The previous lesson introduced the more gritty side to Bible study. It is great to talk about foundational concepts like the inspiration of the Bible and absolute truth, but eventually the sleeves have to roll up and the hands have to get dirty.
The object of every person studying their Bible should be to discover each Bible verse’s single, intended, and objective meaning. Everyone comes to the Bible with preconceived ideas about God and the Bible itself. This is where the pure heart, good conscience, and sincere faith of Lesson 1 come strongly into play, because we want to identify the Bible’s single meaning and not our self-imposed and tainted interpretation of it. This may sound like a difficult task, and it is sometimes, but until you embrace this truth, the Bible will continue to be nothing more than a sounding board for your personal wants and wishes. God used men to write down the intents of His heart so that man could then read those thoughts and understand them (2 Peter 1:19-21). Paul explained the inspiration process and the idea of a single meaning of all scripture when he said, “By revelation He made known to me the mystery…by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ, which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets…” (Ephesians 3:3-5). Consider this passage in view of Bible study approaches. The typical approach to a group Bible study is:
“What does this Bible verse mean to you?”
This question is asked with the leading impression that each passage of scripture has a personally tailored meaning to the individual. But wait…I thought Paul said, “When you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ.” Furthermore, he would tell Corinth, “If anyone thinks himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things which I write to you are the commandments of the Lord. But if anyone is ignorant, let him be ignorant,” (1 Cor. 14:37-38). Call me crazy, but these two brazen statements by Paul do not seem to jive with the, “What does this Bible verse mean to you?” approach to study. The question, “What does this Bible verse mean to you?” is meant to satisfy multiple meanings to a single Bible verse rather than the single meaning the Holy Spirit intended every reader to walk away with. I may be wrong about my interpretation of Ephesians 3:3-5 or 1 Cor. 14:37-38. With that said, to imply these Bible verses have multiple meanings based on the culture they are read in, does not justify my wrong interpretation. This is not a popular view today among life groups, Bible campus ministries, youth groups, or any assortment of the kind. In fact, Michael Shank shares an incident from 1989 that illustrates the unpopularity of this view in his must-read book Muscle and a Shovel. He was in a married couples’ life group that went on for 20 minutes without a Bible verse being read (Shank 195). When asked his opinion on husbands loving their wives, Michael read Ephesians 5:21-33 to the group (Ibid. 195). The fact that Michael believed the passage to have a single meaning which was still relevant to 21st century married couples briskly led to his dismissal from the Bible class (Ibid. 197). This is not a farfetched example. A single meaning to scripture is not popular, and certainly Aquila and Priscilla would not be welcomed in many modern Bible groups or churches today (Acts 18:24-28).
How do you avoid missing the single, intended meaning of any given Bible verse? First, go back and read the first six lessons in this series. Every lesson is foundational to answering this question, and each lesson builds on the one before it. Second, start asking essential questions like these: “Who is the author?”, “When did he write?”, “Who was his audience?” Using this principle, we will start with the most general questions and work down to the more specific questions. There are many more questions that play into this method of Bible study, and these will be discussed next.
Homework Questions
1. How many meanings does a Bible verse have?
2. What did Paul want the Ephesian audience to understand upon reading his letter?
3. What did Aquila and Priscilla do that might get them dismissed from some Bible study groups today?
4. Does your preacher ever actually explain the single meaning of the text he is preaching from?
Helpful Resources
Muscle and a Shovel by Michael Shank
A Study Guide to Greater Bible Knowledge by Wayne Jackson
