Dig Deeper: Tools for Understanding God’s Word
Nigel Beynon & Andrew Sach
Crossway Books, 2010
ISBN: 978-1-58134-971-8
One could, I suppose, fill a library with the books that have been written on how to read, study, and interpret the Bible. And no wonder; the Bible is the authoritative source of all that Christians believe about God, salvation, holiness and Christian living.
Evangelical Christians hold the Bible to be God’s inspired word; a revelation of his will and purpose for all creation; the final authority for Christian faith and practice. Commitment to the absolute and final authority of the Holy Scriptures demands that students of the Bible handle the text carefully and reverently – that he or she interpret and apply its teaching in legitimate ways.
Dig Deeper: Tools for Understanding God’s Word, is a worthy addition to this rich legacy of literature on studying and interpreting the Bible. R. Kent Hughes, Senior Pastor Emeritus of College Church, Wheaton, Illinois, describes Beynon’s and Sach’s work as a
“modest-sized volume that lays out the cardinal principles of biblical exposition in clear, accessible, winsome language.”
As the authors note in their introduction, we’ve been conditioned to think that the important thing in approaching the biblical text (any text for that matter) is determining, not so much what it means, but rather what it means for me. And put this way, it follows that the same text may very well mean something different for you.
Of course, if the biblical text is open to my personal interpretation, without regard for any concept of an over-arching meaning holding for all time and circumstances, then the concept of full and final authority becomes meaningless. If the Bible can mean whatever I think it means for me, in what way does it hold authority for the Christian community?
Beynon and Sach reject the above mentioned post-modern view, calling Bible study and interpretation both a science and an art.
“Reading the Bible is both a science and an art. By calling it a science, we mean that as a discipline it is rigorous and structured; there are certain principles to follow in order to understand the Bible correctly. Those are what we hope to teach in the following pages.
However, we don’t want you to get the idea that understanding the Bible is an automatic and mechanical process – as though you just apply the tools and out pops the answer. It’s not like that.
Understanding the Bible is also an art. It is something you learn by doing, something you ‘catch’ as well as get taught, something intuitive as much as logical. That is why we have called the following chapters ‘tools’ rather than ‘rules’; like a master craftsman, you will need to exercise judgment and skill in the way you use them” (page 14).
After devoting the first chapter to the nature of the Bible, with some counsel in how to approach the sacred text, the rest of the book is devoted to explaining how to use sixteen tools for understanding God’s Word. Those tools are:
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The Author’s Purpose Tool
The Context Tool
The Structure Tool
The Linking Words Tool
The Parallels Tool
The Narrator’s Comment Tool
The Vocabulary Tool
The Translations Tool
The Tone and Feel Tool
The Repetition Tool
The Quotation/Allusion Tool
The Genre Tool
The Copycat ToolThe Bible Time Line Tool
The “Who Am I?” Tool
The “So What?” Tool
Chapter by chapter each tool is presented, explained, and illustrated, with a concluding “Dig Deeper” section encouraging readers to practice using the principles learned.
In the final chapter, Bible students are challenged to write a summary statement of what they’ve learned in their study of a portion of Scripture. This is a valuable exercise, one I’ve always encouraged Christians to do in any study groups I’ve led. The success, or lack of it, one finds in succinctly summarizing the truth in a biblical passage is a good indicator of how well the Scripture portion has been understood.
Along with a Scripture Index, the book concludes with a concise bibliography of recommended reading.
This is an excellent resource, accessible to any serious Bible reader. Lending itself to both group and individual study, Dig Deeper would make an excellent series for a small group, Sunday School or Christian Education program.
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