 Okay, let's just open in prayer. I'll pray for us and then we can go into class. Father, we thank You, Lord, for this new week. We thank You, Lord, for Your guidance through this semester, this fall, Lord. We commit this class into Your hands. We pray that as we look into Your Word and look into how we can rightly study and understand Your Word, Lord, that You would be the one opening our eyes, our minds, our hearts to receive what we are going to learn today, Lord, that You would enable us to comprehend, that You would bless this time together, Lord. The skills we learn will be things that we can use to be a blessing for Your namesake and for Your kingdom's sake. We commit this time and each one of us into Your hands, Lord. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Okay, so we'll just do a quick recap of what we covered last week and then continue into what we'll do this week. So we were looking at, last week we looked at the illumination of the Holy Spirit just saying that this is so foundational to the study of God's Word. So we can do all of the background study and we can do the Word studies and all of these things of really using skills and tools to study scripture. But if we are not dependent on the Holy Spirit, then we miss the spiritual truth of what we are reading. So the Holy Spirit is the one who inspired the Word of God and so He will give us understanding that goes beyond the words that we are reading, that goes beyond just the text. And so we are fully dependent on the Holy Spirit as we try to interpret scripture. Our first step is to recognize that true understanding will come through the Holy Spirit. So we differentiated between inspiration and illumination. Inspiration is the Holy Spirit inspired the writing of scriptures once and for all, right? So all of the texts that we have in the scriptures, all of the writers who have contributed to the scriptures were inspired by the Holy Spirit. But illumination is something that continues every time we read the scriptures. So as we read the scriptures, the Holy Spirit brings, understanding brings to life what He had inspired the writers to write, enabling us to grasp the truth of that message. So how do we receive revelation is by living in accordance with the Word, by continuing to remain in the Word of God. So going back to the Word of God, studying it constantly and also walking in obedience to it. What the illumination of the Holy Spirit is not, we covered this. So we have to be open to correction when we are interpreting scripture. Just because we say that the Holy Spirit is revealed, something to us doesn't mean that we will never make mistakes in interpretation. So we have to be willing to listen to the correction of others. But ultimately we will always test interpretations based on the rest of scripture. Is it in alignment with the rest of scripture? And then, yeah, we need to prepare to teach God's Word. We can't just depend on the Holy Spirit to give us revelation. We also need to put in the hard work of studying, examining the scriptures for ourselves. We have to walk in obedience to it and the Holy Spirit will always reveal truth in scripture that is not something divergent from the truth of the rest of scripture. So whatever is revealed to us will be in line with the message of the rest of scripture as well. Then we looked at the cultural gap. So we looked at how do we study the context of a specific verse? We study the context within its literary context. So what does that mean, the literary context? The literary context is the text itself. So a verse is within a passage. So it has a verse before it, it has a verse after it. That comes within a passage. A passage is within the book and the book is within the rest of scripture. So that's the literary context of the verse. But there's also the cultural context. And the cultural context is what was happening at that time. Where did this take place? Who were the people who were involved? What did they practice in their everyday lives? How does the text relate to them? Because we understand that scripture was written to specific people at a specific time relevant to their specific situations. So if we can understand that, then we are able to understand what is the truth that we are supposed to take from this. So recognizing that scripture is a very, it is something that is very relational, right? God wrote it to people. It's not just a document with rules or principles, just a list of do's and don'ts. It's something that is written to address the lives of people. And so we need to understand what were those lives that they were living and how does what we are experiencing now relate to what they experienced? What can we learn from scripture to help us live in accordance with God's ways according to what we are reading in the Bible? So these are the different cultural categories we looked at. We obviously won't go over all of this, but politics, religion, military, economy, family, geography, architecture, all of these aspects of everyday life form the culture of a place. And so when we are reading scripture, we will see all of these things coming into play in what is being taught. So when we understand what was happening in those times, in those places in all of these areas, then we're able to also rightly understand what the text is talking about as well. Okay, then we did a little... Yeah, we discussed all of these passages, so we'll go past all of this. So this is the, I think, the key takeaway from this chapter. There are two things that when we are studying the Bible, there are two things that we have to grasp. One is what did the text mean to its immediate readers in their cultural setting? Okay, so what did it mean to those