Posts
Well, Today I want to quickly address "Theme". Remmeber, if you want a more robust scholarly approach to Bible Study, please read my post titled, "5 Steps for Real Bible Study" posted July 5. These several posts on "How Do I Study the Bible?" are intended for those who want to study the Bible responsibly, but are limited in their resources and time, and are supplemented by sitting under good Bible Teaching elsewhere.
In Part 1 and 2, I suggested that the two most important aspects of reading the Bible are to know your own Worldview of the Scriptures, and to know the "who's" involved. Today, I want to encourage you to think about theme.
Theme is what the big ideas are that are being talked about. there is usually one really big theme for a book and then lots of little themes running throughout. This makes it easier to interpret certain passages sometimes, and it also helps you memorize where certain portions of scripture are located. For example, probably the biggest theme in the Gospel of Mark is that Jesus was a suffering servant. In the Gospel of Matthew however, the biggest theme is probably that of Jesus being the Messianic King. this might help you remember what book a certain story is in if it is talking about Jesus as Messiah or King as opposed to the Servant of all.
It alos helps though, when we study what the primary lesson truly is behind a text. If we know the "who" of the story, then we should ask, what is the point? The Theme will help us find that out. The great thing about most Bibles nowadays is that they help us with little book and chapter introductions and footnotes to help us distinguish these things. If we pay attention to these three big ideas, we can have a pretty productive personal Bible Study.
I'm keeping this kind of short tonight, so I can spend some time with my family (I write the night before the post occurs). If you have any questions or comments or if you would like to add another consideration, please post it. My policy is transparency with the posts, If you post something, it will appear. Hope to hear from you soon.
God Bless.
With you for His glory
