Summer in the Systematics – Bibliology (Part Ten): Interactions With the Bible

Transcript

JRS 35
9/3/2023
Summer in the Systematics – Bibliology (Part Ten): Interaction with the Bible
Selected Verses
Jesse Randolph

All right, well, we are back in our final session, session number 10 of the 2023 edition of Summer in the Systematics, our summer long study of-as you can see here-Bibliology-the study of Scripture. And it’s of course Labor Day weekend so we’ll be officially wrapping up our summer study tonight and Lord willing, getting back into it next summer with the study of Christology, the doctrine of Jesus Christ for ten more weeks. Before we get into that content though I do want to say “thank you” for hanging in there with me all summer long. I know I’m moving quickly through the material. And I know it has different levels of density and complexity and depth. It has been an encouragement to me personally to see this many people showing up on a Sunday night to essentially sit in on a theology lecture for ten weeks of your summer. So, thank you for being here and prioritizing this.

Well, as I typically do each week, just to give us a bit of a sense of our bearings here I’m going to provide just a real brief flyover of what we’ve covered so far in the study this summer. And I’ll give you a preview of where we’ll be going tonight for this final installment. So far in our study of Bibliology we’ve looked at the authority of the Bible, that is the marks of it truly being from God and being His authoritative word in the lives of His people. The inspiration of the Bible, the fact that it is God-breathed. Not inspired in the sense that it gives us inspiration but actually breathed-out by God. We’ve looked at the inerrancy of the Bible, the fact that the Bible is completely, totally 100% without error. It is perfect. God cannot lie. God is the God of truth and has given us a truthful and inerrant word. We’ve looked at the canonicity of the Bible. Those marks of what true biblical revelation, true revelation from God would be and why the sixty-six books of the Bible meet that test as being recognized as being from God. We’ve looked at the canonization of the Bible which we split into two sections, the Canonization of the Old Testament and the canonization of the New Testament, which was really looking at the process by which both the thirty-nine books of the Old Testament and the twenty-seven books of the New Testament were in church history recognized as being what they are in fact are and always have been, God’s breathed word. Then we looked at the translation of the Bible, the various translation of the English Bible specifically going back to Wycliffe and Tyndale then all the way up to the modern day, even the newest translation, the LSB, Legacy Standard Bible which came out I think in November of 2021. Then we looked at the challenges to the Bible, various cult groups and false scriptures and additions to the Scriptures and just challenges that have been levied by liberals and others to the veracity of the Bible. And then last week we looked at the clarity of the Bible. And that was really looking at the fact that the Bible is, that was our big word you were supposed to use it in conversation this week, it’s perspicuous. We looked at the perspicuity of the Bible, that it is inherently clear. Then we also looked at the illumination of the Bible, that is the Holy Spirit’s ministry in the lives of believers where He showcases, highlights, truths from Scripture that He wants to reveal to us.

Then tonight for our final lesson, lesson number ten we’re going to get really practical as we look at the subject of interaction with the Bible. And by that all I mean is how should we as believers interact with and engage with God’s precious Word. Now this admittedly is going to be very foundational material tonight. Very basic material. Material that is incredibly practical in orientation. But I did think it would be important as we wound our study down to get down to this very practical level because when it really gets down to it knowing the key distinctions between inspiration and inerrancy and illumination that’s important. Knowing the difference between the formal equivalence and translation theory, that’s important. And knowing, like I said words like “perspicuity,” that’s important if into impressive. But ultimately, what’s most important is that you know the Word of God. That you be in the Word of God. That you be a student of God’s very Word and that’s what tonight’s lesson will do, Lord willing, is help all of us strengthen in our interaction with the Bible through the way you approach the Bible, through the way we read the Bible, through the way we reflect and meditate on the Bible and through our commitment to live out what the Bible reveals.

And those, by the way, are going to be, what I just rattled off, really our four headings or the four points for tonight if you have a worksheet. We’re going to look at the interpretation of the Bible, the reading of the Bible, meditation on the Bible, and application of the Bible. Those are the four blanks on your worksheet. I’ll go through them again so you can fill those in, in advance. We have interpretation of the Bible, reading of the Bible, meditation on the Bible, and application of the Bible.

Let’s get started with our first one here, the Interpretation of the Bible. Interpretation of the Bible, a shortened way of saying that is “hermeneutics.” “Hermeneutics,” as we see here, is the science of biblical interpretation. When we speak of “hermeneutics,” we are referring to principles of interpretation that a person is guided by when they come to the Scriptures, when they study the Scriptures. As Bernard Ramm once put it, the goal of hermeneutics is “To ascertain what God has said in Sacred Scripture; to determine the meaning of the Word of God.” Here’s another one from Ramm. He says, “Hardly any study in the whole vast realm of intellectual life could be more important than the science of hermeneutics as applied to the Word of God, that which gives us an understanding of the eternal revelation of God to men.”
Now, for the sake of time here I really have to paint with some broad strokes as we go through each of the four topics we’ll cover tonight. But for much of church history there has been what can best be called a “dual heritage” as it relates to Bible interpretation or hermeneutics. Over here on one side has been this stream of thought that’s held that the plain meaning of the text as you read it on the page, as it appears to your eyes, is not the complete and total meaning of the text. Instead, there must be under the page, beneath the page a fuller, more complete possibly allegorical meaning of the text that’s lurking somewhere under the surface. This school of interpretation, the one I’m talking about now, has its historical roots go all the way back to Alexandria, Egypt in the second and third centuries A.D. and was most notably promoted by these two men. Clement of Alexandria and Origen of Alexandria these were key proponents early on in church history of that method of Bible interpretation, this Alexandrian school. Now, both of these men, it should be noted, did outwardly affirm, in some sense, the importance of there being a literal sense of Scripture. They did at least to some degree. But for these men the literal sense of the Scripture was not the primary sense of the Scripture. There were other senses of the Scripture they believed. Biblical texts to these guys didn’t have singular meanings, instead they had multiple meanings. For instance, Origen who’s the one on your right, he believed that every Bible passage had three meanings, not just a single meaning. First was the literary sense, the literal sense. That’s how we would look at the Bible. Second, there was the allegorical sense or the spiritual sense. And third, there was the moral sense. So not a single, fixed meaning for every single text, but rather this tripartite or three-part meaning. Now where did Origen get this idea that there’s three meanings to every scripture? Well, I’ll let him speak for himself. He said this, “For as man consists of body, and soul, and spirit, so in the same way does Scripture, which has been arranged to be given by God for the salvation of men.” So, in other words he believed in a trichotomist view of human nature. He believed that man was made up of body, soul, and spirit. He then just layered that on to his reading of the Bible and said that if man is made up of three pieces, essentially, or three components, well the scriptures must be too. It was just taken as a given that, that must be so. I don’t have time to go into all the nuances and problems with that just now, but that’s problematic. I’ll leave it there.

