 Good morning everyone. Welcome to new week. Before we begin, let's just start with the word of prayer with any of you be willing to open in prayer please. Thank you Father for this beautiful day. Once again we have gathered and it's a merchant grace that you did one more day into our life. So with this fellowship, we are about to start our class. So before we start we ask your help to understand whatever we are going to learn or learn. So we'll just do a recap of what we covered last week. For e-learning students, I've posted the exam. I'll also send out an email notification. But I've posted the exam on the e-learning platform. How was the exam? Was it tough or okay? Easy, okay? What's that? Easy, okay? So yeah, I saw a few of the initial ones that have come in I think a few later. So I haven't yet seen all the marks yet. But yeah, on the chat online, it was good learning. Okay, thank you Daniel. Yes Lucy, I saw your comment. Let me just check on that. View your answer sheet. You mean after you submitted, you couldn't see? After submission we were not able to view our answer sheets ma'am. Okay, can you repeat that? Sorry, I think the volume. After submission we were not able to view our answer sheets ma'am. Okay, that may be something I need to change in the settings. I'll check on that. So none of you were able to view your answers. So you don't know which you got right and which you got wrong? Yeah, yeah. Because we thought we were 100% correct in that particular answer. You don't know what exactly went wrong in that. Okay, sorry. You can see, you could see the answers. I could see the answers too. Okay. Was there something you had to click on to see the answers? No actually, I mean once I submitted, I went back into it and it just gave me the score and it just showed me what I got wrong. It showed me the score, but I was not able to view the answer sheet. Sister, immediately under the view score only all the right answers and which were wrong were seen in red. So it was very much visible under view score only. Okay, in the case of Sister Selena, I was able to view it. But in this one, Ms. Simita, this one interpretation script, I was not able to view it. Okay. Maybe if you just go back and try, you can maybe contact another student if you have a contact or I can also check on it and see because I'm not sure what you, how you view it. Because I'll be able to have, I have a different view of the exam. But if you can maybe work with one of the other students and see. Okay, I'll just try it now, that's it. Okay, sure. Yeah. Okay, so let's just, we can look into that maybe during the break if you're not able to see it. Okay. Okay, thank you. Okay, so let's just continue. We'll do a quick recap of what we covered last week. And then we'll go into what we're going to do this today. So we looked at the two types of manuscript families. Anyone want to tell us what the difference is between the two family types? Okay. You, you need a mic or okay. Okay, so the Byzantine text type basically is it looks at what does the majority of all the manuscripts agree on and it says the same thing. So in the Byzantine text type, 90% of the manuscripts all have the same thing. Whereas the Alexandrian looks at the date of the manuscript. So it gives importance to the oldest or the earliest manuscript to say that the closer it is to the original writing, the more trustworthy it is. So the Alexandrian depends on date and the Byzantine depends on agreement between the different manuscripts. So if all the manuscripts are saying the same things, then that must be the right reading of the text. So there are the KJV, NKJV depend on the Byzantine and other translations like the ESV, NIV will take both the Byzantine and the Alexandrian into consideration. They'll primarily in the main text of the scripture they'll have what agrees with the Alexandrian but in the footnotes, they'll also have the they'll say later manuscript say this. So you'll usually have that included in the footnotes of the text. Okay, so then we looked at the translation philosophies starting. So this was one of the questions in the exam what were the two, the two kind of sides of the spectrum of translation, which is word for word and paraphrase. So word for word is on one end paraphrase is on the other end thought for thought is somewhere in between. And so all of the translations fall in one of these places based on the method they use word for word is a strict translation of the original language. And paraphrase is a very flexible language, especially translation, especially because it tries to make it in our everyday speech, it tries to translate into a form that we use in our everyday speech. So it uses a lot of interpretation of the original text and the message of the text in converting it into the language they're translating it into. We are looking specifically at English. Then we looked at examples of the different translation types of the interlinear would be the strictest word for word. And then NASB KJV are word for word. NIV is thought for thought NLT is somewhere between thought for thought and paraphrase and message would be in the paraphrase section. Any questions on all of this? Then we looked at Bible study methods and the purpose of Bible study to know the