From the TeachingtheWord Bible Knowledgebase

Part five (final) of a series. Read part four.

Once a group and its leader/teacher have prayerfully prepared to study Scripture together under the authority of Christ, His Word, and the Holy Spirit, they can come together to transact serious business with God and to prayerfully evaluate the results.

Don't Let the Social Crowd Out the Spiritual

Before we come to the main issues, let me say a word about something that has derailed many a Bible study group: the trap of letting the social crowd out the spiritual. I have seen and heard of groups that came together with the best intentions, but the focus of activities gradually (in some cases quickly) shifted away from serious Bible study to "food, fun, and fellowship."

Here is the picture: While waiting for others to arrive, the men are out in the back yard or the church parking lot tossing a football; the ladies are in the kitchen passing around great new dessert recipes. The variations on this are endless. But when the time comes to focus on actual Bible study it becomes increasingly difficult to pull everyone together and really focus on the reason the group is supposed to be meeting. I have known of groups that fell so far into this trap that what began as a group Bible study became nothing more than a weekly social gathering.

The best way to avoid this trap is to keep the "social" element in its proper, minimal, place. An after-study social time over coffee and desserts may be appropriate. But let me strongly suggest that the study time should always take place first, with no preliminaries. The true fellowship of a group Bible study is not mere social interaction. It is the fellowship of which John speaks in the opening verses of his first epistle:

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life- the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us- that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. (1 John 1:1-3)

Begin With Prayer

Beginning every study session with prayer is not a mere formality. Christ is in the midst where even two or three are gathered in His name (Matthew 18:20). The group should always ask God by His Spirit to center everyone's attention on His Word, to free participants from distracting thoughts of other things, to illuminate His truth, and to apply it to each life. "Teach me Your way, O Lord; I will walk in Your truth; unite my heart [literally, give me an undivided heart] to fear Your name" (Psalm 86:11).

The group is about to open and study the only supernatural Book. The unsaved individual cannot receive God's Word because it is foolishness to him (1 Corinthians 2:14). But Christians "have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God" (1 Corinthians 2:12). The group must therefore seek the power of the Spirit who is the Author of the Book.

Ask Questions of the Text: The Four-Fold Use of Scripture

In 2 Timothy 3:16-17 God through Paul has given us the four-fold use of Scripture: "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work."

Throughout his epistles, we find Paul employing Scripture in exactly this way as he ministered to the churches. He presented the truth of sound doctrine to them. He reproved them in areas in which they were straying from the pure Word. He corrected them by pointing them once again to the path of soundness. He instructed them once again, reinforcing their knowledge of the truth, so that they might follow the righteous path with greater consistency.

A Bible study group will profit greatly if it employs this God-ordained four-fold use of Scripture. There is nothing more useful than for the group to ask these questions as it studies God's Word, and to pray for the Spirit's leading and power in discovering and implementing the answers:

1. What doctrine is God teaching here? What is the truth? What is the path of sound doctrine? How is God showing us the right way to think, and the right way to live?
2. Does this passage reprove us? Is God telling us that there is an area of our living or thinking where we have gotten off the path of sound doctrine, or perhaps did not understand it before? How did it happen? How is this adversely affecting our walk with God, individually and collectively, and our life and testimony before others?
3. How does this passage tell us we need to be corrected? What needs to change in our thinking and living so that we will return to the right path? Am I as an individual willing, by God's grace, to conform my life to His truth? Will I now resolve to do so?
4. How does this part of God's Word instruct us in righteousness - how to remain on the path of sound doctrine, and not stray again? What must we do to remain in conformity to His Word?

God's Word, which is more precious than gold (Psalm 19:10), will do all of this for His people and more - if we read and study it faithfully and systematically, in prayerful reliance upon, and submission to, the Holy Spirit.

For the Word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner [or critic] of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)

Sound Interpretation

In all of this, the leader/teacher and the group must keep sound principles for the interpretation of Scripture clearly in mind.

