 Okay. Welcome back everyone to BC 106 interpreting scripture. It's our second lecture today. So we're going to start off with a question. Ren, you had a question. God inspired them to write the scriptures, the Old Testament prophets. Okay. So Ren's question is whether the Old Testament prophets understood what they were writing. Answer to your question is they didn't understand or they didn't understand everything. Right. How do we know that? We go to, I think it's either 1 Peter or 2 Peter. I think it's 1 Peter, chapter one. So 1 Peter chapter one versus 10 and 11, 1 Peter, 10, 11 and 12. 1 Peter chapter one was 10, 11 and 12. He's talking exactly about what you asked. So he's talking about the prophets. 1 Peter 1 was 10, the prophets. They searched carefully. They prophesied of the grace that was to come. That means they prophesied ahead into the future. And verse 11, searching what or what manner of time the Spirit who was in them was indicating. And he testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. So they were searching. They themselves were trying to understand what they were speaking about. They were searching, trying to understand these things. And verse 12, to them it was revealed that not to themselves but to us. They were ministering the things which now they have been reported to you, which has been reported to those who have preached the Gospel to you, given by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things which the angels desire to look into. That means the sense that they got was we are speaking these things, not for ourselves, but we are speaking these things for a generation to come. And they were trying to understand, they were trying to search, what does all this mean? But the Holy Spirit is saying, it's not for you, it's for them. So the answer question, they didn't fully understand. They just spoke what the Holy Spirit revealed, things that are beyond their own understanding. So for example, when you study Daniel, Daniel wrote prophecies and he was so disturbed. What does all this mean? He was trying to understand, God, what is this? And of course, Angel Gabriel came and he said, Daniel, you write these things, you seal them up, they are for a future time. So Daniel didn't understand all the things he wrote. Any other questions? All right, now we're going to go to the next lesson, which is about two methods and tools to study the Word of God. So let's see how far we go in this. Chapter three, lesson number three, tools and methods for study. So in our personal Bible study, what are some of our objectives? We want to know the truth. So why are we studying the Bible? Not just because we want to accumulate knowledge, not just because we want to preach messages, but because we want to know the truth ourselves so that we can live ourselves by the truth. So I want to just go, just side trip, Matthew chapter five. So every now and then we'll go on short picnics, Matthew chapter five. So Jesus said, this is Matthew five. Let me find this exact verse. Matthew five, verse 19, in Matthew five, 19, Jesus said, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. And notice the second part of Matthew five, 19, whoever does and teaches. So very important. This is a rule you have to put for yourself. I must do it first, then I must teach it. Whoever does and teaches. Once you do first, you practice it. Like we say, you know, generally we have a phrase, you practice what you preach or you preach what you practice. You first practice, you do and teach, then you teach, then you will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. Okay, so that is the rule. So why should I study the Bible? Well, because I want to know the truth so that I can apply the truth in my life. I can do the word. Then when I do the word, it'll be very easy for me to teach the word. I just have to tell them what I do, like how it is working in my life, how I understood it, how I've applied it. I just teach finish. So you do and then you'll be called great in the kingdom of heaven. So keep this as a rule for yourself. Okay, I must first do it. I must practice it. I must, as I study the Bible, I know the truth and apply the truth. Let me practice it. Let me put it to work in my life. Then I can tell others this is how it works. This is how we have to practice. So why do we study the Bible? One, we want to know the truth personally. Second, you want to know God through his word. I mean, I'm not saying which is more important, but you want to know God through his word, which is also one of our objectives. Want to know God. And third is we want to be changed so that God could be revealed through our lives. So I want to know the truth. I want to receive revelation of God and so that my life can be changed so God can be seen in me. God can be glorified in me. So this is our objective in studying the word for you and me. God, I want to say to the words, I can know the truth and I can know you. I can know you. I can know the truth that the truth changed me so that you can be glorified through my life. Keep this as the main objective. Now, as we get started in learning how to study the Bible and we talk about the tools and methods, one big question is, what about these many versions of the English Bible? How did these come? Like, why are there so many, which one is better like that? So I want to explain this. I want us to understand it. So I think in our apologetic course, we will study how the Bible came to us, like, you know, how the Bible, the authenticity, the validity of the scripture. So we'll study that in detail. But generally speaking, the