people to whom the letters were written or to whom the gospels were written? Why was writer writing these specific things to them? And then once we understand that, then we say, what does this text now mean for us in our context? Okay, so what did it mean for them in their context? And now what does it mean for us in our context? So those are the two main tasks when we are looking at the cultural background and studying scripture. We looked at, I think this is where, yeah, this was the last part of what we looked at last week. So we'll start from here for today. So the main thing is we need to look at what are some principles when we are studying scripture. How do we look at these cultural practices and things that were being followed in the scripture? How do we understand what we should be following exactly as it's mentioned in scripture? And how do we understand, okay, this is not something that we have to follow exactly, but we need to understand why they were doing it and we take why they were doing it and we apply it to our lives. Okay, so what are some principles we can follow to differentiate between what is a practice that we must follow today and what is something where we have to understand the deeper truth behind that practice to follow the truth behind the practice rather than the practice itself. Okay, so one of the rules is, is it a permanent, is it something that was permanent and transferable to us? So it will be permanent and something that we should continue to follow if it is repeatable, continuous or not revoked. That means nowhere else in scripture has it said you don't need to do this anymore. Like we looked at the example of circumcision. We see clearly in the New Testament that circumcision is not something that was expected of the new believers. So there an old practice was revoked in the New Testament. So it was withdrawn in the New Testament. In that case, it's not something that we need to continue to follow. The second is, is it a moral or theological subject? Is it something where to deal with sin, right? That this is wrong, this is right. So God's standards on sin doesn't change from one testament to the other testament. In fact, it only gets, he lifts it to a higher standard, right? In Christ. So we see Jesus saying, you have heard it said that it was written, do not be angry, do not murder. But if you are angry, that's as good as murder. So he's raising the standards almost. So God will not lower his moral standards. So if it's something to do with sin, then we can continue to accept it as something that we have to follow even today. If it is a theological subject, that is if it's saying something about who God is, God's character, the way God works. That will not change as well because God doesn't change. So that is something we can continue to believe to be true even today. Now this is different from progressive revelation like we talked about. So if God has, like if we're looking at the book of Job and what we see about healing, then we see as we progress through scripture that God is revealed as healers. So that is a topic of progressive revelation where we see that revelation of God as healer comes through in scripture. But if it's something like God is good, that's not going to change suddenly later on in scripture and we don't now believe that God is not good anymore. So if it's something about who God is or the things he does, we can continue to believe that it's true even today. Is it repeated elsewhere in scripture? So is there some teaching where we see it mentioned in the Old Testament? We see it mentioned in the New Testament and believers in the New Testament continue to follow it. If we see that, then we can also continue to follow it. If we see it being followed in the New Testament church. So we looked at all of these examples last week. We won't go into them today. So these are the two questions to ask. Has it been revoked or replaced and what was the last command on this topic? So if we can identify whether that command was changed in any way and what was the last teaching on the topic, then we can follow that. But we also take it in line with all of scripture's revelation about that. So we'll continue looking at other principles. So what is not transferable to today? And individuals non-repeatable circumstances. So this is an example is Abraham sacrificing Isaac. That was a specific story for a specific person and God was doing something in Abraham's life. So we don't take that story and start to follow that today that we all are called to sacrifice our children for God. That's not something that we can start to teach based on the story of Abraham and Isaac. So we look at is it something that was specific to a specific individual to a specific circumstance? And is that something that is being taught as in scripture something that we need to follow? But if it was only for that individual, then we don't transfer it. So it's not transferable to us today. It's not something that we have to continue to practice today. Of course, we learn lessons from it, lessons of faith, lessons of obedience, lessons of trust in God. But we don't follow that practice of sacrificing children or sacrificing our first born based on this. If it's non-moral or non-theological, then we don't have to say we have to follow it today. So we said if it's something related to sin, then God's standards will not change. But if it's not related to sin, if it's just something that is recommended or something that was just practiced at that time, it's not related to right or wrong, then we don't have to continue to follow it. In the Old Testament, we see so many practices about how the priests used to dress. Rules about how the priests used to dress. So