If someone were to ask you to summarize the apostle Paul’s teaching found in his letters in the New Testament, what would you say?  Chances are, like most of us who know and love his epistles, you would take a deep breath and launch into a somewhat complicated explanation of the nature of salvation, faith, law, grace, and a number of other core Christian doctrines.

The Practical Paul

But was Paul really just a “theologian’s theologian,” a “super-scholar” who concentrated on doctrine above all else?  The answer, of course, is not at all.  We only have to look, for example, at his first letter to the Corinthian church.  Paul has a great deal of practical guidance for Christians dealing with some of the problems and challenges of life.  But we can go further than that. There is actually a practical side to most of what Paul wrote – we just don’t always see it. 

When we look at Paul’s epistles closely, we find that he frequently divides his material in such a way that the first half of his letter stresses theological issues and the second half of the letter stresses their practical application. We can see this quite clearly in Romans, Galatians, Ephesians and Colossians, but the principle applies to most of his epistles.   In Ephesians, for example, the doctrinal portion of the letter (chapters 1-3) is followed by an ethical or Christian living section (chapters 4-6), and the whole epistle is structured around this balance.

But that’s not all.  When we focus in on almost any section of the apostle’s writings, we find that he utilizes this balanced form of teaching continually.  We just have to learn to see the pattern.  In one half of his statements Paul often presents a theological fact, and in the other half we are given the application of that fact.  Usually, it is first the doctrine, then the practice.  In fact, at a technical level, Paul actually often balances two different forms of the same verb – first the “indicative” form stressing a fact, then the “imperative” form telling us what we must do about that fact.  But the overall pattern of fact plus application of the fact is very clear when we look for it.  Consider a few examples where the factual statement is bolded and the resulting application is italicized:

“You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love” (Galatians 5:13).

“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God” (Colossians 3:1).

Sometimes we have to continue reading for several verses to get to the practical application of a point, as in this example:

“For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.  When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.  Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature… ” (Colossians 3:3-5).

And sometimes Paul will reverse the order – placing the practical application before the underlying doctrinal fact – but if we keep the structure in mind, we will see the balance is still there:

“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you” (Ephesians 4:32).

“Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose” (Philippians 2:12-13).

Whatever order he uses, once we see this pattern in Paul, every epistle becomes a clearly linked series of thoughts about what God has done and what we must do as a result.  But it is not just a way of teaching what we must do – it is just as much about helping us understand why we should do the things we need to do.

As we study his epistles, we should continually ask “What is the fact Paul is stating?” and “What is he saying we should do as a result of that fact?”  If we do this consistently, we will often see the points he is making far more clearly – and not miss the guidance he gives us.  Keeping this simple principle in mind can help us to navigate through Paul’s sometimes dense and even difficult writing (2 Peter 3:16) by better keeping up with his arguments and the significance of what he is telling us.

Paul wasn’t just about theology, and focusing on the practical side of his letters can often help us to better understand much of what he wrote. After all, it was Paul himself who said “Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice” (Philippians 4:9).

If you are looking for a truly worthwhile goal to set for this new year, consider taking one of the many Bible courses that are available online. A good number, such as those available from Cornerstone Bible Courses, are completely free.  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.  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. You can download a free course and study materials today from the Cornerstone site, here.​​ 

And the Cornerstone courses are not the only Bible courses available online.  The Online Bible College Association is a new and growing association that provides an excellent service by listing worthwhile Bible courses they have personally checked to ensure they are not scams, and  provide quality, trustworthy material. A number of the courses they list are free. You can visit their helpful site and check it occasionally for new additions, here.

We take idioms for granted in our own language. When someone says, “It’s raining cats and dogs,” we don’t expect to see falling animals – we understand that words used in idioms don’t have their usual individual meanings and that the expression has taken on a new significance altogether.  So we easily understand the idiom to “see the light” as meaning simply to understand or the expression to be “in hot water” to mean to be in trouble.

​This use of idioms is common in most languages and when it comes to the Bible, ancient Hebrew was no exception. In fact, the Old Testament is particularly rich in this regard.  A great many Hebrew idioms have to do with body parts –  especially the face, hands and feet –  and these are often “guessable” in context even if they sound strange to our ears – as when we read “his face was fallen” (Genesis 4:6) and we sense the meaning is that the individual was sad.  To take a couple of other simple examples, in the Old Testament to have “clean hands” is to act purely (Psalm 24:4) and to have “closed hands” is to act selfishly (Deuteronomy 15:7).