New Testament has the Greek New Testament and then of course the Old Testament. There are many, many manuscripts of the scriptures. So these manuscripts were handwritten. In those days, no printing press, no computers, no Xerox machine, nothing. So these were handwritten. So you can imagine at the time when the prophets were speaking or when the apostles were writing the New Testament or the Old Testament. It was all handwritten. And then copies were made and those were handwritten copies. So these all are referred to as manuscripts. I mean, these are original writings, manuscripts. But now we have many manuscripts, meaning people made copies. Like how we have many copies of the same New King's Bible order. Those days, many handwritten copies. But of course, it was not that easy. And the copies were written by scribes. That means these were people who were very meticulous in their copying to the point where if they had any serious mistake, they will destroy the whole manuscript and start again. So it was not, they didn't take their work lightly. It was very serious work. They hand copied, but very seriously, without any error. So copy submit. So we have manuscripts. Now these manuscripts, they vary in time, like when it was a copy. So when it was copied, so time. Now you'll learn this in detail in the course second year on apologetics, but I'm just giving a little, just when it was copied from the original. So 100 years later, maybe 200 years later, maybe 300 years later. Okay. So example, book of Isaiah, as I wrote it, maybe 750 BC, then somebody copied it 10 years later. Somebody, in other words, copy 20 years later. So copy from based on a copy like that copies were made copies were made. What is interesting, you'll find when we study this is example, the book of Isaiah copies that were written. About 900 years later were identical to the original, no change. So that's how reliable the manuscripts are of the Bible. But you won't find this in other ancient literature. You won't find this, right? That the exactness of the copies is very great, precise. You'll learn that. So you had copies over time, but then these copies were also distributed geographically. That means people will make a copy and they will carry it to their hometown. From there it will go somewhere else. It was distributed across the Mediterranean, that region, the Middle East. Copies were distributed. Example, we read Acts 8, what Ethiopian came. He came to Jerusalem, he bought a copy, he's carrying it to Ethiopia. So you can imagine, he carried one copy to Ethiopia. From there, if somebody made a copy, it would have got distributed over there. So like that, the copies were distributed. So now we have all these copies and now they've been collected in a museum. They've been kept in a safe place and all of that's happened over the years. So when scholars want to do the translation, they go to the original manuscript. So most English Pibles, most would be translations from the manuscript, Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic. So you need scholars who read Greek or Hebrew or Aramaic. They go to the original manuscripts. But there are two sets or two kinds of manuscripts generally to understand. So one is called the majority text, Byzantine text type. So that means when these translators are doing translation, they will translate into English what is stated by the majority of manuscripts. So we have so many manuscripts. What do the majority say that we will translate? There may be some variation a little bit here, a little bit there in that some copies. But what do the majority of the manuscripts say about this verse? That is what we will translate into English. Another set of manuscripts or translation is what does the oldest say? That means let us go as close to the original. So that is the Alexandrian, the date of the manuscript. So one is what do most people say? Another one is what is the nearest to the original say? You got it. Two approaches to translation. So you have these manuscripts. One is what do the majority of the manuscripts say? That we will put into English. The other is what is the oldest to say? That is what we will put into English. Two times. Got it. So when you get an English Bible in the beginning opening of the Bible, it will tell you this is how we are translating the... This is the text that we are using. So M for majority text. MSS means stands for manuscripts. M is a majority text. So sometimes in your Bible also it will put M. Majority texts say this. Okay. And so on. Okay. So you can see that given to you in your Bible depending on your version of the Bible. So this is one part. Then the translators will also decide how they want to translate the scriptures. How they want to translate it. Okay. So there are different ways to translate. One is word for word. That word is there. I will translate that word into English. Now sometimes one word in Greek or Hebrew will need three words in three or four words in English. It's okay. But that word has been translated into English word for word. It's called formal equivalence. So some Bibles are word for word translations. We will give examples. But then there's another way of translation which is thought for thought. That means what is the thought in that text? That thought I will put it in my own words in English. Thought for thought. So example nowadays when we have an interpreter. Okay. I'm speaking in English interpreter is interpreting into Hindi. He is not doing word for word. He is doing thought for thought. What I said he will put it in his own words and he'll try to communicate