(Note: this post is part of the series: “How the Gospel Changes Church”)

In these upcoming posts I am going to give you some insight into my own approach to interpreting the Scriptures. I want to make it clear that this is probably not the best way, and I am continually trying to learn. I also want to make it clear that while the methods of studying the Bible may vary (as you see on this website), the text is not ‘relative’ by any means. These are the words of the Creator God who revealed Himself to us through Jesus Christ, and what we ‘think’ about them has nothing to do with what they actually say.

Ready, Set, Go!

The first thing I do when studying the Bible is pray, pray, pray. The point of studying any book of the Bible is not academic head knowledge, but to learn and grow in communion with the God of the universe (cf. Eph. 1:17). We need to pray that the Holy Spirit will illuminate the things of God to us, and that our affections will be stirred toward Jesus. If we do not see our sinfulness and the glorious grace and beauty of Jesus through the Scriptures, we are probably approaching them with the wrong attitude. Start by asking God to give you a humble and teachable heart.

The next step in the process is simple: read, read, read. Before digging into the bits and pieces of any book, it is very important to get a solid grasp of the big picture of that book. For me, this means that I read the book over and over again, and let it sit on my mind and heart. I will try to start reading a book a month or two before I start studying it closely, if possible.

Where to Go: Using Resources

The next thing that I will do is get some helpful resources. In our efforts at responsible interpretation, it is important to take into consideration who the human author was, and who the original audience was. Sometimes, like in the case of 1^st Corinthians, it is very helpful to have books that will give you background about the church in Corinth and their culture. A Bible survey book is a helpful tool in this regard. As far as commentaries go, I try to get two or three good commentaries that I can consult when things get confusing (I generally like to have a new commentary and one from an old dead guy). These are the books I am going to be using:

•  A Survey of the New Testament by Robert Gundry
• The Story of the New Testament by John Stott
• 1^st Corinthians by David Garland
•  Commentary on 1^st Corinthians by John Calvin
•  Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old by Beale and Carson

I would recommend all of these recourses, but there are also many other good ones. Just remember, however, that these resources were written by fallible men and women, and need to be constantly brought secondary to the Word itself. That is part of the reason I try to immerse myself in the text and prayer before I ever crack open an external resource.

Setting the Stage: Doing Your Homework

I would like to make a brief sketch of three important things to consider when studying a book of the Bible: the author, the audience, and the purpose or reason the letter was written.

Let’s start with the author. We know from the first word that this letter was written by the Apostle Paul. We don’t need outside resources to know about this guy, we just need to read the rest of our Bibles. Specifically, I would like to point us to Acts 7-9, and Phil. 3. There is a lot to Paul’s story, but I think it is especially important to see his conversion to Christ from Pharisee-ism. Saul, later changed to Paul, went from killing Christians to loving Jesus more than anything in the world. One specific thing I would like to point out is how Saul met Jesus, and the impact that had on his view of the Church. Zealous for persecuting the Church, Saul was traveling to Damascus to wreak havoc on the Christians there when Jesus appeared to him saying, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” (Acts 9:4 – emphasis mine) Did you notice how closely Jesus relates Himself to the Church? Why are you persecuting me, He asks Saul. This event, I believe, influences all of Paul’s writings. It also has a huge impact on 1^st Corinthians – making the point clear that we cannot separate Jesus and His Church; we will see the ramifications of this throughout the letter.

Alright, now let’s move on to the audience. This is where those resource books come in handy – along with Acts 18:1-17. You will learn pretty quickly that Corinth sat on a small strip of land between mainland Greece and Peloponnesus. To put it simply, Corinth got very rich, very fast, because there was an incredibly large amount of trade coming and going through the city. Corinth was, in every regard, a city where the ‘rich got richer and the poor got poorer.’ Corinthian people wanted wealth, status, and honor. Often times, this was at the expense of the lower classes of people, making Corinth a city that was divided by status (which will shed some light on the issues Paul has to address). Garland points out that, “For some, the Christian community had become simply another arena to compete for status according to social norms” (pg. 6). And as far as religion goes, we know that there were synagogues and practicing Jews living in Corinth (cf. Acts 18) along with many pagan peoples who worshipped an array of Greek and Roman gods. Corinth, because of its position and size, was a hodgepodge of religions, from Judaism to the ‘imperial cult’ who worshipped political power and figures as deity.

Now we come to the purpose for writing. Most of the time this will become very obvious in the “reading” stage of our study where you just camp out in the book. That is the case in 1^st Corinthians where Paul says in 1:11 that it had been, “reported … by Chloe’s people that there is quarreling among you.” Later we see Paul saying things like this, “Now concerning the matters about which you wrote…” (7:1), and we begin to get the understanding that there were both bad reports coming to Paul about the church in Corinth, and that there was also this ongoing dialog between Paul and this church. Sometimes Paul will be answering specific questions that the Corinthian’s have asked him, and other times he will be addressing problems that he has heard about. It is important to take this into account when reading the book. I don’t think we should try and speculate about exactly what the Corinthians asked, but we need to carefully examine and glean from Paul’s answers and rebukes. There is an incredible amount of grace and grit mixed into this book, as we really see Paul’s heart going out to this church. We know that he had already taught them in person for a year and a half, and that he had already written them another letter (cf. Acts 18:11, 1 Cor. 5:9). We are going to glimpse into Paul’s instruction to this jacked up church, and see the incredible grace of Jesus through it all – in His willingness to save Saul, the murderer, and now to show His grace to this completely jacked up church. Jesus loves saving sinners.