1. BH 101 Introduction to Bible and Hermeneutics

2. Jeremy D. Little Second Saturday Fall 2018
BH101: Observation
Jeremy D. Little
Second Saturday
Fall 2018

3. Introduction to Observation
Session 1
Introduction to Observation

4. Hearing and Doing
Recall from the last class that we really, and defensibly, have God’s Word
God’s Word is the foundation and source for your entire life
What are you doing to hear God’s Word?
What are you doing with God’s Word once you hear it?

5. Hearer and Doer James 1:22-25 Can you be a hearer without doing?
Can you be a doer without hearing?
If you only hear can you deceive yourself?
If you only do can you deceive yourself?
Where should we be going to hear and do?

6. Hearing and Doing: Christian Disciplines
Quiet Time
Scripture Memory
Evangelism and Discipleship
Bible Study
Prayer
“One-anothering”
Holy Living
Worship
Use your gift correctly

7. Are you doing these things. Are you a hearer only
Are you doing these things? Are you a hearer only? Are you deceiving yourself? Every day is the day to begin

8. Christian Disciplines
Learn about these disciplines, and do them
Your life will be lived to the fullest when you “do” what the Lord has called you to do
Do not live into another’s calling or gift
Learn how to read God’s Word correctly to make certain that you are not only hearing, but doing it the right way
If you do not learn to hear, then you will jump headlong into pitfalls

9. Today we will focus on the best way to hear God’s Word through the proper techniques to read and understand Scripture

10. Pitfalls for Reading Scripture
Chapter/verse/book compartmentalization
Vocabulary confusion
Not accounting for changes in dispensation
Not reading the Bible as a whole piece of literature
Not reading like a third party beneficiary
Too much denominational baggage

11. Pitfalls for Reading Scripture
Rushing through seemingly “unimportant” material
Being a “Bible-only” reader
Eisegesis – reading into God’s Word your own meaning
Self apply every verse; claim every verse
Ignore the context

13. Historical Grammatical Hermeneutic
Hermeneutics is the science and art of interpreting the Bible
Historical-Grammatical approach to interpretation: get to the original intended meaning by learning as much of the original context as possible

14. Historical Grammatical Hermeneutic
Cultural
Geographical
Grammatical
Literal (when literal)
Figurative (when figurative)
In light of the other Scriptures
In light of God’s Character

15. Hill’s Rules for Interpretation
Context
Never trust a plastic Hippo
Hill’s 6th rule

16. Hill’s 6th Rule of Interpretation
The more you know of the context, the closer you can get to the essential meaning of the text.

17. Learn How to Read God’s Word
Observation
Interpretation
Correlation
Application

18. Learn How to Read God’s Word
Observation
Interpretation
Correlation
Application

19. Learn to Hear: Observation
Observation answers questions like:
What do I see?
What does the text say?
It will force you to ask questions
You are a detective
Record what you see
Record questions

20. Learn to Hear: Observation
Is something emphasized?
Amount of time spent on something in the text
Did the author state something as their purpose?
Is it at a critical moment?
Is something repeated?
Circumstances, words, phrases, patterns, etc.
Are some things related?
Questions and answers, cause and effect

21. Learn to Hear: Observation
Is something “like” something else?
Comparison words
Figures of speech/word pictures
Is something not like something else?
Contrasting words
Figures of speech/word pictures.
Are their things that are true to life?
What is the person’s motivation
How is this similar to your own life experiences

22. The Key to Good Observations: Be a Good Reader
Prayerfully
“Open my eyes, that I may behold wonderful things from Your law.” Psalm 119:18
Attentively
With your mind engaged; not tired or distracted
Repeatedly
“Never preach on a book until you have read it 50 times” Dr. Ken Hanna (Professor at DTS)

23. The Key to Good Observations: Be a Good Reader
Read it to own it
Reading is not enough; you must understand what you are reading and then do it
Read it in context (whole and part)
You must understand where it fits in the book
You must understand where it fits in the Bible
Constantly ask questions
Who, what, when, where, why, and how

