Bible Study Basics, Pt. 16
Good morning Dear Ones.
We have reached the last post in this series on Bible Study Basics. My prayer is that the Lord will use these truths and principles to help each one of us grow into Christlikeness.
I have mentioned from time to time that I look for recurring patterns in the scripture that I am reading. Patterns come in a wide variety of forms.
Law of First Mention
One pattern is the "law of first mention." This simply means that the first time in scripture we read about a person, place, event or a thing will set the tone for how we should view it in later passages of scripture.
As an example, the first time we read about the serpent is in Genesis 3. This gives us the view of what we should always be thinking about whenever we encounter the serpent in the Bible after that point. The serpent twisted the word of God into a lie. That will always be his primary preoccupation.
In like manner, when we encounter a name of God only used once in the Bible, it is important to really understand the context so that we can learn what God is teaching us about Himself.
Let's think about the Apostle Paul for a moment. What was Paul most passionate about? What things really mattered to Paul? What are the topics Paul preached about the most?
Paul is not here with us to answer our questions but we can find some answers by doing some simple word searches.
Let's take the word "grace." This is a word that born again Christians love and experience each and every day. Count how many times grace is used in the Bible. My software tells me that "grace" is used 131 times in the New Testament.
Now, how many times did Paul write about "grace?"
Quite a few. 91 to be exact. This tells us that Paul spoke about grace more than any other apostle. 69% of all references to grace come from the letters of Paul.
Paul was a Jew of the Jews, a member of the strictest sect, the Pharisees and he considered himself blameless under the law. Paul was educated by the Jewish doctor Gamaliel.
He represented the best of Judaism and yet, when Christ saved Paul on the road to Damascus, Paul counted all of his former religious achievement as worthless trash. Why, because Paul understood salvation by grace and he preached extensively about grace.
Patterns of words used many times by one author.
I put this into a table format so that we can see some answers about what motivated his ministry. This snapshot of subject matter dear to Paul's heart tells us right away that he was passionate about making us aware of the old man and showing us what to do to put off the old man. Paul wanted to teach us about our new man created in Christ so that we could enter into the joy of our salvation.
This snapshot also shows us that Paul is teaching us about the position of children of God so that we can learn about our heavenly Father. The word "spiritual" refers to the spiritual blessing we have in Christ and he wants to teach us about them.
Paul's motivation is always the Lord Jesus Christ who saved the former Pharisee and led him every day until He called Paul home.
Paul has some other subjects that he is equally passionate about. I set these into another table to see the comparisons. The churches started by Paul were plagued by Judaizers who attempted to add something to the word of Christ. Paul disputed with them and refuted them strongly and you can see this in the fact that he addressed "circumcision" more than any other apostle.
Paul also frequently wrote of the law. Sometimes this was negative as he tried to show how the law was a schoolmaster to lead us to Christ. He never depreciated the law as the expression of God's holiness. This shows us why Paul wrote so much about grace. He loved grace, he basked in the goodness of God in extending grace to a man like he was.
The old man themes of carnality and flesh are on Paul's' radar a lot because All Christians need to see these realities through the eyes of our God. We are in the army of God from the moment we are born again. We have a very real enemy who has his own army set in array against God.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
We have reached the last post in this series on Bible Study Basics. My prayer is that the Lord will use these truths and principles to help each one of us grow into Christlikeness.
I have mentioned from time to time that I look for recurring patterns in the scripture that I am reading. Patterns come in a wide variety of forms.
Law of First Mention
One pattern is the "law of first mention." This simply means that the first time in scripture we read about a person, place, event or a thing will set the tone for how we should view it in later passages of scripture.
As an example, the first time we read about the serpent is in Genesis 3. This gives us the view of what we should always be thinking about whenever we encounter the serpent in the Bible after that point. The serpent twisted the word of God into a lie. That will always be his primary preoccupation.
In like manner, when we encounter a name of God only used once in the Bible, it is important to really understand the context so that we can learn what God is teaching us about Himself.
Let's think about the Apostle Paul for a moment. What was Paul most passionate about? What things really mattered to Paul? What are the topics Paul preached about the most?
Paul is not here with us to answer our questions but we can find some answers by doing some simple word searches.
Let's take the word "grace." This is a word that born again Christians love and experience each and every day. Count how many times grace is used in the Bible. My software tells me that "grace" is used 131 times in the New Testament.
Now, how many times did Paul write about "grace?"
Quite a few. 91 to be exact. This tells us that Paul spoke about grace more than any other apostle. 69% of all references to grace come from the letters of Paul.
Paul was a Jew of the Jews, a member of the strictest sect, the Pharisees and he considered himself blameless under the law. Paul was educated by the Jewish doctor Gamaliel.
He represented the best of Judaism and yet, when Christ saved Paul on the road to Damascus, Paul counted all of his former religious achievement as worthless trash. Why, because Paul understood salvation by grace and he preached extensively about grace.
Patterns of words used many times by one author.
I put this into a table format so that we can see some answers about what motivated his ministry. This snapshot of subject matter dear to Paul's heart tells us right away that he was passionate about making us aware of the old man and showing us what to do to put off the old man. Paul wanted to teach us about our new man created in Christ so that we could enter into the joy of our salvation.
This snapshot also shows us that Paul is teaching us about the position of children of God so that we can learn about our heavenly Father. The word "spiritual" refers to the spiritual blessing we have in Christ and he wants to teach us about them.
Paul's motivation is always the Lord Jesus Christ who saved the former Pharisee and led him every day until He called Paul home.