the meaning. So literally the interpreter is doing thought for thought. He's not doing word for word. Word for word will take too much time. He has to think about every word. But he's doing thought for thought. Sometimes he might give his own thought also. That is different. Once it happened to me, I was happily preaching the interpreter is telling his own story. Then after sometime I was like, oh no, something is wrong here. So he's gone up his own thought. He is putting more stories, adding more masala and giving it to the people. Then I asked him why he is doing it. No, he said I have to put it in the story. If I'm only there they will understand. So he's creating his own story and telling it. So that happens sometimes. But anyway, coming back to this. Functional equivalence. Thought for thought. So it's not word for word, thought for thought. This is what he said. This is what we will say in our own words. Thought for thought. There's an optimal equivalence. Which is they will try to balance word for word and thought for thought. We'll try to use the same words. And but at the same time we want to communicate the thought. So there is little flexibility. It may not always be exactly same word for word. They put a balance word for word, thought for thought. Number four, fourth way of translating the Bible is meaning for. Meaning that means. So now they are doing interpretation already. So it is one level up. This is what we believe he meant. Therefore, this is what we will say meaning for me. So it's not word for word, not thought for thought. It's one level higher. They have interpreted it. Taken the meaning and they communicating the meaning. So it's not word for word, not thought for thought. It's meaning for meaning. The passion translation is meaning for meaning. So it is a little away from the original. Okay. So that means we are saying what the translator thought was the meaning. They're giving it to me. But what if they are wrong? Right. So I'm depending on the translator's understanding. There's a bias there because the translator thinks this is the meaning of what he said. So he's putting that in English. Meaning for meaning. It's not necessarily accurate. Okay. But that's just for you to understand. Then number five, the last one is paraphrase. So this is like this interpreter giving his own story. Paraphrase means he's putting it in his own words. He will say what he can say, whatever he wants. As long as he says, okay, I am saying something like what you're saying. Paraphrase. So living translation is a living Bible is a paraphrase. It's not word for word, not thought for thought, not even meaning for meaning. It is more of, I will give you a gist of what he said. So it is even one level away from the original living Bible is like that. Now each one of these has its advantages. So for example, if somebody just likes to read like a storybook, you know, okay, they can read paraphrase worship. It's like a storybook. Okay. You read, but it's not good for Bible study because this is a summary, a gist of what was said. It is not serious Bible study. You don't use a paraphrase verse. Okay. But if somebody wants to read light, something light. Yeah. I have an idea what Bible says. Okay. Paraphrase version. It's easy. So for those people, it's good. They may not want heavy. At least they get started, you know, so it's good. So having understood that. Okay. So the kind, the way they look at the manuscript and the way they decide to translate is important. Then that is why you have so many different versions of the Bible. So if you look at the types of Bible translation, you see on the right side, you have paraphrase example message Bible. Today's living the living Bible. They are paraphrase. That means they are not word for word translation. They're not even thought for thought. Not meaning for meaning paraphrase means this is a little story about what was written, the summary, a gist of what was written. We are putting in our own words. We might put the worst numbers to keep you, you know, in sync with the actual Bible, but it's a paraphrase. It serves its purpose. Those who want to read light, they can read. They read message Bible and all of that. And paraphrase will use modern English. They will use ideas from today's world, which were not there in that world in that context 2000 or 2000 years ago was not there. So they may use ideas, you know, things from our world, but they're paraphrasing and they're putting it in the language of today to help people connect. Then as you move towards the left, you'll find things by versions that are more closer to the original text. So can you see it? You can see, does it sharpen up? Okay. And you'll have it on the PDF. So in the middle, for example, here, this is NIV. Thought for thought, new international version of the Bible. Here is NKJV, the word for word. The closest is the NASB, the New American Standard Bible. And NASB has come out with the 2020 version. That means even more. So they try to use contemporary English, but they try to keep it word for word. That means only that word that is there, I will put it in as few English words as possible. Sometimes it would be just one word, but sometimes I may need two or three words to translate that word. Fine. But it's a word for word translation. Okay. So now we understand why there are different English versions of the Bible. Okay. It is not that the Bible is saying different things. It is that the translators have taken a different approach in how they are translating the Bible for different audiences. Some audiences say, okay, please tell me