I mentioned though there’s been this historically “dual heritage” in the history of Bible interpretation. We’ve just looked at the Alexandrian approach. That’s Origen, that’s Clement of Alexandria. The other side of things, the other school of hermeneutics would be the one that was presented at Antioch. And this school, the school at Antioch promoted a literal interpretation, a literal historical interpretation of Scripture. And the person who is most famously linked with this school is John Chrysostom who lived from 347-407 A.D. and the school at Antioch, which Chrysostom as a pupil, was focused on studying the literary, historical, and grammatical features of any given text to determine its singular, fixed meaning. I’ve already said, I think two times from up there that at Indian Hills this is what we are all about. Determining from study what the literal singular fixed meaning of a text is. So, we would say that we would tract our hermeneutical commitments all the way back to this school at Antioch, all the way back to a man like Chrysostom. So this is a method of teaching hermeneutics, of interpretation like I said that really undergirds all that we do here and it’s rooted in the belief, rooted in the commitment that there is only one actual meaning of any given text. There aren’t multiple possible meanings of any given text. There might be different applications of a text but there is one singular fixed meaning of any given text of Scripture. Somebody has it right and somebody has it wrong. That’s what that means.

Here’s Milton Terry on that topic. He says, “A fundamental principle in grammatical-historical exposition is that the words and sentences can have but one significance in one and the same connection. The moment we neglect this principle we drift out upon a sea of uncertainty and conjecture.” What he is saying without really saying it the way I’m about to say it, is this. When you sit in a bible study and we’ve all heard this story before or experienced it at some level and somebody says, “to me what this Scripture means,” no. There is a singular meaning of a biblical text. What it means to you, what it means to me, fundamentally doesn’t matter. The question is, what does it mean, what does it mean to the original author as moved by the Holy Spirit as He moved that author to write what He moved him to write. J.C. Ryle was similar. He said, “I hold that the words of Scripture were intended to have one definite sense, and that our first object should be to discover that sense and adhere rigidly to it. To say that words do mean a thing merely because they can be tortured into meaning it is a most dishonorable and dangerous way of handling Scripture.” And then here we have from the Second Summit of the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy, this was in 1978, these words. “We affirm that the meaning expressed in each biblical text is single, definite and fixed. We deny that the recognition of this single meaning eliminates the variety of its application.” So again, singular meaning, multiple different applications. There might be different applications based on time in history. There might be different applications depending on cultural context. But the meaning is the meaning, and the meaning doesn’t change. That meaning won’t change. “Forever oh Lord,” Psalm 119:89, “is Your word fixed in the heavens.” So singular meaning is the main idea, and that singular meaning is then dictated by the original intent of each Spirit-directed author of the text that you’re working with. And that singular meaning is extracted by applying literal grammatical historical principles of bible interpretation, what’s known as the literal grammatical hermeneutical method. “Literal” in the sense that we read the Bible literally. We take it for what it is as God’s very word. We don’t read it allegorically. We don’t read it mystically. We don’t, like they did in the Alexandrian school, look for some deeper or hidden meaning, something that’s you know, under the page that some secret knowledge like we were studying in Colossians this morning, that only a few very smart people have. No, we take it for what it says as God’s very word. We read it literally.

Grammatically meaning we pay close attention to the various lexical and syntactical features of any given text. And for most of us, we can do that just fine in English, in the English Bible. Learning Greek and Hebrew is fantastic, but you don’t have to. You can look for repeated words. You can look for word order. You can pick up on certain grammatical features of a text. Conjunctions and prepositions and clauses and sentences and paragraphs and do the hard work grammatically and literarily of seeing what’s happening in the text and come to various conclusions based on what you’re seeing.

