasoning.
45:07: If people said, why do you think people don't? I would say the rise in easy believism and the rise in anti-intellectualism which sort of go together.
45:15: So next question, why study the Bible? Well, I imagine by coming to this course you already have a desire to study the Bible.
45:24: So to tell you why to study the Bible probably is a little bit redundant.
45:29: But I do want to make a few things that need, I do want to say a few things that I think are important.
45:35: In our text, Dr.
45:36: Hendricks points out three reasons why we need to study the Bible.
45:40: Three reasons why people don't often understand they should study the Bible.
45:43: Number one, it is essential to spiritual growth.
45:46: That is 1st Peter 2, 2.
45:49: Number two, it is essential to maturity.
45:53: That is Hebrews 5, 11 to 14.
45:57: So it's essential to spiritual growth.
45:59: It is essential to maturity and it is essential to effectiveness.
46:03: That is 2nd Timothy 3, 16 and 17.
46:08: That if you want to go deeper into those, go read the text.
46:11: That was part of the text that you were supposed to read this week.
46:13: If you haven't, I can't repeat everything we're supposed to read.
46:17: That's why I want to move on because I have a few things I want to add to that.
46:22: Because I think there's another reason why we should study the Bible that's often overlooked.
46:27: And so I'll add this to Dr.
46:29: Hendricks's three things.
46:30: I'll add this.
46:32: Another reason why we ought to study the Bible is because of what it claims to be.
46:37: What it claims to be.
46:40: What does the Bible claim to be? The Word of God.
46:48: Where does it claim to be the Word of God? Several places, but yes, a few of you.
46:59: I would say probably the clearest place is 2nd Timothy 3, 16 and 17.
47:05: Which says that all scripture is breathed out by God.
47:08: And is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction and for training in righteousness.
47:14: That the man of God may be complete and equipped for every good work.
47:19: And also in 2nd Peter 1, verses 20 and 21.
47:23: It says, know this first of all, that no prophecy of scripture comes from someone's own interpretation.
47:28: For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man.
47:31: But men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
47:36: The Bible claims a divine origin for itself.
47:43: This leads to the conclusion of many Christians.
47:46: That the Bible therefore is inerrant and infallible.
47:53: I hope that you believe those things.
47:56: Because certainly that's not what we're teaching.
48:00: But it certainly is the backbone of what we're teaching.
48:01: But I do want to ask you this.
48:03: What is the difference between inerrancy and infallibility? Does anyone know? It's okay, it's a very nuanced difference.
48:19: There is a distinction.
48:23: One is without error, one is without error.
48:25: That's right.
48:27: Inerrancy simply means it doesn't have error.
48:30: I can make a statement.
48:32: This table is white.
48:34: That statement is inerrant.
48:37: Meaning it's correct.
48:38: It's without error.
48:39: But I'm not infallible.
48:42: I could have said this table is black.
48:45: And I would have been wrong.
48:46: Unless you want to argue about color spectrums and things like that.
48:49: The point of it being, I am fallible.
48:54: But I can make statements that are true.
48:58: The Bible is inerrant.
49:00: That means it does not err.
49:03: But the Bible also is infallible.
49:06: Which means it cannot err.
49:08: That's the difference and that's the distinction.
49:11: That we need to understand.
49:15: And saying that, what I said earlier about textual variations notwithstanding.
49:20: Because when we talk about the Bible in this sense.
49:23: We are referring to the original manuscripts.
49:26: Those which were written by Peter, Paul, John and the other apostles.
49:32: Now, I want to say something that's going to sound kind of radical.
49:36: And I hope no one gets offended by what I'm going to say.
49:42: We believe the Bible was written by men.
49:44: But superintended by the Holy Spirit of God.
49:47: And that God has maintained the integrity of the Bible down through the ages.
49:50: To ensure that we have confidence that what we are reading is God's word.
49:54: But even if this were not true.
49:59: Which I am in no way conceding.
50:01: I do believe that it's true.
50:03: But even if it were not true.
50:07: The Bible would still be worthy of our study.
50:09: Because of what it is.
50:13: Apart from any claim of supernatural origin.
50:17: The Bible is by nature an amazing work of historical literature.
50:25: Votie Bauckham said this.
50:27: I believe the Bible because it is a reliable collection of historical documents.
