Pages: 351-363
Think about what I am saying, because the Lord will give you the ability to understand everything. 2 Timothy 2:7
This morning, I continued with John Piper's Reading the Bible Supernaturally: Seeing and Savoring the Glory of God in Scripture, continuing with Part 3 The Natural Act of Reading the Bible Supernaturally, chapter twenty-five: Asking Questions about Words and Phrases. Here, Piper seeks to give us practical tips about how to read the Bible naturally. Before he jumps to this topic, Piper recommends using a Bible translation that seeks to "preserve the forms of structures of the [original] Greek and Hebrew [texts]." He refers to this as "formal equivalence" and as such he recommends either the ESV or NASB translation with ESV being his personal preference. Piper then jumps into how we should read by "looking for the truth that the author intends to communicate by this selection of words in their arrangement...Words don't have intrinsic meaning. They get their meaning from usage." A key practical approach is to use a concordance and to "consider...other uses [of the selected words], as they occur, in concentric circles starting with the paragraph or chapter you are studying. Then consider uses of the word in the same Biblical book. Then consider uses in other books by the same author." We then should widen the circle to the New or Old Testament then to the entire Bible. Finally, Piper recommends sentence diagramming (see also John Piper on "arcing")as a means to put "every part of a sentence into its author-intended relationship to the others."
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My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are an awesome God who loves me and who gave me Your Word to feed, sustain, and to sanctify me - thank You Jesus! What an incredible gift - like the gift of salvation I am undeserving. My sin continues...worry, etc. Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You. Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me. Help me grow in my faith. Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength. Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo. Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior. Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin. Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others. Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your messages for me today and every day.
