“Thank you for joining us on this journey into Bible study.
The Pointe of this lesson is to help the student:
- Understand the structure of the KBS Bible study lessons.
- Have an opportunity to practice answering questions within the five steps of this study.
- Contemplate the depth of the love of God.
So let’s start by looking at the structure we will use for every Bible study. We will consider five steps to work through each passage of Scripture. These five steps will give you a basic foundation for understanding the historical context of the passage, an insight into making proper applications of the passage, and an opportunity to ponder how you would share the truths of the passage with someone else.
STEP ONE: READ IT
LifeWay Research discovered that although people say they revere the Scripture most – even church-going believers – don’t read it. Our first task in order to better understand the Scripture is to READ IT. We want to find a version or versions of the Bible that help us accomplish a better understanding of the passage.
The Scripture will be printed from the Holman Christian Standard Bible. This version is a word-for-word translation and is conservative in its approach to God’s Word.
In addition, there will be links to 20 other renderings of the Bible, including one in Spanish. Since our study is in the New Testament, a link will also be provided to the original Greek language.
In our references to Scripture, if the verse is printed out with the version after it, you can hover your mouse over the verse and a window with the verse will appear.
John 3:16 ESV
But if only the name of the version is listed, you need to click the link and another tab will be opened in your browser with the verse.
When I study a passage of Scripture, I always look at five versions of the Bible. Having studied the Greek language at seminary for the better part of six years, I begin with the original language of the New Testament. Next I get a literal or word-for-word translation of the Bible. This approach to translation makes sure that every Greek or Hebrew word gets an English equivalent. The drawback to this approach is that it sometimes makes for an awkward English reading. The Holman Christian Standard Bible, The New American Standard Bible, and The King James or New King James Bibles are examples of a literal translation.
A dynamic or fluid translation of Scripture is the next version I use. This approach to translation seeks to render the Scripture phrase by phrase to best convey its meaning. While this makes the Scripture easier to read in the English, it leaves itself a little more open to the interpretation of the translators than does a literal translation. The New International Version, the English Standard Version, and the New Living Translation are examples of a dynamic translation.
The next version I look at is The Message. Some people mistakenly call this version a paraphrase. Eugene Peterson, author of The Message, was a linguistic scholar. He went to the original Hebrew and Greek to produce the translation. Technically, a paraphrase takes an English version and “re-words” it into another English version. An example of a paraphrase is the old Living Bible. I like to call the Message an “idiomatic translation.” It seeks to take the idioms of the original language and put them into the equivalent idioms of today.
My final version involves a paraphrase. While I could look at a version like The Living Bible or Good News for Modern Man, what I tend to do is try to make my own paraphrase. What would the Scripture sound like in my own words? If you are interested in learning more about the versions of the Bible and which version is which, follow this link to “Biblical Translations.”
STEP TWO: CONNECT IT
The next step in studying and understanding Scripture is to CONNECT IT. We want to connect the passage of Scripture that we are reading with its context.
When most scholars talk about the context of a biblical passage, they are actually only talking about one of three contexts that are at play when we study the Scripture.
The context most people describe is the HISTORICAL CONTEXT of a passage. This context represents the setting of history in which the passage was written. It includes the circumstances
of the author and the circumstances of the readers. We want to be able to construct as much as we can of the author’s background and circumstances which led to the writing of the passage. We seek to do the same thing for the readers. When David wrote a Psalm, what was going on in his life that would flavor and motivate his feelings and his words? When the original readers saw the passage, what was going on in their lives and their faith?
This context also includes the literary background of the passage – is the passage a record of history, is it poetry (remember Hebrew poetry is different than American poetry), or is it anyone of a number of other literary conventions?
The second type of context is the larger BIBLICAL CONTEXT. Since God’s revelation is a complete unit, are there other verses in the Bible that speak to the same subject or provide similar teaching? The Bible never contradicts itself. All truth is God’s truth.
This portion of context often involves doctrine and theology. Many passages of Scripture teach us about God and about what is involved in having a relationship with Him. Doctrine falls into a category all itself. It has a jargon – technical talk that is only used and understood by a select group of people. There is nothing wrong with jargon. Most of us have those kind of words in our vocabulary that not everyone else understands. Medical professionals have a jargon. Attorneys have a jargon. There is even a jargon for the members of your family. Christians have a jargon.
Finally, when you encounter a verse, you have a PERSONAL CONTEXT as you read. The truth of the Bible is the same, yesterday, today and forever. Your circumstances right now will affect how you view and understand a verse. Are your circumstances causing you to misinterpret a passage? Are your circumstances shedding new light and meaning to the passage?
The meaning of a passage of Scripture is critically tied to how it applies to you today. The context of the Bible involves the culture of the time in which it was written, but it involves the culture today because it speaks to the times today. Paul was unaware of the COVID pandemic when he penned the book of Philippians. If Jesus is the same “yesterday, today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8), then the context must include how it applies to the COVID crisis. We often call this context “the application of a passage.”
The danger in my writing those words and you reading them is that it seems very subjective. The meaning of the Bible cannot be totally dependent upon what it means to you. The absolute nature of an unchanging God prohibits that. But the context of a passage of the Bible must blend every part of the context for understanding. To focus only on one of the critical areas of context and ignore the others does the Bible a disservice.
STEP THREE: WRESTLE IT
The third step asks you to WRESTLE with God’s Word. In today’s hectic and fast-paced, short-attention spanned, 140 character world, you need to spend time with and dig deeper into some parts of Scripture. I can better explain this by telling you a story.