And then, “Historical” in the sense that we are taking account of the historical setting of every text that we engage in, engage with. What was the context? What was the purpose? Who were the key players? Who is the author? What is the setting? If you’re here on Sunday mornings with us, I mean goodness, how many times in Colossians already have I mentioned Epaphras coming from Colosse to Rome, 1,300 miles to visit Paul in prison? It’s the setting of the text. It adds color to what is happening and gives us clear context for what we’re reading on the page. And note that what I’m describing here, these of literal-grammatical-historical ways of engaging with the text and reading a text, these aren’t unique or limited to biblical interpretation. We engage in that sort of analysis in anything we read when you really think about it. We employ these very principles of hermeneutics when we read a text message or a news story or a book or a poem or my wife’s grocery list, which I admit sometimes I allegorize and try to figure out what it is that I’m actually supposed to bring home. But that’s beside the point. The point is that we do employ these very principles I’m laying out for you in anything that we engage with on the written page. So, for instance, here’s Moses Stuart who speaks to this idea that we use these tools all the time. He says, “The principles of interpretation, as to their substantial and essential elements, are no invention of man, no product of his effort and learned skill. Ever since man was created and endowed with the powers of speech, and made a communicative, social being, he has had occasion to practice upon the principles of interpretation and has actually done so. From the first moment that one human being addressed another by the use of language, down to the present hour, the essential laws of interpretation became, and have continued to be, a practical matter. The person addressed has always be an interpreter in every instance where he has heard and understood what was addressed to him.” Here’s Roy Zuck being much more concise. He says, “The principles for interpreting the Bible are simply descriptions of the way people think and read when they seek to understand the meaning of any writing. They are not inventions, they are discoveries.”

Now, while these principles of literal-grammatical-historical hermeneutics are not exclusive to the interpretation of the Bible, meaning we use them in other settings, we do see these very principles I’m mentioning to you featured in the Bible and referenced in the Bible. For instance, in the Old Testament, we have Ezra here. Nehemiah 8:2, it says “Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly of men, women, and all who could listen with understanding.” So, there’s this sense of bringing the text to the people so they can understand what’s being said in the text. And then he and other priests of God it says, Nehemiah 8:8, “read from the book, from the law of God, translating to give the sense so that they understood the reading.” That is Ezra, in reading the Law to God’s original chosen people, the people of Israel, was intent on covering the meaning of the Law before explaining its meaning to God’s people. Then as Abner Chou here notes, “the Old Testament writers were exegetes and theologians in their own right. They carefully interpreted Scripture, and via new revelation expounded upon its theological themes and implications.” So they were, in other words, applying these very principles of hermeneutics as they read what had come before them.

But it wasn’t only the Old Testament prophets who engaged in this form of Bible interpretation, the New Testament apostles did the same thing. Whether it was Matthew’s use of Hosea in Matthew 2:15 or John’s use of the Psalms in John 19 or Paul’s use of Isaiah and Genesis in Galatians 4, or the author of Hebrews’ use of the Old Testament throughout his letter. There are countless examples of New Testament apostles and prophets and authors uncovering this single, God-intended meaning of the Old Testament they were quoting or alluding to, to make the point they were trying to make in their current New Testament context. Here’s Abner Chou on that point about the New Testament authors using these same principles. He says, “the apostles continued the logic developed in the Old Testament. They did not change the meaning of previous revelation but under the superintendence of the Spirit, fleshed out its implications in the current era. This interpretive approach is pervasive in the New Testament. The apostles followed the logic of their Old Testament counterparts, and as a result are uniform in the way they handle the same texts. Such hermeneutical consistency is part of the fabric of New Testament theology.”

So, to review, literal grammatical-historical hermeneutics is that method of biblical interpretation which seeks to uncover the original authorial meaning and intent in a passage of Scripture by analyzing the literary genre, style, historical setting, context and grammatical linguistic, syntactical features of the text. And again, the aim of this method of Bible interpretation is to drill down to that singular intent of the original human author and to uncover whatever it was that they were trying to communicate as they were moved by the Holy Spirit to put God’s truth to paper. And again, singular meaning, according to this method, the literal grammatical-historical method of interpretation, the singular meaning of any text of Scripture is what we’re after. And that singular meaning resides within the intent of the human author of that text. It’s not found in what we want it to mean. It’s not found in what societal expectations would want it to mean. It’s not found in what modern notions of political correctness would dictate that it means. No, texts of Scripture mean what the original author moved by the Spirit, designed them to mean. Texts of scripture don’t have hidden meanings, fuller meanings, embedded meanings, evolving meanings, changing meanings, or any other form of meaning which are otherwise divorced from the original author’s intent. One more quote on that would be from Renald Showers, he says, “The consistent use of a single hermeneutic (a single method of interpreting the bible) – namely, the historical-grammatical method. [That’s what we’re after] In this method, words are given the common, ordinary meaning which they had in the culture and time in which the passage was written.” Alright, so that’s a bit about the interpretation of the bible. Or “hermeneutics.” If you want to know or are interested in what my favorite books on Hermeneutics are here they are. Benard Ramm’s Protestant Biblical Interpretation. I think it was written in 1954 or 55. And then Basic Bible Interpretation by Roy Zuck of Dallas Seminary.

Let’s move onto our second heading, The Reading of the Bible. So, we looked at the interpretation of the bible, now we’re going to look at the reading of the Bible. And I can already picture some, when “I came back here for evening service to be told I need to read the bible? I mean, come on.” “Yes, you did come back to hear me tell you you need to read the bible.” I know it’s simple. I do know it’s basic. But I don’t want to take for granted that all who attend church are actually taking in God’s Word on a regular basis. Plain and simple. The statistics and the evidence simply don’t bear that out. That literally, every backside in a chair is reading their bible during the week. The evidence goes the other way. When you look at the Lifeway surveys and the Ligonier’s surveys that are put out every couple of years. The reality is that in church culture today, and sadly even in church cultures like ours, there’s a plague of biblical illiteracy that’s going on. Ligonier and Lifeway just put a spotlight on it every few years. And what those surveys will show, is that people are calling themselves Christians, but they are unable to answer the very basic questions about. . . the deity of Jesus Christ. Or like what we’ve been studying this summer, the inerrancy of scripture. Or the doctrine of hell. Or the exclusivity of the gospel message. Or even the basics of the gospel message itself. The reality is, professing Christians do not read their bibles as much as they say they do. Here’s another quote from J.C. Ryle on this topic. And he wrote these words 150 years ago almost. So, you can imagine what he would say today. He says, “just as man naturally makes a bad use of his other mercies, so he does of the written Word. One sweeping charge may be brought against the whole of Christendom, and that charge is neglect and abuse of the Bible.”

