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Summary:
Today I’m talking about how to use extra-biblical resources responsibly. We’ll talk about the Bible, translations, inerrancy, and what you can do to protect yourself from untruth while studying the Bible.
Podcast Transcript:
Welcome to Journey Together, a podcast for Christian women who want a deeper relationship with God. I’m your host, Brigette, and today we’re talking about how to use extra-biblical resources.
Introduction
So I realized as I started putting this podcast together that I can’t talk about extra-biblical resources without also talking about Bible translations and inerrancy, so this episode is going to be a bit of a mix. But don’t worry, you’re going to walk away from this podcast with a better understanding of God’s Word and how you can use extra-biblical resources responsibly.
Extra-biblical resources are resources we find outside of the Bible. This includes commentaries, bible studies, those notes you find in study Bibles, history books; anything we find outside of scripture that informs our understanding of God’s Word.
Why Use Extra-Biblical Resources
Extra-biblical resources are important because scripture was inspired by God, but it was written through the lens of its writers. Those writers wrote from the perspective of what they saw around them: the politics, culture, events, and dangers of their world. As we read their words in the 21st century, we have a different perspective. Which is great, because God’s word has stood the test of time and is still applicable today. But it’s so easy for us to interpret scripture based on our perspective rather than understanding what the writer really meant.
For example, the other day I was reading through Acts and came across a strange passage. In Acts 15, followers of Jesus, including Paul and Peter, are debating whether Gentile believers needed to be circumcised. If you’re not familiar with the Old Testament, and you don’t know what a “Gentile” is, this passage can be really confusing.
The Abrahamic Covenant
Back in Genesis 17, God told Abram (who we know better as Abraham) to circumcise all the males in his house as a sign of God’s promise to make Abraham a great nation. For centuries, Jews circumcised all the males in their household. But when non-Jews (or Gentiles) accepted Christ as their Savior, the question was, “do these men need to be circumcised?”
In Acts 15:10, Peter said in response, “why are you testing God by putting a yoke on the disciples’ necks that neither our ancestors nor we have been able to bear? On the contrary, we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus in the same way they are.” In other words, there is nothing anyone has ever done in order to save themselves. We are saved by grace. Peter believed that because we are saved by grace, circumcising the new Gentile believers was unnecessary.
But, the part that really threw me off was a few verses later. James chimes in and adds that they should encourage the Gentile believers not to eat anything that was sacrificed to idols. I thought this was odd because in 1 Corinthians 8, Paul tells the church at Corinth that it is okay to eat food sacrificed to idols as long as it isn’t a stumbling block to anyone around them. So I pulled out a commentary to see if I was missing some cultural context. And I was!
Context
According to the Faithlife Study Bible, the things James mentions in Acts 15:20 were common forms of Gentile worship. So James encouraged these Gentile believers to abstain from them for the same reason Paul told the Corinthians to abstain: so that it did not cause confusion among the unsaved or new believers. I’m not an expert on 1st century Gentile worship, so that’s not something I would have known without help.
And that’s why we use extra-biblical resources: as tools to help us understand the Bible better. But we do have to use caution, because there are some resources out there that don’t teach biblical principles.
We Compare Everything to Scripture
When I was in college, a speaker told us that someone had just found an ancient scrap of writing and all it said was, “and he was married.” So the person who found it determined Jesus must have been married. This was just an old scrap of paper. Nothing about its location, age, or writing style could prove Jesus was married. And since scripture never mentioned Jesus was married, and that’s kind of a big detail I don’t think anyone would leave out, it’s safe to assume that Jesus wasn’t married.
At some point though, that “discovery” may make its way into a book, claiming that Jesus was married. And people may read that statement and believe it’s true without comparing it to scripture. That may sound bizarre, but those things actually happen a lot!
365 Times The Bible Says “Do Not Fear”
For example, have you ever heard someone say, “there are 365 instances of the phrase ‘do not fear’ in the Bible”? That’s actually not true at all! Several years ago, I dug through scripture looking for these 365 instances and only found about 120 instances that actually meant “do not fear”, and that includes all of the other words and phrases we use to tell others not to be afraid like, “fear not”, “do not be afraid”, etc. I did some more research, and apparently, several decades ago a pastor wrote a book with that claim in it, and people have just latched on to that idea and it has spread like wildfire. But it’s not true. And it’s not an accurate representation of what we read in the Word of God.