24. The Key to Good Observations: Be a Good Reader
Imaginatively
Picture the text in your mind; these are real people, real events, and real places
Meditatively
Fill your mind and heart with Scripture; think and reflect on it as you drive, sit, eat, lay down, etc.
Purposefully
Everything is in the book for a reason

25. Observation Flow Formal Introduction The Book The Sections The Verse
The complete background of a book
The Book
Can be divided into observable sections
The Sections
Can be subdivided into observable sub-sections
The Verse
Everything in a single verse can be observed
It is tied to a subsection that is tied to a section that is tied to the book that is tied to the Bible

26. We will practice in the book of…

28. Introduction to Observation
Session 1
Introduction to Observation

29. 15 Minute Break

30. Observation: The Formal Introduction
Session 2
Observation: The Formal Introduction

31. What if you sat down and read an historical background introduction for every book you read?

32. Formal Introduction
A survey of the background information for a book of the Bible

33. Formal Introduction: A Survey of the Main Components
Author (who wrote it)
Date Written (when it was written)
Provenance (where it was written)
Audience/Destination (who it was written to)
Occasion/Purpose (why it was written)
Genre (what type of literature it is)
Narrative, Poetry, Prophetic, Wisdom, Apocalyptic, Epistles
Controversial Issues (scholarly issues)

34. Formal Introduction: Provide Evidence
Internal Evidence (within the book of the Bible)
The author’s name given or is it written in the first person
Names and events mentioned that point to historical data
Places are mentioned that point to geography
External Evidence (outside the book of the Bible)
Eyewitness and other written accounts that corroborate Biblical information
Archeological or other data that supports Biblical information
Cross references in other books in the Bible

35. Write a Formal Introduction
When researching the dimensions of a formal introduction, you will need to draw on scholarly works
e-Sword is a one stop shop example

36. Example in Titus
Spend the rest of the time putting together a Formal Introduction for the book of Titus
Work in groups and each of you divide up the components
We will share our findings in the last few minutes of this section

37. Formal Introduction: A Survey of the Main Components
Author (who wrote it)
Date Written (when it was written)
Provenance (where it was written)
Audience/Destination (who it was written to)
Occasion/Purpose (why it was written)
Genre (what type of literature it is)
Narrative, Poetry, Prophetic, Wisdom, Apocalyptic, Epistles
Controversial Issues (scholarly issues)

39. Observation: The Formal Introduction
Session 2
Observation: The Formal Introduction

40. 15 Minute Break

41. Session 3
Observation:
Book Level

42. Book Level
The idea with book level observations is to try and look beyond chapters and verses to identify and record the major sections of the book

43. Chapters Divisions Stephen Langton (1150 – 1228)
Professor at the University of Paris
Archbishop of Canterbury
He is the man that decided the chapter divisions in the Bible

44. Verse Divisions Robert Estienne “Stephanus” (1503-1559)
French printer and ancient linguist
He released 4 editions of the Greek New Testament
He is the man that decided the verse divisions in the Bible

45. Chapters and Verses
The Latin Vulgate of 1555 was the first to have the chapters and verses
The Geneva Bible of 1560 was the first English Bible to have chapters and verses
The purpose for chapters and verses was to easily navigate and reference the Bible
Are the chapter and verse divisions an example of special revelation?

46. Chapters and Verses They are not inspired
Try to ignore them as you analyze any book of the Bible – big ideas transcend chapters
The ideas in the previous chapter and verses are continued throughout
You must also reach forward to get the actual context

47. Book Level: Big Ideas Break the book down into the “Big Ideas”
The major sections of a book, and not the lowest possible level (Just the Roman numerals)

48. Literary Structures
Trace the overall flow of what the writer is trying to get across to the reader
Rule #1: Read through the whole book first before identifying the structures
Yes…you will see them as you read through it

49. Literary Structures Biographical Historical
Built around the life of a person
Genesis is about 4 people from chapters 12-50
I & II Samuel follow Samuel, Saul, and David
Historical
Built around historical events
I and II Kings

50. Literary Structures Chronological Geographical
This is built around time factors, and is similar to the historical progression, but it zeros in on successive events like the last week of Christ.
Geographical
Built on locations
Exodus