truth, know God through his truth and then to be people who reveal God as we allow scripture to transform us. So we begin to reveal who God is through our lives. Methods of Bible study. I won't go into all of this because it's a lot of detail, but just go into that final. We can either study a verse, just study focusing on a verse, so that would be in the devotional study. Or we could do a passage verse by verse study that would also be a devotional or passage study. Then we can do a passage study which would be taking either a part. Usually you'll have a heading in scripture like within a chapter there may be different sections. So you could either study one of those sections or you could study a whole chapter that would be a chapter summary or analysis. Then you can study it at a book level, so you can do a book background, a book survey, a book synthesis. And then the last would be studying the whole of scripture which would be a character, a biographical study or a thematic topical word study. If you still have questions, you can go back into your text which has more details on each of these study methods. This is where we stopped last week, the illumination of the spirit. We didn't actually begin this chapter, so we'll begin from here today. So while we are looking at all of these methods of interpretation, how do we study scripture? We want to emphasize that the starting point is the Holy Spirit. We follow all these different methods, we have all these tools available, all of that. But our dependence is on the Holy Spirit to bring a revelation of what is the spiritual truth in that passage or in that verse. If we don't do that, then we can do the word studies, we can understand the grammar, we can understand the culture, the history, the background. But we will miss out on what was the purpose of this passage. What is the spiritual truth that the Holy Spirit wanted to reveal through this passage? And because the Holy Spirit is the one who inspired scripture, we depend on the Holy Spirit to reveal to us the meaning of the same words that he inspired the writers to write. So let's just read these two passages if someone can read John 16, 13 to 15 and 1 John 2, 27. What is mine and declare it to you? Verse 15, all things that the Father has are mine, therefore I said that he will take of mine and declare it to you. And 1 John 2, 27. First John, please go ahead. The two passages. So the first one was John 16. Second is 1 John. Okay. 1 John 2, 27. But the anointing which you have received from him abides in you and you do not need that anyone teach you. But as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things and is true and is not a lie. And just as it has taught you, you will abide in him. Thank you. So John 16, Jesus is talking to his disciples and he says the Holy Spirit will give you a revelation, will explain all of these things that I've already told you. Right. And then 1 John 2, 27 says that the Holy Spirit himself will teach us so we don't need anyone else to come from the outside to teach us, which means here especially they're talking about wrong teaching coming into the church. So to be careful about that wrong teaching, the Holy Spirit will reveal to you what is true and what is not. So you will be able to discern between wrong and right teaching. Because in the New Testament church, there was a lot of wrong teaching that was coming in as the church was being established. Right. We needed to depend on the Holy Spirit to be able to discern what to accept just as the church is still growing and learning what is true and what is not true. So based on these scriptures, we recognize the Holy Spirit's role in helping us understand what is true. Right. And helping us understand scripture itself. The second point, like we said, the Holy Spirit inspired what was written and the Holy Spirit will also help us to understand. So when we say expositor, we mean somebody who will explain something that is complicated, who will explain it to us or help us understand it. That's what an expositor is. So the Holy Spirit is that expositor. So why do we need the Holy Spirit? Can somebody without the Holy Spirit still study scripture and understand its truth? We look at these two verses, 2 Corinthians 4-4 and 1 Corinthians 2-6 to 16. 2 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 4, whose mind the God of this age has blinded, who do not believe? That's the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ. Who is the image of God should shine on them. Okay. So here we see who has Satan blinded? Yeah. And there are specific people whose eyes are blinded. Right. According to this verse, unbelievers. Yeah. So someone without the Holy Spirit cannot go to scripture and try to understand it in their own natural thinking. It requires the Holy Spirit to bring revelation to... So even in us being saved, it was the Holy Spirit who brought us to that point of salvation. Who enabled us to see the truth of the gospel and enabled us to grasp that and receive it for ourselves. So until that time, we were spiritually blind. We couldn't receive that truth for ourselves because to the human mind, have you ever tried to think about how do I share the gospel? Have you ever thought about that with an unbeliever? And when you've thought