Those are the kinds of things you want to watch out for: claims about Jesus, God, biblical figures, salvation, grace or anything else that doesn’t match what we read in scripture.
The Validity of Scripture
You see, the Bible isn’t just a book about Jesus and His Father in heaven, it is actually the Word of God, breathed out by God Himself as He inspired humans to write down what He wanted us to know.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 says, “All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”
This verse is the reason why we refer to the Bible as inerrant, which means that it has no errors. We’re going to take a few minutes to talk about inerrancy and Bible translations because this is going to help inform your understanding of how to study the Bible and use extra-biblical resources responsibly.
Inerrancy
Now, most of us don’t read the original Biblical text. We read translations, versions translated by human beings to make the Bible more accessible to us. Which is wonderful and amazing; there are still people in this world that don’t have access to the Word of God because it’s not in their language. We are so blessed to be able to read and study God’s Word the way we do. But those translations are not the original and are not God-breathed, and therefore can contain errors.
Before you panic, there appears to be very few if any errors in modern translations. But as technology advances, it is going to become easier for people to release their own versions of scripture, so we need to be careful.
The Passion Translation
One example of this concern is the Passion translation. The author is not shy about saying he added words or phrases to the text if he felt they were necessary to get the message across. This goes beyond changing things from one language to another; he actually changed words if he felt they were a better fit. So if this is a translation you like, proceed with caution. We’ll talk more about how to do that in a minute.
The Message
I am also cautious with the Message. I do reference it when I’m stuck on a passage or I want to read a more modern translation, but I always compare it with other translations to make sure what I’m reading reflects the original word of God.
One thing that concerns me about the Message is that it was written by one person. Most translations we’re familiar with, (the NIV, NKJV, CSB, ESV, and NLT) all of these are put together by a team of people. The Message was reviewed and approved by 20 bible scholars, but they were not involved in the translation process. And although having a team of translators doesn’t completely protect the work from error, it does help.
Three Powerful Tools You Already Have
Now, I am not saying all of this to scare you. You are capable of understanding these things and studying the Bible for yourself. In fact, you already have three powerful tools to help you discern and study scripture:
Prayer
The first is prayer. We can ask God to guide us as we read and study His Word. When we don’t understand what we’re reading, we can ask for help. And when something still doesn’t make sense, we can ask God to help us know whether it’s something we should press into and study more or something we need to walk away from for a time. Prayer is a powerful tool we can use to help us understand scripture and to determine whether extra-biblical resources are safe to rely on.
Holy Spirit
We also have the Holy Spirit. When Christ left Earth after His resurrection, He gave us the gift of the Holy Spirit to comfort us and guide us in the truth (you can read more about that in John 15-16). If you are a born-again believer, you have the Holy Spirit inside of you to help you, but you have to listen. It’s so easy to pray for guidance and then slip into interpreting scripture for ourselves. Remember to listen to the Holy Spirit as you read and study the Word of God and other resources.
Scripture
And finally, use scripture to interpret scripture. If you read something in the Bible and it seems to contradict something else you read in scripture, compare the two passages. That’s what I did with the passages in Acts 15 and 1 Corinthians 8. And when I couldn’t find an answer, I referred to an outside source to see if I was missing some cultural context.
If you aren’t super familiar with using a Bible, you might not have noticed that many Bibles have built in references. For example, as I was reading Acts 15:11, the word grace had a tiny “h” next to it. In the space between the two columns of text on each page of my Bible, there are references for those little letters. For “h”, Romans 3:24, Ephesians 2:5-8, and Titus 2:11 were listed. All three of these passages further explain Peter’s point in Acts 15:11. So if you need more information, you can use those little references to help you use scripture to interpret scripture.