what is the meaning of what he said. Okay. You want like that? Meaning for meaning Bible, passion translation, you read. But there is a little risk because you will get the meaning of what the translator thought the writer said. Hopefully the translators are staying accurate, but sometimes they can give their own idea. This is what we think he said. So that's a problem. Somebody said, okay, just give me a summary. Okay. Then you read Message Bible, Living Bible. Fine. But if you want to study, seriously study, then you have to go closer to the original text. So that's where, you know, something like the ones that you find here, the new King James, the King James, the RSV, the ESV, English Standard Version, Amplified, New American Standard Bible, these are all word for word. The closest is the interlinear. Interlinear means it's like the word Greek or the Hebrew. And on top of that, they put the English word or English words. So it's word for word, literally word. It's very difficult to understand because it's not set. They don't put it in a sentence, but I'll show you. You can see it. Okay. I'll show it to you shortly. Other books. Yeah. So we don't. So one is they're not part of the scriptures. So for example, there are, let's call them as historical documents, like historians are recording, right? So they're just saying, okay, more of what he did is recorded there. It's historical in nature. So they're not part of the scriptures, but, you know, in some cases, those historical accounts will be there. So those are interested in history can go read it and do that, but we don't treat it as scripture. It's more like historians of that time. They're recording what happened in history. So for those people are interested in studying history, they'll go and study it. Okay. So, so this is where it is. What I would encourage us to do, especially when you're studying the Bible, go as close as you can to the original. Okay. Plus we will show how we can look up the Hebrew and the Greek and to actually go to the original Hebrew, Greek words and look up the meaning. So that way you can say, you can be very confident of what you're talking, right? I actually went and looked up the Hebrew and the Greek. And so I know this is what the actual text says. Okay. So when you're studying the Bible, try to go as close to that. Now, the thing is what I find helpful is I would also read thought for thought and paraphrase because that helps us. It shows us how to communicate it to a modern audience, how to communicate that in contemporary English. All right. So it is good when you're studying to go as close to the Hebrew and the Greek, but also to read thought for thought and paraphrase or other versions. So then it helps you. Okay. So when I read thought, I can speak it like this. As long as it is keeping in line with the original meaning, I can communicate it like this. So I find that helpful when you're preaching and teaching. So it's a good thing to have all these versions look at it and then communicate it. I'll show you how to do that. Okay. So this explains why we have all of these Bible versions and so on. And then here on this page, I just kind of show you, let me just put on the dates on, you know, over time, all these versions were translated. People continue to translate it and continue to work on it. Like the passion translation is the most common one that's of recent work, so on. All right. Now let's talk a little bit about methods and then we will talk about the tools that we can use in studying the Bible. There are many ways to study the Bible. Everybody's with me so far. Yeah, you're followed. We're talking about methods and we're changing a little bit methods. Okay. The simplest way which we can practice almost daily is what we refer to as devotional or passage study. We'll give an example of this later on. Now I'm just sharing with you different ways to study. We will give example one or two. We'll give example. Okay. Simplest way is devotional or passage study. Okay. So example, today maybe your Bible reading is some chapter, say example, Gospel of Mark, you read some chapter and you may not take the whole chapter but take a portion of that chapter, maybe 10 verses or something. So it's a passage. It doesn't have to be a full chapter. It could be a full chapter. Example, Psalm 23 means okay, you have six verses finished. Easy. But sometimes the chapter is very big. So you take a passage, a portion of that and then you study that passage. You study that passage. Okay. We will talk about how to study, how to use the tools all that. But so this is a passage study and you can make it part of your devotional time. So that's why it's called devotional. That means part of your morning Bible reading, whenever you're reading part of your devotional time itself, you are studying the Bible. So devotional or passage study will explain it a little deeper shortly. This is also part of the verse by verse study. So in that passage, you're going to look at every verse in depth, in detail. So if that passage is 10 verses, you look at all the 10 verses very carefully. So it's a verse by verse study. Okay. So there's a devotional method or there's a verse by verse study method to study your passage. In a devotional method, you're primarily looking at it as what can I get out of this passage that I can apply for me today. In verse by verse, you're going into even more detail. Verse by verse, looking at everything, detail. Okay. Another way to study the Bible, I'm just giving us an overview now and we'll get into details, is to do a character study or a biographical