Acts 2:42 - Prayer In Worship

Acts 2:42 - They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

Message: Prayer in Worship

Time: Clearly written by Luke, this book follows the lives of Peter and then Paul after Jesus' ascension into heaven. The book was completed about 62 AD as Paul sat in prison. It provides an account of the growth of the Church and spread from Jerusalem, from a small group of frightened believers in Jerusalem transformed into an empire-wide movement of people who had committed their lives to Jesus Christ, and it should help us to be bold and have zeal in our walks with God.

What the Lord is Saying: We have been studying Acts in our Sunday School class on Sunday morning. It has been good. The teacher is great and he has taught me things about studying scripture. Lately, reminding me to ask questions as I am reading and studying. For instance, just looking at this verse in Acts I see that the church body was all in. They had an eagerness to study and listen to the apostles teaching. They wanted to be together in fellowship. And they came together to break bread and to be in prayer. It mentions that they were continually devoting so it was obviously very important in their lives. I see this in our class. I think the teacher leads us in this excitement towards God's word and studying it and everyone in the class has the same excitement and fervor. Meaning it is catching on easily. 

Specifically, today's lesson is highlighting prayer. So as these folks were together they were together in prayer. 

Praying is a part of scripture. I Kings 8 is a great example of this when Solomon prays in the temple. That prayer sounds like a prayer that could be said in most churches today. The book of Psalms is a prayer book and these prayers can also become songs to sing to Him. Paul writes in Colossians 3:16 that we are to teach and admonish “one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in [our] hearts to God.”

Summary: Prayer is a private devotion, but it is also a public proclamation that we need to do in public settings. 

Promise: When we sing hymns or pray in unison, let us do so with our hearts and minds fully engaged.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for the power of prayer, for uniting the body of Christ and my marriage and my friendships and even a family saying the blessing for food and thankfulness for provision of food. You bring us together in these prayers and remind us God that you are on the throne and you are to be praised and glorified. Thank you for always listening and showing me daily that you are there and know what I need. Keep us in our churches praying and trusting in You. 

2 Samuel 7:1-17 - The Kingly Covenant

2 Samuel 7:1-17
Now it came about when the king lived in his house, and the Lord had given him rest on every side from all his enemies, 2 that the king said to Nathan the prophet, “See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells within tent curtains.” 3 Nathan said to the king, “Go, do all that is in your mind, for the Lord is with you.”
4 But in the same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying,5 “Go and say to My servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Are you the one who should build Me a house to dwell in? 6 For I have not dwelt in a house since the day I brought up the sons of Israel from Egypt, even to this day; but I have been moving about in a tent, even in a tabernacle.7 Wherever I have gone with all the sons of Israel, did I speak a word with one of the tribes of Israel, which I commanded to shepherd My people Israel, saying, ‘Why have you not built Me a house of cedar?’”’
8 “Now therefore, thus you shall say to My servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, “I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be ruler over My people Israel. 9 I have been with you wherever you have gone and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make you a great name, like the names of the great men who are on the earth. 10 I will also appoint a place for My people Israel and will plant them, that they may live in their own place and not be disturbed again, nor will the wicked afflict them any more as formerly, 11 even from the day that I commanded judges to be over My people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies. The Lord also declares to you that the Lord will make a house for you. 12 When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom.13 He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be a father to him and he will be a son to Me; when he commits iniquity, I will correct him with the rod of men and the strokes of the sons of men, 15 but My lovingkindness shall not depart from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. 16 Your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever.”’” 17 In accordance with all these words and all this vision, so Nathan spoke to David.

Message: The Kingly or Davidic Covenant

Time: Although the book does not name a specific author, the material was compiled from documents written and collected by the prophets Nathan, Gad, and Samuel. Second Samuel is set in the land of Israel during the reign of David and follows the course of his forty years as king of Israel (1011–971 BC).2 Samuel chronicles the establishment of the Davidic dynasty and the expansion of Israel under God’s chosen leader.