These examples may make sense to us, but at other times it is not quite so easy to see the underlying meaning of Hebrew expressions.  The idiom “his nose burned” means “he was furious” (as in Genesis 30:2), and the expression “the length of two noses” means “to be patient” (as in Exodus 34:6 and elsewhere).  Fortunately, translators usually make such expressions understandable for us, and the more modern the translation, the more idioms tend to be translated with modern expressions rather than literally.

An example is found in 1 Samuel 24:3 where the Hebrew expression “to cover his feet” is translated literally, word for word, in the King James Bible (KJV), but more modern versions translate the meaning “to relieve himself,” as we find in the New International Version (NIV) and English Standard Version (ESV). While the KJV translates the Hebrew expression “having uncircumcised ears” literally in Jeremiah 6:10 and elsewhere, the NIV and ESV translate the idiom accurately as “not listening.”

This kind of idiom-to-meaning translation is particularly important because idioms can confuse us even though we may think we understand them.  We may know that in Hebrew the idiom “hearts and kidneys” (KJV “hearts and reins”) means what we would call our “thoughts and emotions.” But even knowing that “hearts” means “thoughts,” we may miss the fact that the Hebrew expression “heart lifted up” does not always mean to be “happy” (as in 2 Chronicles 17:6), but can also mean “prideful” (as in Deuteronomy 8:11-14).

Again, most modern translations help us make sense of idioms such as the ones we have looked at, but they will also sometimes leave idioms untranslated. This is particularly true in the New Testament – and especially in the Gospel of Matthew which was likely originally written in Hebrew.  We see this throughout Matthew when he speaks of the “kingdom of heaven” as opposed to the “kingdom of God” as we find in the other Gospels. In Hebrew, the word “heaven” was used idiomatically for “God” so a true meaning-to-meaning translation would render “kingdom of heaven” as “kingdom of God” in Matthew also.

Consider another example from Matthew. In Matthew 19:24 we read the famous words of Jesus: “… it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”  Most English translations from the KJV to the NIV translate this verse in this way, but for centuries commentators have disagreed on the origin for the phrase “a camel to go through the eye of a needle.”  Some have speculated that the expression is based on a small “needle gate” next to a larger gate in Jerusalem – the smaller gate being left open at night so that a camel, kneeling down and without its rider, could just pass through.  Attractive as this explanation might sound, there is no proof of it and no historical evidence of any such gate.  In reality, the expression is based on a known idiom.  The Hebrew word gemala translated “camel” does often mean camel, but idiomatically it can also mean a thick rope, and this is more likely the original meaning of Jesus’ words –  that it is easier to thread a small needle with a thick rope (as opposed to a thin thread) than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.
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At least one modern translation does translate the idiom in this way, and the lesson for us is simple.  No matter how much we may be attached to an older translation of the Bible, such as the KJV, we owe it to our understanding of the Scriptures to at least occasionally read a newer translation.  Certainly no version is perfect, but good modern translations are more likely to translate Hebrew idioms with accurate meanings rather than with word for word translations that are often not fully understandable to the modern reader.  A person who knows biblical Hebrew may recognize the idioms left untranslated in the KJV, but for most readers, a good modern translation will help render those idioms understandably –  rather than with expressions that may require “the length of two noses” to understand.

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:

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Download a free course and study materials today from the CornerstoneCourses.org site, here.​

We may not be able to read ancient manuscripts of the Bible in Hebrew, Greek, or Latin, but often we don’t realize how much our own language has changed over the centuries and how difficult it would be for us to read a Bible in English from several hundred years ago.  Below, we give the  example of the Lord’s Prayer from Matthew 6 – as it looked in English Bibles every two hundred years from the thirteenth century to today.  Before the thirteenth century very little of the Bible was translated into English at all.  The first complete English-language version of the Bible dates from 1382 and was credited to the translator John Wycliffe and his followers, so we begin with that time point.