that is not something to do with sin. It's just a practice that God had recommended for them to highlight their role as priests in the community. And so we can understand that they were given a special position, that their role was something that was divine. And that's why they were given that kind of attire to where it was related to the culture of that time, the practices of that time. So we don't have to continue to dress like that. We don't have to say okay, as a priest, you have to continue to wear those kinds of clothes. Because it's not related to anything with right or wrong sin. And it's not related to God's character or God's personality. It's not transferable today if it's been revoked. So if something has said, it said we don't need to follow it. Like the practices of food as well, what God revealed to Peter and his vision. So there's no clean and unclean food. Since that distinction is no longer there, we can eat anything. We don't have to follow the Old Testament practices of what was considered as clean food for people to eat, what was considered as unclean. We don't have to start doing that now because clearly in the New Testament, that has been revoked. Clear, so far? So what we've looked at so far is where we will transfer the practice. That is whatever we are seeing in scripture, we continue to follow today. The second principle we looked at was where we don't follow. So we see it in scripture but we don't follow it today. The third one is only the principles are transferable. So that means we look at the practice, we understand what was the principle behind that practice. And we take that principle and apply it to our context today. So we look at some examples. If we're looking at something that is cultural in that time, it was a cultural practice in that time. And it's similar to what we do today but not exactly the same. So the example here is in the New Testament, five times it says greet one another with a holy kiss. Now that was a cultural practice there. That was a way of showing love to one another, welcoming one another. Now in our culture, that's not the way we say hello. That's not the way we greet one another when we meet each other. In India, in other parts, it still might be there actually. My mother's family, they still do that when we meet each other. Kissing is a way of greeting each other. So in our case, this actually is not uncommon. But in general Indian culture, it's not something that is followed. So what do we learn? What is the principle we can learn from this? That we can apply to our present day culture. With handshake? Yes, go ahead. You can go ahead. With handshake, they greet each other in our culture. Yes, yes. But what is the principle? So yeah, we are greeting each other in another way. But what is the principle we can take from this? Greet one another with a holy kiss. So we are saying there is something important underlying this commandment or underlying this teaching. So we want to take what is important that's underlying it and then we want to contextualize it to wherever we are. Right? So why is he saying greet one another with a holy kiss? So we just have a brotherly love and affection and you continue to greet. Yeah. So to express that affection that we have for one another as brothers and sisters in the Lord. Right? To continue to show warmth, why do we have ushers in our churches? Right? We want to make people feel welcome when they're coming into church. So here it was a much smaller gathering of people. So it was easier to have that fellowship. But in a larger church, you can't meet everyone individually. And so ushers fill in that spot, right? That we can't all go and hug each other or we can't all go and have conversations with every person who comes to church. So the principle is to show that brotherly and sisterly love towards one another to be able to give that sense of belonging to one another. So we take that principle and we say, okay, how does how do we apply that to our present day culture and our present day context? Right? So ushers we're using because the context is the church is large. We can't have, we can't each go and individually meet each other. So that's the different context within our culture. But culture itself may not, since we don't greet each other with a kiss, we may use a handshake, we may just fold our hands. We may, yeah, do other things. You may hug one another, whatever it is, just to make a person feel welcome and to acknowledge one another's presence. Okay. And then when do we, another instance in which we only transfer principles is when there are no similarities. So now this again is the example of Moses when God tells him to take off his sandals. Right? So in some parts of India that is still very relevant, right? It's a practice that is still followed today and culturally not very different. But in some parts, like in Bangalore, we don't follow this. So in some parts of the country, we don't follow it in other countries. There may be other ways of showing reverence. So the main idea is we are recognizing the holy presence of God. Okay, we are recognizing that this is a place where God's presence is and we want to show reverence. So how do we appropriately show reverence in our culture? So if taking off your sandals is a way of showing reverence, then you continue to do that. But if it isn't the way you dress, then you dress in a way that is reverent. Or in the way you, whether you kneel, whether you stand, different cultures show reverence in different ways. So that's how we will follow it in our culture. We don't have to make it a practice that everyone takes off their shoes. If people are not going to understand that we are doing this out of reverence, then it