What does the Bible actually say? (Part 7: Finding key ideas by asking questions of the text)

      In our last lesson, we talked about how to find key ideas by looking at the repeating words in a passage. This allows you to have a decent idea about the main idea of a passage at a glance (providing you mark the repeating words/phrases in the text). In this lesson, we will begin to ask the 5 "w's" and 1 "h" question (who, what, when, where, why, and how) to determine the key information of a text. We'll use the same text we did last time and dive in.

Materials you will need:

1. Holy Spirit

2. Prayer

3. A copy of the text

4. A place to make notes

     As always begin your time in the Word asking the Spirit for His help. It would also be a good idea to read the text several times before you begin to tackle the questions. 

1 Corinthians 12:1-14 (NASB)

"1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware. 2 You know that when you were pagans, you were led astray to the mute idols, however you were led. 3 Therefore I made known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says, "Jesus is accursed"; and no one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit. 4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. 6 There are varieties of effects, but the same God who woks all things in all persons. 7 But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 8 For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit; 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 and to another the effecting of miracles, and to another prophecy, and to another the distinguishing of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each individually just as He wills. 12 For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. 13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. 14 For the body is not one member, but many."

1. Read the text 5x.

2. Write down the five "w" and one "h" questions with space by them to answer them (who, what, when, where, why, and how)

     We're not going to work through the entire text with each of these questions, but I hope to get you started.

     Let's start with, "who?". The "who" question is answered by looking for the subject of the sentence. "Who" is doing the action? You will quickly identify that there are a lot of similar actions being done by only a few people in this text. But let's back up a step and ask the questions: "Who wrote this book?" and "To whom was it written?" These questions will help us set the historical context for the passage. The more we understand about who wrote it and to whom and what the author intended to communicate to his specific audience, the less likely we will be to misapply the text. The book of First Corinthians was written by the apostle Paul. You will find his conversion story in the book of Acts (chapters 9 and 22). He was writing to one of the churches that he started in the town of Corinth (what is now modern day Greece). The scholars date the letter to between 52-56 A.D. ("The New Inductive Study Bible", Harvest House Publishers, p. 1848). The church that he wrote to was full of problems and the book of First Corinthians was written to address some of those problems. Chapters 12-14 are addressing the misuse of the spiritual gifts by the Corinthians. With this in mind, does your understanding of the passage change at all? Does your understanding of the problem cause you to glaze over or to pay closer attention? If these people had all the gifts in their church but were misusing them, what does that say about our ability to do the same? 

     Now let's look at the actual 'actors' in the passage itself. Read through and identify who is doing the acting, giving, leading, speaking, etc. Look for personal pronouns (I, he, she, it, you, they) and for references to members of the Godhead. Let's take verses 1-3 for an example:

"1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware. 2 You know that when you were pagans, you were led astray to the mute idols, however you were led. 3 Therefore I made known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says, "Jesus is accursed"; and no one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit." 

1. Who is the "I" in these verses? - Paul

2. Who is the "you" in these verses? - the Corinthian church

3. Who else is mentioned? - God, Jesus, the Spirit of God/Holy Spirit

4. Continue to work your way through the text and find out where these people are referenced. (If it would be helpful, mark each pronoun/person mentioned with their own color or symbol, so as to find them more easily later.)

     Now, we'll look at the second question, "what." The "what" of a sentence is the action of the sentence. Someone is doing the "what" to someone or something else. Now, don't glaze over on me. You'll never know what the Bible means until you know what it says. Using the three verses listed above, answer the "what" question.

1. Paul is doing what in verse 1? - He is educating the Corinthian church about spiritual gifts.

2. What were the Corinthians doing before they came to Christ (v.2)? - being led astray to mute idols

3. What did Paul do in verse 3? - Taught them that those who follow mute idols will lie about who Jesus is and those who follow Jesus will speak the truth about who Jesus is and the Spirit is the one who reveals said truth to them.