Next Steps
And if scripture interpreting scripture isn’t helping you, you can reach out for other resources. The good news is, those powerful tools I just mentioned (prayer, the Holy Spirit and scripture) are a great place to start when you’re looking for a safe resource. Here are a few other things I look for in a reference:
- Who wrote it? First I ask, who wrote it? Is it by someone that has been recommended to me? How do/did they live their life? What is their background? Do they agree with the same basic essential beliefs I believe in? These questions will help you determine whether an author is reliable in their interpretation of scripture.
- Who published it? It’s also good to ask who published the resource. Offhand, Tyndale, Crossway, B&H Publishing (which is also called Lifeway), Baker Books, Harvest House, and Moody Publishers are all publishers I trust. I know that their essential beliefs align with mine and I’m more likely to find strong biblical content from these publishers.
- Does someone I trust recommend this resource? Your pastor or other leaders at your church are great people to ask about resources, too. Or, if you’ve read one resource and feel comfortable with its writer, you can look for other resources by that same author.
At the end of the day, you may pick up a resource and find something completely unbiblical in it. And that’s okay. My goal is to equip you and teach you to be discerning. There is no way to 100% make sure the resources you’re using are safe, but we can practice caution and remind ourselves that extra-biblical resources are not without errors, and we can rely on the truth of God’s Word and the Holy Spirit inside of us to guide us.
Resources I Recommend
Now, I can’t leave you today without recommending some of my favorite resources. So here’s some resources I recommend and why I recommend them. I have a blog post on my website that lists these resources and I’m going to be adding to it as I find more resources I like, so definitely follow that link in the show notes and save it for future reference.
Logos Bible App
First up is the Logos Bible App. This app has a ton of resources on it, but specifically, I use the Faithlife Study Bible all the time. You can also pay for more resources either one resource at a time or in a package. This is my go-to resource when I’m confused about what I’m reading.
Enduring Word Commentary
Then we have the Enduring Word commentary. I like that the author references several other Bible scholars throughout the commentary, so you know it’s not just one man’s opinion. And there is an app for it, so you can have it with you all the time.
Blue Letter Bible
Next, is the Blue Letter Bible. You can download the app on your phone or use their website. Blue Letter Bible has a feature that lets you look up the original word and compare the way it’s translated in other parts of the Bible. It also has several commentaries I like to use like the Matthew Henry commentary and sermons from Chuck Smith.
Bible Project
Last, I highly recommend watching the Bible Project videos. They have videos for each book of the Bible giving a detailed outline of each book. And they also have videos for different themes including Sabbath, the Holy Spirit, Satan and more. They’re animated and easy to understand. I love watching them when I start reading a new book of the Bible.
Conclusion
If there’s anything I want you to grasp today it’s this: you are capable of reading and studying the Bible. I know it can feel overwhelming to have so many things you don’t know or feel unsure about, but just take baby steps. Start somewhere and be consistent. The more you spend time in God’s Word, the more you’ll be equipped to discern what is right and wrong.
That’s all I have for you today. If you have any questions, don’t forget you can email me at brigette@brigettehenry.com. My name is spelled kind of weird so that link is in the show notes. I also mentioned “essential beliefs” a few times today. If that’s unfamiliar language to you, you can listen to episode 4 of this podcast for more information. And if you like this podcast, don’t forget to like, subscribe and share it with your friends. I’ll see you next Tuesday, friend. Bye!
Links:
Music by: Morning Garden – Acoustic Chill by Olexy on Pixabay
My website: https://brigettehenry.com
Interested in 1:1 coaching: https://brigettehenry.com/coaching
Subscribe to my weekly email: https://brigettehenry.com/subscribe
Faithlife Study Bible on the Logos App: https://www.logos.com/get-started
Logos Bible App: https://www.logos.com/get-started
Enduring Word Commentary: https://enduringword.com/
Blue Letter Bible: https://www.blueletterbible.org/
Bible Project: https://bibleproject.com/
Information on the Passion Translation: https://www.gotquestions.org/Passion-Translation.html
Information on the Message: https://messagebible.com/translation/
Contact me at: brigette@brigettehenry.com
All scripture is CSB (Christian Standard Bible)
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