50:34: Written down by eyewitnesses during the lifetime of other eyewitnesses.
50:38: They report of supernatural events that took place in fulfillment of specific prophecies.
50:43: And claim that their writings are divine rather than human in origin.
50:51: I believe the Bible is the word of God.
50:53: I believe it's inspired and I believe that it is inerrant.
50:56: So understand I'm not giving any way to that.
51:00: But what I'm saying is it makes amazing claims.
51:05: Because it is an amazing book.
51:09: It is a book written by eyewitnesses during the lifetime of eyewitnesses.
51:15: Speaking of prophecy that was stated and then fulfilled.
51:20: It is worthy of our study.
51:24: Even if we didn't believe it.
51:26: But because we do it's worthy all the more of our study.
51:30: That's my point.
51:32: Even if we didn't believe it was the word of God it would still be worthy of study.
51:36: But because we know that it is the word of God.
51:38: How much more worthy of study.
51:42: So when somebody says why should we study the Bible? Because of what it is.
51:48: It is a reliable collection of historical documents.
51:52: Written by eyewitnesses during the lifetime of other eyewitnesses.
51:56: And it discusses things that are amazing and true at the same time.
52:02: It's worthy of our study because of what it is.
52:05: It is the word of God.
52:08: It is reliable.
52:13: So now let's with that being said let's overview the process with five minutes before our break.
52:20: It's okay.
52:24: The first night is always the worst because I have to spend time at the beginning sort of introducing everything.
52:29: Overviewing the process.
52:31: This course is about a method of study.
52:36: Which ensures that we arrive at the proper understanding of scripture.
52:51: Therefore I want to make it very practical.
52:55: As we go along.
52:56: And since this is our first time together as a class.
52:59: I want to go over an outline of the method that we're going to be using.
53:03: And speak about some preliminary details that we're going to expand on in the weeks to come.
53:10: First thought is this.
53:16: The Bible is a sacred book.
53:18: I've already said that.
53:23: But it is still a book.
53:28: It is a sacred holy book.
53:31: But it's still a book.
53:34: It is the word of God.
53:37: But it's still a book.
53:40: Why do you keep saying this? The Holy Spirit is its author.
53:45: But it's still a book.
53:48: Why do you keep saying this? Because it came to us as a book.
53:54: We can use the rules of interpretation and study that we would apply to any book.
54:02: To apply to the scripture.
54:05: Because it is a book.
54:07: There is no such thing as Holy Ghost Greek.
54:12: It's a book.
54:14: A noun is going to be a noun.
54:17: A verb is going to be a verb.
54:20: An adjective and a participle are going to function the same way as they always have and always will.
54:30: It's a book.
54:31: Why did I tell you to go read Mortimer Adler's How to Read a Book? Because it's a book.
54:38: You're going to hear this a few times.
54:39: I'm trying to make a point.
54:42: When we come to the issue of interpretation.
54:46: There are guidelines that can be used to indicate whether or not someone is being fair with their interpretation.
54:56: Now I want to add something to this.
54:58: The scripture says that the unspiritual man cannot understand the things of God.
55:08: But that doesn't mean the rules change for the spiritual man when it comes to a noun is a noun.
55:14: A verb is a verb.
55:15: An adjective is an adjective.
55:18: Primarily what that passage in 1 Corinthians 2 is talking about is the fact that the unspiritual man cannot receive the things of God.
55:26: Meaning he cannot believe them and he cannot apply them to his life.
55:30: I've met scholars who were unbelievers who understood what it said.
55:36: And what did they immediately do with it? They spit it out as if it were like bad milk.
55:44: So when it talks about the unbeliever not being able to truly receive the word of God.
55:48: It's not meaning they can't understand a noun is a noun.
55:50: A verb is a verb.
55:51: An adjective is an adjective.
55:52: What it's saying is they can't receive it and understand it to the point of application.
55:59: So you understand my point.
56:00: A book is a book.
56:01: And the Bible is a book.
56:02: You've got to come at this.
56:04: You're learning.
56:05: This course is learning how to read.
56:08: Because it's a book.
56:11: I hope you don't think I didn't tell you.
56:14: I don't think you can't read.
56:16: I believe everybody here can read.
56:19: But I'll tell you this.
56:20: We can all be better readers.
56:22: And that's part of what this course is.
56:24: Becoming a better Bible reader.
