Bible Versions

I got a very clear lesson the other day in why it is important in studying the Bible to consider reference to more than the one version you normally read or study from (and those may be two different versions as reading and studying the Bible are two different things in my mind. But that is another story for another day). The lesson came not from studying the Bibke but from reading through John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion. It was a sentence the the second book, second chapter, first section. One sentence struck me as I read:

"Also, it is no less to our advantage than pertinent to God's glory that we be deprived of all credit for our wisdom and virtue."

You are probably saying, huh? I have a confession, the above snippet comes from the website above. I have actually been reading along in a copy of the Institutes that I have had on my shelf for a copy of years but never got around to study. (My friend David at A Boomer in the Pew turned me on to working through the Institutes in a one year reading plan. He is doing a much better job of working through it and mining out meaning and application. Follow him to keep up on the book, not me). I seem to do much better reading from an actual book than on the computer screen, retaining and comprehending better. Does not bode well for me in the future on the on line world, but there it is. I have to have a book in my hand and not on my screen.

So what did I read? The following:

"Not having glorified him by the acknowledgment of his blessings, now, at least, he ought to glorify him by the confession of his poverty. In truth, it is no less useful for us to renounce all the praise of wisdom and virtue, than to aim at the glory of God."

Maybe it is just me, but that hits me completely differently. And I checked the location in the two texts. It is the same thought even if not the same sentence.

My point is that in studying something as deep as Calvin, the interpretation used can impact your understanding. In studying the Bible, which is so deep as to make Calvin seem the shallow end of the pool compared to the vastness of the ocean, how an interpretation translates even as much as just a word can vastly alter your comprehension and understanding.

"Dig in to the Word, but you may need to keep several shovels close at hand."

That isn't from Calvin. That's from me.

Search and Read

Here are some great thoughts from The Daily Spurgeon today:

Search the Scriptures. Do not merely read them — search them; look out the parallel passages; collate them; try to get the meaning of the Spirit upon any one truth by looking to all the texts which refer to it.

That is probably my problem, I just read the Bible most of the time, I am not searching it. Searching sound so incredibly active compared to the somewhat passive sounding reading. Searching, seeking God out, mining the nuggets. Searching, I like that.

Read the Bible in a commonsense way. Do not read it on your knees, as I have known some people do, it is an awkward posture: get into an easy chair: read it comfortably. Pray after you have read it as much as you like, but do not make a penance of what ought to be a pleasure.

But before you turn into Bible CSI, make sure you read it as well. Comfortably, leisurely, with joy as well as prayer. I like that too.

What this says to me is that the Bible is there for all aspects of our life: work and study, leisure and play, rest an d prayer. What this says to me is that this book is to be my one constant companion. The one book you would want to be able to have with you on a desert island. The one you would never grow tired of.

Search, read, study enjoy. Grow in the Lord.

A Year With The Institutes - 1.8.1-4

Continuing with my reading of the Institutes, this section from today's reading focused for me the beauty of the Bible:

Now this power which is peculiar to Scripture is clear from the fact that of human writings, however artfully polished, there is none capable of affecting us at all comparably. Read Demosthenes or Cicero; read Plato, Aristotle, and others of that tribe. They will, I admit, allure you, delight you, move you, enrapture you in wonderful measure. But betake yourself from them to this sacred reading. Then, in spite of yourself, so deeply will it affect you, so penetrate your heart, so fix itself in your very marrow, that, compared with its deep impression, such vigor as the orators and philosophers have will nearly vanish. Consequently, it is easy to see that the Sacred Scriptures, which so far surpass all gifts and graces of human endeavor, breathe something divine.

The Institutes of The Christian Religion Book One, Chapter 8.1

I have read through the Bible several times, and I never tire of it. Never will. I cannot say that for any other book I have read, no matter how much I enjoy them. Take The Lord of the Rings by Tolkien. I have read it, since college, maybe 5 or 6 times, usually with a several year period between readings. I could not finish it, then start it all over reading it again right away. And I love LOTR.

