Sam Cotten

I hope you had as much fun with the first bible study as I did! Now, onto “book bible study”. Some people call this ‘literary analysis”. What it means is really quite simple. The idea is that every passage is in a book, and every book is in a genre. Every passage needs to be considered in light of what it contributes to the book it is in! The authors of the bible NEVER write randomly – they are always accomplishing something in what they are saying. This stands to reason. After all – they all have encountered truth of the highest magnitude, and were deeply committed to the communication of it. So, understanding this train of thought through any biblical book is to understand what the Spirit was saying. And understanding what the Spirit was saying is the main key to hearing today what He is saying. After all, isn’t that the goal? Join us below as we use the same passage in John we looked at last week, only this time exploring themes throughout John’s Gospel.  Continue Reading »

Here’s what happened: I am taking a Greek Exegesis class right now, and we learned 6 methods for exegesis in class. Exegesis is what scholars do when they engage with the original languages of the bible, and attempt to learn what the text meant to the original readers, and what it means to us today. It occurred to me that scholars are not the only people in the body of Christ who are called to do this. God calls each of his children to “study to show themselves approved”, to love the Word of God. To that end, I have made an attempt to put these “bible study methods” in a format that is engaging and useful for anyone who desires to understand God’s precious word. I would REALLY love it if you would give it a shot, and let me know the things that are not clear. I want to be able to use this with various audiences for the rest of my life. To that end, I’d appreciate your input.

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