We must take the Bible literally. What do we mean by that? We can only truly and accurately understand the meaning of the words of any book if we understand what the author intended when he wrote it. That is true of any human novel or textbook or history book. It is even more vital when we open the only supernatural Book. We can only truly and accurately understand the meaning of the words of the Bible, if we understand what the Author, the Holy Spirit, intended to say when He gave the Book to us through holy men of God.

The words of Scripture have one and only one meaning in context - God the Holy Spirit's meaning. How do we determine God's meaning? By remembering that it is always a meaning in context. We begin with the immediate context of the surrounding verses of the passage we are reading. Then we expand outward to the larger context of the book of the Bible we are considering. We also need to take into account the full context of the entire Word of God. God the Holy Spirit never contradicts Himself in Scripture. We cannot look at one part of the Bible in a vacuum, and build a doctrine that contradicts the rest of the Bible. We must consider the Bible as a whole.

We must always remember the nature of the Author of the Book. The Holy Spirit never says anything that is in any way out of keeping with His holiness and the other Divine attributes.

We must understand, always, that the more clear in the Bible interprets the less clear, not the other way around. Getting that backwards - forcing a wrong interpretation of some isolated passage on the rest of Scripture - is how most cults have started, and how most heresies within the believing church have sprung up. It is also how Christians can get off the track in their personal lives.

"What Does This Mean?" - Not "What Does This Mean to Me?"

The group must always remember that the Bible alone is the Word of God. You may be saying, "Well, I knew that. Isn't that the whole point?" Yes. And here is why a Bible study group must keep that central fact central in its thinking: The Bible does not become the Word of God if we feel like it - if we feel that it speaks to us, if we are of the opinion that it has something to say to us. That is the doctrine of the liberals. It is also, sad to say, the doctrine of more and more Evangelicals today. But that is not what Scripture says. That is not how the inspired writer of one part of Scripture treats the rest of Scripture.

But sometimes study groups fall into a deadly trap. I have been in group Bible studies, and perhaps you have too, where the leader (who was actually only a discussion facilitator and not truly a teacher) read a passage of Scripture and then asked everyone in the group, "What does this passage mean to you?" Often there were as many answers as there were people in the room. Some people would understand the true meaning of the passage. But others would not. And often the group would be led off the track by someone's untested opinion. But that is where the group would start - with everybody's own opinion.

That is not where we are to start. That is not the path of sound doctrine. The first question we must ask, always, is this: "What does this passage mean?" - period. Not, "What does this passage mean to me?" In other words, what did God the Holy Spirit mean, what did He intend to communicate, when He inspired the words? It is only when we understand what God means that we really understand any passage of Scripture.

That is not something that comes out of human reasoning - it is not, "What this passage means to me." Your faith, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2:5, is not to be in the wisdom of men (including our own), but in the power of God. Enlightenment does not come from the sinful heart of man. It comes through the illumination of the Scriptures by God the Holy Spirit.

Seek the Spirit's Application

When we have that gracious enlightenment, then and only then can we go on to the questions that follow, to the matter of application. Too often a group will start there, rather than ending up there. As we take up the matter of application, we must first ask, "How did these words apply to the people to whom they were written, in their time and circumstances?" This will help us answer a second question: "How do these words apply to us today, as individual Christians and as the Body of Christ?" And this of course leads us back to the four-fold use of Scripture from 2 Timothy 3:16-17.

The Word of God is timeless, because the Author is timeless. God spoke the last of the words of Scripture nearly two thousand years ago. But He speaks through the pages of Scripture to the local church by the illumination of the Holy Spirit in every subsequent day. But He speaks with the same words and the same meaning today as two thousand years ago.

The circumstances of the church in the 21st century are different from the church in the first century. The circumstances of the local church on one side of town are different from those of the local church on the other side of town. The circumstances of the church in the United States are different from those of the church in China, or Nigeria, or Brazil. But God the Holy Spirit speaks with the same words and the same meaning to the church on Main Street as He does to the church on Market Street, to the church in South Carolina or the church in South Korea.

