Gospel.com Blog

Our friends at BibleGateway.com have just added a new Bible translation to their library of online Bibles: the Common English Bible (New Testament)!

The Common English Bible isnt simply a revision or update of an existing translation. Its an ambitious new translation designed to read smoothly and naturally without compromising the accuracy of the Bible text. As the CEB translators did their work, a team of reading specialists from more than a dozen Christian denominations reviewed the text to ensure that the CEB is accessible to all English readers, including children, Bible students, and people encountering the Bible for the first time. The CEB represents the work of a diverse team with broad scholarship, drawing from over 100 scholarsmen and women from twenty-two faith traditions in American, African, Asian, European and Latino communities.

The result is a strong, readable translation that will be a welcome addition to your Bible study. Its available now in the Bible version drop-down menu at BibleGateway.com. You can read more about the CEB, or start reading!

There are many different approaches to studying the Bible. Some people follow rigid reading plans; others skip around. Some people find methodologies like inductive and topical Bible studies helpful.

In the past, I’ve used books that steadily and purposefully walked me through a passage; but when left to my own devices I tend to slowly read through one book at a time. I might not move on from a particular chapter for a few days or even weeks.

What about you? How do you do your personal Bible Study?

Share your thoughts!

A few weeks ago we asked the following question on the Bible Gateway Facebook fan page: apart from your Bible, what do you have with you when you read or study Scripture? It turned out to be a much more interesting question than I thought it would be.

Some people wrote that they had nothing but the Bible with them, while others listed a cavalcade of writing implements and reference materials. Also, coffee appeared in quite a few responses.

I like the question because it gives us a glimpse into how other people approach a task that’s near and dear to many of our hearts. I generally have just the Bible and perhaps my journal with me when I study Scripture. However, after reading what other things people bring with them, I’m interested to see what might change if I tried out highlighters or a few reference books as well.

What about you? Apart from the Bible, what do you bring into your personal Bible study? Have you found anything particularly effective?

For such a widely-read book, the Bible can be a challenge to read and understand. To be sure, it takes no special training to appreciate the Bible and grasp its Gospel message… but there is a reason that even the most enthusiastic Bible reading plan often hits a wall just a few books into the Old Testament. Many sections of the Bible use vocabulary words and writing styles that aren’t familiar to modern readers.

Fortunately, there’s a lot of Bible-reading help at hand. In his Day by Day devotional, Chuck Swindoll lists out some readily-available resources that will help you get the most out of your Bible reading. Here’s just a few from his list:

Listen, you don’t have to be a theological brain to dig into God’s riches… but you do need some mining equipment. These tools are basic to intelligent, meaningful Bible study. They will enable you to find most of the answers you need, and they are as easy to use as your TV guide. There are at least four you should have on hand.

A Bible concordance. It contains an alphabetical index of all the terms found in the Bible, and it comes in handy when you want to put your finger on a particular verse but can only remember a few words in it. It’s also invaluable if you want a complete list of all the verses using the same word. […]

A Bible dictionary. It is more than a list of words and definitions. It’s like a one-volume encyclopedia, containing vital information on people, places, doctrines, customs, and cultural matters. I recommend either Unger’s Bible Dictionary (well illustrated, scholarly but readable) or the New Bible Dictionary (contains longer articles on technical subjects).

Read the rest of the devotional for his complete list. He helpfully lists out specific titles for each category to help you get started.

Do you keep any of these resources on hand while you read the Bible? What others would you recommend?

If you’re an evangelical churchgoer, chances are you’re familiar with the Sunday morning “mini-Greek-lesson”—the part of a sermon where the preacher refers back to a Bible passage’s original language in order to better explain its meaning.

Reading a Bible passage in its original language doesn’t unlock any hidden secrets that are missing from modern English translations, but it can be helpful in interpreting challenging passages. For this reason, I’ve long felt that even a basic, introductory knowledge of Greek or Hebrew (just enough to look something up in a Greek or Hebrew dictionary and understand the information there) is a very worthwhile goal for Christians to pursue, given the chance.

Have you ever read part of the Bible in the original language in which it was written? How did it affect your Bible study in general? If you don’t currently know Greek or Hebrew, do you plan to study one or both of them in the future?

Share your thoughts!

I recently came across a statistic claiming that only about 10% of professing Christians have read the entire Bible. I’m not sure if that claim is correct, but it wouldn’t surprise me to learn that only a minority of believers have read the Bible in its entirety, for a variety reasons.

I would guess that most active Christians have read or been exposed to most of the New Testament (and maybe the “famous” Old Testament books, like Genesis and Psalms) in the course of their churchgoing and personal devotions; but once you start getting into the lesser-known Old Testament books (Leviticus and Numbers, I’m looking at you), I’d expect to see a dropoff in reading.

Does that 10% include you? Have you read the entire Bible? If not, what stopped you, and do you plan to do so in the future?

Share your thoughts!

Should Christians really be self-sufficient? In today’s devotional from Our Daily Bread, Joe Stowell challenges us with the message that being a Christian means relying on Christ, not on ourselves:

The city of Laodicea had a water problem. One nearby town had fabulous hot springs and another had cold, clear water. Laodicea, however, was stuck with tepid, mineral-laden water that tasted like sulphur. Not hot. Not cold. Just gross.

Given those facts, the words of Jesus to the Laodicean believers in Revelation 3 must have stung. Jesus rebuked them for being “neither cold nor hot” (v.15). And when He thought of them, He felt like vomiting (v.16)—like the effect of their drinking water.

