Greetings. I want to make a few comments. I know I've just had a couple of lectures about detailed observations, but it's simple on the one hand, but it takes a lot of practice in order for it to become a little bit more natural.
It's something of a... training of your eyes that need to happen as well and training yourself to see scripture in a particular light. I want to make a couple of comments here that may continue to help us as we do our own detailed observations.
One, when we talk about it, we can make it seem almost like it's just a simple linear process and because the inductive method is methodological, there are steps and progressions that need to happen. But when we think about going from observation to interpretive questions to interpretation, sometimes what happens is that the interpretive questions actually help us to begin to see the text in a clearer way. So we may go from observation to interpretive questions, and those interpretive questions causes us to observe things that maybe we would have overlooked.
And so it's not just helping us move from observation to interpretation, but is actually helping us move from observation to greater observation. And so the questions that we talked about, the types of questions that we want to ask, are definitional questions, the what that we see happening, the rational questions. The rational questions are the why questions.
Why did the author do this? Why is this observation there? And then the implicational questions. If this observation happens to be there...
What is that implying, even if it's not overtly stated? And there are a lot of implications. And so when you're doing that, what it may cause you to do is as you're looking to answer the question, it actually causes you to go back into the text and you begin to observe things.
And when we think about making observations and then as we think about answering the questions for... our interpretive questions, here's a couple of things to keep in mind when we are answering those questions. We want to use the literary context, the historical context, and even the theological context.
And let me just kind of share a little bit of what I mean by these things, because this will help as you begin to answer some of those questions, even at a survey level. These are things that you want to pay attention to. And let me just kind of give you a couple of examples of how you would use the literary context to answer a question.
So when just recently I had a chance to preach a sermon out of Acts chapter 18, and I was preaching in verses 24 through 28. But in verse 26, it says, and he began to speak, talking about Apollos, to speak out boldly in the synagogue. But when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. And so you might make an observation to say Priscilla and Aquila were involved in pulling Apollos aside to teach him the way of God more accurately. That's a pretty simple observation there.
But one of the definitional questions that you would want to ask, and there's a couple of definitional questions you could ask. But one of them is, who are Aquila and Priscilla? Who are they?
We just see them here in this passage. So the way that you answer that is by looking at the literary context. Now, remember, when we talk about looking at scripture, we're looking at it at three different levels.
We're looking at it from the book level. We're looking at it from the segment level, which can be a chapter or more. And then we also look at scripture from the detailed level. Now, if I just look within the detailed level within that particular passage, it doesn't really tell us much about who Priscilla and Aquila are.
But if I expand a little bit larger into the chapter or segment level, what we begin to find is that verse two tells us a little bit about who Priscilla and Aquila are. And so I might notice that the first time I see the mentioned here is in. verse two of Acts chapter 18, where it says about Paul that he found a Jew named Aquila.
a native of Pontius, having recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. He came to them, and because he was, I'm in verse 3 now, because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them, and they were working for, when they were working for, by trade, they were tent makers. Now, this tells us a little bit about them, right? We learned that they're tent makers. We know that they were...
um in corinth at the same time that paul was we know that um they had recently come from italy because of an edict from claudius that commanded all the jews to leave rome and so we we are using some of the literary context to begin answering the question of who priscilla and aquila are by the way if you're making some observations and you're doing um that with aquila and priscilla you may pay attention to the order hey i notice here that in um verse 26 that it's Priscilla who's the wife and Aquila but when I look in verse 2 it seems that it's Aquila and then we're introduced to Priscilla. So these are things that you are observing as you're answering the question. You see how we moved from observation to interpretive questions but then it caused us to actually go back and make more detailed observations.
Now I'm noticing it's not just about Priscilla and Aquila there but I'm noticing the order is Priscilla and Aquila. And I'm using the literary context, going a little bit wider, expanding the lens of the camera, so to speak. I can go and see, oh, this is who they are. And I begin to piece together an understanding of the definitional question. So all of this is beginning to help me to see the text and help me to move to interpretation.
Now, you also want to look at the historical context, not just the literary context to help you answer some of the interpretive questions. But also you want to look at some of the historical context. So what is something that you notice? Well, in verse 2, it tells us about them that they were, it says in verse 2, having recently come from Italy with his wife, Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome.
Huh, that seems like it's, that's pretty interesting. So that would be a historical piece that I would want to learn a little bit about in terms of. why were all the Jews kicked out of Rome? And by the way, that's pretty helpful in understanding the book of Romans as well, probably, in terms of the why behind that book.
And so you see a lot of things like this where simply asking the right questions, looking at the historical context, looking at the literary context, and this is where you can utilize some of the commentaries. And we're going to talk about that here in a little bit in the next couple of weeks. But sometimes the very beginning of the commentaries can help you get some background information of what was going on. And you can utilize some of the resources, extra biblical resources as well, to get some background about that.
But all of that is helping to answer the question of Priscilla and Aquila and who they are. And then why would they? be ones that would find themselves pulling aside Apollos to help correct him?
Well, it seems like they were seasoned ministry leaders and that they were vital in terms of the early church and their leadership that they brought. And so perhaps they were doing that because they noticed that there was something that was off in Apollos'teaching. So those are just some of the ways that I'm beginning to use my literary and historical context.
to answer the question. And then when I talk about using the theological context, I'm looking to see theologically what is happening. What is this revealing about the nature of God?
What is this revealing about the nature of God's plan and God's movement and God's mission? And so it seems that this is a story within a larger story and part of us beginning to answer some of the... rational and implicational questions comes back into understanding the larger theological story that the book of Acts is telling. And again, that's looking at the book, not just from the detailed level or even just the segment level, but it's helping us to see from the book level, what is Acts sharing with us and showing us?