God the Holy Spirit works in a marvelous, supernatural way to apply the words of His supernatural Book to each group as a body of believers, and to each participant individually. He applies them in our own circumstances. He applies them to our own problems and difficulties. But the message, the meaning, has not changed at all and never will.

It is the job of the group to understand God's Word as it is. The leader/teacher may be able to suggest general areas of application of the Word, knowing some things about the situation of the group. But it is the Spirit of God alone who knows both the deep things of God, and the deep things of each human heart (1 Corinthians 2). He knows every thought, every motive, every situation.

One of the great needs of the church in our time is to avoid "one-size-fits-all" application of the Scriptures to life. This is a failing of many pre-packaged Bible study plans. Leader/teachers can also fall into this trap. "Do not quench the Spirit!" (1 Thessalonians 5:19). As a group studies the Word of God, it should look to the Spirit of God to marvelously apply His Word to each individual's need as only He knows it. That is God's ordained method. He knows our needs far better than we do ourselves, because He knows the beginning from the end.

The great British preacher Martyn Lloyd-Jones said that he came to understand an important truth that continually amazed him: The Holy Spirit could do more to deal with the individual problems of the thousand-plus members of his congregation through His sovereign working in their hearts associated with one Sunday sermon, than Lloyd-Jones himself could do in an entire year of one-on-one counseling.

Dealing With Problem Passages

In view of these things, how should a group deal with problem passages? We must always take the view that if we have a problem with what the Bible says at some particular point, the problem is with us, not with the Book. We must be willing to admit that to the Lord. We must ask the Lord to graciously to help us with that problem of understanding. He has promised to do so, as David testified in Psalm 18:28-30 - "For You will light my lamp; the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness. For by You I can run against a troop, by my God I can leap over a wall. As for God, His way is perfect; the word of the Lord is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him."

We must trust the Lord to enlighten us, to work out the difficulties for us, to help us leap those walls of misunderstanding and difficulty. And He will. Over time, the Spirit will perform that "mopping up" operation I described earlier in this series. He will clear away the problems and the difficulties. Remember that each believer has the Author of the Book living within him. He is indeed our Helper, our Comforter.

Reinforcement

There are many ways to reinforce and build upon the truths the group is learning as it goes along. One is to begin the next session with a brief review of the previous session's main points. Another is for the group to memorize key verses or passages together.

Another is for each participant to keep a notebook of points such as truths learned, soul-searching thoughts God has imparted, and unresolved questions for further reading and study. Some leader/teachers may want to distribute prepared outline sheets at each session that cover the main points and provide space for note-taking. In the interest of the free working of the Spirit in each individual, I would suggest that such outline sheets not be too detailed but briefly lay out the main points.

End With Prayer

It is only fitting that a group that seeks to transact serious business with God should end its study in prayer. I would suggest that time be permitted for anyone in the group who wishes to pray to do so, with the leader or some other designated individual opening the prayer time and closing it. Such a time of prayer can often be used of God to reinforce the truth and its application, as participants open their hearts before the throne of grace.

Evaluating

How should a group evaluate results? Some would say that this is a highly subjective area, but God has in fact given us objective points of evaluation within Scripture itself. Let me remind you of a passage to which I drew your attention earlier in this series:

...that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. (Colossians 1:9-12)

Here is the key question for every Bible study group: Is this happening? Are we, individually and collectively, increasing not in mere head-knowledge but it true wisdom and spiritual understanding? Is our study of the Word of God affecting our walk with God? Are we striving to please Him more, and are we actually growing in sanctification? Are we better prepared and strengthened to deal with life with greater patience, with longsuffering and joy, knowing the present power of God and the reward that lies at the end? Are we growing in thankfulness for all that God has done for us through Christ, both for this life and for the life to come?

May these things be true of every group of believers who gather to study and grow in God's Word.

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