56:31: The outline of our method is simple.
56:34: And I want to tell you this is the same outline I use for preaching.
56:38: Basically.
56:41: I've been preaching for about 15 years.
56:45: And I basically use the same principle for preaching ever since I started.
56:49: The first principle is observation.
56:52: What does the text say? Observation.
56:56: What does the text say? This step is the most crucial and the most overlooked.
57:06: Especially with passages we're familiar with.
57:09: Oh, I know John 3.16.
57:10: I know Philippians chapter 2.
57:13: I know this passage.
57:15: So I jump right past it.
57:18: I don't observe.
57:19: Or I immediately begin to interpret and apply.
57:22: I don't observe.
57:24: Next week we're going to have an interesting exercise.
57:27: I'm going to have to do the tables different.
57:29: Because everybody's going to be looking at a table in the center of the room.
57:32: And everybody's going to have to observe what's on that table.
57:34: For one minute.
57:37: And tell me what you see.
57:41: Sherlock Holmes said this.
57:43: He said, you see but you don't observe.
57:46: You don't really look.
57:49: Now I know Sherlock Holmes isn't a Bible scholar.
57:51: But the point is still the same.
57:53: We don't observe.
57:55: We jump right into interpretation.
57:57: Interpretation only comes after observation is done.
58:02: So observation is one.
58:04: Interpretation is two.
58:09: Observation.
58:09: What does this text say? Interpretation.
58:13: What does this text mean? But I'll tell you this.
58:19: You cannot know what it means if you don't know what it says.
58:25: And the better you know what it says.
58:27: The better you will understand what it means.
58:32: And let me add something.
58:33: I will never in this course say what does it mean to you.
58:40: Because here's the real rub.
58:43: I don't care.
58:45: I don't care what it means to you.
58:47: You shouldn't care what it means to you.
58:50: You should care what it means.
58:53: Because the Bible is not subjective.
58:57: It doesn't mean something different to you and to me.
59:01: It means what it meant when it was written to the audience to which it was written.
59:07: And that's what we want to know.
59:09: What did Paul mean when he wrote to the Corinthians? And how would the Corinthians understood what he said? Finally is application.
59:22: How does it work? Here's where we get a little more personal.
59:27: Because the question is not does it work.
59:31: It does.
59:31: It's the word of God.
59:32: But how does it work? How does this apply to me? Brother you're about to preach Ruth.
59:39: I don't mean to point at you, but I'm going to point you out just for a second.
59:41: You're going to preach four chapters, right? There's four chapters in the book of Ruth.
59:45: And the book of Ruth is heavy narrative.
59:47: It's all about the history of the ancestors of King David.
59:51: And you're going to read that book to your people.
59:54: And you're going to read about what happened in the life of Naomi.
59:57: And in the life of Ruth and the life of Boaz.
59:59: And what happened and what it meant.
01:00:01: But then you're going to have to say.
01:00:02: And now this is how we can learn from this book.
01:00:07: 2,000, 3,000, 3,500 years later.
01:00:10: That's the hard part of pastoring.
01:00:13: Because that's the part that is essential to preaching.
01:00:18: How can we take this 3,500 year old truth.
01:00:22: And apply it to today.
01:00:25: It's still necessary.
01:00:28: In fact, people ask what is expository preaching? It's easy.
01:00:31: Read the text, explain the text, apply the text.
01:00:33: That's it.
01:00:33: There's no secret.
01:00:35: Read it, explain it, apply it.
01:00:37: That's it.
01:00:39: There is no secret.
01:00:43: And that's your job.
01:00:44: And that's what you're going to do.
01:00:45: I know you are.
01:00:46: But you have a narrative that you have to explain the context.
01:00:51: And all of those things that are going to come with that.
01:00:54: This method that we've just discussed.
01:00:57: Observation, interpretation, and application.
01:01:00: Seeks to ensure that we are engaging in something called exegesis.
01:01:13: What's the opposite of exegesis? Well, exegesis means to analyze the content of something.
01:01:33: And to pull out of it what is there.
01:01:39: Excavate, exegete, to pull out what is there.
01:01:44: Eisegesis, or eisegesis, depending on the prefix ei in Greek is pronounced a.
01:01:50: So it would be eisegesis.
01:01:51: But a lot of people say eisegesis.
