With all wisdom and understanding …
Summary: Paul points us to God’s wisdom and understanding and in doing so, points to our own need for them as well.
The question we were left with in our last meditation was this: “What is the difference between sharing the Good News of Jesus using Paul’s words and using our own?”A companion question might be, “What is more important, the Bible’s words or the Bible’s message?”
Paul’s use of the Greek language in Ephesians occasionally left the translators scratching their heads about where to put the commas and periods. The verse numbers in the passage we are studying fall in the middle of sentences in the NIV. If we read the same passage in the King James version, the verse numbers and sentences correspond neatly. What is going on?
The “art of translation” is just a fancy way of saying that the translator is putting a text into his own words. I don’t read or understand Greek, Hebrew, or Aramaic. Does this mean that I can’t understand God’s Word?
Of course not!
Wisdom and understanding are required to understand a concept. If I simply repeat the words in a text, I demonstrate my ability to read out loud, but I haven’t shown that I understand the words. A myna bird can repeat words in the Bible!
Now please do not misunderstand me! There is great value in reading God’s Word verbatim (1 Timothy 4:13, 2 Timothy 3:16). And we want to be very careful not to fall under the curse of distorting God’s Word (2 Peter 3:16). But what about the concepts behind the words? How do we show that we understand them?
There are two ways to demonstrate an understanding of God’s Word. One is how we live our lives. If we live in accordance with God’s Word, that is obvious to all. If we say we believe but do not act in accordance with God’s Word, then something is wrong. As Paul writes to Timothy, that is why people need “teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.” (2 Timothy 3:16) But what about sharing our understanding of the text?
Humility is the doorway to wisdom (Proverbs 11:2), and wisdom is what we need to understand God’s Word. Humbly sharing our understanding of Scripture with others sharpens our understanding of God’s Word as “iron sharpens iron” (Proverbs 27:17). The key is humility.
Application: Enjoy a conversation where you discuss the meaning of a Scripture passage with a friend.
Food for Thought: What is the danger of assuming we understand something without ever testing our ideas by sharing them with others?
As I read today’s blog I keep thinking about how commas saves lives.
Let’s eat grandma. Vs Let’s eat, grandma.
As I go over my comment I ask my beautiful wife if what I’m saying is being explained correctly. We need to remember to be humble to admit that we could be wrong and someone else’s ideas are better.
Proverbs 5 and 6.
T&A,
LOL!! Thanks for the GREAT illustration of the importance of commas! (I guess we could call that a comma-tery on our text today.) 🙂
Let’s eat grandma versus let’s eat, grandma. Good illustration T.
The Bereans (Acts 17: 11) are known to be of noble character because they searched the Scriptures to see if what Paul was teaching was true. We are told that as a result, many came to saving faith (Acts 17: 12). What can sometimes be missed, is that it appears they did this together in community. In other words, they searched the Scriptures but also were bouncing what they discovered off of each other. Both the Scriptures and community are designed to keep us on track. Hebrews 10: 24 – 25. Acts 18: 24 – 28 is an example of how sharing our ideas in community can lead to a sharpening that advances God’s purposes.
Rich,
Your example reminds me of the excellent Bible Studies available at Bethel. Having a place to study the Word and discuss it in a safe environment is a powerful teaching tool.