study. Character study is studying the life of a person in a given situation. David faced Goliath. So you study, you know, for Samuels after 17, 18, you study or maybe just 17, how did David face Goliath? You study his behavior, his character in that particular situation. Biographical study is study David's life from the time he was born till he died. That is full life. Okay. Character study means how did this person behave in a particular situation? Of course, both are learning from a person's life. But one is you're looking at only a small time period. Other one is full life. You're looking at the whole like biographical study means full life. How did he walk with God? How did he apply his old previous lessons in future in his life, et cetera, et cetera. So you can do the biographical study of Abraham's life from the time God called him till he died, how he walked with God, or you can talk to do about Moses or David or Daniel or any of the characters. Or you can do just a character study. How did that person behave in a given situation? What lessons can I take? What inspiration can I take from that? So you can do. But both are you're studying a person. You're studying an individual, man or woman in the Bible. Character study. And we are learning about how that person walked with God, how God dealt with that person. What did God teach the person? What did God do? So we are learning through that. We are learning for ourselves. Character study or biographical study. So again, very, very useful. Similarly, in the New Testament, we could study Paul or we could study Peter or any of the apostles, how they walked with God, what they did, et cetera. Third one is a thematic or some people call it topical, some people call it word study. That means study on a particular topic or a theme or even a particular word. So if we say a topic, we can say healing. Study about divine healing in the Bible. Starting from Genesis, you go all the way to Revelation. What do we see about divine healing on the topic of divine healing? Or you can study about a theme. It could be family. How did God work in different families? What is God's promise for the family, et cetera, or marriage and family? A theme. Similar topic and theme, quite similar, but usually a theme is much broader. A topic is a little bit more focused. A theme like marriage and family. Should we be studying different families or different things, how God worked and so on and different aspects of that. Or they can study a word, faith. Study a word. What do we see about faith? So that word faith, of course, in the Old Testament, you may also study the word believe, believe, faith. That word you study throughout the Bible, a word study or giving or money, you know, or whatever. Money means you're studying money or riches, those words, how is it used in the Bible? But these are all on a given subject, given topic, theme. So you can study the scriptures on that. And that is very good because then at least you can say, I know what the Bible says about this subject because I studied this subject from Genesis 2, Revelation. And you have a clear picture of what God says about that matter. So it's good. So I would recommend this also to do topical study or thematic study, a word study on certain themes, topics. Then you can speak on that subject with confidence. You say, I know this because I've gone through the subject, Genesis to Revelation. I am very confident this is what the heart of God is concerning this subject, this matter is what it is. It's a very good way to study. Then, of course, you can do chapter study where you pick up a particular chapter and you study it. Now, again, in doing chapter study, you can take different approaches. You can do a chapter summary, which is not that much in depth, but this is this is what the chapter means, the essence of the chapter summary. Or you can go in depth. That is chapter analysis. That means you're getting into the everything that is said, what was said before, what was said after. Therefore, this chapter is here. Chapter analysis, in-depth study of that chapter. And then extending that chapter study is what, of course, is a book study. And we will be doing book studies in the third year. So, obviously, we kept it for the third year. So, we will study, I think, all the episodes you will study, verse by verse, in the third year. And John acts, and we'll do Daniel and Revelation. So, these are books we will study, verse by verse, in the third year. So, these are book studies. I mean, you're looking at every verse and you're trying to understand them in the context of when it was written in the context of the book, in the context of the rest of scripture. So, even when you're interpreting or understanding a book, you want to understand that book in the light of the rest of scripture. So, book study. Now, when you do a book study, again, there are different ways you can do it. Sometimes people will emphasize a lot on the background of the book. This is when it was written. This is why it was written. This is to whom it was written. These are the main things being stated in that book that are relevant, that were stated in that period of time, which are relevant to us today. So, it's more from a background of the book that is useful, especially when you're studying Old Testament books. That kind of approach is useful. There is a book survey method, meaning you're looking at a high level survey of the book. You're not getting too much in depth, but you're saying, okay, in this book, there are 12 chapters. Chapter one, he talks about this. Chapter two, he talks about