What was their problem? It was the sin of self-sufficiency. The Laodiceans had become so affluent that they had forgotten how much they needed Jesus (v.17).

When we say we have everything we need, but Jesus isn’t at the top of the list, He is deeply offended. Self-sufficiency distracts us from pursuing the things we really need that only He can give. If you’d rather have cash than character, if your credit cards are maximized and your righteousness is minimized, if you’ve become smart but aren’t wise, then you’ve been shopping in all the wrong places. Jesus offers commodities that are far better (v.18).

He’s knocking at your heart’s door (v.20). Let Him in. He will give you all you really need! — Joe Stowell

We must be careful to avoid
All self-sufficiency;
If sinful pride gets in the way,
God’s hand we will not see. —Sper

We always have enough when God is our supply

How do you seek to put Christ first in your life?

Does God really still speak to us today in the twentieth century? That’s the question addressed by today’s devotional, from Woodrow Kroll’s Early in the Morning devotional series. Kroll describes what it must have been like to hear Jesus’ teaching in person—and explains why we can hear his voice just as clearly today:

Today, in the twentieth century, Jesus does not speak to us and teach us as He did early in the morning in the temple, but He still speaks to us through His Word, God’s Word the Holy Bible. We have the benefit of hearing the very same teaching that these heard who came at the dawning of the day to the temple. We can sit at the feet of Jesus today by reading His Word.

H. A. Ironside told of a godly man named Andrew Frazer, who had come to southern California to recover from a serious illness. Though this Irishman was quite weak, he opened his worn Bible and began expounding the truths of God’s Word in a way that Ironside had never heard before. So moved by Frazer’s words was Ironside, that his curiosity drove him to ask, “Where did you learn these things? Did you learn them in some college or seminary?” The sickly man said, “My dear young man, I learned these things on my knees on the mud floor of a little sod cottage in the north of Ireland. There, with my open Bible before me, I used to kneel for hours at a time and ask the Spirit of God to reveal Christ to my soul and to open the Word to my heart. He taught me more on my knees on that mud floor than I ever could have learned in all the seminaries or colleges in the world.”

To spend time in the Word of God yields a much richer understanding of the deep things of theology than to spend time in a classroom. For the person denied a formal education in Bible and theology there is no shame if we spend time at the feet of Jesus. From early in the morning, throughout the day, and into the evening hours the great scholars of the Word become so because of time spent in God’s Book and on their knees. Each of us has the same opportunity to do that. Let’s take that opportunity today.

Read the full devotional at Back to the Bible.

What’s the state of your Bible study and reading today? Do you hear Jesus’ voice of teaching and encouragement when you read the Bible? Do you need to spend more time learning at Jesus’ feet by reading God’s Word?

We all have problems, and we want solutions. That’s why it’s so tempting to treat the Bible like a big book of answers. We just want to find the right verses and passages, because if we can find them then we’d never screw up and get embarrassingly drunk again, or we could win that argument about women in the church, or we could finally have a clear conscience about whether to get the couch or donate the money to charity.

In the Dark Side of Bible Reading Jeremy Berg writes of his concern for this approach. He’s worried that the self-absorption we bring to the study of Bible could be harmful.

Here’s an excerpt:

I am concerned about those who approach the text with their own issues and preoccupations already in mind and ask the Word to magically speak to those issues. I am irritated with an attitude (usually well-meaning and unintentional, by the way) that sounds like: “That’s a nice story Jesus, but can you please address my problem with __________?”…And a thousand other variations.

The hidden dark side of this posture toward God’s Word is that it reveals a deep-seated self-absorption that keeps us at the center of our universe and insists that God and His Word orbit our needs and serve our interests.

He goes on to offer what he calls a “different posture toward God’s Word”:

1. First, let’s humbly approach God’s Word as we would approach God himself. Let’s reverently bow in awe and listen intently to what he is actually saying to us.

2. Instead of “applying the Bible to our lives” (which again assumes we are the fixed center point and the Word is just a holy ointment to be applied to our souls) let’s instead try to “apply ourselves to the Bible.” Put narratively, let’s not let give God a convenient place within our own story; but rather find ourselves swept up in God’s much larger Story!

3. Instead of bringing all of our concerns to the text and forcing it to speak to them, let’s instead let God’s concerns invite us out of our (relatively) petty preoccupations and into the realm of heavenly realities. “Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things” (Col 3:2)…

4. Finally, personal application must come only AFTER one has given God’s Word a fair hearing. Let God lead the conversation where He so desires. When we’re done letting God’s Word speak then we can ask the Spirit to give us a personal assignment in response to God’s challenge.

Read the entire Dark Side of Bible Reading post.

What do you think? Do you agree with Mr. Berg’s posture toward the Bible?

A few weeks ago, I pointed out an article on the Koinonia blog about common Bible study mistakes and the usefulness of inductive Bible study. But what exactly is inductive Bible study? How’s it different from “normal” Bible study, and is it something you need a seminary degree to undertake?

It turns out that inductive Bible study is actually a very simple concept, something that anyone can do while reading through the Bible. It’s a very personalized way of reading through the Bible, and lets you walk thoughtfully through the Bible at your own pace. The good folks at Intervarsity have a short step-by-step guide to inductive Bible study that has helped me grasp the concept.

If your Bible reading feels directionless or lacking, I encourage you to try out the inductive study method on a few chapters. It’ll get you interacting with the Bible text in a way that you may never have done before. If you do try it out (or if you’ve been doing inductive Bible study for a while now), stop by the comment section below and share your experience!