What the Lord is Saying:

As a read through this passage in 2 Samuel 7, I took time to look at words in this passage that speak of God providing. God makes the way or is our provider in our lives. He is active. He is working and the passage talks of Him taking over, being with us, making our name great, appointing a place for His people, giving judges over them, giving them rest, raising up descendants, establishing the throne of His kingdom, being a father, correcting him, establishing them always. Over and over I think it is noteworthy to see this type of language and be reminded of the activity of God in our lives. God provides all that we need.

This idea of God's provision I think is the essence of grace which I am currently studying and seeing first through the covenants that God has given us. Yes they often have a command from God, but first and foremost they address God's providence toward us. Grace is necessary because we have broken the law of God, transgressed, eaten from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, been removed from the garden, from the tree of life - and so this grace is needed by God. It is not that good works replaces transgression. Grace replaces transgression.

In this Davidic covenant is another example of God taking David, God providing for David, in making him king. 2 Samuel 7:8 says, Thus says the Lord of hosts, “I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be ruler over My people Israel. Samuel would anoint David to succeed Saul as Israel's King. The anointing is what we see, but the Lord was active in carrying this out. I need to be reminded in my life that accomplishment is provided by the Lord. A simple example of this is when a sports figure wins a championship or even a game or an artist wins an award, the first thing they do is thank God. They may not realize what they are doing, but I think in this achievement they are acknowledging that God is the provider, is the one that first gets the credit.

Do I even do this when someone tells me that I have done a good job? How often does this not even enter my mind. I need to thank God more for His hand of providence in granting me my heart's desire, in doing more than I need.

David is now known as a man after God's own heart and yet his heart was very often deceitful. God made him to be one that would be intimate with Him. Again, to God be the glory.

As the Lord explains further what He will do in David's life - I will be a father to him and he will be a son to Me; when he commits iniquity, I will correct him with the rod of men and the strokes of the sons of men, he also stops and in a crescendo says - but My lovingkindness shall not depart from him. God's covenant with David is permanent. His love toward David is permanent. He will be a father. He will correct him. His love will never depart from Him. This is such a significant statement. God's love for us is not based upon our doing. It is based upon His grace and mercy.

The Father disciplines us. The Lord says that David and his sons will receive correction. But the discipline from God is not aligned with God's love for us. So is this love the same as our salvation? It would seem that salvation is the recognition that God is the provider of all.

This providence of grace is clearly seen in the life of Jesus. Jesus was our visible representation of God on this earth and it is through Him and His life that we clearly see our sins wiped away. Yet, this message of providence is a continuous message throughout the Bible.

Promise: God provides for His people from beginning to end, from the days of David to Christ to today.

Prayer: Lord, thank You for this scripture and showing me so clearly the message of Grace that is central throughout the entire Bible. Thank you for this clear message that explains Your hand of providence in the life of David. I need this message and I pray that people would recognize the truth of Your ways, that you save us by Your grace and we never are meant to save ourselves. You cleanse sin. We acknowledge we are sinners and then You make us righteous. Thank you Lord.

Note: I follow the readings from the Tabletalk Magazine devotional, though I am a little behind and working through 2017 devotionals. 2017 is a study of key biblical doctrines with the April devotional being about salvation by grace alone and how the Lord never fails to save the one whom He has purposed to save.

Genesis 8:22 - Things that Fall Out Necessarily

Genesis 8:22
“While the earth remains,
Seedtime and harvest,
And cold and heat,
And summer and winter,
And day and night
Shall not cease.”

Message: Things that Fall Out Necessarily

Time: Genesis is the first book and Moses is credited as authoring. The book spans 2400 years of time. It was originally written in Hebrew.