     Now for the "when" question. You find the answers to the "when" question by looking for references to time or at the tenses of the verbs. (For example, in the historical books in the Old Testament, they will reference that "such and such" took place so many years after "such and such." These time markers help you identify when these events took place.)

1. When were the Corinthians led astray to mute idols? - when they were pagans

2. When did Paul teach the Corinthians the truths in vv. 2-3? (not listed explicitly in the text) - while he was with them previously, starting the church. 

     "Where?" is our next question.

1. Where were the believers when Paul wrote to them/taught them? - the city of Corinth. 

     "Why" is the next question. By answering the "why" question, you find out the reason or purpose something was said or done. "Because," "for this reason," and "therefore" can be key words to look for when trying to determine the "why". 

1. Why did Paul write to the Corinthians about spiritual gifts? - He did not want them to be ignorant/unaware of what they were, who gave them, who received them, how they were to be used (and not used). 

2. Why did Paul teach them about who would speak the truth or lie about who Jesus is? - because He wanted them to know that only true believers would submit to the authority of Jesus and they would be the ones who would receive gifts from the Spirit.

     The last question to ask is, "how." There are times in Paul's letters that he describes the circumstances he's in and he describes how he responded to them, how he was feeling, how difficult or easy they were. "How" also describes the strength or weakness of a particular person or situation ('strong' wind, 'dry' desert). "How" is an adverb - it accompanies an action.  Are there any adverbs in these verses? Maybe not these verses, but, as with all of the questions, continue to work your way through the text asking them. One thing you might find as you do so is that you will be creating a list of answers to each question. Try to consolidate those answers and put them in your own words. Be careful to say what the text says, not what you think it should. A passage may not answer all of these questions. That's ok. Begin to create the habit of asking them anyway. These questions will open up the text to you in ways you didn't realize before. They will force you to pay attention to what you read instead of skimming over it. They will open your eyes to what the text actually says. 

     When Christians use the gifts Biblically, they are a testimony to the reality of the God that we serve. When we use the gifts in the way they are intended to be used, we operate like a well-oiled machine or a healthy body. These gifts come with instructions from the Giver. We are not to act like spoiled children when we received them and ignore those instructions. These gifts are just that, gifts. They are given by God in accordance to His plan, not ours. They are not rights to be demanded from Him. He is not a genie or a vending machine that will give us what we want if we put in the right change, pray hard enough, work hard enough, or beg/demand hard enough for what we want. We are given these good and perfect gifts (James 1:17) from the Father who knows what we need and what our churches need. Those who glorify some gifts over others are out of line with the teachings of Scripture (Paul will condemn this misuse and misapplication of these gifts in chapters 12-14 of 1 Corinthians). God does not play favorites. He has given us the gifts that He wants us to have and we need to make sure that we are using those gifts for the building up of the Body before we go demanding other gifts from Him. Do you know what your gifts actually are? Study the list given in 1 Corinthians 12; Ephesians 4:11; and Romans 12. Ask the Holy Spirit to give you understanding about how He has equipped you to build up the body of Christ - the purpose for the gifts. Ask godly mentors that you know if they have noticed strengths in particular areas of your life that might indicate your gifts. Be very careful of those who exalt some gifts about the others. They are all equal and they are all needed. Don't allow others to encourage discontentment in your heart over what you have been given by our good and gracious God. 

     I have a few resources along the lines of finding out what one's gifts might be. If you're interested, please reach out to me. sermonaudio.com is an online library of solid, Biblical preaching and you can search by topic. I also, personally, would recommend preachers like David Platt, Allistair Begg, John MacArthur, Wayne Grudem, John Piper, Dr. Michael Brown, Dr. Bill Jones (my dad), and Dr. James White/Jeff Durbin. These are men that love the Lord and seek to be faithful to His Word. They may not all land exactly at the same conclusion but they are going to be faithful stewards of the Word as they teach on these things. There are many others, but these are some of the ones that I have found to be solid.