Mining the Bible for Better than Gold en Honey (1 of 3)

Dear Saints,

It is written: “…be transformed by the renewal of your mind.” (Romans 12:2).

Let me be unequivocal: Bible study is not less than engaging the mind. It is thinking and deeply so. But it exceedingly more than informational. The purpose and pursuit is transformation, never less than transformation. An eighteen-inch connection can be all that is keeping a person from salvation, that is the distance between head and heart. It is both/and, beloved, always both/and. Here it is in an apostolic, Biblical prayer: “And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment.” (Philippians 1:9).

What I am about to share gets a one-minute nod on most teachings concerning how to study/interpret the Bible. May it never be! All the technical skill/tools (we'll get to them) can never compensate for, for, for, well, this prerequisite: The Bible is a trove to mine and not a textbook to master. I'll call it principle #1 below.

#1. One gets more from the Bible when it is treasured and mined above gold.

Here is the Verse: “More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb.” (Psalm 19:10).  Additional “Witnesses” include: Psalm 119:72, 103, 127; Proverbs 16:16.

O my! the quoted Verse above is a double parallelism! Hence it is screaming emphasis, behold, heed, pay attention! (Yes, we may get to things like parallelisms).

Anyway, those in the class and those reading this I trust can say Amen! to the Bible's inestimable worth. And yet, many have a disconnect between their belief and experience. Is that you, beloved? Do not despair for that is where principle #2 comes in.

#2. One gets more from the Bible when God opens the mind (faculties) to understand His Word.

Here's a Verse: “Then He [Jesus, The Word] opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. (Luke 24:45). Other Witnesses include: Psalm 119:18, Acts 16:14.

“Understand” in Greek connotes the sense of light peircing clouds, darkness, obscurity. I love that. I think of the wonder of 2 Corinthians 4:6: “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”’

What we want to do here is pray. It takes God to know God. It takes the the Spirit of Christ to cherish the Word of Christ. “Jesus, Your Word is soo much more precious and valuable than I am experiencing—Helper help! (rf. Psalm 19:10). Grant me to see and esteem wonderous things in the Word! (rf. Psalm 119:18). I don't want to just believe the Truth; I want to love the Truth! (rf. 2 Thessalonians 2:10). Salve, Thou, my eyes to see! (rf. Revelation 3:18).

#3. One gets more (and even a sorta less-is-more) from the Bible when it is correctly handled.

Here's a Verse: “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the Word of Truth.” (2 Timothy 2:15). Other witnesses include: Acts 17:11, 2 Peter 3:16.

Sorry, beloved, not every hot take is a holy take. (rf. Titus 1:11; 1 Thessalonians 2:5; 2 Corinthians 4:2; 2 Peter 2:3, 3:16). “Rightly handling” is sometimes rendered “rightly dividing.” The idea is to make bright, straight cuts between Truth and error versus twisted mixtures. And, yes, doctrine divides…truth from error! (J. MacArthur?).

A subjective, post-modern, reader-response has crept into Bible study. It is essentially the idea that the meaning of a Text/Passage/Verse is a collaboration between author and reader. In a sense they together conjure up a meaning.

That said, the First Cause and Author of the Bible is the Holy Spirit. He has clear meaning and intent (rf. Isaiah 55:11). We are not passive, however, but our goal is not to negotiate meaning, our goal it to discover it—original, contextual, plain-sense meaning.

I hear the protest: ‘But times and culture have changed.’ True, but the Word does not: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8). Moreover, the Word is fixed, that is: “Forever, O LORD, Your Word is settled in heaven.” (Psalm 119:89).

But yes, there is some subjectivity, art, prayer, discernment, counsel in the area of application. But meaning as best as it can be objectively discerned is universal and binding on all. It's not my truth, your truth but the Truth!

I shared the classic example of Philippians 4:13: “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” I mused how this has become the athelete’s go-to Verse. Ah, but there is an application to sports, but one that one never hears: ‘I'm a good sport; I can win without gloating and lose without bitterness through a stabalizing focus on Christ.’ Check it out; you'll see this is a closer application.

Then there is Philippians 4:19: “And my God will supply every need of yours according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” Is that a contextless Promise to be claimed by anyone at anytime? Is that for the one in a self-induced and sinful jam or for the one tapped out through faithful sacrifice? Assuredly God cares about BOTH. But that specific Biblical Promise it is for the latter.

Here is another—study it out: “Be still and know that I am God!” Saint, is that a vacation Verse or a warfare Verse? Hmm, it is a precious exhortation to find the calm afforded in the eye of the storm.

Why so many misapplications? Because Verses are studied as soundbytes stripped of their context. We'll talk about the paramount importance of context.

This leads to another principle (maybe my favorite). Why is their effort involved; isn't the Bible simple?

#4. One gets more from the Bible when one does much of their own digging and discovery.

Here's a Verse: “It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out.” (Proverbs 25:2). Beloved brethren, you have a “royal” spirit. (1 Peter 2:9). Other Witnesses include: Matthew 11:25, Colossians 3:16.

I ask myself: ‘What makes for maximum exhileration in the human experience?’ I think of the joy of discovery. Not discovery from careless curiosity but purposeful pursuit of better than gold en honey.

And what makes us truly value something? Discovery is part of it. Would you rather find a nugget of gold through your own digging and sifting and searching or stare at one in someone else's display case? What you discover you tend to own (double entendre intended).

But it is more than the discovery. We assign worth on the basis of scarcity and effort to extract/obtain. The better than gold you find through these three dimentions makes it priceless to you. What's more it is spiritual currency to get you through the “midnight” hours of life.

You see, we are wont to bask in the light of the five wise virgins as it were. Arbitrarily and for illustration only let us call that: “The unfolding of Your Word gives light.” (Psalm 119:130). When we are with the wise virgins or our favorite Bible teacher or our Bible study notes, well, their light seems like our light. But it is not. And O how dread the drear of being left in the dank dark without a light.

True the Bible says: “Not many of you should become teachers.” (James 3:1). But I cannot help but think of Moses: “Would that all the LORD’s people were prophets, that the LORD would put His Spirit on them!” (Numbers 11:29). Or in the present matter, would that all the LORD'S people: “Let the Word of Christ dwell in [them] richly.” (Colossians 3:16).

If you must receive some Truth front loaded, then at least make it your own on the back end. It is called the Berean spirit, for: “They received the Word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.” (Acts 17:11).

That said, you will have more joy with what you discover in the prayer closet. And a double joy—more often that not—when your pastor, teacher, commentator, mentor, etc. gives you a broad smile and authenticates your find.

Beloved, you can, in the grace of Christ and with earnest, learn to mine the Bible for better than Gold en Honey—Hallelujah!

More tools, techniques, and intangibles to follow.  I hope you will give nest Wednesday another go. We  will look at finding the Word incarnate in the Word written. We'll learn to detect our own theological biases and traditions—without dishonor and deconstruction! We'll get at the difference of informational v. transformational study. We'll notice often the issue isn't difficulty knowing the Truth but rather loving the Truth.  And, and, more.

In such glad hope,

tIM

PS. WHY??? “For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” (Romans 15:4).