There are several reasons one wants to read a commentary last when studying the Bible. When one interprets the scriptures he or she needs to: identify the complete thought of the passage; examine the content of the passage; examine the context of the passage; outline the story, argument, or poetic structure of any given … Continue reading Critical Thinking and Commentaries

Have you ever purposely been misinterpreted? Sometimes my five-year-old purposely misinterprets me to get out of doing a chore. I will tell her to pick up her room. She proceeds to sit on the couch and watch television. I will tell her I wanted her to clean her room when I told her. Then she … Continue reading Preconcieved Ideas Hinder Proper Interpretation

            One of the earliest memories of Grandpa Nichols was of coming to his house in Kansas, IL. I was overwhelmed by the artifacts from his missions in Africa. I picked up an elephant make from a dark carved wood and asked my mother where they came from. She said from Africa. I said, “Africa?” … Continue reading The Spiritual Legacy of Ed Nichols to His Grandson Josiah Nichols

            Last week we discussed how to interpret historical narrative using the creation account as a model text. This week I want to show you how to identify a historical narrative using five easy steps. This process is called genre identification. Genre identification uses the five c’s by looking at the content, context, congregation, critical … Continue reading Five Ways to Identify Historical Narrative

Tuesday, I said time limited me from speaking about speaking about all the references to the biblical writers referencing Genesis as literal history. I would like to take some time to tell you about that today. Before I do that, I just want to recap on what we talked about last time.             In summary … Continue reading Interpreting Historical Narratives Part II

            People have different ideas about how to interpret the different stories in the Bible. Some view them as fairy tales or folk lore that parents told their children to make them behave. Others view the stories in the Bible as parables that are meant to teach something to their readers about God. Yet, this … Continue reading Interpreting Historical Narrative

The library in Alexandria Egypt is considered by some to have been the most significant library in ancient history. Yet, there is a more important library than the library of Alexandria, the Bible. Yes, the Bible is a library. It was written over fifteen hundred years by forty different authors in seven genres, in three … Continue reading The World’s Most Important Library