Well, biblical illiteracy coupled with the cultural chaos that we see all around us today. Really presents a dangerous and a toxic mixture. You know, now is not the time to lose sight of biblical principles and biblical truth. Now is not the time to cut loose our theological or biblical moorings. No. I agree with Francis Schaeffer, who wrote these words nearly 40 years ago now, just before his death in 1984. He says: “Holding to a strong view of Scripture or not holding to it is the watershed of the evangelical world.” “The first direction in which we must face is to say most lovingly by clearly: evangelicalism is not consistently evangelical unless there is a line drawn between those who take a full view of Scripture and those who do not.”

The stakes, in other words, are high. The culture, we know, is on this steep downgrade. And we, as Christians, hold in our hands a book which contains eternal, transcendent truths. Which contain words, not only pertaining to our salvation, but words to help us navigate this dark and darkening world. So, why don’t we read it? Or why don’t we read it as often as we should? Or as regularly as we should? Well, according to Howard Hendricks, in another excellent book, Living by the Book, he gives six reasons why people, in general, don’t study their bible.

First, he mentions irrelevance. He says, they don’t think it works. Whatever that means. They don’t think the bible is going to bring about a change or meet them where they are. Or help them progress in their lives the way it promises to.

Second reason Hendricks identifies, is technique. They don’t know how to get in the bible. They don’t know where to get started. They start in Genesis in January, then they die in Leviticus in February. They jump randomly into Judges or Hebrews, all fired up to do a bible study, but they have no idea what they’re looking for. And no idea where it fits in with the whole sweep of history.

Third is insecurity. They think that one must be a pastor or professionally trained to read the bible or to study the bible. That’s ignoring the fact that a very driving force behind the Protestant Reformation, the reason that we have the bible in our native English language, was an underlying desire to see un-trained, un-professional Christians reding and fluent in the scriptures.

Fourth, is busyness. The reason people don’t get into the word, is they simply say they don’t have time. The laundry piles are too high. The baby is crying too loud. The softball league schedule is too busy. The year-end demands at work are too much. They just don’t have time to engage with God in His word.

Fifth, is a spirit of critique or critical spirit. They don’t believe the bible is reliable. They’ve read enough of the common literature. They’ve been sucked into the common cultural narrative. And to borrow from Paul in Galatians, they’ve been “bewitched” by it. They think the bible is just another man-made set of fables, like Aesop’s Fables or Grimm’s Fairy Tales.

Sixth, is lack of interest. They view the bible as boring. It’s so dated. It’s so different than the context we live in today. It’s so much easier to watch an episode of my favorite TV show. Or listen to an episode of my favorite podcast, that will capture my attention. Old, boring stories about wandering Israelites. Or floating ax heads. Or Ethiopian eunuchs. Not so much.

Now note, none of the reasons that Hendricks give there, as to why Christians and others don’t read the bible. Has anything to do with accessibility to the bible. So, it’s quite easy to get a bible. Especially in the United States of America. And to read a bible in our language, especially with technological tools at our disposal today. Now, look at these words from Cory Marsh. He says, “The problem is not that we don’t have enough bibles. The problem is we’ve become too familiar with the bibles we have. Ninety-one million bibles are printed globally each year, and America boasts an embarrassing number of translations. Ironically, a case can be made that the lack of biblical literacy is a result of the overabundance of bibles and related products in America. [He calls that, offline Jesus junk] Instead of promoting communion with the living God through His living word. [and then he goes on here to say] Instead of promoting communion with the living God through His living word, we’ve turned the bible into an industry of merchandise. There is no longer reverence or love for scripture’s meta-narrative of God’s glory progressing throughout its sixty-six books. It has become a charm to keep in the house for good luck and prosperity; it’s there ‘just in case.’ We all know there’s a bible. They’re everywhere. But that’s about it. the adage rings true: familiarity breeds contempt.” Ouch.

Well, this obviously is not the way things should be. We know that the bible’s value cannot be overstated. Since consisting of Old and New Testaments, it is God’s complete written revelation to mankind. In the scriptures, we have a library for our understanding of God and the things of God. We have food for our spiritual nourishment. As we see here in 1 Peter 2:1-2 “Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, like newborn babies, long for the pure mild of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation.” So, it’s there for our nourishment. It’s also there for our guidance. Psalm 119:105 “Your word is a lamp to my feet and light to my path. It’s there as a weapon against our spiritual enemies. Ephesians 6:17 “Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” And it’s our equipment. The scripture equips us for every good work and to do God’s will. 2 Timothy 3:16 “All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.” So, here in 2 Timothy 3, we see there, through the pen of the Apostle Paul, that the scriptures are profitable for doctrine. They teach us what we need to know. They are profitable for reproof. They point to us what’s wrong in our lives. They are there for correction. Showing us how we should deal with whatever is going wrong in our lives, what sin is still there. And they train us in righteousness. Teaching us God’s will for us. And how we are to live in it and walk in it. Being God’s word, the truths of the bible work effectively in all who believe it and obey it. Hebrews 4:12 “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

You might be thinking, ok. You got me. I’m not reading my bible. Or I’m not reading my bible as often as I should, or as much as I should. What should I do? Help me out here. What’s a process I should follow? I’m going to give you some very practical pointers for bible reading. Profitable bible reading. Better bible reading. Now note, these are not those, “you have to read at this time in the morning.” “Or you always have to read around the dinner table” type of instructions. I’ve been around plenty of guys who lay down law where there is no law. I’m not going to do that tonight. I want to steer clear of that. But I do want to provide you with some helpful tools. To put some helpful tools in your hand, about what bible intake should look like.