about it, has it seemed like an easy task? It seems easy. Like logical, you can explain it and someone will be able to logically understand it. I mean, there's a logical side to it, but if you're depending completely on logic, then you're not going to grasp like how does... So all of these questions that people bring up, how does the blood of one person pay for so many, the whole world sins for so many centuries, so many generations, all of those things are questions that people come up because of their natural thinking. And so it has to be something spiritually inspired, spiritually revealed for someone to actually be able to come to that point of faith. Now, that all depends on how open they are to receiving spiritual revelation. The Holy Spirit will work in those who are willing to receive that. Okay, and the second passage, 1 Corinthians 2, 6 to 16. 1 Corinthians 2, 6 to 16. However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age who are coming to nothing. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew, for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written, I has not seen nor ear heard nor have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those who love him. But God has revealed them to us through his spirit. For the spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of man except the spirit of the man which is in him. Even so, no one knows the things of God except the spirit of God. Now, we have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, nor can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him, but we have the mind of Christ. Okay, so this passage is very clear, very self-explanatory, right? That first, there is a part of maturity. As you grow more mature, you can receive more spiritual truth. But that is that first section. And then the second section, they're talking about the gospel itself, right? That can only be received by the spirit. Those things are spiritually discerned. We see Jesus also praying in the gospels and he says, thank you Father, you have revealed these things to the children, to those who are simple and unlearned, rather than those who are the religious leaders and the teachers and the scribes. Those were the people who, though they knew so much, still couldn't identify who Jesus was. So that is the perfect example of having knowledge without having the Spirit of God. And so right at the, as we are beginning looking at how do we interpret all of the challenges in interpretation, we want to say first our dependence on the Holy Spirit and then all these tools come in. Okay, so these tools only make sense if we are first depending on the Holy Spirit and seeking revelation from the Holy Spirit as we are studying God's Word. Let's go on. So okay, this is in verse 14 of the same chapter. It says, I'm just going to read from my version, but people who aren't spiritual can't receive these truths from God's Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can't understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means. So the word here for receive is the Greek word dekomai, which means to welcome, to receive favorably, to embrace or to make one's own. That is to take something and receive it as your own. So people who do not have the Holy Spirit cannot receive the Gospel and make it their own. Okay, so this same word is used in the Gospels for how people responded to Jesus himself. Did they receive Jesus? Did they receive the message of the Gospel? Did they receive the disciples who were representing Jesus? Like Jesus says, when you go out into the towns, if people do not receive you, shake off the dust from your feet. So that's the same word that's being used. And then the other word is ginosko, which means to know by experience, to understand, to judge, to estimate, to determine whether something is excellent or whether something is, if there's a problem with it, if there's a defect in it. So those who have the Holy Spirit can have this kind of understanding, this discernment when they receive a message of Scripture or when they receive some teaching. They are able to discern or judge what is right, what is wrong, what is excellent, what is defected, what is in some way problematic. Okay, and that's the same word we have used of the Varian Christians as well. So Act 1711, I'll just read that. Now the Varian Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received, that's the Decomai, the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. So that means they received, they welcomed that word, they embraced that word, but they still examined the Scriptures. That's the example of the Varian Christians. And 1 Thessalonians 1.6, you became imitators of us and of the Lord for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering and the joy given by the Holy Spirit. Again that same word, Decomai. So even in the midst of suffering, you embraced the truth that we were bringing to you, even though suffering was the result of it. So that's how we can understand that word and that is what the Holy Spirit enables us to do, to receive the word, to embrace it for ourselves. So the Holy Spirit enlightens us, brings inspiration from God's Word. We look at the difference between the word inspiration and illumination. So when we're saying the