© 2017 Will Duke How to Study the Bible-Part 2 User has unrestricted use of this document if attribution is provided in any published medium. Joint Heirs Adult Bible Fellowship October 15, 2017 Will Duke, Guest Speaker “How to Study the Bible–Part 2” Review: I. The Bible Is a Unique Book. We must begin by remembering what we are studying. The Bible is not like any other book. A. The Bible is not actually A book, but a whole library of books written by at least 50 different authors over at least 2,000 years, in three different languages: Hebrew, Ar- amaic, and Greek. Yet it is a miraculously integrated whole with no conflicts. B. Inspired by the Holy Spirit. 1. Although the Holy Spirit used human authors to write these books, the Holy Spirit Himself is the ultimate author. “All Scripture is God-breathed” (2 Ti. 3:16a). 2. The Bible is inerrant in its original manuscripts. The Holy Spirit so guided the words that were written that no errors were included in anything it teaches. 3. Because the Holy Spirit had us in mind when He wrote what He wrote. Bible study is not like reading someone else’s mail; it is God’s word to us, collectively and personally. You must not study Scripture remotely, impersonally, as an ob- server. You are intimately involved with what is written on each page. C. Purpose of the Bible: 1. To provide what we need to live the faith-rest life. 2. To do the tasks God had planned in eternity past for us to do. D. Although we have no original manuscripts, the copies we possess are faithful repre- sentations of what the prophets and apostles originally penned. When you come to the Bible, come with great expectations! II. Resources to Study the Bible. A. Bible Translations: 1. Because we don’t read the biblical languages, we depend on others to translate them into English. 1 All Scripture quotations are from the New International Version (2011) unless otherwise indicated. Pronouns refer- ring to God are capitalized. © 2017 Will Duke How to Study the Bible-Part 2 User has unrestricted use of this document if attribution is provided in any published medium. 2. We have available more and better English translations than any time in history. 3. The King James Version (KJV) (1611) and The New King James (NKJV) (1982), and I explained my two objections to these translations and why I cannot recommend them for serious Bible study. Two main problems: a. The English language of the KJV–we no longer speak it. b. The New Testament of both based on the Textus Receptus collection of Greek manuscripts. Not the oldest nor best manuscripts of the New Testament avail- able to us today. Today’s Lesson: 4. Recommended translations for Bible study: a. Spectrum of versions. There is a spectrum of different versions running from very free paraphrases to much more strict translations Formal Functional Word-for-word Dynamic equivalence b. All recommended Bible translations use the same manuscript collections: (1) Old Testament: The Masoretic Text (Hebrew and some Aramaic) (2) New Testament: Nestle-Aland (NA) collection of Greek manuscripts United Bible Societies (UBS) collections of Greek manuscripts Together, these are sometimes referred to the NU text. The NIV also uses these but has made some substitutions on different New Testament manuscripts, so their NT manuscripts collection is called the Eclectic Text. Almost identical with the NA/UBS text. 2 All Scripture quotations are from the New International Version (2011) unless otherwise indicated. Pronouns refer- ring to God are capitalized. © 2017 Will Duke How to Study the Bible-Part 2 User has unrestricted use of this document if attribution is provided in any published medium. c. Bible paraphrases: (1) Paraphrases attempt to express the teachings of Scripture using more common parlance, even slang, in order get our attention and help us see the meaning of a passage in new ways. They make no attempt to preserve the structure of the original language. Paraphrases are often written by a single individual rather than a translation committee like most translations. (2) Paraphrases include: J.B. Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English (1960, 1972) The Living Bible (1971) Eugene Peterson’s The Message (1993-2002) (3) The Voice (2012)—A newer and not quite so free paraphrase that I have been using for over a year now for devotional reading, and I have been very impressed with how close it stays to the biblical text yet has been able to challenge me to think about old, familiar texts in new ways. I highly recommend it over any of the other paraphrases. (4) Use freer translations like paraphrases for devotional reading or getting a general feel for a passage of Scripture, but they will not serve you well for serious, detailed Bible study. For that you need a good, modern English study Bible. That should be your primary tool for Bible study. (5) Importance of a good study Bible. A study Bible will assist your Bible study by giving you much information you could only discover with ex- tensive research. In effect, a good study Bible will provide you with many of the benefits of a seminary education. (a) Each book will have an introduction that provides extremely important background material, to include: authorship, date of writing, historical background and occasion for writing, genre and literary features, theo- logical teachings, organization and outline. Additional information is provided from the work of modern archaeology and textual studies. (b) There are also extensive verse-by-verse footnotes to help you under- stand what the author meant. These notes will provide specific back- ground information that makes it easier to understand the passage. They will give you key insights into the original languages that impact on how you are to understand the passage. They also provide possible alternative texts and insight from the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Septua- gint, explain how the results of archaeology help us understand the passage, give links to other places in the Bible where this topic is treated, provide explanation for difficult passages, etc. 3 All Scripture quotations are from the New International Version (2011) unless otherwise indicated. Pronouns refer- ring to God are capitalized. © 2017 Will Duke How to Study the Bible-Part 2 User has unrestricted use of this document if attribution is provided in any published medium. (c) Offer charts, pictures, maps, word studies, essays on specific topics by leading Christian thinkers, and illustrations that make understanding so much better. (d) Back of the book study helps like tables of weights and measures, in- dex of topics, concordance, index of names, index to study notes, and maps. (e) I don’t know how anyone can effectively study the Bible without a good study Bible. d. NIV Study Bible. (NIV) (2011) Today, the NIV is sold more than any other English Bible in the world. It is a solid translation that tends more to the dy- namic equivalence side of the spectrum rather than the formal equivalence side. The latest revision to the NIV was made in 2011. Prior to that, it was the 1984 edition. (1) When the 2011 revision came out, it took some criticism because some people thought that the translation team had compromised with feminists and the politically correct crowd in their rendering of gender language. When the Greek text uses the word “brethren” and it clearly refers to both male and female believers, the NIV substituted “brothers and sisters.” Similarly, where the Greek used a masculine pronoun but clearly meant to include both sexes, the NIV opted for a gender-neutral pronoun. E.g., changing “he” to “them.” (1984 NIV) John 14:23 Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him." (2011 NIV) John 14:23 Jesus replied, "Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them." (2) The NIV is not a perfect translation, and there are a few things I wished they had done, but these problems are largely technical and not serious. In my mind, it is the best translation for general use available today. (3) There is an excellent study Bible published by Zondervan; it is called The NIV Study Bible. This is the one I have used with great satisfaction since it first came out in 1985; its last update was in 2011 for the new NIV revi- sion. This is the Bible I carry to church and build my Bible study around. (4) Happily, the Pastor’s Jeremiah Study Bible is now available in the NIV, as well. 4 All Scripture quotations are from the New International Version (2011) unless otherwise indicated. Pronouns refer- ring to God are capitalized. © 2017 Will Duke How to Study the Bible-Part 2 User has unrestricted use of this document if attribution is provided in any published medium. (5) KEY RECOMMENDATION: Use a variety of translations in parallel, alongside each other as you study. You can gain a lot of insight into the meaning of the original text by see- ing how different translators translate the same verses. Since the NIV is not one of the more strictly literal translations, it is good to use a more literal translation along with it. e. English Standard Version (ESV), published in 2001. (1) For many years, Bible students have used the New American Standard Bi- ble (NASB) (1960-1995) to perform this role, and it has done a great job.