A Life Worthy Of The Gospel Phil. 1:27

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1 Interpreting & Applying the Bible Just a note: this lesson will probably take longer than other weeks. You may want to do it in 2 or 3 sibngs, depending on how many Dmes you have read Philippians before project. Remember, gebng the big picture of the book is foundadonal to the rest of our study. Persevere! Also keep in mind that it is easier for some people to see the big picture and for others to see the details. If this study seems difficult for you, the more detailed study may come more easily. Finally, keep in mind that God wants to reveal Himself to us through His word. It is not a secret mystery that only a few can figure out. Begin each segment by asking the Holy Spirit to calm your heart, clear your mind, and illuminate His Word so that He may lead you into truth. (John 16:13) The first task in InterpretaDon is to try and discover what the original, intended meaning of the text was. (The fancy seminary word is exegesis.) To do this we need to learn to read carefully and ask the right quesdons of the text we need to Observe. Begin by sibng down and reading the book in one sibng. It really should only take you 20 minutes or so. Don t stop to look up any cross references or ponder any quesdons. Just read it straight through. The more Dmes you read it, the be]er grasp you will have on the book, its purpose, the logic used by the author, the tone, etc. The Appendix includes the text in both the NIV and The Message. The NIV is printed so that there is plenty of space for you to mark things and take notes. Jot down anything that stands out to you. 1

2 The Bible Is All About Jesus The Christ-Centeredness of the Bible It doesn t ma]er how well we get to know the details of Scripture, if we miss the uldmate purpose for which they were wri]en. What are the Scriptures all about? Jesus makes it pre]y clear: You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me (John 5:39). The whole Bible is one massive reveladon of Jesus. So if we are to take Jesus seriously we are going to have to read our Bible s carefully, constantly asking How does this passage reveal Jesus and his grace to us? The Bible And Our Fallenness Now that we know what the Bible is about we should also ask, why do we need a reveladon of Jesus and his grace? What is the Bible meant to do? The writer of Hebrews tells us this: The word of God is living and acdve, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intendons of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account (Hebrews 4:12-13). In other words, the Bible was given to deal with our sin and fallenness. Pu8ng These Truths to Work I know it is hard to appreciate the immense implicadons of these realides aher just two paragraphs, but think about it for a moment. Why does God give us a Bible? Well, to deal with our sin and fallenness. How does he deal with our sin and fallenness? The answer: BY REVEALING JESUS TO US! That is amazing! It means that more than anything we need to know Jesus. If we want to be men and women of the word, it means we need to be men and women of the Word! For many of us, this means we need to adjust the way we read the Scriptures. To help us start looking for how each passage of Scripture reveals Christ we are going to ask three quesdons of every text. What aspect of our FALLEN CONDITION does this passage focus on? How does this passage reveal Jesus Christ as the essendal soludon to our fallen condidon? What CHRIST CENTERED SOLUTION does this passage offer us? In light of Christ, his person, his work, his promises, how should we respond? What CHRIST ENABLED RESPONSE does this passage call us to? A Li=le More ExplanaBon The Fallen CondiDon Focus of each passage is simply the problem that people living in a fallen world deal with that the passage is addressing. Every pordon of Scripture is wri]en to deal with some sin, some struggle, some danger, some difficulty, that would not otherwise be if our race had not fallen in Adam. These problems are u]erly unsolvable except by Jesus. So for every passage we want to find what problem, or fallen condidon, the passage is addressing that we also share in. The Christ Centered SoluDon of every passage is how the Bible reveals Jesus as the only hope for the specific Fallen CondiDon the passage surfaces. The passage may point us to some aspect of Jesus character, his work in redempdon, his future work at the conclusion of the ages, his current ministry to us through the Spirit, a promise he made, a promise God made because of Jesus, or any number of other aspects of Jesus person, and work. The Christ enabled response is what we should do, feel, think or be in light of who Jesus is for us. This is what people typically think of as applying the Bible. Only we know that true applicadon of the Bible starts with Jesus applying his grace to us, and not us trying to apply ourselves to follow some rule. However, having experienced Jesus as he is revealed in Scripture, we are transformed, emboldened, healed, inspired, freed, empowered, revived, etc, so that joyful obedience is possible. 2