Holy Spirit inspired Scripture, we're talking about a one-time event. The Holy Spirit inspired certain people to write the words that we have in Scripture. We inspired the writers to put down these truths. But the Holy Spirit continues to illuminate us as we read the Scripture. So illumination is something that happens repeatedly and inspiration is something that has happened once. So we can't expect that they're going to continue to see more books added to the Bible because the Holy Spirit is going to inspire new writing. So as of now we say the Scripture is complete. We have God's revelation for all humanity until the end of time. But the Holy Spirit continues to enlighten us to reveal truth as we read the Bible. So as we read the Bible, that original inspiration that was given to the writers becomes clearer to us. So that truth that the Holy Spirit was revealing through the writers becomes clearer and clearer to us as we are reading the Scriptures. That difference is clear. So I've just put this quote from our notes. God has something today to make alive the inspiration of yesterday. So what was inspired by the Holy Spirit in the original writing becomes alive as we are reading it, brings new life into us. And we are able to fully understand the truth of what was originally revealed in the Scriptures, the truth that He wanted to reveal. Those online as well, please feel free to post questions or to unmute and add if you'll have any thoughts. Because I'm on the presentation so I can't see Google Classroom. I'll just check every now and then. Okay, so how do we receive the revelation the Holy Spirit is giving us? We'll just read these passages. Matthew 16, 13 to 23. Someone can read that for us please. When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, he has his disciples saying, Who do men say that I, the son of man am? So they said, some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. He said to them, but who do you say that I am? Simon Peter answered and said, You are the Christ, the son of the living God. Jesus answered and said to him, Blessed are you, Simon, Bar Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of aid shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you lose on earth will be lost in heaven. Then he commanded his disciples that they should tell no one that he was Jesus the Christ. From that time, Jesus began to show to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and be raised for third day. Then Peter took him aside and began to review him saying, Far be it from you, Lord, this shall not happen to you. But he turned and said to Peter, Get behind me, Satan, you are an offense to me, for you are not mindful of the things of God or the things of men. Thank you. So here we see within this one passage that Peter has a revelation about Jesus' identity, but he doesn't have a revelation of what Jesus must do as a result of who he is. So that is just to say that just because we have revelation in one area doesn't mean that we have received all revelation, that we understand all scriptural truth. So there's always going to be learning for us. We may have understood one part of scripture. We may have understood one aspect of scriptural truth, but there are other things that we still need to learn in. And even the things that we know there's always opportunity to grow more in our understanding of those things. John 8, 31 to 32, if someone can read that for us, please. John 8, 31 and 32. So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, if you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. Thank you. So here we see that word abide, which means continue to remain in the word. And then you will know. So revelation comes from continuing to go back to the word of God. We just don't read it once and think, okay, we've understood it. We don't have to go back to that passage of scripture again. But as we continue to study the same word, our understanding of it grows and our understanding of the truth in it grows. So continuing means remaining living in accordance with it also. So there's the aspect of constantly going back to the word, but there's also this aspect of living in accordance with it. That is where true abiding happens, where scripture becomes the way we are living. And that's where we're truly abiding in God's word. And then John 1421, so one can read that. John 1421, whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father and I will love him and manifest myself to him. Thank you. So this previous passage, John 831 to 32, is as we are living in accordance with scripture, the truth of scripture becomes something that we understand, is revealed to us. John 1421 is saying Jesus himself gives us greater revelation as we walk in obedience. So that is the promise that Jesus gives. If you're walking in obedience to my word, because you love me, then I will reveal the truth of scripture. And what did we read before that the Holy Spirit reveals what he has heard from the Father and from the Son? So it's as Jesus is giving that revelation, it comes through the Holy Spirit to us. So what is the illumination of the Holy Spirit? What is it not? So when we are saying we read here, you don't need another teacher, the Holy Spirit will reveal truth to you. We read in one of