Steps to the Study of Scripture (Part I)

The Process

The process for effective and beneficial study of the Bible is really very simple. The process involves two (2) basic areas of theological or biblical aspects: exegesis and hermeneutics. Please do not be afraid of these terms nor shun them.

Exegesis comes from the Greek word ἐξήγησις which is a derivative of ἐξηγεῖσθαι, meaning “to lead out.” The idea is that one “draws out” the biblical meaning of a specific passage. This is in juxtaposition to eisegesis which means “to lead into.” More specifically it means to bring presuppositions, meanings, interpretations, or personal biases to a given text.

The specific goal of biblical exegesis or bible study is to “explore the original meaning of the text which then leads to discovering the significance or relevance for today. Exegesis is the careful, systematic, and analytical study of a biblical passage to discover the original intended meaning in order to make a direct application to today’s setting.

Now, lest you think this process is just for the pastor or teacher in the local church, allow me to state emphatically that this is the job or responsibility of every true or biblical Christian. When you are thinking of the pastor’s job of studying the bible in order to prepare studies or sermons, you are thinking of homiletics.

You, as a believer, have the responsibility to study your bible in order to determine God’s original intended meaning so that you can apply those truths to your everyday life situations.

“These Jews were more receptive than those in Thessalonica, for they welcomed the message very eagerly and examined the scriptures every day to see whether these things were so.” (Acts 17:11, NRSV)

(II Timothy 3:14-17) But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.

(Psalms 119:11, ESV) I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.

(Psalms 18:11, ESV) Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.

The terms exegesis and hermeneutics have been used interchangeably. However, hermeneutics is a more widely defined discipline of interpretation theory: hermeneutics includes the entire framework of the interpretive process, encompassing all forms of communication: written, verbal and nonverbal, while exegesis focuses primarily on the written text.

I do not mention this to intimidate you nor in attempt to show you that I might know something. I only mention this so that I might demonstrate to you, your responsibility to “rightly study” or exegete a passage of Scripture

Your responsibility is twofold: first, you must discover the original intended meaning of the biblical writer and second, make application of that original intended meaning to your life today. You, as a biblical believer must extract from a passage of scripture the essentials that pertain to sound interpretation of Scripture in order to bring that interpretation to bear upon your personal life.

The Exegetical Task

In order to effectively study the bible, you must invoke an encounter between the word of God from the first century and yourself in the twenty-first (21) century. The exegetical task discovers the meaning of a passage of scripture in the first century and then applies that meaning to the present. Do not be afraid of appropriate terms, meanings, or definitions. Do not be afraid of the process of studying your bible!

To be continued Wednesday, July 18^th, 2012

Beware of Superstition and Carnal Wisdom

Superstition, unbelief, and carnal wisdom have endeavoured to usurp the place of Christ crucified, to the grief of the church of God. The enemies without do us small damage, but those within the church cause her serious harm; by supplanting the truth and placing error in its stead, they deceive the people, and lead multitudes to destruction. As a Jew felt a holy horror when he saw an idolatrous emblem set up in the holy place, even so do we when in a Protestant church we see the fooleries of Rome, and when from pulpits, once occupied by men of God, we hear philosophy and vain deceit.  

Charles H. Spurgeon  (1834 – 1892)

Look For...

Jesus' Road Map to His Kingdom

"...most assuredly I say unto you, 

unless one is born of water and the Spirit, 

he cannot enter the kingdom of God."

--Jesus, of Nazareth

(John 3:3, NKJV)

It's Your Turn - Question Number 4

I know that there can be many consequences to sin and yet some actions that we think of as sin seem so attractive and appealing that it can be difficult not to at least think of these things if not act upon those thoughts, a process described well in James.

Thinking specifically of sexual sins, why has God created something so potentially wonderful and instilled a powerful drive within many people that lead us to at least lust of the eyes and thoughts? 

Some of the figures of the Bible--Solomon comes to mind in a big way--must have satisfied some of this with multiple wives and concubines. Was this a sinful response? I know some bad consequences came from these actions.

Is the Muslim solution of covering females on the right track for addressing this sin potential since Western styles of dress can be so revealing and enticing?

That's my topic for the day.

Lee
Tossing It Out 

Lee,

When God created man and woman which included their individual sex drives, He created it with “rules” or principles that would regulate the drive. First, mankind was created to be dependent upon God and to trust God for the fulfillment of every drive or need that God created within man.

Man is to leave his parents and cleave to his wife for life. They are to enjoy each other, never denying one another the “usage” of the others bodies accept for an agreed time of prayer.

The fall of man which created a rift between God and man and exposed man to a wicked, sinful, and depraved nature changed all that. Now lust, particularly sexual lust resides with in the unredeemed body of flesh. Our own flesh entices and lures us through temptation to sin.

Don’t forget we are freed from the penalty of sin, and from the power (bondage) of sin. We are not yet freed from the presence of sin. Sin dwells with us, which is why Paul said in Ro 7:18:

“For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.”

Paul also wrote in Ro 7:24:

“O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?”

Now to answer your next question about men like Abraham, Jacob, Solomon, David, and such: Was this a sinful response?

YES! God has always intended one man for one woman for life. However, even when men gave into their sinful propensity sanctioned by culture and took multiple wives or concubines, God in His grace, patience, and longsuffering did not exact precise judgment on these men. There were consequences (discipline) in the lives of each of these men. It was never intended by God that they would ever have more than one wife for life, but the fact that God “over-looked” sin and was so longsuffering with man is almost unfathomable.

No, the Muslim dress is not on track. It is not a divine solution it is a man-made solution that shows absolutely no trust in God. Lust is an internal drive. One doesn’t need sight or a woman’s body in order to lust. Blind men lust. Covering a body will not keep the depraved nature from lusting.

God’s plan to reduce the sin of lust was to provide first of all the Holy Spirit. When we depend on God and trust God’s Spirit which dwells within each believer we rely on His strength and not ours to combat lust. Second, God provides a woman who becomes our wife to satisfy the sexual drive.

We cannot conquer this lustful sin in our own strength and by our own invention. We must constantly turn to God for the promised strength to fight any sin.

Yes, you are right, western women today, influenced Satanically through their own sin nature, culture, and social pressure do contribute heavily to causing men to sin. The scripture desires women to be dressed modestly. 1Ti 2:9 says:

“In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array;”

So, in summary, God created the sexual drive as a strong, but wonderful thing within men and women in order to not only pro-create and enjoy. He created this sexual drive to honor Him and magnify His character/nature.  He created the sexual drive knowing that man would fall and have their nature become sinful, wicked, and depraved. However, God did not leave us to this powerful drive, He provided the solution: one woman for man, one man for woman for life, along with the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit to help us curb this sinful reality by trusting Him.

Women should dress modestly realizing that they can contribute to causing men to sin. However, regardless of how modest a woman is or how covered up she is, men still will lust if they depart from God’s prescription.

It's Your Turn - Question Three (Part IV)

Josh,

I didn’t realize that it would take four (4) posts to tell the story of my time in the Marine Corps. I hope you have found some interest. I feel I haven’t had much “inside” scoop or perspective to share. Even though I held a “secret clearance” I wasn’t told very many secret things.

Let me finish up with the tour at VMA 311 and I will give you some perspective of my thoughts and feelings about the Corps and my time served.

I rotated back to the “world” in April of 1975. I flew a commercial airliner from Tokyo to LA non-stop. That was one long miserable flight. When the plane was on its final approach and low enough to read bill-boards the first thing I saw was a coke a cola advertisement. It was the sweetest thing I had seen in 13 months. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t like coke then and I don’t like it now, but the greatest thing about that sign – it was in ENGLISH! After seeing nothing but Japanese writing, it was good to see something in English.

Irene met me at the airport along with some family and friends. Sorry to say to my family and friends, after thirteen (13) months away from “home” I only had eyes for Irene, and my new baby of course. I was introduced to Shannon who cried and did not want me to hold her. She had to get use to her daddy.

After thirty (30) days leave we drove a 1964 Thunderbird to Beaufort, South Carolina where I joined VMA 311. It was a similar light anti-aircraft attack squadron as VMA 211 was. When I was with VMA 211 I was an “Avenger” and now I was a “Tomcat.”  I was again assigned as the NBC NCO, Training NCO, and an S-3 Operations Clerk.

I had wanted to re-enlist but Irene really didn’t like the separations, temporary duties, over-seas tours and asked me to get out of the service. I was honorably discharged on 18 October 1975.

I got a job driving a “roach-coach” on the base after my separation from the service. I wanted to find something more permanent. As a matter of fact, a friend wanted to sell his home-stead act home in Orlando to us. I took a week’s leave, drove to Orlando and beat the doors down for a job. I said if I found a good job in the week I was there I would assume his homestead and buy his house. Needless to say, I didn’t find a job and instead of being a Floridian we chose to pack up and move to California. Good thing we didn’t wait much longer, Sonja was born just a week after we landed back in San Jose, CA.

I guess the service has at times been classified as “hurry up and wait.” It is very true. You hurry here, report here, and fall in on command just to wait.

One time was very frustrating, we were ordered to report to the squadron hangar with our sea-bag packed with full combat gear and clothing, we were issued M16’s, .45’s, and we stood in formation for hours awaiting orders to be transported to Israel when a confrontation was brewing. After several hours we told to stand down and go home, the catastrophe was averted.

I played drums for a band called Barry B and the Tar-Heel Three while I was stationed in North Carolina. It was a bunch of service guys in a country-western band and we played a few honky-tonks.

I got to play drums with a band while in the Philippines.

When I was stationed in Iwakuni, I frequented the NCO club. The main attraction was a local Japanese band called Charlie Nagatine and the Western Cannonballs. It was funny and strange to hear country music with a Japanese accent.

When I rotated back to the world, the Marine Corps lost, oops, “misplaced” my pay record and for a few months I didn’t exist and didn’t get paid. That was a real hardship, even in the late 70’s.

I was on an old military twin engine airplane once that was struck by lightning. All the instruments were knocked out and the pilot skillfully landed the plane with no instruments.

Of course most people are aware that since the military is funded by the government that money must grow on trees. Absorbent expense was the norm. Even so, the Marine Corps was like the “red-headed step child,” we were on the bottom of the list. We got the Air Force, Army, and Navy hand me downs. Our type-writers, oh, for those of you who don’t know what a type writer is, that is like a computer with a key board and no motherboard. You struck the keys and they struck a piece of paper you inserted into the machine through an inked ribbon which left “marks” on a sheet of paper. Anyways, type-writers, desks, chairs, lockers, you name it was never new for the USMC; it was always surplus from the other services.

Yet, don’t ever forget that the motto of the corps in not only Semper Fidelis, but it is also, “First to Fight – First to Die.” The Marines have been sent first into every battle, conflict, or war we have had since 1775 up to Viet Nam. It is surprising that the only war we have lost is the one that the Marines were sent in after the Army and Air Force.

As far as uniforms most people may not know that the red strip on the dress blue uniforms is the NCO blood stripe. It represents the blood shed by NCO’s in battle. The piping on the jacket is for the blood shed at Tripoli.

A committee of the Continental Congress met at Tun Tavern in Philadelphia, PA, to draft a resolution calling for two battalions of Marines able to fight for independence at sea and on shore. November 10, 1775, the Marine Corps was born with the 1^st Commandant Major Samuel Nicholas (1775-1783.) The USMC predates the Army.


Well Josh, I hope that gives you some insight in my Marine Corps days! Anything else you want to know or if I left something out let me know!

It's Your Turn - Question Number Three (Part III)

Josh,

After finding out the good news that we newlyweds were going to have a baby, I got orders in March to report to VMA 211, a light anti-aircraft attack squadron in Iwakuni, Japan. The only problem was the Marine Corps forgot to tell me. It seems that the General Office of the Corps thought it was a good idea that I serve in Japan but my Group, MAG 26, did not want to release me. Eventually Command won and I was finally ordered to report to Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni and MAG 12. I had twenty-one (21) days to report.

Irene and I packed up a U-Haul trailer attached to our 1966 AMC Rambler and headed west. We made the trip in fifty-four (54) hours from Jacksonville, NC to San Jose, CA. Irene moved in with her parents and I made plans to join my unit in Iwakuni, Japan.

I spent thirteen (13) months in Iwakuni with VMA 211 as an NBC NCO, Training NCO, and an S-3 Operations Clerk. This was quite an adventure for a nineteen (19) year old. While there I made a trip to Hiroshima and saw the Museum and the effects of the Atom Bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima. That was probably the second most sobering experience in all of my life up to that point. I can’t even begin to tell you, some thirty-eight (38) years later the devastating effects of that single bomb. I will never forget it.

We flew a number of training missions in Korea, Japan, Philippines, and Australia while I was with VMA 211. One tragic day we lost a Major when his plane crashed in Luzon, Republic of the Philippines. I lived under martial law under Ferdinand Marcos. That was truly an experience. His “special troops” had absolute power, including life and death in their hands.

The two most devastating experiences I endured while stationed in Iwakuni was missing the birth of my daughter Shannon Annette, September 6, 1974 and being out-ranked for an assignment to Australia. I could not get leave and Irene delivered our first daughter without me. I am thankful to this day her family was with her during this time. Shannon was about eight (8) months old before I saw her for the first time. I have a picture (unfortunately not on the computer) of the very first time I got to feed my daughter.

Half way thru the thirteen (13) month tour of duty in Japan, VMA 211 was ordered to Olangapo City Philippines for temporary duty. Actually we were assigned to the base at Subic Bay but Olangapo was the villa where we Marines hit the beach and partied like animals. The Marine Corps, which does not like the idea of “accompanied tours” thought that work could keep you from thinking of home, worked us to death.  It was nothing to work sixteen (16) hour days six (6) days a week.

So for six (6) months we endured monsoons, monkeys in the barracks, and tedious duty of practice bomb and strafing sorties in the jungles of the Philippines. Moneys would invade our barracks stealing anything that was not tied down. I never thought about until now but I wonder if the monsoons prepared me for Washington State?

Almost all service personnel who endure overseas tours have what is called a short-timers calendar. Yes, mine, I am ashamed to say was in the shape of a girl. She was divided up into blocks, with each block representing a day. Every day I colored a block and that placed me closer to home. After coloring three hundred and ninety six (396) blocks I was eligible to rotate back to the “world,” the term for the United States.

I was ordered to report to VMA 311 stationed at the Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, South Carolina. I loved South Carolina. Don’t get me wrong, I loved North Carolina, and even though Irene and I were married in Jacksonville, NC, I loved living in Bluffton, SC. More to come in Part IV.