I have recently been working through a discipleship course with my church family. It is a series of books that go through the basic doctrines of Christianity. These are great for new believers and people who perhaps have been in church for awhile but have never connected the "theological dots" of scripture. In one of the books the authors teach their readers how to do a personal Bible study. As a part of this experience the students are to write down their thoughts and specifically one "application" from the text they read that they can apply to their lives.
As I was attempting to follow this format in my own study it got me thinking about the emphasis many make on "applying scripture." I think at some point in the 80's many church leaders realized that there were too many "smart Christians" in the church and not many "active Christians." The smart Christians were the people who knew the Bible but did not apply it to their lives and therefore exprience life change. Application of scripture is an important part of discipleship (2 Timothy 3.16-17). So there was a renewed emphasis on applying scripture. And many "new believer" discipleship materials now emphasize that each time the text is read the believer should come up with or discover something they should do with this new knowledge or else they risk becoming another "smart Christian."
My struggle is that if the application of scripture becomes the primary goal of Bible study then the Bible becomes a manual for life book rather than a book about God. I heard Tim Keller (http://www.redeemer.com/) say something like this at a Resurgence (http://www.theresurgence.com/) conference in Seattle, "When you read the Bible, do you read it as a book that is primarily about you or primarily about Jesus?" It is a dangerous thing to read the Bible as a book that is primarily about me asking, what should I do next, how God will help me, what God is trying to tell me, etc. Because the Bible is not about you or I rather it is about Jesus.
My fear is that the over emphasis on application leads a new believer into reading the Bible as though it were a book about them because the main question they are asking in their head as they read is, "How does this apply to me?" rather than "Where is Jesus in this text?" Ultimately, this will lead to frustration because the Bible is not written at all like a self help manual or a manual for life. Rather it is written as the narrative of God redeeming humanity through his son and in that story we can all see our place. Not as the main subject (Jesus) but as the object of God's work in Christ.
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4 comments:
You got it bro.
How many times do we sit in a small group Bible study where we go around the room and people discuss what a passage means to them.
The fact is the author had an intended meaning. We may be able to draw practical application to our lives and we may not. If we don't that's ok because the point is to better understand God. if we do we need to remember that it's application which may or may not be Truth.
I'm digging this topic... thanks P-Rob....
Intended meaning...I am with the Lighthouse bro too.. superintended, right there on our hearts as Romans would say...but not forced for regurgitation.
God's word is there to be approached by man to know all of the answers of our hearts and minds...and for our soul? All the satisfying details of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. emmmm.
Inspiration - filling or breathing into..."spiration" God breathed! Wow... God talking to us?!%^ That's a trip we don't eat this stuff up and have manuals-devotionals and pep rallies to get people to let God breathe His living word into them. I love God's soveriegn security... not trying to superimpose but superintending His glory, turned joy, for us to recieve.
God's breathing out truth this morning and I got to go get some. Peace. Love to the East from the West Coast.
Out.
Reading 2 Timothy 3.16-17, All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
it's hard not to come away thinking that all scripture has a practical application for our lives.
And we're in a world where most things (we think) are about "how does this help me"? We'll work hard at work -- if it gets us that raise or promotion.
The reality is there are many things we do that don't really "help us", like listening to music or watching TV shows or sports. We pour our heart into them with no real "application" for our lives.
It depends on the individual, but you need to bridge that gap, and that will help people understand that some scripture you just meditate on and gloify God (as opposed to even the Chicago Cubs or White Sox).
Hope that makes some sense...
Rob, I think you made your case well.
I was just trying to show why we as at least American Christians tend to get stuck in the mindset of “practical application” . I think it’s hard for Americans to think of meditating on God’s attributes as real application, since there aren’t any measurable results. So we need a mindset that is different than our culture
Chris Brooks’ recent blog entry shows how strong the “measurable results” mindset is in Christian culture ->
I tried to give a suggestion how pastors could help their congregations understand “meditating on God”, and as said, put the focus on God and not themselves.
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