Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: Concerning Him. An Emmaus podcast is a ministry of Emmaus Bible College. Concerning Him seeks to enrich Christians around the globe by educating and equipping them through various media. For more information about Emmaus, please visit Emmaus.edu.
[00:00:21] Speaker B: Hello and welcome to another episode of The Concerning Hymn podcast. Today we are joined by Dr. Mark Yarbrough, president of Dallas Theological Seminary. We're happy to have you on campus. Thank you for being here.
[00:00:34] Speaker C: It is an honor to be here. We're just having a great couple of days.
[00:00:37] Speaker B: Great. You are here for a Christian Ministries seminar. You're speaking in the Book of Jonah, is that correct?
[00:00:43] Speaker C: That is exactly what we're know when they called and it all worked out, get it on the schedule and four chapter book, four sessions. It just makes for beautiful presentation, time of jumping in the word and the incredible practical challenges that come out of that particular book. But it also just weaves nicely into when the days are over. You feel like, you know, a book better, a book of the Bible. And that's always kind of a fun thing as well.
[00:01:08] Speaker B: Yeah. You just wrote a book on the Book of Jonah, is that correct?
[00:01:11] Speaker C: Yeah. So it's really fresh to me. I wrote a book on Jonah. A little mini commentary in many ways, but it's more practical oriented. It's not just walking through the details of the book, but I wanted it to do what I think the book itself does. It preaches. It is written to communicate to us in messy situations of life, and that's what we get to see. As I phrased it in the book, it's way beyond the tail of a whale. There you go.
[00:01:39] Speaker B: Well, thank you for coming on. We're excited to have you today. We're going to talk a little bit about hermeneutics personal Bible study.
[00:01:47] Speaker C: Sure.
[00:01:47] Speaker B: But before we get there, if you could tell our listeners who you are, obviously president of Dallas Theological Seminary, but how did you get there? What was your schooling like? What was your upbringing? Life. And just a little bio about yourself?
[00:02:02] Speaker C: You betcha. Hey, I grew up in North Texas, so I'm a Texas boy. I wear boots all the time, and they're real to me. They're just kind of like, know and just grew up in an absolutely wonderful family. Seriously. I was in one of those homes where it was Mama, Dada, and Jesus, meaning I was presented the gospel from an early age. My mom and dad are still alive and have lived it out before me in a vibrant way and came to know the Lord and accepted him early on in life and ended up going to Bible college. And it was there that the Lord really got a hold of my heart in life and felt that call to ministry. Didn't know exactly what like a lot of folks had no idea exactly what it was due, but I knew that preparation was certainly going to be part of it. I was working at a church and pastoring at a church all through my Bible College years and had some connections at Dallas Seminary and went there as a student. After I graduated from DTS, went back to my Bible college where I was at. I had married by then. My wife was a high school sweetheart that we started dating the last couple years and then we got married. And the Lord's just been so incredibly faithful to us. After about five years at the Bible college, very similar to Emmaus, and I really mean that.
Went over to Dallas Seminary based on an invitation from the individual that was going to be serving as president. My predecessor, Mark Bailey and Chuck Swandall was moving into the role of chancellor. So when I first came to the seminary in 2001, I reported to both of those men.
[00:03:31] Speaker B: Oh, wow.
[00:03:31] Speaker C: And it was a wonderful couple of years just helping them in that transition. And then since I've been there since 2001, so I'm a relic now. Once you cross over 20 years, it means you're a relic.
So I've been there for a long time and have served in a lot of different roles. And in October of 2019, the board asked if I would move into the role of president. And that's what we've been doing. So officially it started smack dab in the middle of COVID How about that? So that's just the transition that everybody wants. But the Lord has been so faithful and good and things at the seminary. If any of our listeners ever want to know anything about Al Seminary, please just go to Dts.edu. You can get all of the information, Dts.edu, and you can find out whatever you want and what's going on in chapel and classes that are offered. And things are well, we're just having record enrollment and we've got a lot of things that are happening with some new global initiatives. Some things are happening around the world that are just stunning for all of us as believers in terms of the expansion of the gospel. And so we're just proud to be anchored in God's word, and that's who we want to be. We want to anchor students and equip them in God's unchanging, immovable, inerrant inspired word. And that is the lens that God has given us, to be able to see the world and to know how to move and act. So that's what I'm doing in Dallas. If any of you are ever in the neighborhood, stop on by, we'd love to see you.
[00:04:57] Speaker B: And you guys offer free classes online, don't you?
[00:05:00] Speaker C: We do. In fact, if you just flat out Google that and say Dallas Seminary Free courses, I'll tell you something interesting that's going on. We have about 29 or 30 courses that are out there for free, completely free. Wow. They are taken right out of our classroom. We take portions of the material that are at graduate level, and we build a mini curriculum around them and with books and readings and little quizzes, don't get intimidated by any of that. When you hear free, it's like, hey, I don't want to pay money to have quizzes, but it's really to help us stay engaged. And that's really what it is. And much to our surprise, it is blowing up in a good sense. And we've got about 560,000 students that are taking these free courses right now.
[00:05:44] Speaker B: Wow, that's incredible. Yeah.
[00:05:46] Speaker C: The Lord's doing some amazing things, and primarily we're watching a huge group of pastors that are in Latin America and Southeast Asia and primarily SubSaharan Africa, where the gospel is exploding right now. It's just amazing to see, and we want to be part of that to help equip another generation, whether they're on our campus or not.
[00:06:05] Speaker B: Okay, well, that's incredible. Check that out, please, as we kind of transition into talking about hermeneutics today.