First, pray. Ask God to help you understand what He has revealed to you on the pages of His word. Psalm 199:18 “Open my eyes, that I may behold wonderful things from Your law.”
That’s illumination. That’s what we looked at last week. Ask the Holy Spirit to minister to your heart through His word, as He illuminates for you what He’s given us here on the pages of scripture.

The second one, beyond praying was to be, follow the customary use of language. As you engage with the bible, as you read the scripture. Take the words of the bible for what they mean, for what they say. Account for figures of speech, when there are figures of speech in play. As you would in any other literature. Right? When Jesus refers to Himself as a “door”, his disciples aren’t looking for hinges and knobs on Him. Right? If He refers to Himself as “bread”, they’re not looking for crust and mold on His edges. Be mindful of figures of speech and metaphorical language. In the bible, that same type of language is used.

Third, seek to understand the passage in light of its context. Read what comes before your passage. Read what comes after your passage. Make note of who is speaking. Make note of who is being addressed. Note any geographical or historical features of the text. Trace out, if you have the time, the overall theme of the book that you’re in. And seek out how the passage that you’re studying fits within that overall theme.

Fourth, allow scripture to interpret scripture. Before you go to the commentaries. Before you go to the articles. Before you go to “got questions.org” or other online resources. Go to other parts of God’s word to help you interpret what it is you’re studying.

Fifth, recognize the audience of the text that you’re studying. While we know that all scripture is profitable. We also know that God has given specific commands and directives to certain peoples throughout history. Historically, His will for Israel was expressed through the Mosaic Law. Whereas His will for the church today, is expressed through the pages of the New Testament. So, keep in mind who your audience is, and who’s being addressed in the portion of scripture you’re reading. And do your best not to confuse and crossover between the two.

Sixth, I think I’ve kind of alluded to this in prayer but seek the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit. Seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit. As we saw last week, here from 1 Corinthians 2, the Holy Spirit is your teacher. Your teacher of truth.
Paul here says, “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.”
So, as you look for guidance from the Spirit, He will not only direct you and guide you in your study. But He will bring you to a right understanding of what He has breathed out through the human author of the book you’re studying.

Seventh, use reliable reference tools. Us commentaries and other study aids that were written by trustworthy doctrinally sound people who hold to a faithful interpretation of God’s word. You know, Joyce Meyer’s writings of women preachers, is not the place to go. Bill Johnson’s writings on miracles today, is not the place to go. Bart Ehrman’s writings on the authority of the bible, would not be the place to go. If that’s the topic you’re studying, or really for any other matter by any of those authors I just mentioned. Go to trusted resources. To trusted commentators, who are committed to the same literal grammatical method of interpretation that you are.

Alright, we’ve looked at the interpretation of the bible. Principles, hermeneutical principles. We’ve looked at the reading of the bible. Now, we’re going to look at the meditation, look at meditation on the bible. That’s our third point, meditation of the Bible. Admittedly, we live in an incredibly fast-paced frenzied world. And biblical meditation is one of these essential spiritual disciplines for a thriving Christian life. That is sadly, really overlooked in our day. It is a discipline, a principle, a practice that layers on top of our reading of God’s word. Our study of God’s word. It’s a discipline that builds upon the sermons that we hear throughout our weeks. It’s a discipline in which the Spirit really drives deep into our hearts. And cements biblical truths into our minds. And it’s a discipline, ultimately, that helps us to fight and win the spiritual battles that we fight, as part of being Christians. As part of life in Christ.

Let’s take a look here at Psalm 1. This is going to be our jumping off point for this discussion of biblical meditation. Our go-to text. Familiar text to many of us, I’m sure. The Psalmist says:
“How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither; and in whatever he does, he prospers.”

Now, if we were to read Psalm 1 in its entirety we would see that the Psalmist here sets up this very clear contrast between the righteous and the wicked. A clear contrast between the one who knows God and the one who is far from God. And what we see here in verses 1-3 are the traits of the righteous person. Or as it says here in verse 1, the “blessed” man. He is the one who has been redeemed. The one who loves God. And is the one who is loved by God. The one who is “blessed,” Psalm 1:1 tells us is unlike the unrighteous person or the “wicked” person. In that he does “not walk [it says] in the counsel of the wicked.” He does not “stand in the path of sinners.” He does not “sit in the seat of scoffers.” Instead, the “blessed” man walks with God. He abides with God. He stands for God. He sits with and dwells with God. He’s not swayed by or influenced by the world’s wicked influences. Instead, his thoughts are taken captive by the thoughts of God. The perspectives of God. The plans and purposes of God as revealed in the word of God. And here in Psalm 1, we see three different aspects of biblical meditation addressed. And I’m just going to work through these real quickly here. But we’re going to see the what if biblical meditation. They why of biblical meditation. And then we’ll see the how of biblical meditation. Let’s take those one-by-one. The what, the why, the how. Starting with:

What, what’s being described here in Psalm 1, biblical meditation? Well, let’s start with what biblical meditation is not. Because the reality is, there are a variety of competing forms of “meditation” that are being pushed out there in the world, are they not? And to be very clear, we need to state this right up front. Biblical meditation is not in any way related to the various forms of Eastern or Transcendental meditation that are out there today. And are growing in popularity. Whether those be practices related to Yoga, or Transcendental practices, or Relaxation therapy, or the various forms of New Ageism where the goal is ultimately to empty the mind. And to pour out whatever’s in the mind, as opposed to filling up the mind. Again, those forms, those Eastern or Transcendental forms of meditation. The idea is to really become further and further detached from the world. Losing our personhood and losing our individuality and losing our consciousness and somehow merging in some way with the cosmic mind. That’s not biblical meditation. That’s not Psalm 1, meditation. That’s not what he had in mind, this Psalmist, when he said, by the way, many centuries before any of those Eastern religions were thought up. That the “blessed” man “delights in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night.”