Thirteenth Century –  Manuscript in the Library of Cambridge University:
Fader oure that art in heve, i-halgeed be thi nome, i-cume thi kinereiche, y-worthe thi wylle also is in hevene so be an erthe, oure iche-dayes-bred gif us today, and forgif us our gultes, also we forgifet oure gultare, and ne led ows nowth into fondingge, auth ales ows of harme.

Fifteenth Century –   Manuscript  in the Library of  Oxford University:
Fader oure that art in heuene, halewed be thy name: thy kyngedom come to thee: thy wille be do in erthe as in heuen: oure eche dayes brede geue us to daye: and forgeue us oure dettes as we forgeue to oure dettoures: and lede us nogte into temptacion: bot delyver us from yvel.

Seventeenth Century –  The King James Version of 1611:
Our father which art in heauen, hallowed be thy name.  Thy kingdome come. Thy will be done, in earth, as it is in heauen.  Giue vs this day our daily bread.  And forgiue vs our debts, as we forgiue our debters.  And lead vs not into temptation, but deliuer vs from euill: For thine is the kingdome, and the power, and the glory, for euer.

Nineteenth Century –  The English Revised Version:
Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.  And bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

Twenty-first Century –  The Christian Standard Bible:
Our Father in heaven, your name be honored as holy. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

The differences between these instances of the Lord's Prayer become more noticeable the further we go back, of course, and considering that most of us know what the examples above say before we started to read them, we would probably agree that we would find it difficult to read a whole Bible of the thirteenth, fifteenth, or seventeenth centuries –  even if it is in English.

While it may be interesting to see and realize the difficulty we would experience in reading a Bible in our own language unless it were of recent date, we can draw a useful lesson from this.  Often, Christians think that the major work of Bible translations into other languages is essentially done. The Bible has, after all, been translated into over 700 languages, and the New Testament has been translated into well over 1,200 languages. 

While it is true that this means the Bible has been translated into most important languages, it is still equally true that there are many thousands of dialects of these languages that still have no Bible translation.  While we may think that local dialects are  relatively unimportant – for instance, someone in the United States speaking a southern dialect can fairly easily understand someone using an Appalachian dialect – the differences in our dialects are relatively small.

But in many language groups the various dialects are just as, or even more, different than what we see in an English Bible of today and an English Bible of the thirteenth century – that you and I would find extremely difficult to read.

The moral of the story is simple. While a great deal of Bible translation work has been tirelessly accomplished by dedicated translators over the past century or so, there are many millions of people who still have no Bible in their own language, or only one in a related dialect that is very difficult for them to read.  Understanding this situation can help us to pray more, and more intently, for still-needed translations, and to see the need to support the ongoing work of Bible translators in whatever way we can.

We are all so used to hearing people say “Amen” at the end of prayers and saying it ourselves that we seldom think about the word, but the following points may show you that there is a lot about that small word you don’t know.

1) “Amen” doesn’t just mean “may it be so.”  Many people think of amen as a kind of spiritual punctuation mark – something we put at the end of prayers to mean “the prayer is over.” Those who understand the word better think of it as meaning “may it be so” and being a way of adding our agreement to what was said, but the word means much more than that and actually has a number of meanings.  Amen comes from a Hebrew root which in its various forms can mean: to support, to be loyal, to be certain or sure, and even to place faith in something. At the most basic level, the word can mean simply “yes!” as we see in Paul’s statement: “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ. And so through him the ‘Amen’ is spoken by us to the glory of God” (2 Corinthians 1:20). But the central meaning of the word has to do with truth, as we will see.

2) Amen was not usually used to conclude prayers in the Bible.  Although it is found many times in the Bible, its main use was to affirm praise for God (Psalm 41:13; Romans 1:25; etc.) or to confirm a blessing (Romans 15:33; etc.) –  either by the speaker or the hearers.  The “amen” found at the end of the Lord's Prayer in some manuscripts of the New Testament  affirms the expression of praise that concludes the prayer. Perhaps because of this, over the course of the centuries it became common practice to use "amen" as the conclusion for prayers.

3)  Amen is used as a characteristic of God in the Old Testament.  Although the English Bible translation you use may not show it, in Isaiah 65:16 the Hebrew text speaks twice of “the God of Amen,” and this clearly uses amen as a characteristic or even a title of God.  Because many translators feel this would be confusing in English, they choose to render the text as “the God of truth,” and although that is not a bad translation, it does somewhat obscure the original sense of what was written.

