Schedule Date Topic Location 9/18 Lecture - Reading the epistlesFriendship Room 9/25 Col 1 Small Classes 10/2 Col 2 Small Classes 10/9 Col 3 Small Classes 10/16 Col 4 Small Classes 10/23 Lecture - Reading the Gospels Friendship Room 10/30 Matt 9:1-8 & Mark 2:3-12, Luke 5:18-26 Small Classes 11/6 Guest Speaker – Fall Feasts of Israel Friendship Room 11/13 Luke 13:18-21, 15:1-7, 18:1-8 Small Classes 11/20 John 1:1-18 Small Classes 11/27 John 6:25-59 Small Classes
Transcript
Schedule Date Topic Location9/18 Lecture - Reading the epistles Friendship Room9/25 Col 1 Small Classes10/2 Col 2 Small Classes10/9 Col 3 Small Classes10/16 Col 4 Small Classes10/23 Lecture - Reading the Gospels Friendship Room10/30 Matt 9:1-8 & Mark 2:3-12, Luke 5:18-26 Small Classes11/6 Guest Speaker – Fall Feasts of Israel Friendship Room11/13 Luke 13:18-21, 15:1-7, 18:1-8 Small Classes11/20 John 1:1-18 Small Classes11/27 John 6:25-59 Small Classes
How to Read the Bible: Epistles
You don’t take the Bible literally, do you?
How to Read the Bible: Epistles
You don’t take the Bible literally, do you?
Of course….To interpret the Bible literally is to interpret it is as literature.
History Poetry Parables Letters Prophecy Gospels Wisdom Literature
Greco-Roman Letters
Private, informal letters
Public, formal letters
John D. Grassmick, “Epistolary Genre: Reading Ancient Letters” in Interpreting the New Testament: Introduction to the Art and Science of Exegesis (ed. D.L. Bock and B.M Fanning; Wheaton: Crossway, 2006), 222-224.
New Testament Letters
Many have both formal and informal
components
For example: “Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow workers
in Christ Jesus.(Rom 16:3)”
John D. Grassmick, “Epistolary Genre: Reading Ancient Letters” in Interpreting the New Testament: Introduction to the Art and Science of Exegesis (ed. D.L. Bock and B.M Fanning; Wheaton: Crossway, 2006), 222-224, 226.
Mechanics Authors in the Greco-Roman world often used a
secretary. Evidence for this practice in the NT.
For example: “I Tertius, who wrote this letter, greet you in the Lord (Rom 16:22).”
“See with what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand (Gal 6:11).”
John D. Grassmick, “Epistolary Genre: Reading Ancient Letters” in Interpreting the New Testament: Introduction to the Art and Science of Exegesis (ed. D.L. Bock and B.M Fanning; Wheaton: Crossway, 2006), 227.
Structure – Opening
Sender Recipients Greeting Prayer
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,
To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places (Eph 1:1-3).
John D. Grassmick, “Epistolary Genre: Reading Ancient Letters” in Interpreting the New Testament: Introduction to the Art and Science of Exegesis (ed. D.L. Bock and B.M Fanning; Wheaton: Crossway, 2006), 231-237.
Structure – Opening
Sender Recipients Greeting Prayer
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
To those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood:
May grace and peace be multiplied to you.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! (1Peter1:1-3)
John D. Grassmick, “Epistolary Genre: Reading Ancient Letters” in Interpreting the New Testament: Introduction to the Art and Science of Exegesis (ed. D.L. Bock and B.M Fanning; Wheaton: Crossway, 2006), 231-237.
Structure – Closing
• Personal greeting
• Signature
• Summary
• Exhortation
• Blessing, praise
John D. Grassmick, “Epistolary Genre: Reading Ancient Letters” in Interpreting the New Testament: Introduction to the Art and Science of Exegesis (ed. D.L. Bock and B.M Fanning; Wheaton: Crossway, 2006), 231-237.
Content and Approach
Authoritative and Loving
For example: 1Cor 4:14-21
John D. Grassmick, “Epistolary Genre: Reading Ancient Letters” in Interpreting the New Testament: Introduction to the Art and Science of Exegesis (ed. D.L. Bock and B.M Fanning; Wheaton: Crossway, 2006), 226.
Consider 1Tim 2:8-9
I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling; likewise also that women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire.
Content and Approach
Occasional = written for a specific occasion
- Specific recipients
- Specific context, situation, issue
- Applied, practical theology
John D. Grassmick, “Epistolary Genre: Reading Ancient Letters” in Interpreting the New Testament: Introduction to the Art and Science of Exegesis (ed. D.L. Bock and B.M Fanning; Wheaton: Crossway, 2006), 228-229.
Inductive Bible Study
1. Observation – What does the text say?
2. Interpretation – What did the text mean to the original readers?
3. Application – What does it mean for us?
Adapted from Roberta Hestenes Using the Bible in Groups (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1983), 57-60.
Background Study
Historical context- Who wrote the letter?- Who received the letter?- What situation or concerns prompted the letter?
Content of the Letter - Read the entire letter- Make an outline - Note the topics & themes- Keep logical units together
Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth (Grand Rapids: Zondervan), 59-62.
Finding the Author’s Purpose
Tools Introduction in your own Bible Bible study booklets How to Read the Bible Book by Book by
Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart American Bible Society
http://www.americanbible.org/bible-resources
Guidelines for Application 1. “A text can not mean what it could never have meant to the
author or his or her readers”
2. “Whenever we share common particulars … with the first-century hearers, God’s Word to us is the same as his Word to them.”
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast (Eph 2:8).
Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth (Grand Rapids: Zondervan), 74.
Guidelines for Application
What happens when the situations are not comparable?
Find the principle. Apply that principle to comparable situations.
For example
1 Cor 10:23-11:1 – The problem of food sacrificed to idols
Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth (Grand Rapids: Zondervan), 74.
Types of Literature in the Bible
Two good tools
Knowing Scripture by R.C. Sproul
How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth
by Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart
Schedule Date Topic Location9/18 Lecture - Reading the epistles Friendship Room9/25 Col 1 Small Classes10/2 Col 2 Small Classes10/9 Col 3 Small Classes10/16 Col 4 Small Classes10/23 Lecture - Reading the Gospels Friendship Room10/30 Matt 9:1-8 & Mark 2:3-12, Luke 5:18-26 Small Classes11/6 Guest Speaker – Fall Feasts of Israel Friendship Room11/13 Luke 13:18-21, 15:1-7, 18:1-8 Small Classes11/20 John 1:1-18 Small Classes11/27 John 6:25-59 Small Classes
