The
Bible Study from HELL
Missing the Point of the Scriptures
by Greg Johnson
You’re sitting in your small group Bible
study. You’ve read the passage, talked about the context and the structure of
the book. Now you’re beginning to discuss application. Suzy suggests we just
obey what the Bible says, while Tim goes off about how a coworker is a total
pagan. Mary, meanwhile, says application should be personal, so she starts
drawing up a to-do list from the text. Something in this group is terribly
wrong. What did they miss?
Grace. Jesus. God. Christianity. Everything.
When Bible Study Becomes a Sin
Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for reading the
Bible the way that small group was reading it. “You diligently study the
Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are
the Scriptures that testify about me” (John 5:39).
What made the Pharisees—the ‘serious’
believers of Jesus’ day—so offensive to the Lord was the manner in which
they read their Bibles. The Bible for them had become a rulebook, principles
for living, a program by which they could make themselves righteous. They
thought applying the Bible meant doing things. Jesus said application meant
coming to him for grace.
There are two ways to read the Bible, and the wrong way can send your soul far away from the living God. Paul charged Timothy to present himself as one who “correctly handles the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15). If there were only one way to handle the Bible, Paul would have never had to issue such an instruction. God doesn’t just call us to pick up the Bible and read it. He wants us to read it in a particular way, asking a particular question.
Ask The Right Question
When you delve into a passage of Scripture,
the most important question to ask is not “What rule is there to follow?” That’s
what the Pharisees asked, and it’s why their efforts hardened their hearts
toward God. Moralists start with the wrong question.
The right question to ask is this: Where
is the grace of God in this passage? The grace may be obvious, or it may be
in the context. Indeed, it may be in the simple fact that God wrote the passage
to his covenant people, whom he had graciously taken to be his very own
possession. Until you’ve found the grace in a passage, you have not understood
the passage, nor are you able to rightly apply it.
Of course, rightly seeking grace from the
Bible doesn’t mean we avoid biblical law. The Scriptures are filled with commandments
and instructions, which we dare not take casually. But God gives us
commandments—laws—to show us our sin so we’ll flee from our attempts to be good
enough for God and instead throw ourselves at the feet of Jesus, in whom we
have peace with a holy God.
God’s law is our Teacher, showing us our need
for grace in Jesus. “So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we
might be justified by faith” (Galatians 3:24). It’s also a gracious guide,
showing us what trust in God’s grace looks like in concrete situations. God’s
law directs us to grace, which in turn can enable us to love God’s law.
The problem with moralism isn’t that it takes
the commandments too seriously, but that it doesn’t take them seriously enough.
In my experience, moralists consistently harp on the ‘easy’ commandments to
follow—the ones dealing with outward behavior. Or they invent their own
laws—ones not in the Bible. (Don’t drink. Don’t dance. Don’t watch television.)
They think if they obey such outward rules they can overcome sin’s power, when
in reality they are giving sin what it wants: a self-righteous heart.
You can multiply rules until you’re blue in the face, but they will not help you honor God one bit. “Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility, and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence” (Colossians 2:23). Only grace can enable us to restrain sin. Nothing else will do.
Grace gives us both the motivation and the
ability to live Godward lives. Far from excusing sin, it is the grace of God
that teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions and to live
self-controlled, upright and godly lives (Titus 2:12).
The fact is that most believers already know
what they’re supposed to be doing. What they lack is the motivation and
empowerment to do so. On our own, we simply aren’t able to obey God. When grace
comes to us, however, we aren’t on our own anymore. We can do all things
through Christ who strengthens us—grace makes all the difference.
“Grace gives us both
the motivation and the ability
to live Godward lives.”
Real growth in holiness—the kind that’s in
the heart first and only secondly in our actions—such growth flows not from of
a desire to be good enough, but from a thankful heart that says, “I do believe,
help me overcome my unbelief” (Mark 9:24).
And Please Don’t Slay Your Goliaths
Consider two Bible studies on 1 Samuel 17,
the story of David and Goliath. How would a moralistic Bible study read it?
Easy. It’s a story about David and the great faith he had. David was faithful,
so he defeated the giant. The application? If you’re faithful like David, you
can slay your Goliaths too.
Sound familiar? Beyond the obvious crime of
allegorizing a historical account into some kind of fable, this reading is pure
moralism. In Pharisaical manner, sin’s power is not confronted by God’s grace
at all. The text is essentially about us and what we do, how we can conquer
evil. You may think me harsh, but I’d call this a Bible study from hell.
Now imagine another study of the same passage. You ask, “Where is God’s grace?” You don’t have to look far. The text’s emphasis is not so much on David’s faithfulness as on God’s faithfulness. The passage specifically tells us the battle was not David’s. Rather, we read, “the battle is the LORD’s” (v.47). This text is about something God did for us.
Yahweh—not David—is the hero of the story. It was the Lord who handed Goliath over to be killed (v.46). And God was doing something even bigger—he was beginning to raise up David as king of the nation, a king whose dynasty God promised would never end (2 Samuel 7). This promise would be fulfilled centuries later when David’s descendant, King Jesus, wearing the thorny crown of David—king of the Jews—would go into battle for us and conquer our greatest enemies, even sin and death.
There’s a
ton of grace in this passage:
1. God took the Jews as his people, giving himself to them in a holy covenant relationship. We have been engrafted into this covenant by faith (Galatians 3:29). We learn that God is ours and we are his.
2. God keeps his promises. We can therefore trust him (as David did) because God is trustworthy. He is faithful to us his people.
3. God raises up leaders to accomplish his ministry. This sends a powerful message to those of us trying to staff ministries! God didn’t raise up David by means of a guilt-trip (“If you don’t do it, nobody will”). He didn’t use shame (“How can you call yourself an Israelite if you won’t stand for God?”) or fear of losing salvation (“God will judge you”).
He didn’t appeal to our desire to look spiritual (“People will respect you if you throw rocks at that giant”) or use personal manipulation (“Now, I’ve helped you before; it’s your turn to help me”). God in his grace just made it happen. He can do that. We can therefore ask him to do the same things today.
Remember how Jesus modeled this grace-motivation when he called us to the mission field? Jesus didn’t tell us, “Get you butts out into that harvest!” He didn’t use shame or guilt or any weapon of this world. No. He pointed us instead to a gracious God. “Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into the harvest” (Matthew 9:38).
This Jesus who models grace for us is the same Jesus who purchased grace for us. Jesus is the leader God raised up to save his people. The Bible is not about us, what we do, or how we serve God. Jesus says these are the Scriptures that testify about him, what he’s done for us, and how he gives himself to serve us. True biblical application is all of God’s grace.