01:01:53: It doesn't matter.
01:01:53: I don't care how you say it.
01:01:54: The point is, this exegesis, the prefix ex means out of.
01:02:00: The prefix ei means into.
01:02:04: And so an eisegesis is to read into a text something that is not there.
01:02:20: Exegesis is the basis for what we call hermeneutics.
01:02:37: Hermeneutics is the art and science of interpretation.
01:02:44: It's actually based on the name of a Greek god named Hermes.
01:02:51: Hermes was the messenger of the gods.
01:02:54: His job was to take the message from those on Mount Olympus and bring it to the people.
01:03:01: Thus his job was to take the message from the author to the recipient.
01:03:07: So the job of hermeneutics is taking the message from the original author to you, the recipient.
01:03:16: You're the, you're the, this is the process.
01:03:19: Now again, we don't believe in the Greek gods, but that's where the name and the word comes from.
01:03:23: And I think it paints a good picture of what we're trying to do.
01:03:25: How do we take what Paul said and understand it? How do we get the message from 2,000, 3,000 years ago to me? The process is called hermeneutics.
01:03:39: Relaying the message of the author to the audience.
01:03:43: Interpretation requires a thorough analysis.
01:03:47: What did it mean to the original audience first? Now, having said all this, we're going to take a quick break.
01:03:57: We're a little over time.
01:03:59: We're going to come back after the break.
01:04:02: And we are going to do the last bit on our analysis of Romans 12, 1 and 2.
01:04:10: All right, we are back.
01:04:17: Now, I asked you to bring in tonight ten observations from Romans chapter 12, verses 1 and 2.
01:04:30: Knowing full well that you had not yet really learned the process of observation that we are going to learn and go through in this course.
01:04:40: I just simply wanted to throw you into the deep end and let you kick around a little bit.
01:04:47: Because what could it hurt? I hope it wasn't too hard.
01:04:53: I want to point this out though.
01:04:55: I mentioned earlier Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's famous fictional detective, Sherlock Holmes.
01:05:03: There are a few things that he said that I want to quote.
01:05:06: Again, he's not a theologian.
01:05:09: But it's one of my favorite things to read as just enjoyable reading.
01:05:14: Which I don't get to do a lot of that.
01:05:16: I'm usually reading for work or for spiritual benefit.
01:05:21: But if I were going to read just something fun, a Sherlock Holmes novel is fun.
01:05:26: And this is what he says.
01:05:27: He says, there's nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact.
01:05:33: Well, that's so obvious.
01:05:34: Well, obvious to whom? He said, the world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes.
01:05:44: The world is full of obvious things people never observe.
01:05:48: And finally, the quote that I mentioned earlier.
01:05:51: You see what you don't observe.
01:05:55: So I have given you two verses.
01:05:59: And I would like to know how many of you came up with ten observations from those two verses.
01:06:09: Good.
01:06:10: Very good.
01:06:11: If you came tonight and you did not have the prerequisite work.
01:06:16: Then I would ask that you please this week bring that in.
01:06:19: Because if you brought it tonight, I want you to turn it in.
01:06:22: So that I may give you credit for it in my course grade book.
01:06:28: But I want to ask, since again, by the way, tonight's lecture was, I had a lot of notes.
01:06:34: Next week I don't have as much notes because I want to do a lot more interacting.
01:06:39: And so I want to start with what is an observation that someone found that they would like to share.
01:06:47: Something from that.
01:06:48: Yes, sir.
01:06:49: The first one I got is therefore.
01:06:56: Very good.
01:06:57: Very good, John.
01:06:58: And that's exactly right.
01:06:59: The word therefore is a connecting word to what came before.
01:07:06: So right away, the word therefore gives significance that this fits into a broader context.
01:07:13: Very good.
01:07:14: Excellent.
01:07:15: That was actually my first one as well.
01:07:17: So very good.
01:07:19: Anyone else? Yes, ma'am.
01:07:21: It's written to believers.
01:07:23: Okay.
01:07:24: How did you come to that conclusion? We call them brothers.
01:07:27: Thank you.
01:07:27: Very good.
01:07:28: Awesome.
01:07:28: That's right.
01:07:30: He names them brothers.
01:07:32: So that's indicating the audience.
01:07:35: Very good.
01:07:36: Excellent.
01:07:37: Excellent.
