Jun 5, 2020
Not understanding 'To whom the Bible is written' has caused a massive amount of wrong dividing of the Word of God and miss interpretation of God's Word. Things that are written to Israel are thought of as being written to us, and things written to us we think of writing to Israel. Sometimes things written to or about the future time is contributed to things going on now. We need to pay close attention to whom it is written. That is what this teaching series is all about.
As we read the Bible as Bible students, we should always remember the verse, in the context, and where else the same subject has been written or used before.
Today we use emails, text, and messages, and we follow different groups and people all on our devices. Some we trust, others not so much. As we do that, we must pay close attention to whom the messages are written and who can use the information. We get many forms of information. Some information is written to us personally. Some are for a group of people, and some are for someone else.
We all have stories of communication and information being wrongfully addressed and received by the wrong party or just wrongly spelled or poorly communicated.
We might send an email to someone and, in the email, tell some story or incident about someone else. We would need to follow along to get what is written to whom and about whom.
We can still learn from information not written directly to us. The same or more diligence must be taken as we are reading the Bible.
A key to understanding the Bible as we read it is to understand 'To Whom It is Written.'
We need to take into account and look very closely at 'To Whom It is written' or addressed, to whom it is directed or about, To whom it is true, and finally, how it affects your life today.
I Corinthians 10: 32: Here are three different classifications or groups of people.
Jew: Judean, children of Israel.
Gentile: sometimes called the nations, Greeks: heathens, and all others except the nation of Israel.
The Church of God: a completely new group of people. The born-again ones
Galatians 3:28: A person is either a Judean or a Gentile until he becomes born again of God’s spirit. At this time, he joins the Church of God. This is easy to see as we pay close attention as we read, in the verse, in the contents, and remember where else it is written or has been used before. The entire Bible is addressed to one or the other of these three groups.
Romans 15:4: Aforetime (means about times before the day of Pentecost) is not written to us but is for our learning.
I Corinthians 10:11: Then Israel is for our example, then the ten commandments of the Old Testament along with other laws are for our learning.
I Corinthians 1: 2: Unto the church of God.
Ephesians 1:1: To saints, to set apart, to the born-again ones.
James 1:1: To the twelve tribes.
God has worked with mankind differently in different situations because of the conditions in which man has put himself. God has had to work with man in a few different ways.
Ephesians 3:2 The word dispensation is the Geek word 'oikonomia.'
In the New International, the word is translated as “administration.”
NIB Ephesians 3:2 Surely you have heard about the administration of God's grace that was given to me for you,
In the Revised Standard Version, it is the word stewardship.
RSV Ephesians 3:2, assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace that was given to me for you.
In The Jerusalem Bible, it said it is “the way in which” God entrusted me.
NJB Ephesians 3:2 You have surely heard the way in which God entrusted me with the grace he gave me for your sake;
I'm sure you can appreciate that God had to work with Adam and Eve a little differently after being kicked out of the Garden of Eden.
And again, after Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments and other laws and regulations for the children of Israel.
How about when Jesus Christ was operating his ministry personally here on earth?
What about after Jesus Christ was raised from the dead, ascended into heaven, and sent the gift of holy spirit on the day of Pentecost? God has another far better way of dealing with the man now.
God will have future ways that God will have to deal with mankind as recorded in God's Word.
That is what this teaching series is all about. It's all about learning how to pay close attention to whom it is written. In future episodes, I will point out some of these and show them to you so that you can learn how to see them for yourself as you read the Bible.
Until the next time we get together, may God bless you abundantly.
Agape,
The Teacher: Steve Jaynes
The Announcer: Maurice Coleman
Intro and Outro Music: Pamela LoVerme Janovyak, Her version of "Be Thou My Vision" from her CD Behold
But you don't have to wait till the next show to continue to learn and grow. Go to stevejaynes.com, where Steve has plenty to give in resources to help you continue to learn today.
To get in contact with Steve to ask questions or share something, feel free to email or text me. If you would like to talk to me, let's set up an appointment to make the call. I would love to hear from you and would love to talk with you.
steve@stevejaynes.com, 207-595-1577 (Please start with a text first so that we both will have the time to communicate fully.)