TODAY'S THEME VERSES: "...men of Issachar, who understood the times and knew what Israel should do... ." I Chronicles 12:32
"Do your best to
present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth." II Timothy 2:15
HARD SAYING FOR THE
WEEK:
Read John 10:28 and
6:39. From this many have concluded that once a person is saved, in God's eyes s/he is always saved from his/her sins. How,
then, do the things we read in Hebrews 6:4-6 and 10:26-31 fit with this doctrine (Perseverance of the Saints)? Is the Bible
once again contradicting itself?
INTRODUCTION TO THE
STUDY
Have each student
write a three sentence paragraph/story describing the following action:
Pastor Clyde plays the piano.
Have the teens pass
their stories three people to the left and answer the following about the story:
From what the person
wrote, find out about:
- The person in the
story
- The author
- The action that
was taken
How would you go
about finding out what's going on in all three of these cases?
-Look at other books/works
the author has written. Are there any other references to piano playing that are similar to this one?
-Look at the characters
in this person's other stories. Do any match the characters of this story? Can they help you?
-Look at the other
person's stories. Do actions like this happen often in their stories? What about the specific words that the person uses?
Can they tell us anything?
BIBLE STUDY
We're going to look
at the Bible today just like we looked at the stories you just wrote. Here are the terms we're going to define and use:
1. Exegesis = the careful, systematic study of Scripture to discover the original, intended meaning
Hermeneutics = the study of methodological principles of interpretation (Websters) - how to interpret the Bible for the "here and now" (Fee and Stuart)
2. Expanding on the definitions
Exegesis includes:
Historical context
Literary Context
Questions of content
The tools
Hermeneutics includes:
Exegesis - understanding what the text meant then
Understanding culture "here and now"
How might we do these
two things today (and not necessarily just with the Bible)?
Understanding these
things (exegesis and hermeneutics) will help us understand just what the authors of the Bible had in mind when they were writing.
This helps us know more about the Bible and how it is true, not only for 2000 years ago but for today as well.
2. Using the definitions above, let's take a look at some verses and use these concepts to understand better what the verses say.
Psalm 23
Who wrote the psalm?
What is a psalm?
When did he write it?
Look at some of the words he used. How does this tell you what his view of God was?
Look at movement from He/I to You in the verses. Is it significant?
How can knowing these things help us apply this to our lives? How does the shepherd motif fit with the school motif today?