What the Lord is Saying:

In light of the discussion of God's sovereignty, namely that there is nothing that the Lord does not determine and control, the result is a challenge from critics that there is not human freedom. Earlier this week, with the study of Governance of Small Things I brought this up and put forth the idea that: God knows our choices and the entire picture and in order to achieve His overarching outcomes ordains how all of these free will actions will work together for His glory. Now, as I come upon this study, it appears the same thing will be addressed by the Tabletalk writers on March 13, 2017 reading.

The writers state that Reformed thought speaks of a first and second cause in creation. Thus, God is not the only cause for events, but the first cause. He is the one that makes cause and effect even possible. Yes, there are secondary causes in God's decree. These secondary causes have real power to make things happen.

The Westminster Confession of Faith states in Question 5.2 - Although, in relation to the foreknowledge and decree of God, the first Cause, all things come to pass immutably, and infallibly; yet, by the same providence, he orders them to fall out, according to the nature of second causes, either necessarily, freely, or contingently.

Thus, there are three categories of secondary causes - means to God's ends: 1. Secondary causes that operate necessarily, 2. Secondary causes that operate freely, 3. Secondary causes that operate contingently.

Today, the focus is on things that fall out necessarily. Here the idea is physical laws cause things to happen by necessity. There are physical laws of our universe such as the law of gravity. Thus, there are not choices as to whether gravity will happen or not. But rather these laws mean that this is how objects work. A book falls off a shelf to the ground because of this law. The scientific community assists in helping us define these laws and their attributes. Thus, these laws are absolute - they happen no matter what. They are universal - they happen throughout the universe. They are stable - they do not change.

Genesis 8:22 speak of this - “While the earth remains, Seed time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.” While the science community helps define how these laws work and acknowledge that they are there. The science community cannot say how these laws began. According to theology, God created these laws. And they shall not cease. 

Promise: Secondary causes are the reasons why we do science. We can predict the weather. We can harvest our food based upon a schedule of seasons. God works through them to sustain human life and the universe. God has provided through these laws.

Prayer: Lord, you are creator and definer of all that we see and do not see. There are invisible things in this creation that we trust and believe in each day and yet they are there because you ordained them and therefore they work in conjunction with your will. Lord, I pray that we would all recognize these laws in our lives and trust You for their provision.

Note: I follow the readings from the Tabletalk Magazine devotional, though I am a little behind and working through 2017 devotionals. 2017 is a study of key biblical doctrines with March being about the sovereign providence of God and looking at how the Bible reveals His control over all things.

Genesis 1:1 - God's Decree and Creation

Genesis 1:1
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Message: God's Decree and Creation

Time: Genesis is the first book and Moses is credited as authoring. The book spans 2400 years of time. It was originally written in Hebrew.

What the Lord is Saying:

God is sovereign which is defined as God actively controlling all things in His creation. He is active today, right now, in working out all things and to work them out according to His will. God has a perfect plan and purpose for all things. He is working from what we know was the beginning of the heavens and earth, up to now and then after now, throughout the history of time. He created time.

The eternal decree of God means that God has planned or decreed all things and this means that things take place as He has planned, decreed, or ordained them.

In the beginning God created all things out of nothing. Only God is eternal - everything else has a beginning. He began creation. He did not combine elements, but he spoke creation into existence. Hebrews 11:3 - By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible. 

Everyone agrees that all of life has a beginning. Granted there are some which believe the material world has always existed (dualism), but for the most part even those that are not religious or atheistic believe that the world at one point began. Thus, we know that all that we know begins. Life begins at conception. Trees and gardens begin from a seed. Every man made object of life had a beginning. The created order is everywhere present in our lives. We simply differ on what caused this creation to occur.

It is not complicated. It is not difficult. We often make it complicated and difficult because we struggle defining it as simple.

Promise: God created and His creation is to be enjoyed.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for creating everything I see and creating it the way that You have. My body amazes me the way You have formed it. Lord, your plan is perfect and there is order by what You have done. Thank you for being eternal and set apart. Lord, I want to continue to testify of You and what You have done.