this. Chapter three, he talks about this. And you're doing a survey, a high level survey, not getting depth, but you're getting an overall idea of the book survey. In depth is book synthesis. That means you are going into the book into every verse, verse by verse study. So what we had learned earlier, verse by verse study of the whole book, you read every verse, understand everything in depth, in detail. That's book synthesis. So that's what we will do in the third year. Read every verse, understand it in depth. Why it's there? What are the meanings? Of course, we have to do it fast, but that is the approach. Study the verse by book, verse by verse, in depth, book synthesis method. Okay. So quickly to recap, what are the different ways to study? There is the passage study. And in passage, you have to base, you can do it as a devotional or you can do it verse by verse. There is character study. You can do a study of a character of a person, just a part of his life, small time period of his life, or you can study his whole life. There is the word study. That means you can do it topical. You can do it by theme. You can do a word. There is the chapter study. Again, chapter, you can do a summary or you can do an analysis. And then there's a book study, which means, again, in book study, you can do many ways. You can do a full background study. You can do a book survey study, or you can do a detailed synthesis study of the book, many different ways. Okay. Now, let's talk about, yeah, we still have 10 minutes, so I can do, I think I can cover this. So in a passage study, we've got two ways, right? So one is the devotional method study. Devotional method means you're just trying to get a message thought, a main thought for yourself from that passage. Okay. So there'll be a short passage of scripture. You meditate in it. And you use what is known as an inductive study method. That means observation, interpretation, application. What does the passage say? What does it mean? How do I apply it? So example, let's go to Mark chapter 14. I think it is, yeah. Mark 14 verses one to nine, Mark 14, one to nine. I know we have only a little time, but let's try it. Okay. Mark 14, one to nine. I want you to quietly read it. There's only nine verses. So this is a passage, nine verses. Do these three things. Observe, interpret, apply, observation, interpretation, application. Okay. I'll give you five minutes. Online students, you also can do it. Okay. Mark chapter 14 verses one to nine passage. We're doing a devotional study now. Okay. Of this passage. I'll be quiet for five minutes. So I won't disturb you. You read the passage. Observe, interpret, apply. What can you apply out of this passage? Five minutes. I'll give you. I'll be quiet for five minutes and we will see what people have to say. Okay. I didn't give you much time, but we have, so in devotional method, we will continue this next week. Okay. But what you must do as you read this passage, observation. As part of observation, you try to put yourself in the passage. So imagine you are in the house, in this particular house. Imagine you are there. Maybe you're one of the disciples or you're one of the friends, whatever you're there. And you picture in your mind how this is happening, right? Jesus is coming. Simon may have invited him, please come for lunch. And they're sitting, you know, those days they will sit low on the ground, sitting there. So imagine how this is happening. And all these people are there and suddenly this woman comes. She's not invited, unannounced. I don't think she got permission to come. She just comes and she brings this alabaster box. I have to close very quickly now. But she, all these things she does, right? So observation. You put yourself in the passage. So as you're reading it, see all the details happening. You're visualizing, imagining. How the conversation, hey, why so expensive thing? You just imagine the whole thing, how it is happening. And what Jesus is saying, all of that. Okay. So when you visualize it, when you are there, you're observing, it becomes very, your feelings get touched. Then, so Jesus said all this. What does it mean to me, interpretation? What is Jesus saying? How is he reacting to the people, to the woman, to the people? What is Jesus getting across? What is the truth Jesus coming? And then last is, what can I take away, application? What can I take from this passage? Okay. So what I would, I will pause here. Next week, next class, I want each one to share one application from this passage, at least one. I'll tell everyone, everyone else, you have ten applications, others won't get it. One application, you want everybody to say one application. Okay. So you go back to this passage, just meditate in it. It's part of your example, the version. Observation, interpretation, application. What do you take away personally from this passage? You share next week. Okay. We have to stop. I have to get ready for the other class. Online students, sorry, I didn't give you time to ask any questions. But I hope you will also do the same. And next week, we'd like you to type out one application. So maybe you can type it and keep it ready so you can put it on the chat. One application from this passage, Mark chapter 14, verse one to nine. Okay. So just this observation, interpretation, application, just practice it. You may get a lot of thoughts, but one thing that you want to share next week, please put it on the chat. Okay. God bless. And of course we'll take questions, any explanations you need. Okay. God bless you. Thank you. I'll see you all next week. God bless. Bye now.