Women in the Word
Happy New Year to all of you! With a new year upon us we tend to, with sincere hearts and intentions, start new Bible reading plans! We hope you are encouraged and feel equipped as you think about how you interact with the God of the universe through His powerful, living and active WORD.
In November, a few of us had the opportunity to attend a Women’s Conference where our speaker was author and Bible teacher, Jen Wilkin. This article is a compilation of our notes. Jen immediately prefaced her talk by stating that she is not a motivational speaker, rather a Bible teacher. In her years of Bible teaching she had come to two simple conclusions. First, most Christians do not know our Bibles as well as we should. Secondly, this stems from (generally speaking) a lack of training in proper Bible study. To further prove her point, she told us to get out a paper and a pen for a 20 question pop quiz. After a very humbling rapid-fire pop quiz, we readily saw her point.
Jen went on to challenge, in particular, the Bible study methods or plans most often directed at women which erroneously lead to a feelings-centered approach to reading and studying the Scripture. As believers, we want to know God through His Word, and we want His Spirit to transform us as a result. But, when a Bible study resource or discussion is first aimed at addressing us and our feelings, we mistakenly (knowingly or unknowingly) approach God’s Word as though it’s only about us. When we start there, we are missing critical Bible study that leads to right understanding and comprehension, and jump straight to our favorite part: application. Don’t stop reading yet, there’s good news!
Jen makes this claim, “The heart cannot love what the mind does not know.” We have to think rightly in order to feel rightly. We must consider our time in God’s Word a practice that transforms and deepens our reason and thinking. Our hearts will then follow. We need our feelings to be grounded in who God is as He has revealed Himself in the Scripture, allowing our bigger view of Him to shape and form our hearts and how we live our days.
Once we were all thoroughly convinced of our own Biblical illiteracy and need for a better approach to studying our Bibles (I promise, we had fun, even laughed our way through that admonishing!), she went on to give us 10 ways to grow in our study of Scripture:
Distinguish between devotional reading and actual Bible study. Both are profitable; only one is foundational. How much of my time is spent in devotional or topical studies that someone else has written about Scripture versus studying the Scripture itself?
Remember, the Bible is a book about God – not a book about us. Read it preeminently as a book about who God is. Knowledge of God and knowledge of self will go hand in hand as we study. When we see God for who He has revealed Himself to be, we are able to rightly view ourselves.
Take a long-term view with your Scripture reading. Often we approach daily time in God’s Word expecting to come away with a new realization or nugget of wisdom. We want a sense of accomplishment after our 15-30 minutes of reading! This is what Jen calls a debit card approach: we come each day to make a draw from Scripture. Instead, it is better to view this time like a savings account: every time spent reading God’s Word, we are making deposits that over days, months, years, and decades will yield great gain.
Stay put. Pick a book of the Bible and stay there. The most under-utilized tool in Bible study is repetitive reading (we’ve modeled this so well at SWBIBLE). Read it all the way through, then read it again in a different translation, and then read it again in yet another translation. Write it out!
Honor the context. Context is often the biggest way we miss out on how to rightly understand, interpret and apply. Jen called these the archeological questions:
Who wrote it?
To whom was it written?
What was going on in history at the time of its writing?
What are the major themes of the book as a whole?
How does this book fit into the greater storyline of Scripture?
Understand genre. The Bible is literature, and there are literary rules for reading different genres. It is important to be able to distinguish between them, understanding that each needs to be read differently.
Use proven study methods.
Comprehension (Asking, what does it say?):
Look up words in dictionaries - even words that you think you know! Biblical translators chose those specific words when translating for a purpose.
Is there a word being used repeatedly? What about connecting words or phrases like “therefore” or “so that”? Is the gospel articulated or pointed to? Use colored pens/pencils so you can see all the different things you’ve noticed. Read it again.
Interpretation (Asking, what does it mean?):
Revisit the archeological questions (who/when/why). And remember, meaning is determined by the author and discovered by the reader. It cannot mean to us now what it did not mean to them then (though on this side of history we may have a fuller grasp of the implications of the text).
Use cross references and let the Bible interpret itself
Paraphrase or summarize the passage in your own words
Application (Asking, what do I do with this knowledge?):
First: What did it mean for them and for then? How did the believers receiving this apply the text to their lives?
Second: what does it mean for the church and for always? Before we jump to me, remember the Bible is for the people of God in all times. This is an important step!
Third: What does it mean for me and for now? We did a lot of hard work to get here! It’s good work though.
Dwell in the I-don’t-know. When we feel uncomfortable, rather than seeking to diminish that feeling as quickly as possible, by going straight to a commentary or our Bible study notes, for example, let it become our friend. Learning begins when we sense a disconnect between what we don’t know and what we want to know. Without this dissonance, we do not retain what we have learned.
Study all of it. We need all of the Bible, not just the easily digestible parts. All of Scripture is profitable. Remember, the Bible is a book, and no book was written to simply have its reader drop in to read a paragraph here or there. The Bible is a collection of scrolls written over 1500 years; a beautiful work of divine wisdom, bound between two covers for us modern readers to be studied, internalized, and lived out in the life of the believer. It goes without saying that this is a lifelong endeavor, but give yourself to understanding all of it.
Pray. This is certainly the most important part of Bible study.
Pray before. “Lord, please reveal more of yourself to me during this time.”
Pray during. “Lord, my mind is wandering, please help me stay focused.” Or, “Lord, this truth is so wonderful. Please help me to write it on my heart.”
Pray after. “Lord, what I read was confusing today but I am entrusting it to you, that over time you will help me to understand.”
After hearing this message, we were in awe of how much more we could be gleaning from studying the Bible in these profitable ways. Each of these tools is so valuable in deeply understanding our Lord and His desire & purpose for Scripture. This year as we strive to be women in the Word and put into practice these things above, we pray that you may increase in the knowledge, grace and love of God.
“Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship. Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.” Romans 12 v. 1-2, CSB
