Have you been to a good Bible Study session
recently? Experience has taught me over the years that when asking this
question, be prepared for varied responses. Some declared that the Catholic
Church is very protective of how one interprets God's Word, therefore
discouraging the laity from either reading or attending Bible Study. Others
may imagine that someone attending weekly Bible Study in another religious
denomination is more suited to respond to this inquiry. Many people declare
that Catholics do not know the Bible. These comments just mentioned and many
more over the years cross my path routinely while teaching Bible Study with
the Eat the Scroll Ministry. Let us review some history, and then explore a
five step preparation plan for personal and group Bible Study called "The
Five I(s)"
Historically speaking, for more than a thousand
years the Church did rightfully protect the Bible. Sacred Scriptures were
reserved for the pulpit or in libraries during the Middle Ages. The Church
protected the Bible from being stolen, damaged and misinterpreted by the
faithful worshipers. Illiteracy was a major issue as well during the early
development of the Church. Therefore, the Church sought ways to insure the
authenticity of one's interpretation of the sacred text. To accomplish this
goal, the Church monitored who was interpreting the sacred text.
Understanding the Church's goal here is paramount. The Catechism of the
Catholic Church, #103, teaches us that "The Church has always venerated
the Scriptures as she venerates the Lord's Body. She never ceases to present
to the faithful the bread of life, taken from the one table of God's Word
and Christ's Body." The Catholic Church's only desire is to feed the one
Body of Christ with God's Word. The Scriptures provides a foundation for
this desire:
But as for
you, continue in the truths that you were taught and firmly believe. You
know who your teachers were, and you remember that ever since you were a
child, you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to give you
the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. (2
Tim. 3:14-17)
Juxtaposing these thoughts, St. Jerome
encourages us that, "Ignorance of Scripture, is ignorance of Christ"
Therefore the Church continues to teach jointly with God's Word, that when
we remain faithful to the Sacred Scriptures from our mother's womb to the
tomb, we will receive wisdom for salvation, which leads to knowing Christ.
In this new millennium, one should not be chained to historical practices
but to God's Word in our mind, on our lips and in our hearts by studying
God's Holy Word.
However, my favorite response to the questions
about Bible Study is that Catholics do not know the Bible consequently
making them unable to quote the Bible. My thoughts regarding this matter are
that when we hear someone quoting a verse like, "John 3:16 said …." we
seldom know if that verse is a favorite verse of theirs or if they have just
come from church hearing that verse. My position is that when people quote
verses, they are quoting a verse that they have studied (memory verse) or
the verse is connected to some event that is meaningful to them. Bible Study
is a purposeful task that plumbs the depths of God's Word and considers the
totality of the call of the Holy Spirit and salvation history.
A good Bible Study includes a lesson plan, some
discussion and questions, meditation, and perhaps some journaling, and
finally, a call to action. Let us explore a five step program called the
Five I(s) for a good Bible Study program. The Five I(s) are Invocation,
Investigation, Integration, Interpretation and
Implementation. When using this five step approach to Bible Study, one
must understand that once you are familiar with these steps you will find
yourself utilizing each of the Five I(s) in random order according to your
familiarity with the Bible. Now for beginners and experienced readers of
God's Word, we must always enter into a prayerful frame of mind.
The first
(I) Invocation is prayer to remind us of God's Omnipresence before we
open the Bible, while we are reading the Bible, and most certainly when we
close the Bible. We always want to feel God's presence. We pray like St.
Paul taught the Philippians to offer, "prayer and petition, with
thanksgiving," to God. Through prayer, St. Paul reiterated to the
Philippians that God's peace, "will guard your hearts and minds in Christ
Jesus…whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is
pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence
and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things"
(Philippians 4:6, 8). If we avoid this stage we will find ourselves
manipulating the Scriptures for our own personal agenda and
self-gratification. Our lesson plan will be empty of God's blessing. As they
say, "God don't bless any mess." God's Word must first be read by us and
change us, as opposed to us reading God's Word to change someone else. Let's
honor St. Paul's wish in our first step when studying, "It is my wish, then,
that in every place the [men and women] should pray, lifting up holy hands,
without anger or argument" (1 Tim. 2:8).
Stage two propels us to do some Investigation
of the selected text one may be studying. Throughout the selected text it is
necessary to do our research. Read the "Introduction," look up unfamiliar
words, or phrases by using commentaries or a dictionary on the Bible.
Scholars recommend the late John L. McKenzie's Dictionary of the Bible
as a good resource tool for personal study. One can use the Catechism of
the Catholic Church to understand the Church's teaching on selected
Scripture. St. Peter spoke about this Investigation stage when
mentioning how the prophets sought to understand God's grace concerning
salvation. The prophets "searched and investigated [grace/salvation],
investigating the time and circumstances" (1 Pt. 1:10-11). The Catholic
Catechism teaches that you should strive to:
…discover
the sacred authors' intention … take into account the conditions of
their time and culture, the literary genres in use at that time, and the
modes of feeling, speaking, and narrating then current. 'For the fact is
that truth is differently presented and expressed in the various types
of historical writing, in prophetical and poetical texts, and in other
forms of literary expression. (CCC 110).
