Knowledge of God is incredibly important. The Christian would contend that it is in one's knowledge of and subsequent belief in Jesus Christ (God) that eternal life is secured. The Christian should also contend that true knowledge of God will lead to an altered worldview and commitment to God will lead to an altered life. It is, therefore, critical that one's knowledge of God be accurate. Inaccurate knowledge of God may actually be more dangerous than no knowledge at all. You see, one should do almost anything if he believes God wants him to do it. This makes sense. A creator god is far more powerful than I, so who am I to stand up to it and say "no". If I truly believe there is a being that created out of pure nothingness, the only logical response is submission.
This can be dangerous though. What if I believe that the creator god wants me to kill all people of other religions? What if I believe that the creator god wants all of its adherents to jump off a specific cliff at age 50? What if I believe that the creator god hates a certain race? These would be quite dangerous beliefs, yet it would only be logical to act upon them if they were reflective of a being that created out of nothing. Who am I to stand against such a being?
It is in the face of this logic that accurate knowledge of the true God is imperative. The Christian believes that the most thorough source of knowledge concerning God is the Bible. God has also revealed His sovereignty and majesty through nature, but robust knowledge of Him is found in the Bible. Everyday people can read the Bible--a great feat of modern education and technology--but a collection of documents written 2000-3000 years ago can be tough to interpret and understand correctly. This is largely where the Bible teacher should step in. Once again, with modern technology, the Bible teacher can teach the Bible through a host mediums: video, audio, text, so forth. But, traditionally, the voice of the Bible teacher is heard most widely in a gathering often on Sunday mornings. There are 3 components that I believe this Bible teacher's message, and writings, should contain. These 3 components are not the ultimate list, but hopefully when you are doing some teaching, listening, or reading they will help you prepare or receive a message more responsibly.
Historical, thorough exegesis
Where we must start is with historical, thorough exegesis. Exegesis is what anyone must do with a text. It is the accurate interpretation of a text. To accurately interpret any text, we should ask questions such as: "Who wrote it?", "Who was it written to?", "What are the historical circumstances surrounding this text?", "Why was it written?", and "What did the author mean by that?", among others. We do not need to do this as thoroughly with modern texts. If I am to read "The Hunger Games" trilogy, it is fairly evident to me who it was written by--a woman occupying the same culture as me, who it was written to--21st century Western teenagers and adults, the historical circumstances--once again, I live in the historical circumstances, and why it was written--to entertain. This exegesis is not as big a cultural jump for me as reading Machiavelli"s "The Prince", Homer's "Iliad", or even Mark Twain's "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn". Reading the "The Hunger Games" is certainly not as difficult exegesis as reading the Bible.
The Bible was written, once again, 2000-3000 years ago in a foreign language and culture. There are simply geographical and cultural references in the Bible that I am not naturally going to understand. This is where the work of historical, thorough exegesis becomes important. It is harder work understanding the author's meaning of a 2000 year old document than a 5 year old document, but fortunately modern scholarship has done a lot of work for us. The Bible scholars have dutifully translated the Bible into language that is true to the original text while also comprehensible by the modern reader. A modern translation of the Bible (ESV, NIV) is incredibly important in understanding it. As are Study Bibles, which provide maps, notes, and explanations that will allow a commoner to do very good exegesis. Commentaries do an even more thorough job, but will usually extend beyond the need of the everyday reader.
When reading the Bible or constructing one's own Bible lessons, it is incredibly important to start with solid exegesis. Answer questions like: "Who wrote this?", "Where is Ephesus?", "What beliefs did the Ephesians hold?", and "What is Paul saying to the original audience here?". Also, when consuming Bible teaching, listen for the teacher/preacher to answer these questions of the texts. If the presenter is diving straight into how you can apply the text before living in the text's world for a little while, the presenter may come to an inaccurate application and steer you the wrong direction. Almost all knowledge of God begins with solid exegesis of His Word.
Robust, accurate theology
God is the main character of Scripture. We should go to Scripture with a desire to learn about God (theology) and His will for our lives (application). The application is what we do with the knowledge, but all of this application flows out of an understanding of God. What did God do? What is God like? What does God want me to believe? How does God embody the characteristics of a true father? What does God think about me? These are all questions that will lead directly into application, but, once again, these questions will only be answered by solid exegesis. God has revealed Himself through His Word, if I am to know Him, I must handle His Word with care.
However, we must not get stuck on the exegesis. The climax of good Bible study and teaching is robust theology. It seems that some Bible teachers get more excited about the exegesis than the theology. We can't begin worshiping the text rather than the Author and Subject of the text. We should always get most excited about what God has done (saved us), who God is (all-knowing), and what He continues to do (love us), but we can only get to truth concerning these subjects through solid exegesis. The exegesis is only the introduction and rising action to the climax of theology.
Relevant, conservative application
If exegesis is the introduction and rising action, and theology is the climax, then relevant, conservative application is the falling action, resolution, and marching orders. The exegesis gets us introduced to God's mode of revelation, the theology causes us to celebrate the God of the universe, while the application brings us back down to earth where we continue to live our lives in the here and now. It is not best to leave one's listeners or readers in the past (exegesis) or in the sky (theology), but rather firmly plant them in the here and now with a knowledge of the past and sky so that they can wisely live their lives (application).
This application must be relevant. I have heard it said that a preacher should "keep one hand on the Bible and the other on the newspaper". A preacher stuck in the 1960's will probably only be fully understood by someone who lived in the 1960's. If a preacher does not understand what the modern person is facing in society, then he will not make a connection between the principles learned in God's word and the current world. This is tragic, as God's truth is relevant whether we begin living on Mars or revert to living in caves, the entire universe will perpetually be His.
The application must be relevant, but it must also be conservative. This is the point where I find myself continually becoming perturbed. We cannot simply pick out any text we please and apply it to our modern context. We must first pass through the difficult work of exegesis and the celebration of theology before we return to the arena of today. I once read a lesson in which the author built a case for equality among races on the back of Luke 14:26. Now, Luke 14:26 is one of the most easily misapplied verses in Scripture; it says, "If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters--yes even, their own life--such a person cannot be my disciple." (NIV) This verse, isolated from the rest of the Bible can leave us doing things as extreme as jumping off cliffs and killing people. The rest of Scripture informs us that Jesus is not anti-family, as He makes sure His mother is cared for as He goes to the cross (John 19:26-27). He also tells us that we should love our neighbor as ourselves (Mark 12:31). This loving of our neighbor as ourselves implies that we care about ourselves enough to give ourselves oxygen, food, water, shelter, and clothing. It seems, when analyzing Luke 14:26 in the greater context of Jesus' life that He is saying we must hold Him far above, self, family, friends, so forth. We certainly should not be using this verse to build a case for racial equality, that is not what Jesus was saying in the text. If this Bible teacher had done some thorough exegesis and celebrated the theology before he reached his application he may have realized the true meaning of the text.
Knowledge of God is too precious to handle hastily. God has chosen to reveal Himself chiefly through the written word. Therefore, if we are to understand Him, we must be true to the written word, engaging in thorough exegesis. We must not get stuck in the text, however. It is not the Bible that died on the cross, but Jesus, God Himself. The Bible exists to point us to God, and it is God that we must celebrate. Graciously God does not call us to a purely intellectual, disembodied knowledge of Him, but rather a knowledge of Him that leads us into service with our hands, mouths, feet, and head. We serve God in our work, our speech, our exercise, our diet, our study, and our relationships. This is where true application of God's truth leads, but we can only know it through exegesis and we will only do it if we celebrate the theology.
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