And we did a book survey in the book of Acts that I showed you not too long ago. So hopefully that is helpful and to be... being able to do that. Let me just show you another fun example here in John chapter 10. In John chapter 10, We have a scripture where Jesus is quoting a very popular verse in many Christian circles.
In John chapter 10, verse 10, Since the thief comes to steal and kill and destroy, I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. And so one of the things that you might keep in mind is or one of the things that you would observe is that the thief has an agenda to steal, kill, and destroy. So I'm just pretty much rewording what I see here in a way that makes sense, but that's a safe observation of what I see. But what would be the definitional question? I'll give you a couple of seconds to see if you can come up with one.
All right, you probably got it right. The question is, well, who's the thief that Jesus is referring to? Now, Maybe just in your own experience in church, you might say the thief is the devil.
The devil comes to steal, kill, and destroy. And that is true-ish, but that's not what the text is saying. I've got to look at the literary context of what's happening and open up the lens at the segment level to understand what that verse is trying to tell us.
And so how would I understand who the thief is? Well, let me just kind of go back and see. What is happening in that passage?
Okay, if I go to the beginning of chapter 10 and John, we see that Jesus is addressing some people, but it just starts by giving us what he's saying, but I don't really have context of who he's speaking to right here. So maybe I need to open up the lens a little wider. And then if I open up the lens a little wider, I notice that in John chapter 9, there's a story of Jesus.
healing a man who was born blind. That's when the disciples asked Jesus, you know, Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind? And Jesus responded, it was neither that this man sinned nor his parents, but it was that the works of God might be displayed in him. And then he goes on a little bit further and you see this man is healed. But you also notice that there's a response by some of the religious leaders that were there, because as you go a little bit further in verse 13 of chapter 9, it says, they brought to the Pharisees the man who was formerly blind.
Now it was a Sabbath on the day when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. Then the Pharisees, in verse 15, also were asking him again how he received his sight. And he said to them, he applied clay to my eyes, and I wash and I see.
Therefore, some of the Pharisees were saying, this man is not from God because he does not keep the Sabbath. But others were saying, how can a man who is a sinner perform such signs? And there was a division amongst them. Now, if you read a little bit further, what you'll find in chapter 9 is that in verse 24, it says, So a second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.
He then answered, Whether he is a sinner, I do not know. One thing I do know that though I was blind and now I see. So they said to him, what did he, uh, what did he do to you? How did he open your eyes? He answered them.
I told you already, and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? You do not want to become his disciples too, do you? They reviled him and said, you are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses.
We know that God has spoken to Moses, but it's for this man. We do not know where he is from. The man answered and said to them, well, here is an amazing thing that you do not know where he is from. And yet he opened my eyes.
We know that God does not open, does not hear sinners, but if anyone is God fearing and does his will, he hears him. Since the beginning of time, it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind and go a little bit further. Now, verse 34, it says, they answered him.
You were born entirely in sins and you are teaching us. So they put him out. So the man who was born blind and healed was put out of the synagogue by some of the Pharisees and the religious leaders. And Jesus in verses 35 to 41 begins to have a conversation with this man.
Jesus heard that they had put him out. Finding him, he said, do you believe in the son of man? He answered, who is he, Lord, that I may believe in him?
Jesus said to him, You have both seen him and he is the one who is talking with you. And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshiped him.
And Jesus said, for judgment, I came into this world so that those who do not see may see. And they. and that those who see may become blind. Listen to verse 40. Listen to this. Those of the Pharisees who were with them heard these things and said to him, we are not blind too, are we?
Jesus said to them, if you were blind, you would have no sin. But since you say we see, your sin remains. Then the very next verse is the beginning of chapter 10. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door. into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way.
He is a thief and a robber. Now you can just read that for the sake of time. I'll let you read that on your own. But then we get up to verse seven through 10. It says, so Jesus said to him, them again, truly, truly, I say to you, oh, who is them? Well, you got to go back to chapter nine to figure out who them is.
Speaking to a crowd of people who have just witnessed a man who was blind. now healed of his blindness. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them.
I am the door. If anyone enters through me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. Who is the thief?
Well, you could say, well, the thief is the devil. You could say that. I don't think you'd be wrong to say that the devil wants to steal, kill, and destroy.
But is that what the passage says? The passage actually seems to indicate, using my literary context, that the thief that Jesus is referring to are the very ones in chapter 9 that kicked the blind man who was healed out of the synagogue, who claim to see but are really blind. The very ones...
that we're calling Jesus a sinner for healing on the Sabbath. Thieves and robbers. This is who Jesus is talking about. You see how if you don't ask the right questions, you won't look in the right places.
And if you don't expand the literary context of where you're doing and look beyond just your detailed verse, but into the segment of it, you'll miss the whole context of what's going on there. And then you might want to ask some... historical things in terms of how do we understand the way that a sheep would come through the door.
And so maybe I need to learn some historical things about how shepherds would work with their sheep and live amongst their sheep and would become all the, you know, the doorway to the sheep gate. All of these are ways of helping us to understand what is talked about here in verse 10. And so, As we look at these things, it's just going to help us become sharper and use the scriptural evidence to answer the questions. And we'll get to the commentaries, but not yet. So hopefully these are just some tools to begin to help us in the way that we do that.
Now, one of the things as well that can be really helpful at this stage as you're making observations is going and identifying key words that you may want to go back to the original Greek or the original Hebrew if you're in the Old Testament. And there's a lot of different tools that can help you to do that. So hope this helps and looking forward to seeing your detailed observations.