4)  Amen is used as a characteristic of Jesus in the New Testament. Just as God is referred to as the God of Amen in the Old Testament, so in the New Testament in Revelation 3:14 “Amen" is used as a title for Jesus Christ “These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God's creation.” The combination of Amen with “faithful and true witness” clearly shows the connection between amen and truth.

5) Amen was used uniquely by Jesus.  Jesus usually used the word amen at the beginning of his statements, and in those cases, it was sometimes translated by the Gospel writers into Greek as “truly” (Luke 4:25; 9:27; etc.).  The NIV translates this in turn as “I assure you …”   But a completely unique use of amen by Jesus in the New Testament is recorded by the apostle John, whose Gospel shows us that Christ frequently doubled the word at the beginning of particularly important statements. In the King James Bible this is translated “Verily, verily,” in the ESV as “truly, truly,” and in the NIV “Very truly.”   The doubling of amen was not only used by Jesus, however. In the early 1960’s part of a Hebrew legal document dating from the time of Jesus was found in which an individual declares “Amen, amen, ani lo ashem” meaning “Very truly, I am innocent.”  It is possible, then, that Jesus borrowed this doubled form of amen from legal language of the day.  But knowing that Jesus used this expression to signify important things he wanted to stress can help us see their importance in our own study of his words. The full list of occurrences of amen being doubled in John’s Gospel is: 1:51; 3:3, 5, 11; 5:19, 24-25; 6:26, 32, 47, 53; 8:34, 51, 58; 10:1, 7; 12:24; 13:16, 20, 21, 38; 14:12; 16:20, 23; and 21:18.

It is interesting that while the New Testament writers often left untranslated certain Hebrew or Aramaic words such as abba, “father,” but immediately followed the word with a translation into Greek, they invariably left “amen” untranslated in its Hebrew form. This could possibly have been because they felt the word amen was known and understood by all their readers, but it is more likely that they knew that the word represented a range of meanings and they felt it better to simply include the word and let the reader or hearer consider the possibilities. If this is the case, we can draw a lesson from the fact. That small untranslated “amen” we read in our Bibles can mean more than just “may it be so.” We can often profitably think about what it most likely means in a given context or the intended force with which the expression was used.  Finally, we should remember that “amen” certainly is not just a spiritual punctuation mark or a simple exclamation – wherever we use it we should think of it as a solemn affirmation that we are giving our personal guarantee that what was said is true! 

The Berean Study Bible (BSB) is a recent translation of the whole Bible, first published in 2016 (2020 version reviewed) by the ministry behind the online Bible study site BibleHub.com.  According to its dedicated website, the Berean Bible consists of four components or “translation tiers,” including the Study Version which is recommended for personal study, public reading, memorization, and evangelism.

The translation of the BSB was accomplished by a team of scholars associated with the Bible Hub ministry, and although the team was relatively small –  it was composed of six scholars –  this is not necessarily a bad thing, as the translation avoids many of the pitfalls associated with both single-person and large committee translation efforts. 

​See our new review of this very worthwhile translation here, and download a free copy in your choice of several electronic formats here. 

No one can read the book of Revelation of without noticing the apostle John’s frequent mention of groups of seven: seven churches, seven plagues, seven trumpets, etc.   The number seven was often used in ancient Near Eastern literature to connote completeness, and John continually uses the number with this symbolic meaning.  

Although they are somewhat less obvious because the individual instances are spread throughout the whole book, we also find John using many groups of seven in his Gospel. The apostle not only gives seven miraculous signs of Jesus’ messiahship and the seven famous “I AM” statements, but in the course of his Gospel he also speaks of seven witnesses, seven ways in which Jesus was one with God, and numerous other groups of seven.
  
These groups of seven in John’s Gospel and book of Revelation obviously represent an intrinsic aspect of the apostle’s writing and are well-known.  But what of the epistles of John?  Given the deeply embedded nature of groups of seven in his other writings, should we not expect to find groups of seven in the apostle’s letters also?  In fact, we can. Although they are not as well known, John’s epistles contain several groups of seven that are helpful in understanding the key elements in his messages.

