In The Word

I took some time to compile a Bible Study “Quick Reference Card” which has a sample method and some basic principles to keep in mind when studying. Check out the pdf version and feel free to send me any feedback.

If you’re like me, when reading through the Law portion of the Old Testament you were uncomfortable and somewhat confused, and frankly glad that you don’t have to worry about that stuff anymore. Unfortunately if you’re like me then you probably don’t have good thinking about the purpose of the law in the OT which can make NT theology difficult and incomplete. For example, consider the question “How were God’s people of the Old Testament saved”? If the answer is by following the Law, then we have some issues with Paul’s doctrine in Romans (among other things). If the answer is by faith, then what is the purpose of the law? I recently listened to a lecture by Daniel Block which he gave at the 2005 “For all its worth” conference. This lecture was one of those huge “Ah-Ha” moments for me where all of a sudden disjunct and seemingly unrelated ideas, concepts and contradictions gel together. I started a rough outline of the main points of the lecture . If you decide to listen to it and want to add to the notes, send me an email and I’ll add you to the list of collaborators.

Whew,
I just made the one month cutoff mark, or the “blog that faded into obscurity” threshold. It’s been a busy month, both in terms of work and family life. I’m gearing up for leading a church fellowship group during which we’ll be going through the book of acts. This will be my third time through the book of Acts in two years, which is alright with me. There is so much to dig into!! I’ve discovered a number of resources in preparing for this group that relate to Bible study in general, which I’ve found to be invaluable. First, I checked out a book from my local library (which they got on loan all the way from Illinois), called “Grasping God’s Word”. I highly recommend this book. It’s a seminary quality textbook that is written for the lay person, complete with practice studies and questions. Next, there are two courses available for free on www.biblicaltraining.org which are worth checking out Inductive Bible Study, Taught by Dr. George Guthrie and Greek Tools for Bible Study Taught by Dr. Bill Mounce. Both of these courses are very informative and well worth the time. Be sure to check out Dr. Guthrie’s Class Resource Page for some of the reference material presented in his class. Finally I stumbled across a conference called “For All It’s Worth, Reading and Studying the Bible for Life” which contains 12 lectures on a variety of Bible study topics with lecturers such as Dr. Gordon Fee, author of How to read the Bible for all its worth and How to read the Bible book by book and the previously mentioned Dr. Guthrie.
I hope these resources are of some value to you as they have been an enormous help to the way I approach the Scriptures and I will continue posting resources as I find them.