Well folks here we are to wrap up our series on how to study the Bible, if you missed any of them be sure to check out the blog site linked below.

To make conclusions

Well, now that we are completing our session on how to study the Bible, the rest should be pretty easy. When we draw our conclusions as we did in 1 John, we see that the Word of Life was there at creation and then in the Gospel of John we see that it was in fact the key factor in creation and then we see there in John that in fact this Word of Life is Jesus. These were the conclusions we were able to draw from the first 2 verses of chapter 1. We came to the conclusion that the basic principle John was referring to was establishing a relationship with the Word that develops in fellowship with like-minded believers, as well as with the Father through Jesus Christ.

It’s not very difficult, huh? Remember that you want to be looking for what you understand and draw conclusions from what you know about what you don’t know. Write down the details and follow up with a good review of what can be found in the text, the book, the author’s writings, and finally the entire Bible. If you’re stuck and having trouble, try doing a word study with a program like E-Sword. Type the word or phrase and see how it is used and if it relates to what you are studying.

Confirm your Conclusions

Do your conclusions make biblical sense? A good example is the often abused Romans 14:5 here you are talking about days and estimating them in your own mind over each other. The biggest craziness here is to ASSUME this refers to Holy Days or Days of Worship when the larger context of the chapter is about food and eating (like when to and when not to). The biggest mistake is not fully understanding the Author and the historical context behind him. Paul was a Pharisee, Pharisees mainly fasted on Tuesdays and Thursdays, he is arguing that people eat or don’t eat for the Lord and both contextually glorify him (the Lord). Could it be that instead of this text being his proof text on why or why he shouldn’t worship on a certain day of the week, it makes biblical sense that it’s discussing fasting? In fact, go reread it, you’ll see it for sure. A NOTE OF CAUTION: You should always share new ideas or new found light/truths with your fellow students or small groups. Not because you are right or wrong, but because a wise man seeks wise advice!

Apply

Assuming you have prayed and asked for divine guidance throughout your study, your application to your observation and interpretation should be easy and solid. How does the study apply to you, your church, prophetically, etc.? The first and best thing you can do is take an honest look at yourself and ask God how this affects me. Perhaps there is a key verse that you should specifically memorize or mark in your Bible as your wake-up text. Pray again that God will help you apply the conclusion you have come to in your own life before you bombard others!
Final summary on how to study the Bible

We learned over time that we needed to take advantage of the Observe, Interpret, and Apply line of study, which is often referred to as Inductive Bible Study. You can use Bible highlighters or Bible markup tools to help you in your study. It is always helpful to have a great study Bible while you study. I highly recommend the Remnant Study Bible. Again, you want to always be looking for repetitive words or phrases, lists, and progression.

Here is a very good example from the book of Jude. Read the first 8 verses of this book and use the methods we have been talking about. What you should start to notice is things like, who are you writing to (the called, sanctified and kept) for what purpose are you writing, (for us to fight for the faith) what are you warning us against, (godless people spreading false doctrine about the gospel (grace of God) which is lawlessness and denies Jesus.

Let’s stop there for a second because I want to point out a few things that have REALLY hit home in this Bible study. Turning the grace of God into lasciviousness/lasciviousness/lawlessness this is something we absolutely NEED to understand because it is the only reason you are about to continue your description of “these” people. What does this mean? Look up those words (again, you can even use an online Bible program like Biblegateway), see how they are used, and what they describe. I’m sure you found their sin and we know that sin is the breaking of God’s law. 1 John 3:4 tells us that this is why God’s grace turns into lawlessness. So that means these people are telling you that because of the gospel/grace of God you can sin. Yes, people believe that this today is not just a first century problem that Judas was dealing with. People really say that God’s law was nailed to the cross and you don’t have to follow it! They use Colossians 2:12-16 as a “proof text” or they use Ephesians 2:8-10 and say that keeping God’s law is works and so you deny Jesus like that!

THIS IS TOTALLY NONSENSE, Judas is marking these people so you know how to fight for the faith. Okay, they take the gospel and make it a reason to break God’s law or justify your sin, but what does this have to do with denying Jesus? GOOD QUESTION! 1 John 1:7 tells us exactly what it is about denying Jesus and says that he is the spirit of the Antichrist. He says to deny that Jesus came in the flesh, but what flesh? Romans 8:3 has the answer (again, this is just a simple word study within the text of Jude to find the answers the Bible gives you, not my interpretation or yours, but a “what does the scripture say!”) In Romans we see that Jesus came in sinful flesh, but if this is true, then there “could have” sinned A LOT of people were freaked out by this for various reasons, but let’s focus on one reason. If Jesus could have sinned and it was as this text says in Hebrews 2:18 because he himself suffered while being tempted, he is powerful to help those who are tempted. And Hebrews 4:15 For we do not have a high priest unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all points as we are, yet without sin. Hebrews 4:16 Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Do you see the big picture here? Because Jesus came in sinful flesh (just like you and me), he suffered temptation just like you and me, which makes him an extremely effective high priest because he can sympathize with our weaknesses and in EVERY situation he was tempted like we are. That’s why we can get closer. Are you receiving these things? I know it might be new to you. Here is the end result; Jesus did not sin even though he could have sinned, which means that texts like Galatians 2:20 are real, because if he can live his life in you, then you can have victory over sin or, like Romans 8:37, be more than conqueror! But if he did not come in the flesh of sin (as Jude 4 is suggesting by preaching God’s grace as iniquity), then he was different from you, perhaps not tempted like you, and those accusations that you can continue in sin instead of overcoming sin would be justified. You see the problem.

That’s just in the first four verses! You see the beauty of the Bible is that it interprets itself. I am not giving you my ideas or convictions, I am simply showing you contextually what the Word of God says. I hope this has been helpful the next time we start a Word Study. God bless you.