Although the overwhelmingly clear themes of love and truth are central to John’s letters, it is interesting that he also employs "heptadic" or seven-fold groups – just as he does in his Gospel and Revelation – that reveal other themes, especially in his first epistle.  John not only gives seven reasons why this epistle was written (1 John 1:3, 4; 2:1, 13-17, 21-24, 26; 5:13), but also structures his message around key seven-fold concepts.

The first concept we find is that of the contrast between good and evil.  We all tend to notice this contrast in what John writes at the beginning of his epistle regarding  spiritual light vs. spiritual darkness (1:5-7), but John specifically points out six other areas in which right and wrong are juxtaposed: love vs. hatred (2:9-11), the way of God vs. the way of the world (2:15-17), truth vs. lies (2:20-27), good works vs. evil works (2:29-3:24), the Spirit of God vs. the spirit of error (4:1-6), real love vs. fake love (4:7-21).  These seven contrasts form a running narrative throughout the apostles’ letter – as if he were stressing the spiritual duality we must constantly be aware of in all aspects of our lives.

John also gives us seven ways in which those who are born of God are contrasted with those who are not spiritually reborn (2:29; 3:9; 4:7; 5:1-21). These contrasts are, in a very real way, tests that we can apply to ourselves, and they are made yet more helpful because in the course of his letter John offers other contrasts in more specific areas – tests of doctrine (2:18-28, etc.), conduct (2:29-3:24, etc.), discernment (4:1-6, etc.), motivation (4:7-21, etc.), and other aspects of Christian genuineness.  

This is not to say that everything John writes in his first epistle is rigidly structured into groups of seven.  For example, the apostle also frequently uses of groups of three – three things that are in the world (2:16), three things that bear witness (5:7-8), three things we know (5:18-20), etc.  And we can certainly find other situations where John could have included a group of seven things, but does not – as when he speaks of six individuals who were notable liars, for example (1:6, 10; 2:4, 22; 4:20; 5:10).  

These exceptions only serve to make the many groups of seven found in 1 John even clearer, however.  When we look closely at the groups of seven John does include, we find that they are almost always groups of things that aim to show right vs. wrong in some way.  These “sevens” are almost always framed as contrasts and, as such, they offer valuable “tests” that we can apply to ourselves to determine our spiritual genuineness and health.
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This, of course, was John’s intent in writing to his original audience, but realizing that John utilized this technique in his letter, looking for his groups of seven, and applying them to ourselves can help us just as much today.    John doubtless intended his readers to notice and reflect on many of his sevens; doing so can add considerable depth to our study of his letter.  There are a great many reasons why 1 John is of great value to the Christian Church today, and John’s “sevens” give us more good reasons to look at this important epistle even more closely.
 
* For more information on 1 John and the other General Epistles, download our free eBook,  Seven Letters: Lessons from the General Epistles, here. 

​As Christians, we must listen to both the “word” of God – the Bible (2 Timothy 3:16-17), and the “Word” of God – Jesus Christ (John 1:1).  In fact, as Jesus himself showed, the one testifies to the other: “You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me” (John 5:39, emphasis added). But Jesus’ point in saying this was that we can be studying – even diligently – and still not hearing the One we should be hearing.   

So how do we most effectively listen to the Word and his word?  Find out in our new article on practical strategies for hearing the Word through Scripture – published today on our sister website, here.​

​I remember seeing a cartoon a number of years ago that had the unlikely subject of a group of fleas sitting in what appeared to be a 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 then it became clear that the “pillars” of the lecture hall were, in fact,  the hairs of a dog magnified many times!
 
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 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.
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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.

Effective Bible study can be a lot like good photography. If you are a photographer, or know someone who takes professional level pictures, you know that good photography is all about lenses. Different lenses give you a different view of your subject and reveal different aspects of it.

