Living by the Book/Living by the Book Workbook Set (23 page)

Things That Are Emphasized

Things That Are Repeated

Things That Are Related

Things That Are Alike

Things That Are Unlike

Things That Are True to Life

H
ave you ever gone to a doctor with a sore throat? The first thing he or she asks you to do is to stick out your tongue. He takes a glance down your throat and says, “Aha.” Right away he knows what’s wrong. I could look in your mouth from now to eternity, but it would do no good, because I don’t know what I’m looking for.

The same principle applies to Bible study. You could spend hours paging through the Word, but it will be a complete waste of time if you don’t know what you’re looking for. That’s why, in Observation, you ask and answer the question, What do I see? You assume the role of a biblical detective, searching for clues, and no detail is trivial.

There are six clues to watch for in Scripture. You’ll hit pay dirt every time if you notice them. And God has provided an excellent tool to help you remember them—your hand. There’s a clue for each of the fingers, and one for the palm of your hand. In this and the next four chapters, I’ll show you how to spot these six important clues.

Start with your thumb. The first clue to look for is:

The Spirit of God uses a number of tools to emphasize ideas, events, people, and other material in Scripture. Let me mention four of those tools.

A book can emphasize something by devoting a large portion of space to it. We’ve seen that in Genesis. It has fifty chapters. The first eleven cover the creation, the Fall, the Flood, the tower of Babel, and other details. All of those major events are compressed into just eleven chapters. By contrast, the writer devotes chapters 12–50 to the lives of four individuals: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. Through this emphasis, the Spirit of God is teaching us that the most important thing in the book is the family that God chose to be His people.

We see the same thing when we come to the gospels. For example, of Matthew’s 1,062 verses, at least 342 of them—one-third of the book—give us discourses of the Savior. That has a major bearing on the purpose of the book. Likewise, some gospels take much more space to cover the crucifixion than they do other events in the life of Christ.

In the epistles of Paul, we frequently find a section of doctrine followed by a section of practical implications based on that doctrine. For instance, in Ephesians, chapters 1–3 tell us what God has done for us. Then chapters 4–6 tell us what we need to do as a result. That’s an intriguing balance between theology and practice. The same pattern is found in Colossians. However, in Romans the ratio is eleven chapters of doctrine to five of implications— which gives us some idea of the emphasis Paul wants to make there.

So whenever you observe a portion of Scripture, ask, How much space is given to this subject? What is the writer emphasizing?

Another way the biblical writers may emphasize their points is by telling us straight out what they are up to. Remember, we saw a prime example in John 20:30–31:

As I pointed out in
chapter 15
, John presents seven carefully selected signs earlier in the narrative to accomplish this purpose—to show that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that He is therefore worthy of a person’s trust.

Or take Proverbs. Solomon launches this fascinating collection of wisdom sayings by telling the reader up front why he ought to read the book:

Those are impressive benefits. And the rest of Proverbs follows through on those promises. By stating his purpose at the beginning, the writer frames the reader’s thinking as he or she approaches the material. Whatever else you expect from Proverbs, you know that it is going to emphasize wisdom.

A third way to emphasize something is to give it a strategic placement in the material. This comes before that; or this follows that.

For instance, in Genesis 2, God places Adam and Eve in a garden “to cultivate it and keep it,” the text says (2:15). Then in chapter 3 the couple sin, and God drives them out of the Garden and curses the earth (3:17–24). That order becomes important when we talk about a person’s work, because some people believe that work is a part of the curse. But the order of events in Genesis disallows that interpretation.

Another illustration comes from the life of Christ, in Luke 3 and 4. In chapter 3 you have the baptism of the Savior. In chapter 4 you have the temptation. Notice the order: in the baptism He is approved by God; in the temptation He is tested by Satan. The order is significant.

Or take a third illustration, also from Luke. Chapter 6 verses 14–16 recount the choosing of the Twelve. Look carefully at the order: Simon Peter and Andrew; James and John; Philip and Bartholomew; Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot; Judas the son of James; and Judas Iscariot. Who is mentioned first? Who is paired with whom? Who is last?

By choosing where to locate people, events, ideas, and so on, a writer can call attention to something. So look for the order given. It can yield major insights into the text.

These are really special cases of what we’ve just looked at in terms of order. Often a writer will build up to a climax, where he presents some key information.
In the life of David, 2 Samuel 11–12 records one of the most crucial events of David’s life—his sin with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband Uriah. Those chapters form a sort of pivot to the book. Everything before leads up to them, everything after goes down from them.

Or take Acts 2. When you study the book of Acts, you discover that chapter 2 is the pivot. It’s the one chapter without which you couldn’t have the book. Everything grows out of what happens there. It is Luke’s way of emphasizing that material.

So the first clue to look for when you come to the Scriptures is that which is emphasized. The writers have gone to great trouble to hang a sign out that says, “Hey, this is important. Pay attention.” Look for the four kinds of emphasis I’ve mentioned, and you’ll quickly catch on to what matters in the text.