doesn't make sense to do it. So some people also have that rule for cleanliness purposes, which is a different reason altogether. So in the biblical teaching, it's a way of showing reverence for the presence of God. So in India, is it reverence or is it cleanliness? Taking off sandals. Cleanliness. So that's what understanding is. Is this really communicating what it was meant to communicate in the biblical practice? There's no point following a practice without understanding why we are doing it. We don't want to just follow rules and rituals without any meaning behind them. We want to understand the meaning and we want to do whatever we do to carry that meaning in what we are doing. So again, head covering. So 1 Corinthians 11, 2-16 talks about women covering their hair. Let's just read back passage together if someone can read that for us. 1 Corinthians 11, verse 2. Now I praise you, brethren, that you remember me in all things and keep the tradition just as I delivered them to you. Verse 3. But I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ. The head of a woman is man. And the head of Christ is God. Every man praying or prophesying having his head covered, dishonours his head. Verse 5. But every woman who prays prophesies with her head uncovered. Dishonours her head for that is one and the same as if her head was shaved. Verse 6. For if a woman is not covered, let her also be shorn. But if it is shameful for a woman to be shorn or shaved, let her be covered. Verse 7. For a man indeed ought not to cover his head since he is the image and the glory of God. But the woman is the glory of man. Verse 8. For man is not from woman, but woman from man. Verse 9. Nor was man created for the woman, but woman for the man. Verse 10. For this reason the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head because of the angel. Verse 11. Nevertheless neither is man independent of woman nor woman independent of man in the Lord. Verse 12. For as woman came from man, even so man also come through woman. But all things are from God. Verse 13. Judge among yourself, is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered? Verse 14. For one nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonour to him. Verse 15. But if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her. For her hair is given to her for a covering. Verse 16. But if anyone seems to be continuous, we have no such custom nor do the churches of God. Thank you. So here we see this practice of head covering and we know that it is still practice today in many places. But why do we cover our heads and is it necessary that all women in worship should be covering their heads? Let's answer the second question. Is it necessary that all women should be covering their heads in worship when we gather as a church? Not necessary. Those online as well? Not necessary. Okay. So why do we say that it's not necessary? Okay. Okay. So you are looking at the fact that that was a difference in the culture. In that culture, there was head covering for their cultural context for specific reasons. So generally in the culture, in that context, women would remain in the house. They were not usually seen in public. Okay. So the church was one place where women and men were mixing with each other, which was not very common for the culture. The second thing is that hair was considered as a way of attracting. It was like a way where men could be attracted using a woman's hair. And so to maintain modesty in the church to keep from distracting the men, this was something that was suggested. So that is second from the cultural practice. Okay. So the first was women and men usually didn't get, were not out in public together. Women were in the house. Men were outside. That was usually the way it was. But the church is where they were coming together. So to have some things to protect that when they are gathering together. And because it was so, one modern example would be to, if somebody in some cultures or even in India, if a woman wears a swimsuit and walks around, it's going to be considered as something inappropriate because they're not dressed appropriately and they're getting the attention of men through what they're wearing. The same way uncovering your hair would have been like that in that culture. So covering your hair was considered to be an act of modesty. And the third was as we hear in the passage itself, a sign of authority for someone who was married. A woman who was married covered her head to show that she was under the authority of her husband. Now today, if I walk around with my head covered, nobody is going to understand that I'm a married woman. But what do we do? How do we show that we are married in our culture? What is that? Yes, sister. Sister, we were at a wedding band. So we wear a wedding ring. So in North India, you can use the mic maybe. In North India, we have a lot of things. Like we used to, after the marriage, women, she used to wear bangles and all. The wedding ring also will be there. And another thing, red color powder called Sendur. She used to wear it in her forehead. And the rest of the things are like some specific jewelry is there regarding to foot in fingers. She used to wear that. Okay. So bangles covering their head or wearing the Sendur on their head. So all of these things, the signs that I'm married and committed to someone. I'm under the authority of my husband. Those are outward signs, but there's also the inward state of your heart. Are you submitted to the authority of your husband in your marriage? So that was the reason for the head covering in that culture. We'll come back and continue to discuss this, but we can go for a break now. And when we come back, we'll finish on this.