Put the Bible away for several years and not read it? Are you kidding? As soon as I finish it, I am looking at how I want to read through it again. Only the divine word of God could move me so. No other book could make me eager to come to school, attend a lecture, waiting to mine the next nugget out of an infinite store of wisdom.

If you are not reading the Bible everyday, start. If you have not read entirely through it, either cover to cover or with a plan that hops around but schedules out the entire book, do it. Just Google "Bible reading plans" and see what you get to work from.

You may not agree with Calvin on everything, you may not agree with him on anything. But at the very least, you will have to admit that he got this one right.

It's A Bible Filled Life

I was just looking around my office this morning a realized I have quite a few Bibles, but somehow I never seem to have enough as I always manage to see the need to pick up another. So what do I have? Here are the versions I have, either as standalone or in some form of compendium:

• NASB
• NET
• NIV
• ESV
• KJV
• NKJV
  
• Amplified
• NCV
• NWT

I have Study Bibles, Life Application Bibles, Comparative Bibles, travel size Bibles, Bibles that are just Scripture and no notes, Bibles that have more notes than Scriptures, an old family Catholic Bible. I have them on-line (here and here), in print and on DVD.

All in all I have about 20 volumes of Bibles. I have to scratch my head to remember where I got all of them from. Which do I use? At seminary I use the NASB for class, the NET for chapel. Not sure why the dichotomy. At home the NET for morning reading, although I am going to work through my new ESV Study Bible in 2009 as part of one of my small group reading plans. My wife has been using the same Bible for years, same version, same volume, NASB. I admire her consistency, but I cannot do it myself. Not sure what it says about me.

Given my 2009 reading plans, it means I am probably in the market for a travel sized ESV. (Have you seen the size of the ESV Study Bible? They do have size restrictions on carry on luggage for air travel you know)

And I might likely need more shelf space soon.

Do you have a favorite version? Do you hop around like me? If not, how long have you been faithful to the version you are reading?

J. I. Packer on Theology and Bible Reading

I just read a gem of an essay by J.I. Packer called "Theology & Bible Reading" in The Act of Bible Reading edited by Elmer Dyck. It is a collection of essays by faculty of Regent College from 1996.

Packer's thesis is that theology and bible reading go hand in hand. He believes this now (but didn't in his youth, which was some time ago). The argument that theology (thought and speech about God) is elitist is attacked quite vigorously. Anyone who speaks about God is in a sense, a theologian, so why not be a good one by coupling theology with bible study? It is an interesting circle: theology gives you the framework to understand what God has said to us, but bible reading gives you the message itself.

Packer discusses the disciplines of theology. Starting with exegesis of a passage (the original meaning of the passage), Packer walks you through organizing exegetical findings (biblical theology), study of what past Christians made of the passage (historical theology) and developing a disciplined framework (systematic theology). Apologetics (defense of the faith), ethics (ideals of Christian behavior), missiology (fulfillment of ministering tasks appointed us by God), spirituality) life in communion with God) and liturgy (worship of God) follow. The disciplines wrap up with practical theology, how to do god's work and glorify His name in our particular serving roles and situations.

Packer talks briefly about how the liberal theological views coming out of the enlightenment led to a distrust of traditional theology. It took a resurgence of fundamentalist scholarship to get us where we are today.

Packer then follows with relating bible reading and theology in four tasks:

1) Receptive – noting all that is said about what God has done, is doing or will do.

2) Critical – relating historical Christian positions to the biblical language.

3) Applicatory – drawing practical guidance from God's revelation for contemporary life.

4) Communicative – finding ways to edify believers, instruct unbelievers correct notions and rebut antagonistic positions.

Packer wraps up with why everyday folks should be concerned with theology. How it shows us a coherent, consistent approach to the bible and how it sets out the substance of the bible. In essence, how theology keeps bible reading a "He" exercise and not a "me" exercise.

I would recommend this essay to anyone as an immensely readable and thoroughly enjoyable read.