01:07:38: Anything else? Yes, Johnny.
01:07:49: Okay.
01:07:49: So that's the goal of all this is the transforming of the mind to the will of God.
01:07:54: Okay.
01:07:54: Good.
01:07:56: You had your hand up, brother? It says I urge you or I appeal to you.
01:08:00: So it's kind of showing compassion.
01:08:02: There's compassion in the word appeal.
01:08:04: Right.
01:08:05: Good.
01:08:07: And I want to add a thought to that.
01:08:09: Because we understand that in English, appeal is thoughtful and encouraging.
01:08:17: Right? So this might make you want to go further to see what the underlying word for appeal means.
01:08:24: And see if it bears the same connotation of love.
01:08:30: Right? Because you see that in English, does it bear the same weight in Greek? That would be a good time to say, does this have the same meaning in the underlying text? I agree with you, though, in English.
01:08:41: And that's a terrific observation.
01:08:42: It's a loving word.
01:08:44: Appeal.
01:08:45: If I appeal to you, that's not the same as commanding you.
01:08:47: Sort of like what Paul does to Philemon with Onesimus.
01:08:53: Right? I could command you, but I'm going to appeal to you as a brother.
01:08:57: Yes.
01:08:58: Brother? Paul mentions the greatness of God's mercy.
01:09:02: Absolutely.
01:09:03: Excellent.
01:09:04: Yes.
01:09:04: This is the basis for this whole argument.
01:09:07: It's the mercies of God.
01:09:09: Absolutely.
01:09:10: Yes, sir? Before brethren, he says, I urge you.
01:09:13: So Paul is like encouraging or he's begging Christians to do.
01:09:17: Yes.
01:09:18: Absolutely.
01:09:18: There's an urgency.
01:09:20: Yes, sir, James? Can you also give us an exhortation? Yeah.
01:09:33: Yeah.
01:09:33: Which can have warning in it.
01:09:37: Yeah.
01:09:38: Yes, sir? I think both statements are in the imperative.
01:09:43: Okay.
01:09:44: Yep.
01:09:45: Yep.
01:09:47: To learn more what it means to be a living sacrifice.
01:09:51: And pray for discernment of God's will in my life.
01:09:55: Yeah.
01:09:56: Absolutely.
01:09:57: Now, I want to take a step back.
01:09:59: Because you said about the imperative.
01:10:02: One of the things that is important too.
01:10:05: And we're not going to get a lot into original languages in this.
01:10:08: Sometimes though, the imperative in the Greek is not as well explained in the English.
01:10:13: Or vice versa.
01:10:15: We read something that's a command in English.
01:10:16: And in the Greek it might be an indicative rather than an imperative.
01:10:19: So that's sometimes where it's important to go back.
01:10:22: And see how the original language fleshes something out.
01:10:26: But yes, I agree.
01:10:27: These are certainly imperatives.
01:10:30: Yes, sir? He says why he's appealing to them.
01:10:33: Because of the mercies of God.
01:10:35: Yeah.
01:10:35: This is the basis for it.
01:10:37: Yeah.
01:10:38: Absolutely.
01:10:39: Absolutely.
01:10:40: Yes, Amber? It's coming from him.
01:10:50: Yes.
01:10:51: Absolutely.
01:10:52: I'm appealing to you.
01:10:53: Yeah.
01:10:54: Absolutely.
01:10:55: And that's, it's a simple thing.
01:10:58: But that's what I'm talking about.
01:10:59: Those little things that are easy to overlook.
01:11:02: Who's speaking? In what way is he speaking? Anything else? Yes? Well, I see the present as an exhortation.
01:11:10: But then there's what is to present yourself as a living sacrifice.
01:11:17: And then I can go on.
01:11:19: Yeah.
01:11:20: Yeah.
01:11:21: This is how I preach.
01:11:22: This is how I get into the text.
01:11:24: Because then it says what kind of sacrifice.
01:11:27: And it all comes because of the mercies of God that you present yourself holy and acceptable.
01:11:32: Yep.
01:11:38: Mm-hmm.
01:11:39: So your question is desired in this context.
01:11:47: Yeah.
01:11:51: It's, and I use the phrase in mine.
01:11:53: Because I noted that same thing, Johnny.
01:11:56: I use the phrase oxymoronic.