Note: I follow the readings from the Tabletalk Magazine devotional, though I am a little behind and working through 2017 devotionals. 2017 is a study of key biblical doctrines with March being about the sovereign providence of God and looking at how the Bible reveals His control over all things.

Ephesians 1:11 - God's Eternal Decree

Ephesians 1:11
also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will,

Message: God's Eternal Decree

Time: Paul wrote the letter to the Ephesians sometime in AD 60–61, around the same time he wrote Colossians and Philemon. Ephesians deals with topics at the core of being a Christian - faith and practice, no matter the situation.

What the Lord is Saying:

God's sovereignty over all is something I trust and believe in. It is a doctrine that I feel like is a prevailing doctrine in the lives of Christians, more so those that hold to the infallible word of God. This idea that He is in control of all things is taught in the Bible. God MADE THE HEAVEN AND THE EARTH AND THE SEA, AND ALL THAT IS IN THEM (Acts 4:24) and we trust this. Though we talk about God's sovereignty often, its definition varies it would seem. The simple definition is that God actively controls all that occurs in His creation.

The text today from Ephesians 1:11 calls attention to this with Paul saying God works all things after the counsel of His will. For me it is one thing to say "God is in control" and quite another thing to start talking about specifically what that means. For me the difficulty comes about when we start talking about what God controls. If God controls all, does man still have a will? Is every action of man predetermined?

Going back to Ephesians 1:11, the phrase who works is a present active participle of the verb meaning "to work," thus meaning that the Lord is active today, right now, in working out His purposes in all things. Here is the seemingly hard part of this as it would include good and evil. It would include our choices and include nature and weather. There is nothing that the Lord does not determine and control. Thus, he wills things to occur in the way that they do.

This text states that these actions are after the counsel of His will. Thus, he has a plan. He has a purpose. He has a decree.

It will take some time in these lessons to unpack all that this means. For now, there is the premise that He works out all things according to His will. In verse 9 he says that He made known to us the mystery of His will. Our knowledge of God came from God. Our knowledge of Him came from Him.

Promise: All that God does is in accordance with His decree. Everything in our lives has a specific purpose even though we may not know the purpose.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for being in control and helping me to see this doctrine. Now Lord help me to trust You in Your decree and trust that who You are is what I need. Help me to not get ahead of myself but stay strict to the reading of your Word.


Note: I follow the readings from the Tabletalk Magazine devotional, though I am a little behind and working through 2017 devotionals. 2017 is a study of key biblical doctrines with March being about the sovereign providence of God and looking at how the Bible reveals His control over all things.

I Corinthians 2:10b-16 - Illumining Scripture

I Corinthians 2:10b-16

For the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. 11 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, 13 which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.
14 But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. 15 But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one. FOR WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, THAT HE WILL INSTRUCT HIM? But we have the mind of Christ.

Message: Illumining Scripture

Time: This epistle was written to the church that resided in Corinth of Achaia. First Corinthians is a response to a letter that Paul received from the Corinthian church, and that letter was probably a response to another of Paul's letters. This letter was composed in Ephesus around AD 54-55, and such topics as division, sexual immorality, lawsuits, marriage, Christian liberty, order of worship, and the resurrection are covered in this epistle.

What the Lord is Saying:

