Wednesday, April 30, 2008

IDEA: To apply the text we need to find the commands and then look for the reasons for the commands.

PURPOSE: To help listeners see a way of reading the Bible for application.

When Christians get together for a Bible study, what is the first question that is often asked?

Basically it is, "What does this mean to me?"

Is that always the best question to ask?

[No, that's the third question to ask: review observation and interpretation.]

Do you think that it's never right to ask, "What does that mean to me?"

I. One way of reading the epistles is to go from the command to the reason for the command.

We usually read the epistles the other way around:

We read the argument and then we see what we're supposed to do. Sometimes we thus miss the command.

It is well to go through and let your eye fall on what you're called to do; then go back into the context to find out why you're called on to do it.

II. Here is one example of this process:

1 Peter 3:1--What is the command? Why are you to do it?

But in the context, what is the reason that a woman is to do this? In the context she is never more like Christ than when she bears something difficult for the sake of being redemptive (2:21-25).

1 Peter 3:7--What is the command? Why are you to do it?