This coming Sunday we're starting a new teaching series looking at some of the passages in the New Testament letters which contain the phrase, 'I urge you...'.
Are these commandments? Or are they just good advice - a helpful tip in life? Can you take it or leave it? We're starting with Paul's phrase in Romans 12:1-2.
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
In this series we're going to be dotting around from one letter to another. And it is important to remember that what we are reading are letters from a real person, to real people, in a real context. As always, when it comes to applying the Bible, we need to be able to answer the 'what did it mean then?' question before we can start to think about the 'what does it mean now?' question. A part of this process involves trying to find out as much as possible about the context into which the letter is being written. This week, we're looking at a verse from the letter to the Romans. By way of introduction here are The Bible Project's videos on Romans.
This Sunday our preacher at CBC was David Instone-Brewer. David is Senior Research Fellow at Tyndale House in Cambridge - and you can read more about him here. David did mention his work on the STEP Bible (STEP stands for Scripture Tools for Every Person) and gave a quick demonstration - the idea being that this is a resource that will be accessible to people in the majority world who don't have access to, or can't afford, commercial Bible study software (or books). You can have a look for yourself by clicking here.
If you want to look in a bit more detail there is also a 'Studies with www.StepBible.org' Youtube channel which you'll find here. These short videos will help you get more out of the STEP Bible. I've included the first one here:
In my last post I shared a link to Bible Gateway Plus - a great resource that provides us with aids to help us understand what we're reading in the Bible - through dictionaries and commentaries etc - you can read that post here. Also key to reading, understanding and applying the Bible is an appreciation of the kind of book it is, the different kinds of writing it contains, and its literary and cultural background. I have mentioned several times on this blog the work of The Bible Project. Although they produce a range of resources they are probably best known for their short videos. Some of these are about a specific book of the Bible, some explore a theme or a word, and one of their more recent series is called 'How to read the Bible'. This series, which is still ongoing, currently includes videos on:
What is the Bible?
The story of the Bible
Literary styles in the Bible
The Bible as Jewish meditation literature
Plot in biblical narrative
Character in biblical narrative
Setting in biblical narrative
Design patterns in biblical narrative
I have put the first of these videos below. To watch the rest, head over to their website and whilst you're there have a good look around.
A few weeks ago, following a sermon on Mark 13, I wrote a post about what we do when we come across a passage in the Bible that we don't understand. Do we just ignore it, ask someone else about it, ask Google, or do we have some resources (alongside prayer) that will help us tackle the question for ourselves? You can read that post here. I regularly use Bible Gateway - and if you've ever clicked on one of the Bible reference links on my blog you will have used Bible Gateway too. As well as using their main site to read the Bible, Bible Gateway now have Bible Gateway Plus, which comes with a free 30-day trial. As well as removing all ads from your reading experience this also gives you access to an expanded library - including some similar resources to those I mentioned in my previous post. Click here to read more about Bible Gateway Plus.
I am aware that the resources I mentioned last time do not come cheap so this might be a way of having a look at the resources without any cost - at least for the first 30 days.