This is the last day in this study of Sola scriptura - that Scripture is the sole authority of our lives. There are natural revelations in this world - creation which testifies about God but doesn't necessarily save man. But hopefully it brings us to that knowledge. God speaks through people, through dreams, through events, through anything he desires. But his final revelation of who He is and His salvation is through Jesus and was revealed to us in His holy word. And so All scripture is inspired by Him. All scripture is breathed out from him. It provides us every thing that we need for life - everything. It is complete. It cannot be broken. It never fails. Yet he spoke through fallible men, speaking in a unique way through them, through their personalities. And they can still fail. But the word that we now of a scripture is Sola Scriptura - infallible, inerrant. So it is clear. It should be clear. It is meant to be clear in its meaning. The words itself have been set apart as Scripture through a canon process. As God inspired the writers to write, he also has confirmed the text that we consider to be All Scripture. It ended with the witnesses of the resurrection and Jesus testimony. We need to make sure we rightly handle this truth in our lives. We need to interpret it correctly. It is a literal interpretation and yet there are different ways it is spoken - in non-literal language such as phenomenological and anthropomorphic, through different genre's like prophecy, epistles, law, prophets, parables, apostles and in English styles such as personification, hyperbole, and metaphors. There is explicit and implicit teachings. We interpret the Bible with the Bible. If two passages seem to conflict we must realize they don't, they can't. Understand the context. Yet talk to each other through this process. Help one another to understand it better.

And today, I am reminded that all the while, realize that we are not alone as the Holy Spirit is with us illuminating the words. The Holy Spirit is here. Paul instructs us explicitly in this today. He tells us clearly that the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. We have the Spirit in us, illuminating His words to us, helping us understand what we need to know. This Spirit wants us to freely now the things of God. It is like I have to figure out how to filter out everything that is not God in my life, so that I can see Him, and what He is to teach me and have me learn -- so that we may know the things freely given to us by God. I am to take those spiritual thoughts and then communicate with spiritual words. It is like this is to be my language but according to my personality.

But this doesn't mean that natural man or unbelievers cannot know what scripture is saying - just that they lack the illumination of the text and what it means for salvation or come to saving faith. For them it is a textbook. That's what I've always thought of the JW's and the LDS - this book is a textbook to them. And most people see it as a life manual only. They see it as a handbook to living life now and sometimes even in the next life. But, my life in Christ is everything to me. It is to definite my thoughts and then my words. The Spirit tells me what I am to know about God, my creator, my sustenance, and therefore my life. It is not a duty in order to get more people in a church and please the church - it is me with God in this life. It is living with the mind of Christ.

If the Spirit is in me, it is in others and so I can listen to their words.

Promise: In all of my study of Scripture, I must never forget my need of the Holy Spirit's assistance. As I read, I need to pray that the Spirit will illuminate that reading and give me understanding so that I can then apply it. I am not simply a bucket that is at church or in a study to fill up a bucket, but I am to be a hose, spraying out to everyone in my path.

Prayer: O God, there is power in your name, in You, and You are equipping me even now through the Words and Work of the Holy Spirit in my life. I trust in you. I do not trust in me. I want your words thoughts to be my thoughts and your words my words. Thank you for living in me and illuminating me. Thank you for entrusting me with You and providing me all that I need. Clear out the gutter and the garbage in me. Train me according to your godliness. I depend on You, Jesus.


Note: I follow the readings from the Tabletalk Magazine devotional, though I am a little behind and working through 2017 devotionals. 2017 is a study of key biblical doctrines with February being about the doctrine of revelation and the various aspects of the doctrine of Scripture that sola Scriptura seeks to preserve.

Matthew 19:1-9 - Reading the Bible Holistically

Matthew 19:1-9

1 When Jesus had finished these words, He departed from Galilee and came into the region of Judea beyond the Jordan; 2 and large crowds followed Him, and He healed them there. 3 Some Pharisees came to Jesus, testing Him and asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason at all?” 4 And He answered and said, “Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, 5 and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? 6 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.”7 They *said to Him, “Why then did Moses command to give her a certificate of divorce and send her away?” 8 He *said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses permitted you to divorce your wives; but from the beginning it has not been this way. 9 And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.”

Message: Reading the Bible Holistically

Time: The date of Matthew's composition is anywhere from 55-60 AD probably in Antioch of Syria. The writing is most likely to the Jews. His purpose was to show them that Jesus of Nazareth was the expected messiah and both his genealogy and his resurrection were legitimate proofs of this.

