2 Dangers in Bible Study

There are two dangers we can fall into when studying the Bible. Depending on our personalities or backgrounds, we may be more prone to one or the other. We want more Bible, but if we don’t read the Bible the way it’s intended, that’s when we get into trouble. So let’s talk about these two dangers so we can hear the voice of God in Scripture.

⏰ Timestamps
0:00 Introduction
0:33 Danger #1
4:27 Danger #2
8:35 Conclusion

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
There are two dangers that we can fall into when
we're studying the Bible.
Depending on our personalitiesor backgrounds, we may be more
prone to one or the other, or itcould be that our life
situation we are in at that timewe want more Bible.
But if we don't read the Biblethe way it's intended, that's

(00:22):
when we get into trouble.
So let's talk about these twodangers so we can hear the voice
of God in Scripture.
I'm JC Schroeder and this isBite Size Seminary.
The first danger is when weread only with our head.
Here we are prioritizing onlythe intellectual side of
ourselves.
We want to know what the Biblesays.

(00:44):
It's history, it's theology,it's grammar.
We need these things and I'vebeen in school a long time
reading the Bible from anacademic perspective to get
those things.
But when we only use our headand only is the key word here
then we risk treating the Bibleas an object, something only to

(01:07):
be studied, analyzed, put undera microscope, but not
experienced.
It creates a distance betweenus and the Bible and God as its
author.
It can be easy for us to limitthe demands of the text on our
own lives.
It leaves us spiritually,emotionally detached.

(01:31):
Scripture no longer transformsus.
We are standing over Scriptureinstead of submitting to it.
I think this is James's fearwhen he says in James 1.22, but
be doers of the word and nothear only deceiving yourselves.
We don't want to deceiveourselves One of the scariest

(01:53):
verses in the Bible.
So we don't want to deceiveourselves and think our
knowledge about the Bible, abouttheology, means we are obedient
to the word In all reality.
Who cares if you can list outevery attribute that God has, if
it doesn't do something to you?
I love this quote from HowardHendricks the Bible wasn't

(02:17):
written to make you a smartersinner, but to make you like the
Savior.
Depending on your personalityor your situation, you may be
more predisposed to this danger.
This one is especiallydangerous to seminary or Bible
college students.
This is an acute danger for mebecause I love history, I love

(02:40):
the research.
That's not a bad thing, but ifthat is all it is for me, if
it's only history and if it'sonly research, then that means
I'm in a bad spiritual place.
The solution for us is to have aconsistent time with the Lord,
to think deeply about how thetext is seeking to transform us.

(03:01):
We don't want to make thehomework or research, our quiet
time.
We need prayer and reading theBible, not without our
analytical side, but inconjunction with our spiritual
lives.
One of the analogies I use withmy students to help them
understand the process ofstudying the Bible is that final

(03:22):
step is application, ofapplying it to our lives.
It's this first step ofthinking about baking a cake,
where you have to take all theingredients, you put all the
ingredients together and thenthe application section is where
you actually bake the cake inthe oven.
Then you don't just sit thereand look at this cake and go,
wow, isn't this a beautiful cake?

(03:43):
You actually want to eat it.
That's the way we shouldapproach Scripture is thinking
about how does this work in mylife, baking the actual cake.
But if we don't do it, we don'tdo what the Bible is actually
telling us to do.
Then we are not enjoying andusing Scripture the way it was
intended.
Now, another way we can avoidthis danger is we want to

(04:06):
surround ourselves with peoplewho may read more devotionally,
who are less academically oranalytically inclined.
In the reading, we want toremind ourselves that we're not
just thinking brains that arewalking around.
We need to embrace our wholehumanity and allow Scripture to
transform us, the head and theheart.

(04:27):
The second danger is maybe youguessed it already is reading
only with our heart.
Here we are prioritizing onlyour spiritual side, leaving the
intellectual side behind.
Remember again, here thekeyword is only.
We're only focusing on thespiritual and not on the
intellectual, analytical side.
Here we can be so rightlyconcerned about applying the

(04:52):
Bible that we make it all aboutus.
When we start to say this iswhat this verse means to me,
then we are shifting the focusof Scripture off of the Lord,
off of his message, of what hisdemands are, of what his desires
are, onto us.
What do I want, what do I need?

(05:13):
Now, this is totallyunderstandable to a degree when
we feel like our lives need theLord and we just want him to
speak to us.
We want to just open our Bibleand hear what should I do, lord?
But if we're not careful, thattype of feeling, that type of
experience, we will subtlyimport our own experiences and

(05:38):
our own expectations onto thetext.
We have to remind ourselves thatthe Bible is not written for JC
or for you alone.
God spoke through the humanauthors to his people in
specific times and places.
I think it was John Walton whohad the helpful line the Bible
is not written to us, but it iswritten for us.

(06:02):
What I think he means here isthat the Bible has tremendous
meaning and relevance for us asbelievers, but we have to do the
hard work of interpretation,cultural and grammatical
analysis.
The Bible can't mean somethingto us that it didn't mean to the
original reader.

(06:22):
So for coming up with thesereadings that are unique to us
and our own situation, thenwe're doing something
illegitimate with Scripture.
This goes along with the secondway I see this danger playing
out, and that's when people saywe don't need to study, we just
need the Holy Spirit.
Now, yes, 100%, we need theHoly Spirit in every area of our

(06:47):
lives and we want his help inunderstanding and being
transformed by his word.
But appealing to the HolySpirit is not some cheat code
from doing the studying andhaving good reading skills.
Again, I'll go back to thatmaxim I just said the Bible
can't mean something to us thatit didn't mean to the original

(07:10):
readers.
So the Holy Spirit is not goingto lead you or lead me to
something or an interpretationno one else could see or
understand.
So, again, if we're creatingunique interpretations, this is
probably something that the HolySpirit is not leading you to.
He wants to bring out what hehas already said in Scripture to

(07:31):
the original readers and findout and incorporate that and
transform our own individuallives.
The solution for this danger ofreading only with our heart is
to make sure we think morecarefully about the Bible.
We need to make sure we'reinvesting some time into the
research side, even as difficultas that may be for some of us.

(07:54):
Maybe buy a book or two.
I've got several videos onbooks that will help with that
and then you also.
It's helpful, I find, tosurround yourselves with people
who read more analytically.
Again, we want to embrace ourwhole humanity and even embrace
our whole community as well.
We're not just thinking brainswalking around, but we're also

(08:18):
not just spirits waiting to shedreason and our thinking
abilities we have.
Both of those things should beused in conjunction, and we need
to embrace our whole humanityand allow us to think carefully
about Scripture as we allow itto transform us.
So that's two dangers we wantto avoid so we can hear God's

(08:40):
voice as he intended.
I pray that you and I both readand live well before the Lord.
If you liked this video.
You might be interested.
I've also got a whole playliston videos for how to read the
Bible a little bit better.
It's on the screen now.
You can check it out if youwant.
Thanks so much for watching,and may the Lord bless you.