Instead, the Psalmist here, in Psalm 1, and this is highlighted by the Hebrew grammar underlying this text, he uses a Hebrew verb that’s hagah. And it simply means “to murmur, to mutter, or to converse in one’s mind.” And it means to really review a thought over and over in one’s mind. To continually ponder or reflect in one’s mind. And what this Psalmist here is describing, is the “blessed” person being someone who is, like literally having a continual conversation with himself. Words and sentences are firing off within his cerebral cortex. But he’s not schizophrenic. He’s not deluded. He hasn’t gone mental. No, he’s intentionally and continually rolling over and over in his mind the truths he knows about God . . . that have been revealed to him in His word.

So, Psalm 1, then, is teaching that biblical meditation is not about emptying our minds, and emptying our thoughts, and disconnecting. Instead, it’s about filling our minds with God’s thoughts as we draw nearer and nearer to Him. And then biblical meditation is really about processing those thoughts. And reflecting on those thoughts. And chewing on those thoughts . . . the way the cow chews the cud as we go about our day. That’s the form of meditation that Psalm 1 has in view here. But it’s not only in Psalm 1 that we see it. And for that matter, it’s not only in the Old Testament that we see this form of meditation. Or at least having this frame of mind. In the New Testament, we have Philippians 4:8. Same basic concept here. “Finally, brethren, [Paul says] whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell ” logizomai meaning “reckon,” “consider,” “give careful thought to,” “contemplate”. All those words are synonyms for “dwell” there “on these things.”
As God’s people, we are called to dwell upon to give careful consideration to, to meditate upon each of these items listed here in Philippians 4:8. And these items listed here in this verse are most perfectly expressed where? In God’s sufficient, God’s perfect word. That’s just one example from the New Testament.

We also have here in Colossians 3:2-3 “Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” The Greek verb that Paul uses here in Colossians 3, is phroneo. And it means “to give careful consideration to.” That what it means by “set your our mind.” And what are we to “give careful consideration” to? He tells us! “The things above.” And where do we find truths about “the things above”? Where do we find truths about the fact that christ has ascended to a place above? And He is seated at the right hand of the Father above? And that He is going to meet us in the clouds in the air, above, when He comes for us? And that one day, He’s going to return, as He splits the sky and comes back to this earth from above? Well, we learn these truths, all of these truths, these magnificent truths, about “the things above. Not from some intuitive sense. Not from some secular source. We rather get it from the “wisdom [that comes] from above, namely, the word of God. And there is nothing that’s more valuable. And nothing more important in this crazed, fast-paced world to be thinking on, and meditating upon, than “the things above.”
I appreciate Jeremiah Burroughs, how he put this in a treatise called a Treatise on Earthly-Mindedness, which he wrote in the 1600’s. He said, “Every day a Christian spends on earth is a day lost in heaven.” “The saints have their hearts in heaven, their thoughts in heaven, and their meditations in heaven.” To use Paul’s words from Colossians 3:2-3, they have their minds on “things above.” Or going back to Psalm 1, their “meditation” is on God’s word.

So, biblical meditation involves reflecting on biblical truth. And as we do so, becoming increasingly strong in our grasp of scripture. Becoming more spiritually discerning. And becoming increasingly mature in our faith. And that in turn helps us to better fight sin. Refute error. To grow in holiness and godliness. And to live increasingly faithful lives of service to Christ. So, that’s the “what” of biblical meditation.

Now we want to move onto the “why” of biblical meditation. Why should we be people who are committed to this practice of biblical meditation? I’m going to lay out a few reasons for you here. There are undoubtedly more than the three that I’m going to mention. About why you should devote yourself to this practice of biblical meditation. The first is that it’s modeled for us in the scripture. We’ve already seen it in Psalm 1. We’ve seen it in Philippians 4:8. We’ve seen it in Colossians 3:2-3. But it’s also modeled for us in other places in scripture. Joshua 1:8 “This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night.” Psalm 4:4 “Tremble, and do not sin; meditate in your heart upon your bed and be still.” Psalm 63:4, there’s David “When I remember You on my bed, I meditate on You in the night watches, for You have been my help, and in the shadow of Your wings I sing for joy.” And we’re going to see in Psalm 119, there’s multiple other instances where these statements about meditating on God’s word. But each of these examples are like runway lights. With God showing His people, people like you and me, that He wants more than just our, you know, 5 minutes of flair prayers and quiet time in the morning. Rather, His expectation is that we continually be directing our hearts and our minds toward Him, by routinely meditating upon Him, and specifically His word.
The second reason that we should be committed to biblical meditation. Is it cultivates spiritual depth. Back to Psalm 1 here “How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night.” And look at this line here, verse 3 – “he will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither; and in whatever he does, he prospers.”