Years ago we had a fairly good-sized dog named Jake. He was part German Shepherd and part everything else. When he was allowed to run, he would put Kentucky Derby thoroughbreds to shame.
One of the “treats” Jake would receive was an oversized, usually flavored Rawhide bone. When Jake would get a new bone, you could just see the enthusiasm and energy exploding inside of him. He had a routine that he went through every time. First, he would spend the better part of an hour pushing the bone with his nose, swatting it with his paws, or kicking it with his hind legs. Somehow he wanted the bone to touch every inch of his area.
Day after day he would begin to gnaw and wrangle on a part of the bone. It wasn’t the same part with every bone, but once he found a spot he liked he stayed with it until he had gnawed completely through. Interestingly, when the bone was in two pieces he would take one part and bury it for use at a later date.
Most of us do not have the tenacity to understand the depths of every word of Scripture. But for every passage you study, find your interest or your passion or your energy and wrestle that part of Scripture as deep as time will allow you to go.
My particular passion has always been the origin and meaning of words. I will look for the unusual words in a passage and delve into their history and application and usage. Often I will find a gem that helps me better understand the meaning and application of a passage.
What are your interests and passions? See where they take you in your study of the Bible.
STEP FOUR: BUILD IT
The fourth step asks you to take the passage and BUILD IT. This step develops the passage’s bigger, Biblical context. The Scripture will not contradict itself, but it was written over hundreds of years of time. To understand what the Bible is teaching, you have to look in more than one place.
Concordances and search engines have made this step so much easier.
STEP FIVE: SHARE IT
Perhaps the most important step in understanding the Bible is our last step. The fifth step weaves the Bible into a significant role in your life by asking you to share it with others. When you understand truths enough to talk about them with someone else, you have mastered the art of mentoring and teaching. They say the teacher is the greatest student.
Do you remember that several times Jesus sent His followers out in teams to teach and experience the dynamic of God at work? When you can put the truth into your own words and share it with others, it will always be a part of you. Jesus’ last word was to “Go.”
So are you ready to go through a really well-known verse? If we were studying through John 3:16, here is what our study would look like. Read and practice and get a feel for the flow of our approach to Bible study.
LITERAL, WORD-FOR-WORD TRANSLATIONS
John 3:16 NASB
John 3:16 ESV
John 3:16 LEB
John 3:16 KJV
John 3:16 NKJV
John 3:16 GW
DYNAMIC, PHRASE-FOR-PHRASE TRANSLATIONS
John 3:16 NIV
John 3:16 NET
John 3:16 NRSV
IDIOMATIC TRANSLATIONS
John 3:16 MESSAGE
PARAPHRASES
LANGUAGES
John brings to our attention that Jesus had a confrontation at the Temple (John 2:13) but closes the second chapter by saying that He also performed a number of miraculous signs at this time. John shows his craftsmanship with words by making a playful comparison.
John tells us that many put their faith in Jesus while He was in Jerusalem for the Passover because of the signs that He performed (John 2:23). But John adds that Jesus didn’t put any faith in them because He knew their hearts (John 2:24-25).
But there were a handful of exceptions. A Pharisee named Nicodemus approaches Jesus at night (John 3:2). Quietly – because he didn’t want to arouse suspicion among his friends. Secretively – because he had questions and didn’t want to be embarrassed. Boldly – Nicodemus is mentioned two other times in John’s gospel (John 7:50, John 19:38-39).
Consider the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus in the third chapter of John’s gospel.
Commentators argue whether John 3:16 is a continuation of the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus or whether they are John’s reflections or summary by Jesus at a later time. In either case the truth reflects in many ways the heart of the gospel message. Salvation comes not by works but by belief because of God’s incredible love for us.
The word “perish” stands out because of its wide use in the Greek language. It is often a word that is used to contrast another concept.
Mark uses the word to describe death as opposed to life (Mark 3:6). John may be hinting of that here. Paul uses it to talk about destruction as opposed to preserving (1 Corinthians 1:19). In his epistle, John uses it as “loss” as opposed to gain (2 John 1:8). Matthew talks about sheep that left the fold as opposed to those who stayed (Matthew 10:6) and Luke talks about a son who has wandered instead of staying at the father’s house (Luke 15:24).
Here perish describes the opposite of salvation – an eternal death, yes, but a hopeless confusion as opposed to peace and perspective in this world.
Doctrines – our understanding about topics covered in the Bible – are built throughout Scripture by compiling verses on the subject.
In this one verse we are introduced to several topics: God, the world, salvation and perishing, God’s Son, and God’s love.
Let’s take one concept today – God’s love – and think about other Scriptures on the subject.
For your answer below, pick one verse of Scripture that talks about the love of God. What does this verse say that resonates importance to you?
When you can repeat back a message from the Bible in your own words to someone else, you have mastered the understanding of Scripture. You may not know the answer to every question, but you have dug deep enough in this passage to explain the truth.
There are several truths contained in this one short but powerful verse of Scripture. How would you begin to talk to someone about this verse?
And there you have it. The John 3:16 part of the Bible study is what you will see each week. You can study and submit throughout the week, simply remember to hit the submit button with each answer. There is a discussion or comment section at the end of the passage. Use it to talk about things you liked, things that seemed too difficult or off-centered, or any other questions you might have. From time to time, the webpage will have a discussion/bulletin board which you can communicate back and forth with each other throughout the week.
In the comments section, also jot down any technical problems you had with the forms or the explanations in the sections.
Thank you again for your participation. Blessings on you and your family.