Using BibleGateway.com (BG) for personal study of the Scriptures gives you an equivalent situation for effective Bible study – ways to open up the subject and reveal more that you might not have otherwise seen. BG has a host of features you can use in daily Bible study, and many of these work like lenses you would use on a fine camera:

Standard Lens:  Photographers use standard lenses for general use. They are quick and give a clear overview when special effects are not needed. In the same way, just calling up a Bible verse, chapter or book on BG can give you quick access to its basic message. And that’s a good perspective – it’s the primary way the Bible was designed to be read and should never be neglected. Besides, BG gives you some useful bells and whistles to help with this: you can highlight sections for future study (and, unlike printed Bibles, change the highlight whenever you wish) and also add and save notes as thoughts come to you in your reading.

Wide Angle Lens: That’s what photographers use when they want to get a wider view – get more details into the picture by “stretching the screen.” You can do that in BG study by setting up the page with a number of translations side by side to see extra details that you would have missed using just one translation. Simply click the “Add parallel” button (looks like two pages side by side) above and to the right of the scripture to add more translations – it’s as easy as clicking a shutter button!

Close-Up Lens: You have doubtless seen some of the amazing pictures people take of flowers and insects using a close-up or macro lens.  Once you enter a keyword, topic or Bible passage in the BG search box, you can click the blue “STUDY THIS” button at the top right of the scripture to take a close-up look at a verse or chapter in some of the available commentaries. You may be amazed at the details and insights a good commentary can add that you wouldn’t have seen without that close-up “lens.”

Telephoto Lens: Photographers use these lenses not only to bring distant objects up close, but also for taking portraits.  On BG use the “Keyword search” feature (under “BIBLE” on the black drop-down menu tab at the top left of the page) to see scriptures on specific topics from the beginning of the Bible to its end. Or,  just like focusing a lens, you can set this feature to “focus” on the Old or New Testament or specific books or groups of books. You may be studying the Book of Acts, but the keyword search will pull up a relevant scripture that may be quite distant from where you are studying. This feature is also good for “portraits”: use the keyword search like a telephoto lens to give a good view of all the scriptures on a biblical person you may want to see more clearly.

Zoom Lens: These lenses are so popular because they give many of the benefits of the individual lenses – you can let the lens show close-up details or a wide view depending on what is appropriate. That’s great when you don’t want to have to change lenses all the time and don’t need to focus on just one part of the “focal range.” With BG you do this simply by selecting and using some of the devotionals (under the “STUDY” tab at the top left of the page). The devotionals are carefully selected and many have done much of the preliminary work for you, so they may move quickly from a small detail such as the meaning of a word to wider, overall concepts.

So take advantage of the different “lenses” BG makes available to you to enhance your personal study of the Scriptures.  And remember, unlike expensive camera lenses, BG is free.  Photographers are known for telling people to smile, but BG’s free and varied features are something to make you smile. 

It is interesting that while all the gospels record Jesus exhorting people to listen to his message (for example, Matthew 15:10: “Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand.”), Luke is almost the only gospel writer who remarks about whether people were, in fact, listening to what Jesus said. If we use the NIV as a basis to count, we see Luke mentions listening seven times in his Gospel and also five times in Acts – a total of 12 times – while apart from these instances, only Mark comments on Jesus’  audience listening to him, and then only a single time (Mark 12:37).  We can only wonder if Luke’s background as a physician (Colossians 4:14) influenced his awareness of people in terms of if they were listening or not, but in any case, Luke’s mention of listening is instructive.

Take, for example,  how Luke doesn’t just mention Jesus talking, but refers specifically to whether people were listening to what was said: “When Jesus had finished saying all this to the people who were listening…” (Luke 7:1), and a little earlier he records how Jesus himself commented on this point: “But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you” (Luke 6:27). This clearly shows that Jesus was aware that some people were listening to what he said, while others were probably just in the crowd out of curiosity to see what was going on. 

In fact, Luke seems to indicate that Jesus paced his teaching according to whether people were really paying attention. He tells us that “While they were listening … he went on to tell them a parable…” (Luke 19:11).  It was precisely because people were paying attention – really listening – that Jesus extended his teaching to give them more understanding.

We can apply this understanding in at least two areas of our relationship with God. First, in our study of God’s word it is imperative that we do in fact listen and not just read. Despite the best of intentions, it is possible to sit and read several chapters of the Bible without really listening to what is being said, just as our minds may drift during an actual conversation with a person in the same room. The safeguards against reading and not hearing are to take frequent pauses to analyze or summarize what we read and to review it when finished. This isn’t always necessary in Bible reading, of course, but the more we can do it, the more it can help us to truly listen.