One can be certain that Martin Luther King, Jr.
practiced this stage as he referenced many of biblical images in his sermons
and writings. While confined to a prison cell in Birmingham, Alabama, in
King's Letter from Birmingham Jail he acknowledged that he must
respond to the "Macedonian call for aid." With further investigation of what
the Macedonian call was we will discover that King understood something
about St. Paul. St. Paul stirred by the Holy Spirit in his second missionary
journey heard the cry of the Macedonian man, "Come over to Macedonia and
help us" (Acts 16:9) Mirroring St. Paul, King liken his experience to the
Macedonian call to the Birmingham, Alabama, call for help against the
injustice in there area. King investigated the Macedonian call.
When moving to our next stage; Integration,
we must practice listening to that inner voice, so that when clues or
markers appear in our text we will let Scripture speak to Scripture. Some
people may call this listening to the Holy Spirit, the inner man, or my
spirit man. However you may define that sense or gut feeling, this stage is
crucial. As a student of God's Word, you must recognize that some verses are
repeated which allows for certain passages to bring clarity to a selected
text. In certain Bibles there are some letters italicized next to a text or
font that is superscript, like an
to show that this verse was stated
somewhere else in the Bible. You may also find some type of symbol like an
asterisk "*" that references the scholars comment about that passage. If you
feel the spirit moving you to examine a text through these markers, follow
the Spirit because this may lead you to the revelation that God wants you to
have.
Imagine you were reading Paul's first letter to Corinthians, chapter
two, and you came to verse nine and the text said,
"But, as it is written:
'What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and what has not entered the
human heart, what God has prepared for those who love him.'"
In this verse
alone the words "as it is written" is a sign for you to understand that
somewhere else in the Bible someone else had conveyed the same sentiments as
St. Paul. Search around your text, you should find some type of marker
indicating that in the Old Testament Isaiah proclaimed these words, which
are similar to St. Paul's words, "…such as they had not heard of old, no ear
has ever heard, no eye ever seen any God but you doing such deeds for those
who wait for him" (Is. 64:3). This Scripture verse helps to give revelation
to what St. Paul was telling the Corinthians' community. Isaiah focused on
people not seeing a God do the deeds He has done for those who wait on Him.
Conversely, St. Paul focused on the Corinthians' community learning to love
God. There are many more differences and similarities. The main idea in this
stage is to integrate one passage with another. The markers show which
Scripture is speaking to Scripture.
The fourth stage, Interpretation, is where we
practice what the psalmist heard from God, "Be still and confess that I am
God!" (Ps. 46:10). Your interpretation of the scripture should include the
facts gathered from your investigation (dates, identity of audience, the
outline, author's intent and type of writing), any evidence of other
scholarly interpretations from commentaries, and your personal experiences.
Here you listen to questions from within, mediate or do some journaling as
God reveals truth to you.
Prayerfully consider the three theological virtues
of the Church, "What hope, faith, and love am I receiving to give to God's
people?" St. Paul gave these words to his understudy Timothy: "Do your best
to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to
be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth." (2 Tim. 2:15 NIV)
How will you know whether your interpretation is valid, will depend on
whether or not you studied. With practice, your inner voice will reveal a
truth that will bring life. The Holy Spirit will let you know. You will have
to "Trust in the LORD with all your heart, on your own intelligence rely
not." (Pr. 3:5).
Now in this final stage, we must Implement the
revelation received from our personal study. To implement is to put into
practice, what we have heard from God. James in one of the Epistles said:
Anyone who listens to the Word but does not do
what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after
looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.
But the [person] who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom,
and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it he
will be blessed in what he does. (Ja. 1:23-25).
James says a lot here! After all, why read God's
Word without expecting a change to occur? Why read God's word as a
disgruntled individual, drowning in sorrow and not let God's Word pull you
out of a dark night of the soul? Let's get real. When studying God's Word,
we must look at His Word to gain freedom from Self Inflicting
Nonsense, SIN!
In closing, recognize that as Catholics we can
and do place God's Word as an important element in our Christian journey.
The Church Fathers saw how important God's Word was to the degree that they
sought ways s to protect His Word from misinterpretations. Furthermore, the
Church, recognizing the importance of God's Word, developed a Liturgy that
allows all who attend to hear God's Word through four Scripture readings on
every Sunday of the year and three during daily Masses, while reciting
several passages within the Liturgy. In all truth, our Catholic Church is
truly a Word Church. Here we must answer the call to study God's Word so
that we can give witness that we have searched the Scriptures and have found
life in them. "Eat the scroll" and "taste the honey" that sweetens God's
Word so that we may not be ashamed or ignorant of the Gospel of Jesus
Christ. My prayer is that God will order your steps in His Word as you draw
close to Him. "Now to Him who is able to accomplish far more than all we ask
or imagine, by the power at work within us, to Him be glory in the church
and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen" (Eph. 3:20).
Evangelist Michael Howard
Eat the Scroll Ministry
Email: etsm@prodigy.net
Home Page:
http://pages.prodigy.net/etsm
P.O. Box 1022
Lanham, Md. 20706
301.552.6551