The person who meditates on God’s word, is described here as being a firmly planted tree. Which gathers its sustenance, its life, not from some stagnant pond. But rather, from these constantly flowing streams of pure water. Which are bringing nutrients to the tree here. And in a similar way, when the word of God is regularly running through our minds its going to carve out channels in our ways of thinking. It’s going to drown out old ways of how we process and view the world, and our place in it. And it’s going to provide us with the spiritual nourishment and sustenance that we need. Not only that though, when we commit to truly sinking our roots deep into the truths of God’s word. When we bathe our minds in it. When we saturate our thoughts in it. When we dwell and meditate upon it. Verse 3 tells us we’ll bear fruit. We’ll prosper. This is not financial prosperity. This is talking about being blessed with an obedient, spiritually blessed fruitful life. We’ll grow in “godliness and contentment” to borrow from 1 Timothy 6:16 which is “great gain.”

Here’s a third reason that we should be people who meditate. And that is, that it is our spiritual delight. Verse 2, Psalm 1 “But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night.” See, the modern Christian church has been, really poorly served by many pastors and teachers who have cast shade on the practice of spiritual disciplines. Many negative connotations, sadly, have been associated with being disciplined spiritually. As though spiritual discipline somehow restricts our freedoms or are punitive or are legalistic. But spiritual disciplines, like what’s being described here. When rightly understood and rightly applied, are none of those things. When we rightly think about the topics of bible reading. Literally hearing from God on the pages of His word. Or prayer, the ability to talk to that same God. Or what we’re talking about right now, biblical meditation. We see that these spiritual disciplines are tools. Are instruments which God has given us, to pursue what our hearts, deep down, truly long for. Which is communion with the living God. So, the practice of biblical meditation should never be a matter of “must have” or “have to do this.” It should be a matter of “I’m privileged to” and “I get to do”. It’s to think thoughts after God. To be reflecting on the things that He’s revealed in His word, as I go about my day, and seek to honor Him. And there are many times, by the way, where there, in scripture, is this link between meditating on God’s word, and the delight that it brings.

We have this one here in Psalm 1:2, but it’s also in Psalm 119. Look at the link here in these underling words. Psalm 119:15-16 “I will meditate on Your precepts and regard Your ways. I shall delight in Your statutes; I shall not forget Your word.” Or just a few verses later, verses 23-24 “Even though princes sit and talk against me, Your servant meditates on Your statutes. Your testimonies also are my delight; they are my counselors.” Psalm 119:47-48 “I shall delight in Your commandments, which I love. And I shall lift up my hands to Your commandments, which I love; and I will meditate on Your statutes.” Psalm 119:77-78 “May Your compassion come to me that I may live, for Your law is my delight. May the arrogant be ashamed, for they subvert me with a lie; but I shall meditate on Your precepts.” So, over and over again, we see this connection between meditating on God’s word, and the delight in God’s word, that that meditation brings.

So, question time. Are you someone who, if you examine yourself and are being really honest with yourself, could say that you delight that’s the common word here. Delight in taking in God’s word. And thinking on God’s word. And reflecting on God’s word. And chewing on God’s word, as you’re driving all about town throughout the day. If not, you need to make this a part of your disciplines. A part of your practice. To not just read the word . . . and its on to whatever else I’m going to do today. I’m going to forget about God. But rather, think on, chew on, reflect on what He’s revealed.

Thomas Brooks, like any good Puritan, gives us very colorful language to think about meditation. He says, “Remember that it is not hasty reading – But serious meditation on holy and heavenly truths – which makes them prove sweet and profitable to the soul. It is not the mere touching of the flower by the bee which gathers honey – but her abiding for a time on the flower which draws out the sweet. It is not he who reads most, but he who meditates most - who will prove to be the choicest, sweetest, wisest and strongest Christian.” That’s where we want to get. We want to get to a place where we’re engaging with God’s word from a place of delight – not mere duty. We want to get to a place where we’re like the bee who is, not just alighting upon the flower, but is enjoying the flower. Not just opening the book but delighting in the book. Which brings us now to the “how” of biblical meditation.

The “how” of biblical meditation. How do we become those Christians who are devoted to this practice of biblical meditation? Again, here’s Psalm 1:2, “And in His law he meditates day and night.” That’s the key, “day and night.” That’s an inclusive manner of speaking that’s being given here. It’s really saying all of the time. Whether the sun is up . . . or the sun is down. The true child of God meditates. We’ve already seen, I’ve already quoted to you, Psalm 4:4 and Psalm 63:6. Those are psalms of David, which are describing a man who meditated on God and His word, in the night watches, in the middle of the night. He would wake up at night and think about God’s word. I mean, again, I mentioned conviction with the prayer sermon this morning. You want to talk about conviction, think about what David is saying there, to us today. Like, what do you think about when you wake up in the middle of the night? Is it immediately God’s word? Or is it about the troubles that face you tomorrow? Is it God’s word? Or is it some lustful thought? Is it God’s word? Or some gluttonous thought? Or selfish thought? Is it God and His word? Or your bank account balance? Or your grades? Or your upcoming job performance review? Or, what about when you’re awake for that matter? Or when you’re driving home from work? Or brushing your teeth? Or shaving? Or at the gym? Where do the thoughts go? Are you meditating more on what Ben Shapiro or Tucker Carlson are saying these days? Or on what the word of God says? Are you meditating more on what you saw on Instagram or Facebook earlier that day? Or what God’s word says? If the answer to any of those questions is something other than the word of God, then you and I and all of us, we’ve got some work to do.

