What better way to come to the end of a week focusing on reclaiming the Bible as the Living Word that shows us who God is, what we are like, what the world is like, and how we shall live as a result than with a Bible study that does just that. This is from Jimmy Davis’s second article on Bible study at Worldview Church webzine. Be sure to read the whole article. He offers an approach that will help you study any portion of God’s Word.
How To Use The Bible As Drama, Doctrine, and Directions
“I’ve been going to Sunday School all my life, and I’ve even been teaching Sunday School for years, but I’ve never understood how the whole Bible fits together until now.” That’s the response I received a couple of years ago when I taught this drama-doctrine-directions concept to an intro-to-the-Bible class in the adult continuing education program of a local college. It was one of the saddest and gladdest moments of my teaching ministry. I was sad because I could sense the question she was asking inside, one I’ve asked myself, Why didn’t anyone teach me these things? It grieves me that I and others have grown up in the church and have never understood what the Bible is, much less what to do with it. But her words also made me glad, because there are few joys like watching God help someone see the Bible with fresh depth through the 3D glasses of drama, doctrine, and directions.
Trying on the 3D Glasses
Last week I promised a sample of how this works in my own personal study. Recently I was considering the one another passages in the New Testament. The obvious place to begin such a study is John 13:34-35:
34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Having put on my 3D glasses, I can quickly identify this passage as directions because any command from God is His way of saying “If you want to live in the story of Jesus, do this.” I can also identify some doctrine in these verses. Jesus is saying something here about the theology of God, God’s love, man, the church, evangelism, the cross, and more. But I need to start with the Story, the drama that unfolds in the pages of Scripture. So, my first question is always Where does this passage fit in the larger story that the Bible is telling? Jimmy Davis, Associate Pastor, Metrocrest Presbyterian Church, Dallas.