the passages, that doesn't mean that when we interpret scripture, that there is no possibility that we're going to make a mistake. We can't say I have the Holy Spirit, so whatever I've understood has to be right. And we are unwilling to receive anyone else's correction or anyone else's input into our understanding of scripture. Because we are also human, our understanding of what the Holy Spirit is revealing to us may be mistaken. We might have missed something in the rest of scripture. We might not have taken the context into perspective. So like we talk about, there is the human side of interpretation and the spiritual side of interpretation. Just as in the writing of scripture, it's both the human and divine process. When we are interpreting it, we are using our mind. We are using the tools that we are talking about, studying the culture, studying the language, all of those things. And we are depending on the Holy Spirit. So in the human capacity that we are operating in, there is possibility of error. So we should never be at the point where we're saying, I can't receive any correction. Whatever I've understood is completely correct. And if somebody else comes and tells us what you're saying is incorrect, we should be willing to receive that correction because there is possibility of error. Illumination from the Holy Spirit doesn't mean that we will get some hidden meaning from the scripture that is not in line with the rest of scripture. So this is where a lot of Bible teachers have made mistakes, have led other people astray, where they'll take a passage of scripture and start to preach something based on it that doesn't align with the truth of the whole of scripture. And so when that happens, and people completely trust this leader and follow them, they fall into wrong ways of living, wrong ways of thinking, wrong ways of believing. So this is something that we need to be careful about, especially we see in a lot of these cults, a lot of leaders who have great control over their congregations, which is usually something we see in cults, where people have gone completely astray because they've just followed that person's teaching. They have not looked at what is their interpretation correct, is all of scripture saying they don't examine the teaching, they don't test the teaching, and so they go astray. The Holy Spirit doesn't give usually. So the Holy Spirit might suddenly give us insight into a certain passage of scripture out of the blue. One day we are walking down the road and we suddenly get a revelation of some passage of scripture and we get a deeper understanding of that scripture. That's possible, but that is not the normal every day. We shouldn't depend on that kind of revelation to happen all the time. It's up to us to study scripture to seek greater understanding of the Bible. So especially for people who are teaching, preaching, don't expect that, okay, the Holy Spirit is just going to reveal, I don't need to prepare for this sermon, I don't need to prepare to teach. I'll just show up there and the Holy Spirit is going to give me the words, the understanding, the inspiration. That's not the approach we follow. So we have to put in the work, we have to study, and in the process of doing that, the Holy Spirit gives us the understanding we need, the inspiration we need to be able to teach others or preach. And then the last is, does not exempt us from walking in obedience. That means it is still our responsibility to walk in obedience to the truth. It's not the Holy Spirit's responsibility to help us or to make us walk in obedience. Okay, that is our responsibility. We are submitting to the Holy Spirit as we receive truth from Scripture. It's our responsibility to then continue to submit to it and walk in accordance with it. Okay, clear? Yeah? Okay, everyone online, okay? Okay, we'll continue. We have a few more minutes. So with that, we come to the end of this chapter and we go into the chapter on culture. So initially we looked at what were some of the challenges in interpreting Scripture, right? We talked about several different aspects of Scripture like time, geography, all of these things that come into play when we are interpreting Scripture. So culture was one of them and we talked about the cultural gap. So the cultural gap is obviously Scripture was written in a different culture completely from us and so there were certain practices that were followed, certain things that were expected of people that were dependent on the culture they were part of, which doesn't translate to our own cultures in the same way. So we look at certain practices that are there in Scripture. Should we understand them as things that we still need to follow today or are they cultural things and can we learn something, can we take the principles of those practices and apply it to our churches, to our own lives personally today? Okay, so what is context? So context is the context in which Scripture was written. Okay, so we have to take into consideration what was the context it was written in and how should we understand it based on the context. Context can be understood in many different ways. So there's one is the cultural context. But here we're looking at different ways in which you can understand context. Context can