51. Literary Structures Ideological
Built on thoughts, ideas, & concepts: like in Epistles

52. The Laws of Structure (pgs. 125-126)
These are just to help you identify the breaks in ideas
Cause and Effect
Climax
Comparison
Contrast
Explanation or Reason
Interchange
Intro & Summary
Pivot (hinge)
Purpose
Q&A
Repetition
Specific to General or General to Specific

53. Exercise in Titus Read Titus one or more times
Identify the Literary Structure Paul uses
Biographical, Historical, Chronological, Geographical, Ideological
Identify and record the major sections on your own in outline form with just Roman numerals, a title that you come up with, and the verses
Example: I. Paul’s Greeting (1:1-4)
Work alone
Then we will share and Q&A

55. Session 3
Observation:
Book Level

56. Lunch Break

57. Session 4
Observation:
Section Level

58. Observation: Section Level Structure
You divided Titus into “big ideas” (Roman numerals)
Now it is time to divide the “big ideas” into elements of the big ideas (A. B. C. etc.)

59. Observation: Section Level Structure
Read the sections repeatedly
Observe the structures
Biographical
Historical
Chronological
Geographical
Ideological

60. Observation: Section Level Terms
These terms should help you identify the different parts of the big ideas
Emphatic terms
Indeed, only, behold
Local terms
Where
Temporal terms
After, as, before, now, then, until, when

61. Observation: Section Level Terms
Reason terms
Because, for, since
Result terms
So, then, therefore, thus
Purpose terms
In order that, so that
Contrast terms
Although, but, much more, nevertheless, otherwise

62. Observation: Section Level Terms
Comparison terms
Also, as, as-so, just as, just so, likewise, so also
Series of facts terms
And, first of all, last of all, or
Conditional terms
If, then
Use these terms to help you identify subsections

63. Observation: the Section Level
Visualize
Logical movement within the passage
Analyze
Identify the key idea
Uncover the order
Formulate an outline
Discover the details

64. Observation of the Section Level
Record Findings
State key idea
Show major points
Relate it to context
Record in a form that is clear, easily read, and remembered

65. Exercise in Titus Read your Titus big idea sections (roman numerals)
Identify the supporting points to each big idea
Watch for structure type and the terms
Identify and record the subsections by yourself
Example: I. Paul’s Greeting (1:1-4)
A. Paul’s Intro (1:1-3)
B. Greeting to Titus (1:4)
Then we will share and Q&A

67. Session 4
Observation:
Section Level

68. 15 Minute Break

69. Session 5
Observation:
Verse
Level

70. Verse Observations
A verse exists in a sub-section, that is in a big idea, that is in a book of the Bible, that is in the Bible as a whole
We will look at one verse at a time to make certain that we catch everything we can see, and record our observations
It is very easy for your eyes to not slip past very important details

71. Just what am I observing?
Ideas or parenthetical ideas that break up an idea
Important terms
Modifications to terms
Grammar
Relationships of terms
Truths
Facts
Character traits
Numbers
Arguments

72. Just what am I observing?
Names and titles
Descriptions
Actions
Issues
Repeated things
Cause and Effect
Data points
Locations
Correlations between things
Events
Everything

73. Just what am I observing?
You also need to observe what you don’t know
Write questions that you have about anything that you don’t understand or is unclear
Who, what, when, where, why, how your way through the Bible
You will answer these questions when we enter the interpretation phase

74. Just what am I observing?
“I KEEP six honest serving-men (They taught me all I knew); Their names are What and Why and When And How and Where and Who.” - Rudyard Kipling

75. Why?
The more time you spend in observation, the better your interpretation of Scripture

76. What you are not going to do
Do not explain anything that isn’t revealed (don’t answer your questions yet) Do not make assumptions that are not in the text – bring nothing to the text Take the filters off of your eyes and look at it as if for the first time

78. Example: Genesis 1:1
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”

79. Example: Genesis 1:2
“The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.”

80. Exercise in Titus
Write your observations and questions for every verse of Titus chapter 1
Then we will share and Q&A

82. Session 5
Observation:
Verse
Level

83. 1 Month Break