3 Historical Context: Recovering The Situation Into Which Paul Wrote The Bible is an u]erly unique book. It is a fully Divine product and a fully human product! Consider the implicadons of a verse like Hebews 1:1-2. Long ago, at many +mes and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son On the one hand the Scriptures are no less than God speaking. Yet God spoke through pardcular individuals, at definite Dmes, in specific ways, in unique cultural sebngs. This means that God s message is condidoned by culture and history, for a certain audience on a certain occasion, and reflects a human author s personality, skill, learning, purpose, etc. If we want to understand God s message to us we must think about the historical context. Read Acts 16 to review Paul s history with the Philippians. Read Acts 28: Most scholars believe it was during this two-year imprisonment that Paul wrote Philippians. Read through Philippians and mark anything that strikes you about Paul s situadon or the state of the Philippian church. Reread through Acts and Philippians carefully and try to answer the following quesdons. A. What can we learn about the author? Who? Where is he wridng from? When is he wridng? What are his circumstances? What is his reladon to the recipients? What is his tone? Does he have any special concerns? How did Paul get his le]er to the Philippians? B. What can we learn about the recipient(s)? Where are they? Are they Jews, GenDles, or both? What are their circumstances? What is the situadon into which Paul is wridng? Is the church healthy? Are the moral issues? Doctrine issues? 3

4 Literary Context: Creating A Book Summary of Philippians It is impossible to be sure of the meaning of any word undl you see it in its literary context. In the Bible every, every word is in the context of a sentence, every sentence in the context of a paragraph, and paragraphs usually make up larger secdons. When an author wants to communicate some big idea it takes a few sentences and even paragraphs to do so. However, each sentence only adds a small part to the big idea the author is trying to communicate. A group of sentences and paragraphs that communicates one big idea is a secdon. So, only when we read the Bible in secdons can we discover the true intended purpose of any given sentence or verse. Since we believe God is speaking in the Scriptures, and we want to listen, it is so important that we begin training ourselves to read the Bible in secdons and not as individual verses, or we will never hear what God is really saying. Read each of the eight secdon of Philippians and try to discover the unifying theme or main emphasis of each secdon. A]empt to write a short Dtle that expresses the big idea of each secdon Throughout the Summer you can begin to fill in detail about the content of each secdon Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 1:1-11 Example 1:27-4:11 cont. 3:1-16 3:7-4:1 cont. Paul s opbmism & 4:2-9 Prayer for the Philippians Thanks to God for the Philippians friendship & Joy for their Partnership. Confidence for The Day Paul s explanadon of His joyful perspecdve Prayer for more love And discernment 1: : : :17-4:1 1:27-2:11 4

5 The Purpose of Philippians By now you should be beginning to feel very familiar with the content of Philippians. Hopefully, as you have been studying, the Holy Spirit has been convicdng, challenging and encouraging you in your walk with Jesus. Our final step in the Overview is to a]empt to crystalize our thoughts on why Paul bothered wridng Philippians at all. Now that we have reconstructed the situadon in Philippi, and surveyed the contents of Paul s teaching we are almost ready to make some educated guesses. Let s look at a few more details and then we should have a good grasp on Paul s intendon in wridng this le]er. Reread Philippians and look for the following. Does Paul explicitly state his reason for wridng? Are there repeated words, phrases, ideas, or themes that might clue us into what Paul was most concerned to communicate? Note all of Paul s commands, suggesdons and instrucdons. These will show us what outcomes Paul expected from his le]er. How did Paul want the Philippians to think or believe differently, feel differently, act differently, Now that you have recovered a picture of the situadon, surveyed the le]er s contents, and cataloged Paul s expected outcomes, you are ready to crystalize your thoughts on Paul's purpose for wridng Philippians. In a few sentences summarize your thoughts on why Paul might have wri]en this le]er. (Note, the purpose of every book of the Bible can be generically reduced to knowing God, trusdng and obeying him, for his glory, or something like that. Try to ardculate how Philippians specifically calls us to these things. What special emphases emerge in Philippians? How does Paul uniquely appeal to the Philippians and to us?) 5