mean within the Bible, within the actual writing of the Bible, the context in which a verse is given. So the verses before it, the verses after it, give it a context. So suppose I take, okay, I'll take this verse. John 1240. Okay, the Lord has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts so that their eyes cannot see, their hearts cannot understand, and they cannot turn to me and have me heal them. Okay, so if I just read that passage and I'm trying to interpret it, I don't know who it's talking about. Who is it that the Lord has blinded their eyes? Has he blinded all people's eyes? Has he blinded specific people's eyes? Who are those people? Why has he blinded their eyes? All of those things for me to understand that I have to read the verses before it and the verses after it. So that is the context of scripture itself, the writing. So that is one way we understand context. The other is to understand the entire passage. So now I can read the verse before, the verse after, but that may not give me a complete explanation of who those people are. So suppose I read the verse before it says, but the people couldn't believe for as Isaiah also said, the Lord has blinded their eyes. Okay, so that's verse 39. And then verse 41 says, Isaiah was referring to Jesus when he said this, because he saw the future and spoke of the Messiah's glory. It's still not very clear who these people are. The people couldn't believe, but who are those people? I still don't know, right? Just from reading the verse before. So then I read the whole passage, that whole section and then that will give me a better understanding. A slightly larger context where I'm looking at the whole passage. Another way to understand context is the dispensation in which it was written. So what do we mean by dispensation? So like we said, scripture follows a thing of gradual revelation, right? Overtime. So God has acted in certain ways over time to reveal to us greater truths about who he is, his purposes in creation, what he wants to fulfill. So in the beginning, he chose Abraham. He revealed a little to Abraham before Abraham. I mean, after Abraham, he made the covenant with Moses. He spoke through the prophets. Jesus himself came, brought greater revelation and then we have the teachings of the apostles. So we understand the teaching within the context of what was God revealing at that time. So that is the context. So what spiritual revelation, what revelation of who God is was happening at that time. And so how do we understand this passage within that revelation of what God was doing at that time? And then we understand it in the context of the entire Bible. So we start with the verse, the verse in its immediate context, what came before it, what came after it, then that within the larger passage, that passage within the dispensation, within that time or that revelation that was happening at that time, and that within the whole of the Bible. That's ideally how we should be understanding all every verse in the Bible, which is a lot of work, which is why there's possibility of error when we are interpreting things. But we also... So this is the context of the written scripture. We also have to understand scripture within its historical context. So there was something happening in history at that time. There was something happening culturally at that time. So some of the practices here may not be followed still in these cultures. Some things that we were doing in our cultures 100 years ago are not still being followed or even 10 years ago are not being followed today. So that culture has changed and we are from a different culture completely. So we need to understand what was happening in that time historically, what were the cultural practices of those times. That's the human aspect of the context that we're looking at. This is the scriptural context and then we're looking at the human context of whatever was written in the Bible. Does that make sense? Yeah? Okay. So why should we... Any thoughts on why we need to give importance to culture? First of all, all cultures are the same. Okay. Okay, so example. Certain aspects of culture, they will have certain rules where as somewhere else it will have... it will be acceptable. So what's acceptable at all? One case may not be necessarily acceptable at all. Yeah. Yes. So I'll give you an example of something very basic in how we... our culture, okay? Within India itself not everyone is very... like if you give an auto driver money with your left hand they'll be very offended sometimes, right? And I was not aware of that when I was younger. So they would ask me to move it to my right hand and give it to them. So something as simple as that, like we're all from India but both of us are from a slightly different cultural background that for me giving it with my right or left hand didn't matter. But to them their understanding of what I'm doing is like one is offensive. True, just the hand I use to give them the money. So those kinds of things. So if we take something from scripture and we say we have to follow it exactly that way, we've missed out on what is the spiritual truth behind it. We are just following the practice without understanding the truth behind it. So we'll come back to that after the break. Thank you.