01:11:58: You familiar with the phrase oxymoron? Two words that go together that mean something different.
01:12:04: Jumbo shrimp.
01:12:06: Military intelligence.
01:12:09: Ah.
01:12:09: Yeah.
01:12:10: You know, those, I joke, I joke.
01:12:13: Prosperity gospel.
01:12:14: Yeah.
01:12:14: Prosperity gospel.
01:12:15: Yeah.
01:12:16: These are, living sacrifice is two words that both are diametrically opposed.
01:12:23: The sacrifice is by nature dead.
01:12:25: But we're called to be living as a sacrifice.
01:12:28: So yeah.
01:12:29: Absolutely.
01:12:30: Anything else? I know some of you have lists.
01:12:34: Yes, ma'am.
01:12:47: Yes.
01:12:48: Yeah.
01:12:48: There are some heresies that we talked about in the last, the history course.
01:12:52: That some would try to separate the body as everything material is evil and everything spiritual is good.
01:12:59: And thus you have this dualistic view of the world.
01:13:01: And yet we're called that our bodies, you know, be, and our minds be transformed.
01:13:06: And we offer our bodies as sacrifice.
01:13:08: Yeah.
01:13:10: Anything else? Yes, ma'am.
01:13:12: There's a cause and effect by offering ourselves to God.
01:13:18: Absolutely.
01:13:19: Cause and effect.
01:13:19: And that's a good point.
01:13:20: And that's the kind of, those are the little things, right? Finding those little connecting points.
01:13:28: I, in the weeks ahead, what I'm trying to find a good way to print scripture big.
01:13:33: So I don't have to write it all up on the board.
01:13:35: I want to go through and write out some things.
01:13:38: And show you sort of a mind map that I do when I look at a text.
01:13:45: Because one of the first things that I do is I go in and I identify the who's in a text.
01:13:52: Whether it's Paul speaking.
01:13:54: Or the audience.
01:13:56: The we, the who.
01:13:57: You know, if you read this text.
01:13:59: I is the very first word.
01:14:01: And I'm in the ESV, so I'm going to use the ESV.
01:14:04: I appeal to you.
01:14:07: So I would square.
01:14:09: And that's the way I, if it was written like this.
01:14:11: I appeal to you.
01:14:17: Then I would immediately take my red pen.
01:14:21: Which would be different from the pen that I used to print it or write it.
01:14:25: And I would immediately go in and do this.
01:14:30: Because I want to identify quickly who is participating in this conversation.
01:14:36: And then I would want to say, this is Paul.
01:14:42: You is who? Well, this is Rome.
01:14:47: This is the church.
01:14:48: So the immediate context is this is the church at Rome.
01:14:53: And their brothers who mentioned that earlier, the believers.
01:14:56: Right? So I would say this is not only the church at Rome.
01:14:59: But this is believers in Rome.
01:15:01: And so I might put that, you know.
01:15:02: Put that this is believers in Rome.
01:15:06: Does it have a broader application? Absolutely.
01:15:10: But I'm not looking for the broader application.
01:15:12: I'm looking for the immediate meaning.
01:15:15: I is Paul.
01:15:16: And he's appealing to you.
01:15:19: And so I would go through.
01:15:20: And I would, all of the personal pronouns.
01:15:23: I put a Bible.
01:15:23: What I do is I take my Bible.
01:15:25: Because I have access to a photocopier.
01:15:27: I photocopy the page.
01:15:30: And then I can write all over it.
01:15:32: And I can do that in my Bible.
01:15:34: So I photocopy the page.
01:15:36: Or I print it off of Logos.
01:15:38: Which is a software that I have.
01:15:39: And I print it as big letters.
01:15:41: And I go through and I just.
01:15:42: First I square all the pronouns.
01:15:45: And then I go back and I find all the connecting verbs.
01:15:48: All those words is and of and and.
01:15:50: All those words.
01:15:51: Those conjunctions.
01:15:52: And all those things.
01:15:53: And I say this is connecting this to this.
01:15:56: And this is connecting this to this.
01:15:57: And this is how this is related back to this.
01:16:01: And again when it's done it looks like a big mess.
01:16:03: But I understand it better.
01:16:05: Because I found all the places where.
01:16:08: Again language matters.
01:16:10: This is why at the beginning of next week.
01:16:11: We are going to talk about what Bible you choose matters.