What the Lord is Saying:

I need to be careful about how I read the Word of God each day. I thank you that it illumines my path and as I seek nourishment in it each day, it delivers me closer to Jesus and following God. I am enjoying this understanding of Scripture and the different literary styles being used. It is like an English lesson with the Bible. I learned yesterday to make sure I let the explicit meaning of passages define those that may be more implicit. In essence, scripture interprets scripture or scripture defines scripture. The Latin phrase Scriptura sacra sui ipsius interpres means sacred scripture is its own interpreter.

As I read and understand these words of Scripture, as I walk in them and see that they are a light to my path I conclude that God has inspired them. Paul wrote those words that All Scripture is inspired by God. But, I am still piecing together what He meant my All Scripture at that time. Today I can say that this means the canon of the Bible. I Corinthians 14:33 stated explicitly that God is not of confusion but of peace. This tells me that his inspired word does not contradict itself and I must be careful then about it is interpreted. God would not teach one thing in one passage and then contradict that teaching in another passage.

Take these 2 passages - Deuteronomy 24:1-4 and Matthew 19:1-9 that spoke speak of divorce. In Deuteronomy it states that When a man takes a wife and marries her, and it happens that she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her he writes her a certificate of divorce. In the first century, rabbi Hillel embraced the idea that any time any situation arises in which there are irreconcilable differences then a man is permitted to divorce his wife.

Jesus states here in Matthew 19 - He *said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses permitted you to divorce your wives; but from the beginning it has not been this way. And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.”

I think in Moses's day and in the day of Jesus there was an issue of the hardness of people's hearts on this issue. People are bent towards divorce being an acceptable practice; this was true thousands of years ago and is true today.  Moses and Jesus both come back to the issue of God's plan is for people to marry and not divorce, but both provide their own allowances. We should be focused on the standard and not the exception. But since exceptions occur, we want to make sure we are still on the same playing field as the original expectation. Yet, I am not sure we are. But, I am also not sure any of us are on any issue. I think when we start talking exceptions, Jesus is saying that we need to not do what was often done in the time of Moses and afterwards and that is allow for multiple reasons. Jesus is more strict in stating it is only to be about sexual immorality. Man took a word like uncleanness in Deuteronomy and made it to mean many different things. People then focused on the idea that they could get out of a relationship. The union of man and woman is to be upheld. It is interesting that people looked for the way out and somewhat ignored the consequences.

I think this is what is meant by reading Scripture Holistically - to read all of Scripture and think about the context of each writer. On this issue we focus on the fact that Jesus wants commitments to remain, if at all possible, but if a divorce occurs it needs to be rare. Our divorce rates have improved but mostly because people have stopped getting married.

Promise: We need to read scripture in its context. I need to be a entire-Bible or whole-Bible Christian. I must diligently study all that God has revealed.

Prayer: Lord, help me with the understanding of Your Words. I need Your help.


Note: I follow the readings from the Tabletalk Magazine devotional, though I am a little behind and working through 2017 devotionals. 2017 is a study of key biblical doctrines with February being about the doctrine of revelation and the various aspects of the doctrine of Scripture that sola Scriptura seeks to preserve.

I Corinthians 10:1-11 - Explicit and Implicit Teaching

I Corinthians 10:1-11
1 For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea; 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; 3 and all ate the same spiritual food; 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ. 5 Nevertheless, with most of them God was not well-pleased; for they were laid low in the wilderness.
6 Now these things happened as examples for us, so that we would not crave evil things as they also craved. 7 Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and stood up to play.” 8 Nor let us act immorally, as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in one day. 9 Nor let us try the Lord, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the serpents. 10 Nor grumble, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer.11 Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.
Message: Explicit and Implicit Teaching

Time: This epistle was written to the church that resided in Corinth of Achaia. First Corinthians is a response to a letter that Paul received from the Corinthian church, and that letter was probably a response to another of Paul's letters. This letter was composed in Ephesus around AD 54-55, and such topics as division, sexual immorality, lawsuits, marriage, Christian liberty, order of worship, and the resurrection are covered in this epistle.

