Bible Study Magazine—July–August 2009 Issue

• Feature Stories
  Discover new ways to connect the Bible with your ministry and life through reading great interviews with and articles from the biggest names in the church and biblical scholarship.
• Bible Study Tips
  Thoughtful and engaging authors tackle the tough passages in Scripture, explain difficult concepts, and confront complex interpretations in a way that helps God’s Word make sense to your life.
• On the Cutting Edge
  Keep up-to-date on the latest news in biblical research, including archaeological and historical findings.
• A New Kind of Bible Study
  Encounter God by yourself or with other believers with an ongoing Bible study in each issue.
• On Teaching
  Get advice on how to preach or teach the Bible in any setting from well-known pastors and teachers who use the Bible every day.
• Tool Box
  Learn how to effectively use the latest Bible study tools with our how-to guides.
• In the News
  Keep informed about the latest news in biblically-related topics, discoveries, and events.
• Thoughts from the Ancients
  Read the Bible along with those who have come before you, and learn from the wisdom of the early church—in their own words.
• Word Studies
  Get a close-up view of the Bible! Each issue contains insights about specific words found in the Bible, and tutorials on how to do word studies.
• If Only Someone Would Explain It to Me
  Enrich your understanding of the Bible with explanations of biblical and theological concepts by top scholars.
• Did You Know?
  Discover interesting facts about the Bible in the contemporary and ancient world.
• What They Don’t Tell You in Church
  See things you never noticed in biblical passages you have read dozens of times.
• Biblical Humor
  The funniest stories and the best comics related to the Bible, useful for any setting.
• Book Reviews
  Stay on top of the latest books about Bible study. Each issue contains reviews of the books and commentaries to equip you in your study of God’s Word.

Excerpts from the July-Aug 2009 Issue!

Investigative Bible Study

"I now spend my time helping non-believers identify with what Christians believe and why they believe it," says the atheist turned Christian, "as well as equipping Christians to understand and defend out faith." As the legal editor of the Chicago Tribune, Lee Strobel sought to refute Christianity. Unrepentantly, his investigation categorically convinced him that Jesus died and was resurrected.

"Having been trained as a journalist and in law, I approach the Bible as an investigator," says Strobel. "I ask questions, and I want answers. And I don’t stop searching until I come to a resolution. I don’t approach the Bible with a skeptical eye, but I do ask questions of the biblical text, like a journalist who would conduct an interview. I use a large number of outside resources to help me understand the Bible. I’ve got shelves full of commentaries, Bible dictionaries and concordances—you name it, I’ve got it."

Ruth Graham: "The Bible is for Relationship"

It’s no surprise that Ruth Graham, daughter of evangelist Billy Graham, is passionate about God’s Word. However, Ruth never aspired to be a great evangelist like her dad. In fact, theological discussions were not even part of her childhood. Instead, Ruth says the focus was to love the Word of God and Jesus.

"The Scriptures are about the heart. If you and I are going to get to know each other, we’re going to meet together and learn what makes each other laugh, cry, and worry. And isn’t that the way we need to approach God?” says Graham. “We need to get to know God. It’s a relationship. We can study about Him, we can learn what other people have to say about Him, we can watch Him work, but what about a relationship where He comes down to our level? I think that has to underlie our study, our views and our dogma, because if you know about God but don’t really know God then there’s something missing. His heart longs for a relationship and for us to know who He really is."

Chapters and Verses: Who Needs Them?

My pastor shifted uncomfortably in the pulpit. He didn’t know how to begin his sermon. Finally he blurted out, "I can tell you one thing: the book of Acts was never meant to be preached through chapter-by-chapter!" He and his associate had been taking turns doing that, but their sermons had become disjointed, filled with digressions on "what we were talking about last time" and promises to "say more about this next week." The chapters just weren’t lining up with the episodes in the narrative.

There was a good reason for my pastor’s frustration. Chapters and verses in the New Testament were never intended to guide preaching or devotional reading. They were introduced so that reference works could be created. Chapters were added by Stephen Langton at the University of Paris around 1200 so passages could be cited in commentaries. Verses were put in around 1550 by Robert Estienne, a French scholar and printer who was working on a concordance to the Greek New Testament.