01:16:14: Because if you are using the passion translation.
01:16:17: Or the message.
01:16:18: Or the living Bible.
01:16:21: Then some of that is going to be lost.
01:16:24: Because those are paraphrases.
01:16:27: They are not literal renderings.
01:16:30: Of the original.
01:16:31: So you are losing some of the value.
01:16:33: Of what we are talking about.
01:16:35: But all that is observation.
01:16:36: I am not interpreting anything.
01:16:37: You say well you interpreted who I is.
01:16:40: Oh yeah but that's not really an interpretation.
01:16:42: It's Paul.
01:16:43: That's who it is.
01:16:45: I know that because he says at the beginning of the book.
01:16:48: Paul.
01:16:51: It's not interpretation.
01:16:53: It's just reading it.
01:16:55: So that's just a little helpful.
01:16:58: Sort of getting started with observation.
01:17:00: Here's how the weeks are going to work.
01:17:02: Week two and three.
01:17:04: Next week and the week after is all on observation.
01:17:08: Weeks four and five.
01:17:10: Is all on interpretation.
01:17:13: Weeks six and seven.
01:17:15: Is all on application.
01:17:17: And then week eight.
01:17:18: We are going to finalize our study.
01:17:21: With your final project.
01:17:23: The final project for the course.
01:17:25: This time is not a paper.
01:17:27: But rather you are going to be assigned.
01:17:29: A scripture text.
01:17:31: That you will be responsible.
01:17:33: For writing an observation.
01:17:35: Interpretation.
01:17:36: And an application of the text.
01:17:39: Almost like you are writing.
01:17:40: Your own little sermon.
01:17:42: To give back and to be.
01:17:44: Turned in as a grade.
01:17:46: So that's.
01:17:47: So again if you are a pastor.
01:17:48: You are cheating a little.
01:17:49: You do this all the time.
01:17:51: But it's good for you.
01:17:54: In fact one of our elders read this.
01:17:56: Here's what I am going to be teaching.
01:17:58: You look like you are teaching them how to preach.
01:18:00: I said I don't know any other way.
01:18:03: This is how you study the word of God.
01:18:05: There is nothing special about how I preach.
01:18:08: I read the text.
01:18:09: I explain the text.
01:18:09: I apply the text.
01:18:10: That's right.
01:18:13: Everyone is a theologian.
01:18:14: And in this sense everyone should be an exegete.
01:18:17: A person who is pulling from the scripture.
01:18:21: What it says.
01:18:22: Rather than reading into it.
01:18:24: What you want it to say.
01:18:26: So again.
01:18:27: If you didn't do your ten observations this week.
01:18:29: I am not going to give you mine.
01:18:31: But I will say this.
01:18:33: I am going to ask for more.
01:18:35: From the same text.
01:18:37: So I need your first ten.
01:18:39: Because you are going to add to them as we go.
01:18:42: And I hope that you will see.
01:18:44: That there is a.
01:18:46: Massive well.
01:18:47: In just these two verses.
01:18:49: For the sake of this first night.
01:18:51: I did twenty.
01:18:52: Ten from each verse.
01:18:53: Just so that we can get started.
01:18:55: And I am not going to give them to you.
01:18:58: Because I will give them to you later.
01:19:00: But the goal is by the end.
01:19:01: I hope that you have about fifty observations.
01:19:04: From this text alone.
01:19:07: To show you.
01:19:08: How to observe the text.
01:19:10: Alright.
01:19:11: Let's end with a prayer shall we.
01:19:15: Father.
01:19:15: My prayer tonight.
01:19:17: Is that you would use this class.
01:19:18: To grow us as believers.
01:19:21: That you would take us.
01:19:23: More into.
01:19:25: A state of maturity.
01:19:27: And understanding.
01:19:28: How to observe.
01:19:31: And interpret.
01:19:32: And apply the word of God.
01:19:34: Lord God this is.
01:19:36: A tremendous goal.
01:19:38: But with what tremendous value.
01:19:41: And so Lord.
01:19:42: Help us to see that value.
01:19:44: Help us to pursue it.
01:19:45: To long for it.
01:19:46: To want it.
01:19:47: To see you glorified in our lives.
01:19:49: As we pursue you through your word.
01:19:52: Is our prayer in Jesus name.
01:19:54: Amen.