NT Word
|
Total # NT
references
|
Total # references by Paul
|
% of NT reference to word in Paul’s letters
|
Old Man
|
3
|
3
|
100 %
|
New Man
|
3
|
3
|
100 %
|
God our Father
|
11
|
11
|
100 %
|
Spiritual
|
27
|
26
|
96 %
|
Jesus Christ
|
256
|
177
|
69 %
|
Paul has some other subjects that he is equally passionate about. I set these into another table to see the comparisons. The churches started by Paul were plagued by Judaizers who attempted to add something to the word of Christ. Paul disputed with them and refuted them strongly and you can see this in the fact that he addressed "circumcision" more than any other apostle.
Paul also frequently wrote of the law. Sometimes this was negative as he tried to show how the law was a schoolmaster to lead us to Christ. He never depreciated the law as the expression of God's holiness. This shows us why Paul wrote so much about grace. He loved grace, he basked in the goodness of God in extending grace to a man like he was.
The old man themes of carnality and flesh are on Paul's' radar a lot because All Christians need to see these realities through the eyes of our God. We are in the army of God from the moment we are born again. We have a very real enemy who has his own army set in array against God.
NT Word
|
Total # NT
references
|
Total # references by Paul
|
% of NT reference to word in Paul’s letters
|
Circumcision
|
35
|
30
|
86%
|
Gospel
|
101
|
74
|
73%
|
Grace
|
11
|
8
|
73%
|
Carnal
|
131
|
91
|
69%
|
Flesh
|
149
|
92
|
62%
|
Law
|
223
|
135
|
61%
|
If we really want
to learn about grace, hope, redemption and righteousness, we should study the
writings of the Apostle Paul to see how he explains them for us.
Words like
knowledge, law, sanctification, sin and wisdom are found more in the writings
of Paul than anywhere else in the New Testament.
The words listed represent some of
the greatest themes in the Bible and most of the references to those themes are
found in Paul’s writings. This gives us a valuable tool to help us learn the
Bible and gain the most from the time we invest in studying it.
When Paul wrote that he received the
gospel of the grace of God by special revelation, he wasn’t kidding! God
allowed Paul to become an authority on most of the great themes of our
salvation in Christ.
Patterns of Phrases used once in the Bible.
Just as God's
truth can be displayed through repetition, it can also be highlighted by
noticing where words or phrases are used only once in the Bible.
The Book of Ephesians is relatively short and is written by Paul to a church he helped start. He loved this congregation.
I chose to search for words and phrases
that are found only once or only a very few times throughout the Bible. When I searched for unique words and phrases, I
discovered that the letter to the Ephesians contains many unique phrases or words used
only once.
Ephesians 1:1-3 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at
Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus:
Grace be
to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
The phrase "spiritual
blessings" is found nowhere else in the Bible. The book of Ephesians is
certainly preoccupied with describing the enormous benefits which accompany our
salvation. It is the over riding theme which dominates the purpose God intended
for this book. As if to underscore its
significance, this phrase appears in the third verse of the opening chapter of
Ephesians.
The epistle describes in great
detail many of the blessings which God graciously has conferred upon all who
have called upon the name of His Son, Jesus Christ. Such blessings are of
various kinds. Blessings may be "positional", that is related to our
status as a born again Christian. Paul often punctuates his discussion of them
with the term " in Christ".
These blessings can be immediately
tangible, such as when we received the indwelling Holy Spirit through the new
birth, or they may be inherited when we are ushered into His presence for
eternity.
The spiritual blessings spoken of by Paul, become the focal point of
his letter to the Ephesians. Therefore, due to the exclusive use of this
phrase, we might well expect the remainder of the epistle to develop our
understanding of these spiritual blessings.
Ephesians 1:6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the
beloved.
Our heavenly Father wants His people
to know explicitly what it means to be a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. The second unique phrase found in the book of Ephesians
illustrates this fact. The phrase is "accepted in the beloved".
Christ the Son of God is the Father's beloved. When we are born again we are placed into Christ. We are in the beloved and Christ makes us acceptable to the Father!
Matthew 3:17 And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it
becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him.
And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the
water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God
descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
Our heavenly
Father adopts us for His own children and unconditionally accepts us into His
family when we call upon Jesus Christ to save us from our sins. We have done
nothing to merit such a loving welcome from our Father. Indeed, the prophet
Isaiah describes our best efforts as "filthy rags".
The word "accepted" means to make us spiritually right and presentable, surrounded by the grace of God and to be honored with blessings. This ties right in with the theme of this book, spiritual blessings in heavenly places.
Our Father's response toward us is
not based upon our ability to perform at a certain level of morality, but upon the perfection of His Son. He accepts us because
we approach Him through the only means available: the perfect redemptive work
of the Son of God.
When Paul writes about the believers' status of being
"in Christ", he has in mind our new position as a member of God's
heavenly kingdom. If we aren't saved, we are not "in Christ" and
cannot be accepted by our Father in heaven.
As such, our new found standing with
God is not based upon our feeble works or acts of merit. It is strictly because
God extends His love in grace to us through His Son.
I am going to list the other unique phrases used by Paul in this letter and I hope that you will study them out and see the greatness of the salvation we have through Christ Jesus.
Bob
Bob
THE RICHES OF HIS
GRACE
UNSEARCHABLE
RICHES OF HIS GRACE
HABITATION OF GOD
DAY OF REDEMPTION
EARNEST OF OUR
INHERITANCE
GLORIOUS CHURCH
UNITY
OF THE FAITH
Comments
Post a Comment