What the Lord is Saying:

I continue to examine the different forms of literature that we have in our Bible. The Bible is the Word of God. It is God's special revelation to His people and it is the final revelation. The books that we have of the Canon are complete. This Word equips us to do every good work and apply every good thing in our lives. We can trust it. It is to be interpreted literally, but we also realize that there are different language types it has. There are non-literal ways lie phenomenological which describes things the way they appear, like the sun stood still and anthropomorphic language which describes God as having human attributes, like fingers and hands, though he is a spirit. Personification gives personal characteristics to impersonal entities like trees clapping their hands and mountains singing. Hyperbole exaggerates to make a point as the story of the mustard seed begins with this tiny seed and then grows so people can sit in it. Metaphor is a very common one to use a word for one thing that is meant for something else, like Jesus saying I am the door or the light.

All of this forms helps us to better understand what we are reading. The goal is to interpret texts correctly as religions have been started based upon interpretation and many of the different belief systems focus on different ways to interpret. Thus, as we study each passage it is the explicit, direct teaching of the passage that must control our interpretation of that passage.

By explicit instruction, we mean teaching where the instructor clearly outlines what the learning goals are for the reader, and offers clear, unambiguous explanations of the skills and information structures they are presenting. The text referenced here, I Corinthians 10 is an example of explicit teaching as Paul describes things in order that we would not crave evil things. He says Do not be idolaters...Nor let us act immorally...Nor let us try the Lord...nor grumble. These commandments are clear do's and don't in our Bible, and thus the teaching is explicit.

By implicit instruction, we refer to teaching where the instructor does not outline such goals or make such explanations overtly, but rather simply presents the information or problem to the student and allows the student to make their own conclusions and create their own conceptual structures and assimilate the information in the way that makes the most sense to them. An example of this from Scripture would be the telling of the resurrection of Jesus in the Gospels. All four gospels mentions this miracle that occurred - the presence of angels, a heavy stoned rolled away, the appearance of Jesus. None of the Gospels state that God raised Jesus from the dead but this is a natural conclusion. The doctrine of the Trinity would be another example of implicit instruction. Nowhere is that term used in scripture, but we have the Father, Jesus, and the Spirit all with the same God-like attributes. Thus, the instruction provides to us the conclusion of the three persons of God. 

Exodus 32:14 says that the Lord changed His mind about the harm which He said He would do to His people. Now did the Lord really change His mind? Numbers 23:19 says - “God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good? So here Numbers says that God does not lie, so how could he change his mind? Numbers 23:19 is explicit teaching. Thus, the description in Exodus 32:14 of God changing his mind is anthropomorphic or giving us human attributes. God knew the plan and to us the appearance was that he changed his mind, but He knew what He would do all along. He does not change His mind like we change ours. 

Thus it is important to allow the explicit passages to help define the meaning of the implicit ones. Thus, the explicit teaching of Numbers 23:19 helps guide our learning of other scriptures. This is an important distinction where we need to understand the way the Bible is being written. 

Promise: It is common for belief systems to take implicit teachings and make them explicit but these explicit teachings contradict other teachings. If there are contradictions in scripture then our beliefs are shallow and we cannot believe anything it says. 

Prayer: Lord, again, thank you for this understanding. You are illuminating my understanding of Scripture. You are providing me the different language types in scripture that help shed light on the reading and understand of Your word. You are a great God. You never change. Help others to understand this teaching so that it can illuminate our understanding of You.

Note: I follow the readings from the Tabletalk Magazine devotional, though I am a little behind and working through 2017 devotionals. 2017 is a study of key biblical doctrines with February being about the doctrine of revelation and the various aspects of the doctrine of Scripture that sola Scriptura seeks to preserve.