The same principle can actually apply to prayer. If our prayer is to be closer to a conversation than a monologue, we should be willing to pause occasionally and think over what we have said, let our minds be receptive to thoughts and ideas that may be placed there.  I know many pastors and other sincere Christians who will not pray without a notepad – not just to list things they wish to pray about, but also to record things that come to mind as they do pray.  

It is not that we cannot study or pray without using such hearing-aid strategies, but if we are truly desirous to hear God in our lives we have to be willing to focus on listening. It is interesting that in the parable of the Good Shepherd recorded in John 10, Jesus repeatedly describes his “flock” as those that listen to him.  And we might remember, in this regard, the striking words of Christ which are only recorded – as we might guess – by Luke:  “Therefore consider carefully how you listen. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what they think they have will be taken from them” (Luke 8:18).  We have all been given much, and it is as we listen that we are given more.

Even if you are not one of the world’s quarter-billion twitter users, you probably still know that twitter-sent messages or “tweets” can only be up to 140 characters in length.  Those who use the social media service know that as a result of the restricted length it’s somewhat of an art form to get a perfect tweet.  Anyone can say something in 140 characters, but to really get a worthwhile message across is not always so easy. 

I read recently that a perfect tweet needs to do three things: get the reader’s attention, make a complete statement - preferably without abbreviations, and leave the reader with a memorable point.  Each aspect is simple enough, but it’s the ability to get them all together in such a short form that makes a tweet truly excellent.

In the book How God became Jesus, Michael Bird (forgive what might seem like a pun) makes the point, in passing, that the Gospel of John “tweets” the incarnation. This is what he says: “John 1:14 in Greek is exactly 140 characters: 'The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, full of grace and truth’” (p. 68).  This set me thinking in terms of the perfect tweet. How does John’s statement fit the rules?

Hopefully noticing who ultimately sent the message in John 1:14 gets our attention, so that aspect should be taken care of,  and John’s words certainly make a complete statement without abbreviation. So how about leaving the reader with a memorable point?  That’s where John really excels!  In the space of those 140 characters John delivers the incredible news that God became man, and that the One who is described as “the Word,” or the Son of God, actually dwelt among us. This is a  massive concept in itself, but John continues with two other amazing truths – that this is not just a story, it is something that was witnessed by numerous individuals – and not just glimpsed, but actively seen to the degree that the witnesses could see God’s nature, as being “full of grace and truth.”  That’s really three hugely important statements about the Christian faith all in the same “tweet” space.  

The one thing this “tweet” doesn’t tell us is why these three connected and vital things occurred, and for that we have to turn, of course, to another of John’s tweet-size statements – that “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).   This statement tells us three things, also. It describes God’s love, shows us the need for faith, and tells us the outcome we get when the two things are put together.

Looked at that way, if we  focus closely on his words and think about them, John was able to preach a very large part of the gospel in two amazingly small, tweet-sized statements. How does that apply to us? It should remind us what incredible depth there often is in just a few words in the Gospel of John and, of course, in many other parts of the Bible.  It reminds us why we hear so often that we shouldn’t just read the Bible, but that we should truly focus on all that is in even the smallest statement that tells us something about God. We don’t need to focus that intently on the average tweet to grasp all its meaning, but when it is God who is sending the message, there is often a great deal in the space of only a few written characters.

Devotionals – books with a short scripture commentary or meditation for each day of the year – can be a mixed blessing.  Some feel that they can too easily become a substitute for the study of the Bible itself, and that is certainly true if we allow it to happen. But on the other hand, if devotionals are used in addition to our direct study of the word of God, they can be both inspiring and helpful.

Those who are not fond of devotionals stress that their use can be problematic if believers get “trapped” in a habit of just cyclically reading the same things when the same devotional is used repeatedly, and that if used alone they may restrict the reader to one author’s opinions and  approaches to the scriptures.  The flip side of this is that if they are used in conjunction with regular study of the Bible itself, devotionals – like any other faith-based literature –  can be helpful tools to enhance focused study and meditation on specific verses or concepts, and to give us understandings, inspiration and encouragement we might not otherwise have had.  As with other faith-based books, articles and blogs, devotionals can also help bring the biblical text forward into modern life, giving verses and thoughts clearer relevancy and  application. 