So, how do we get there? Well, first, and this should come as no surprise to meditate on the word, you have to be in the word. Right? You can’t meditate on scripture without first taking in scripture to have some pool, some base from what you’re drawing, as you meditate. If you aren’t regularly in the word, I’m already putting the cart before the horse, in telling you you need to meditate on something you’re not in. You have nothing to meditate on without the word. Again, we’re not Eastern mystics here, we’re biblical Christians. And we only have, our only source of truth, is in the word. No, what we need, is the kindling of God’s word to fan and to flame these healthy practices of biblical meditation. So, to be a person who practices biblical meditation, you need first to be in the bible. That means carefully and slowly using all the methods I’ve just laid out, reading the scripture, studying the scripture. Methodically, carefully reading them, those passages. Rereading them. Reading them out loud. Reading them quietly in your mind. Reading them all, sitting. Reading them all, standing. Memorizing scripture. Telling others what you’re reading. Those are all ways to “let the word of Christ dwell [with]in you richly”, which will then allow you to meditate, and really think on the truths that you’ve read.

And second, this is real simple. But develop some system for meditating on God’s word. I’ve told this story in a couple of other settings. But Jonathan Edwards had a very unique practice when it came to meditating on scripture. He would go on horseback rides. He was in like the 1730’s, 1740’s, and he would read the word in his study and then he’d go horseback riding. And he would use the rhythm of the galloping horse to be the thing that would cause him to kind of chew and meditate on whatever it was he had read. And whenever he had these thoughts and contemplations of what he’d been studying that morning in the word. That when he got like a real good one, you know that real, we would probably call it like “the shower thought”, he had “the horseback thought”. He would stop the horse, he would get off the horse, and he would jot down whatever he had just meditated upon. And then he would pin the piece of paper to his coat. And his wife reports that sometimes he’d go riding for two, three, four hours, just meditating on scripture, jotting these notes down and pinning them to his coat. That she thought he’d been in a snowstorm in the middle of July. So, you don’t need to go to that extreme. You don’t need to buy a horse, if you don’t have a horse. You don’t need to only meditate when you’re on horseback if you do have a horse. Maybe it’s just a spiralbound notebook of thoughts that you’re gathering. And jottings that you’re taking down, of whatever it is you’re reading and meditating upon. Maybe it’s an app that you use to catalogue the things you’re learning. Maybe it is just writing in the notes of your bible, in the margin of your bible. Notes that you’re taking down on things you’ve meditated upon. It ultimately doesn’t matter what system you choose. But more importantly, you have some system to stay on track with this.

So, that’s a bit about biblical meditation. We’ve looked at the interpretation of the bible, the reading of the bible, the meditation on the bible. Now, last, fourth, will be the application of the Bible. And this one is going to be quite brief, as we close here. But it’s really important. See, the fruit of one’s interpretation of the bible, whatever interpretive grid one uses. The fruit of one’s reading of the bible. The fruit of one’s meditation on the bible. Needs to be, and has to be, in faithful application of biblical truth to one’s life. God has given us His word for more reasons than simply to satisfy our academic curiosities. We’re to allow His word to dwell in us richly.
That’s Colossians 3:16 “Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you.” Now, we’re to allow the word, as we’re studying it, to reveal to us how incomparable God is. To reveal to us His will for us. To reveal to us our spiritual needs. To highlight for us His infinite resources. To flag for us the spiritual enemies that are out there. But then what we need to do, is make sure we do what His word commands. To do what it says. And to not do what it proscribes, what it prohibits. We are to be, James 1:22 “doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.” And that’s really where the rubber meets the road, isn’t it? Doing, applying, living it out. I mean, I love that we are a church that is committed to learning biblical truth. I love that we’re a church that’s committed to educating others in biblical truth. And teaching and preaching biblical truth. And what the Lord’s help, those things will never change around here. But we also have to be a people who are committed to living out biblical truth. So, when we see a warning in scripture, we heed it. When we see instruction in scripture, we receive it. When we see a command in scripture, we obey it. When we see a rebuke in scripture, we except it. And when scripture highlights for us, sin in our life, we repent of it. Here’s Cory Marsh again, “A bible that is truly authoritative and all-sufficient will be demonstrated by its application.” And last slide, “Happy is that man who possesses a bible!” [ J.C. Ryle, 150 years ago] “Happier still is he who reads it! Happiest of all is he who not only reads it, but obeys it, and makes it the rule of his faith and practice!”

So, we’ve seen tonight, interpretation of the bible and how important that is. Proper hermeneutical system. We’ve looked at the importance of reading the bible, using the tools that I laid out for you. We looked at meditation on the bible. Taking the scripture, reading it and chewing on it, as a cow would chew the cud. And now, very briefly at the end here, the importance of applying it. What we’ve learned. What we’ve studied. And what we’ve meditated upon.

Let’s pray. God, thank You for this chance to be in this series this summer, Summer in the Systematics. The chance to go through so much material, content, over the course of these ten weeks. Thank You for giving us Your word, which is clear. Which is sufficient. Which is perfect. Which is unchanging. And to know that in it, we have all we need pertaining to life and godliness. Thank You for the cooperation and participation of everybody here throughout the summer, to take in this course, or these lessons which are like a course, like a seminary course or a bible college course. A bit different than the norm. But I pray that it has been instructive. I pray that it has been edifying. I pray that it has instilled confidence in knowing that what we hold in our hands, are Your very words, breathed out. Through the Holy Spirit, for our benefit and our edification. And I pray what that does, as we learned tonight, is it brings in us, and stirs up in us, a hunger for the word. A hunger to study the word rightly. To read the word. To meditate upon the word. And then to live out the word. God may Your word do a great work in our midst for as long as you have us here. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen