We are all familiar with the apostle Paul’s words to Timothy: “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16–17). This short passage is a classic example of how taking Bible verses out of context can limit our understanding of the overall message of the word of God. It is a passage that most Christians have seen quoted dozens if not hundreds of times and as such it becomes a kind of biblical “definition” of what the Bible is for.
The Scriptures are, of course, good for all these things – teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness – but we should not forget that they are not just about these things. In fact, none of them is the main point of the Bible (as Paul himself shows us).
When we view the Bible only in these terms, consciously or unconsciously, we tend to see the Bible as being relevant primarily to ourselves – what it can teach us about us and how we need to live, improve, and grow. It is always good to remember that we are not the subject of the Bible, but that God is. The Bible is not just the revelation from God, it is primarily the revelation about God.
In fact, if we look at Paul’s words in context, we see the real focus of the Scriptures is emphasized in the very verse directly before our “Bible definition” passage: “the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 3:15). In other words, the main point of the Scriptures is that they lead us to see God and to come to faith in his Son. As Paul put it in Romans: “faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ” (Romans 10:17). God has revealed himself through his word, the Bible, and his Word, his Son (John 1:1).
Looking back at our “definition” passage in 2 Timothy, we see that Paul follows those words by immediately speaking of “God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead” (2 Timothy 4:1). So the “teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training” aspects of the Scriptures that we tend to think of as being so central to what the Bible is about are actually subsumed within what the Bible is telling us about God and Jesus Christ.
The Bible is ultimately the word of God about God. It is about him, his nature, righteousness, faithfulness, mercy, and love. Secondarily, it is about God’s works of creation, provision, judgment, deliverance, and his promised kingdom. It is about his covenant, and his promises, and his way of life. As such, it is indeed good for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training, but above all it is about God.
This is not simply an academic point – it has direct consequences for our study and understanding of the word of God. Our personal study should always ask the question “What does this verse show about God?” as well as – and often instead of – “How can I apply this verse?” When we study primarily to see what the Bible is telling us about ourselves and others, we can miss the even deeper, and in many ways more important, message about God.
Studying for personal application rather than just simply reading the biblical narrative as stories about distant people is important, but it should not replace a primary focus of studying the word of God to see God more clearly and then to seek his help to change to become more like him. If we study only for personal application, it can become a self-focusing pitfall; but if we study primarily to see God, our study of his word can be continually elevating.
An old Calvin and Hobbes comic strip showed Calvin’s mother telling the grubby youngster to go and get into the bathtub. The next frame showed a grinning Calvin sitting in the empty bathtub fully clothed and saying “I obey the letter of the law, if not the spirit.” Like Calvin, most children can be very good at obeying the letter of the law – its exact literal meaning – while avoiding the command’s spirit – its underlying intent – but as adults we don’t always grow out of that approach.
An example of this can be seen in the way in modern Israel some landowners keep the letter of the Old Testament law by not farming their land in the seventh year to let it rest (Leviticus 25:2–4), but they lease out the land for the year and let someone else work it – while they “keep” the law by not working the land. Calvin’s attitude may be true of all of us at times, but we should never underestimate the Christian responsibility to obey the spirit of the law.
In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus interpreted the law of Moses according to the spirit of the law, rather than the letter. While the Mosaic law said we must not murder, Jesus said that extreme and disparaging anger can make us guilty of breaking that law, because it is the same attitude that produces both anger and murder (Matthew 5:21–22). While the Mosaic law said we must not commit adultery, Jesus said to look on a woman lustfully is to commit adultery in the heart (Matthew 5:27–28).
So keeping the letter of the law, but not its spirit and intent, is expressly forbidden by Christ. Most believers understand this basic principle of Christianity, but how do we apply it – how do we know, for example, what other ways a given command of Jesus should be applied in order to keep its spirit and intent? The answer is surprisingly simple.
We should realize that the wording of a law often does not fully cover every possible way in which it should be applied, and we must be willing to look for its intent – the spirit of the law. For instance, as one of the laws given in the Old Testament book of Leviticus states: “Do not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block in front of the blind, but fear your God” (Leviticus 19:14). Although this law literally only forbids cursing the deaf and causing the blind to stumble, if we think about it, we can see almost endless possible ways in which the spirit of the law can be applied.
The intent of this particular law is not to do anything that takes advantage of, or makes life difficult for, those already dealing with disabilities. For example, the spirit of this law would forbid us to sell inferior goods to a blind individual that we know we would not be able to sell to a sighted person. If we take a little time to think about this law, we will soon see other ways in which it can be applied that fall within the spirit of the law even though they are not included in its literal wording.
This brings us to the simple way in which we discover the spirit of a given law – we must think about it! While that may sound just too simple, it is nevertheless true. That is the difference between Bible reading and meaningful Bible study – between just getting through the Bible as opposed to getting the Bible through us.
We have all read some of the many instances in the Psalms where David speaks of meditating on God’s law (Psalm 1:2; etc. ) – and this is what we must do if we are to ever see its spiritual intent. It is not a question of which laws or commands we must or must not keep today – it is the only way in which we can come to deeply understand the way to truly keep the intent of the whole law, as Jesus said, by loving God and loving others.
We do not try to keep God’s law of love in order to earn salvation, and we will never be able to keep it perfectly in this life – in letter or in spirit (Galatians 5:5). But the more we think on the principles behind the laws of the Old Testament and the standards of behavior that Jesus gave his followers, the more we will see the spiritual intent behind those laws and commands, and the better we will be able to love God and love others as ourselves.
A number of years ago, a cartoon had the unlikely subject of a group of fleas sitting in what appeared to be a large pillared lecture hall, listening to an impassioned speech from a flea behind a podium. On the podium was a sign reading “There is no dog!” – and it became clear that the “pillars” of the lecture hall were, in fact, the hairs of a dog seen at the same magnified size as the fleas!
So the subjects of the cartoon were obviously “Afleists” who did not believe that dog existed, but the context was not one in any way suggesting that human atheists who don’t believe God exists were to be equated with fleas – it was simply looking wryly at the idea of how it is possible to be very unaware of things around us.
The cartoon might remind us of the apostle Paul’s words to the learned philosophers of Athens regarding the creation of all things by God: “God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. For in him we live and move and have our being…” (Acts 17:27-28).
Like those earnest fleas debating the dog’s existence among the very hairs of the dog, we humans sometimes “don’t see the forest for the trees” when it comes to seeing the nature of the ultimate reality in which we live. But religious people can be no less susceptible to this problem than atheists or agnostics. We may not ignore the clear imprint of the Creator in the physical creation, but the problem of not seeing the forest for the trees can apply to us in a different way, nonetheless.
We read in the Gospel of Mark the story of how shortly after performing great miracles in which Jesus fed the multitudes: “The disciples had forgotten to bring bread, except for one loaf they had with them in the boat. ‘Be careful,’ Jesus warned them. ‘Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod.’ They discussed this with one another and said, ‘It is because we have no bread’” (Mark 8:14-16).
When Jesus realized the disciples’ lack of vision in this situation, he chastised them: “Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes but fail to see …” (Mark 8:17).
In this situation, the disciples missed the meaning of Christ’s message by looking too closely at their own circumstances, the details of their own situation. Sometimes we can make the same mistake: we miss the message because we take it too personally.
It is often said that when studying the Bible we should always ask “How does this verse apply to me?” That is indeed a useful principle of personal study, but we should also be careful not to let our study of the Bible become self-absorbed to the point that we miss the bigger picture that is sometimes there. It is always good to remember that we are not the subject of the Bible, and that God is. The Bible is not just the revelation from God, it is primarily the revelation about God. Our study should also ask the question “What does this verse show about God?” If we study only to see what applies to us and to others, we can miss the message that is of forest-size proportions by concentrating only on what applies to some of the trees.
If you are looking for a truly worthwhile goal to set for this new year, Cornerstone’s carefully prepared non-denominational and non-commercial courses provide in-depth information on the Bible – without advertisements or other distractions – to those who cannot attend Bible school or seminary, or who simply want to understand the Bible at a deeper level in their own personal study. With Cornerstone courses you can study anywhere, on your own schedule, and you can download course materials without having to study while online.
General courses are available on the Old and New Testament, as well as a more focused course on the Old Testament Wisdom Books – with more courses being planned. Significantly, all course materials – including e-textbooks – are provided for free and there are no charges of any kind. If desired, an optional final exam can be taken online and a personalized certificate of completion is provided for all passing grades. Here are two sample comments from students:
“The Cornerstone course units are always refreshing …they make me realize that there is still so much I don’t know even though I have been reading the Bible all my life.” Anthony J.
“I don’t think there are many places (if any) where all these strings that you pull together so readably can be found! Never ending interesting things to learn!” Lois S.
Download a free course and study materials today from the CornerstoneCourses.org site, here.
You need only compare a color TV with a black and white TV, or an old black and white movie with a more recent color film, to know how much color can add to our visual experience. Now the same can be said of Bibles!
Although “red letter” Bibles – where the words of Jesus are printed in red type – have been made for some time and may be somewhat helpful, they are a bit like black and white TV’s with only one extra color. In the past year or two, however, the world of Bible publishing has been revolutionized by the offering of color-coded Bibles – Bibles in which the text is printed with colored highlighting – in the same way that our Bibles look if we use colored pencils or markers to highlight different scripture topics.
The great advantage of a printed Bible that already has color-coded text, of course, is that the color coding is complete throughout the whole Bible. It saves the reader countless hours of carefully marking up verses – time that can often be better spent reading and reflecting on the word – not to mention the fact that printed colors invariably look better than hand marked ones!
Color-coded Bibles have many other advantages: they help us better understand the organization and key subjects of the biblical text, and they can be especially useful for topical study – reading all the texts highlighted in a single color that marks the theme we are studying. On a passage-by-passage basis this can be important – we often see that there was more to what we read than we had previously thought. Seeing the color-differentiated blocks of text can be a wonderful advantage. It provides a built-in analysis of each passage and helps us to follow the message that is being developed in a given biblical book.
About the only drawback of printed color-coded Bibles (and it is a minor one) is that we must use the color categories that the publisher has chosen. Perhaps we would have chosen different categories or themes. On the other hand, modern color-coded Bibles are produced with up to a dozen or so well-thought-out themes. Additionally, using a slightly different color-coding system than we are used to or might have chosen ourselves can often stimulate us to see things in ways we would not otherwise have done.
A number of color-marked Bibles are now available, but the difference in quality between them can be surprising. The most important aspect of these Bibles, of course, is how well they differentiate key subjects. Some color-coded versions of the Scriptures utilize only a few different colors and are not very helpful as they have to cram too many types of text into each color. Others fail because they do not choose subjects that are truly helpful for study.
The best color-coded versions we have found are the “Rainbow Study Bibles” produced by Holman Bibles. These Bibles are available in the excellent Christian Standard Bible* and also the King James Version and the New International Version at this time. The Rainbow Bibles utilize twelve colors, which allows for an effective differentiation of most types of text, and the subject categories covered by each color are clear and logical. The twelve colors represent: God, discipleship, love, faith, sin, evil, salvation, family, outreach, commandments, history, and prophecy.
As an added bonus, these study Bibles include maps, notes, over 100,000 cross-references, a concordance, a harmony of the Gospels, a reading plan, and other helps. The original translator’s notes are also included under the last verse on each page. They primarily consist of alternate Hebrew and Greek renderings. Refreshingly, the additional material in these Bibles focuses on background information rather than theological speculation.
Finally, the Rainbow Study Bibles are available in both printed and electronic forms, so they allow study of the Scriptures on either the page or the screen, according to preference and need. Overall, we rate them among the best Bibles for personal study available at this time – especially because color really does add to the experience of effective Bible study.
*Download our free E-Book Which Bible Should I Use? How to Choose the Best Translation for Your Needs, here
A new, revised, and expanded edition of one of our more popular downloads – Spotlight on the Psalms: A Closer Look at One of the Bible’s Best-Loved Books – by R. Herbert, is now available for free download.
Psalms is the Old Testament book most often quoted in the New Testament and most frequently read today. The new second edition of Spotlight on the Psalms includes more biblical, cultural, and even archaeological background information to enrich this practical commentary that can help you to better understand the psalms and better apply their messages in your own life.
Download a free copy of this new edition in the format of your choice, from our sister-site, here.
Recent Comments