So, if we elect to use devotionals in our daily walk, what are some of the things we should consider? First, while most devotionals are organized with daily readings – from January 1 throughout the year – some follow the liturgical calendar with its seasonal stresses and some do not. This can be a positive or negative depending on the reader’s faith background and expectations for such a tool.  Some devotionals offer focused thoughts on quite deep theological concepts while others simply give us encouragement in everyday living.  Consider these few examples which show the wide range of devotionals:

My Utmost For His Highest  by  Oswald Chambers  is a classic devotional written in the early part of the 20th Century and still in print (and now with an updated language edition – see our mention of it in our sister site's Books in Brief).  Chambers’ book is calendric but does not use a liturgical framework and focuses instead on a chain of spiritual topics.

The Cry of the Deer: Meditations on the Hymn of St. Patrick by David Adam, a more recent (1987) Celtic-themed devotional, is not calendric, but contains twelve longer essays on topics suggested to the author by the hymn. Often rooted in the outdoors and aspects of the creation, each chapter contains exercises for the application of principles discussed.

Word for Today: A Year of Daily Devotions by Sally J. Garwood (2014) is loosely structured around the liturgical calendar. It is an example of the modern style of devotionals with short meditations on topics from all aspects of life, each ending with a small prayer.

Meet Him on the Mountain: 40 Days of Devotionals for a Closer Relationship with God  by Sheldon K. Bass (2014) is another example of a recent devotional. In this case the format is not calendric, but follows 40 days of meditations aimed specifically at helping the reader move closer to God.

As these few examples show, devotionals can be very different, so you may want to compare several.  One excellent resource in this area is the BibleGateway.com website which has a wide selection of free devotionals here that are helpfully categorized by type – for men, women, children, parents, families, and other groups.  I’m currently following one of small C.S. Lewis readings and finding it very worthwhile, and my wife is following the "NIV Couples Devotional" and liking it very much. But if you choose to use a devotional, take the time to check out the options and get one tailored to your needs and expectations. That way you will get the most out of daily readings and will doubtless find that, in addition to regular study of the Bible, a good devotional can become a valuable part of your day.

When you were young, did you experience seeing through a telescope for the first time?  If you have such a memory, you know how amazing it was to see things brought so much closer  – as though you could reach out and touch them.  If you were like me, at some point you turned the telescope around and were just as amazed at how tiny and distant it made things seem when you looked through it the wrong way.

The Bible is like a telescope in this regard.  There is a right and a wrong way to look through it. This may be surprising for some, but any spiritual activity can be done for the wrong reasons.  Just as we can pray for the wrong reasons (James 4:3), and fast for the wrong reasons (Isaiah 58:4), we can also study for the wrong reasons (2 Timothy 2:15, Titus 3:9)  – looking, as it were, through the wrong end of the telescope.

How can this be? We can do this if we look at the Bible so it is pointing at us – looking to see what is of interest to us, or just at the old favorite scriptures which are comfortable to us. We can do this if we study in order  to justify our beliefs, our ideas.  We can do it if we get caught up in primarily studying doctrine, history, prophecy or any other area of personal interest.   When any of these things becomes the regular focus of our study, we are “turning the telescope” and as a result God looks small and distant when viewed in this way.

The real reason to study the word of God is God.  The point of our study should always be to grow in our understanding of God and His Son. That’s where the focus should be.  Notice what Jesus Himself said about this:  “You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life” (John 5:39-40).  The word of God does have the key to life, but it is found in the message about the promised Messiah and what His life, death and resurrection mean to us along with the role model His life is for us.  That is why the apostle Peter wrote: “But grow in the grace and knowledge … of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ…” (2 Peter 3:18):  not knowledge of doctrine or prophecy, not knowledge of only encouraging  scriptures, but knowledge of the One to whom all scriptures point.

It is only as we look into the Bible the right way round – with the “telescope” pointing at God and not at us – that we see God.  It is then that we see ourselves in perspective, and our interests and our issues become relatively small and insignificant. It is then that God seems great and near, and our study of God’s word becomes the most meaningful.