You wrote a book a number of years ago, I'm not sure how long, how to Read Your Bible Like a Seminary Professor. When was that published, do you remember?
[00:06:23] Speaker C: I think it came out in 2015.
[00:06:24] Speaker B: 2015, okay. Yeah. You were still listed, I think, as the VP for academics. Academics, that's right, exactly.
[00:06:31] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:06:31] Speaker B: On the book.
It's a wonderful book. I haven't read it cover to cover, but I've read more than 50% of it so far. Okay, but not all in once. Kind of jumping around.
Wonderful book, really enjoyed it. And it brings up I think what is an important issue is that we have lots of people in our churches who have not been to Bible college, who've not been to seminary, who want to be able to open the word and understand it.
[00:06:58] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:06:58] Speaker B: And you start off in the introduction with a story. It's kind of an imaginary story, but I think it's a story that a lot of people can relate to because we've all been there before, and it's a story of a Bible study where the scripture is read and somebody says, what do you feel or what are your thoughts?
[00:07:19] Speaker C: What does that mean to what does.
[00:07:20] Speaker B: That mean to you exactly, about the Scripture we just read? And maybe we could start off by saying, what's wrong with that question? What does that mean to you when you're sitting around and reading the Bible?
[00:07:32] Speaker C: Yeah, I kind of paint that picture because I know that that is what is happening in thousands of churches and small groups and places and really well intended people. I really mean that. This is not an issue of attacking anybody or things like that. But there is a fundamental problem with that. If we're sitting around and it's a group of individuals, and the teacher of the class just looks at somebody after reading a passage and says, well, what does that mean to you?
If that is just going as a discussion starter, then I get it. I totally understand that. But what is happening is that people aren't just meaning it as a discussion starter, they're meaning it factually. Like, oh, that this that is presented in God's word will mean one thing to one person and something totally different to somebody else. And then the third and fourth and we can all have our own individualized interpretations of what the Bible means. And here's what I always say. If the Bible can mean anything that we want it to mean when we want it to mean it, then the Bible means nothing at all. And that's what we're up against because there are thousands of studies that are happening all across the country and all across the world where that's how we're approaching Bible study. And there's something fundamentally scary about that because we can all be our own interpreter, there's no guardrails, there's no direction of where we're supposed to be going. I can just say it means one thing and you can say it means something else. And it's total subjective interpretation. And that's incredibly scary for the church.
[00:09:03] Speaker B: Which can not only vary from person to person, but also vary based on your mood. Oh my God, today I'm happy, so I'm going to pull out this stuff and tomorrow I'm going to be sad and so I'm going to read it totally differently.
[00:09:15] Speaker C: Well phrased. I mean, so I can just change my mind on a whim and so I'm back on that statement. I think you get what I'm saying and our listeners get what we're saying is that if that's true and if we can make the Bible mean whatever we want it to mean, whenever we want it to mean it, then it means nothing at all. There's where we're stuck at. So we got to make sure that that problem cannot exist and we must have an approach to studying God's Word.
[00:09:42] Speaker B: So then identifying the problem, moving towards the solution here. Now, for somebody sitting at home reading their Bible on their own or maybe they've got a Bible study where that type of issue is existing, what is the proper first step for somebody when they're sitting and saying, you know, oftentimes when I read my Bible I'm thinking, what does it mean to me instead? What is the proper first step to engage in as they're reading their Bible, whether individually or in a group?
[00:10:13] Speaker C: Yeah, well, there's probably many first steps, if I can say that. And I don't want to make this complicated, but I do think that we need to come to this topic with an understanding that we really do believe that the Bible is God's word. Two Timothy 316 is one of those classic texts that all scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking correcting and training and righteousness so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
The Bible claims about itself that God has spoken, he has not stuttered. He has presented clearly the language that is used. There is all Scripture, each and every Scripture in that context. He's talking about the Old Testament. He's talking about the New Testament, what we view in terms of the 66 books. And so think fundamentally of what I'm saying here. If that is what the text is arguing, that all scripture is God breathe, that God has spoken, then we need to come to this saying, okay, God has spoken. This is his breath on a page. He has chosen to say something.
Well, you follow along in that text. So if we believe, then that Holy Scripture is God's word, it's useful for, which means God's word is for our growth. So this is God's word. He's given it to us in order to grow us in our walk of faith. And then that growth is for his good work. So that's kind of the flow of that text. But here's my point. If we believe that God has spoken, then we are responsible for knowing what he said. In other words, I need to first start. So this comes to your question. What is like the first step here, the first step in working the text? So in my book, I use actually three moves. I talk about know it, work it, live it. Okay? So I'm not going to talk right now about things that we need to know. And I do believe that there are things as believers, as Christians, that we need to know, right? We need to know the basic doctrine of the faith. We need to know the grand story of the Bible. It doesn't mean that we're all biblical theologians that's not what I'm talking about or Bible scholars, but it means there's some things that we have always professed as believers, right? I mean, we believe that Jesus Christ died and was resurrected and has conquered death and ascended, sits at the right hand of the Father and represents us. And aren't we thankful for that? But there are things we need to believe. But when we're talking about how to study the Bible, now I'm into this, how do we work it? And the very first step is to learn to be good observers of the text. That is the very first thing, because when we're a good observer, it means we are slowing down and taking the time to see what God has said.
[00:13:01] Speaker B: How does somebody do that then?
[00:13:03] Speaker C: Okay, great question. Well, here's how I encourage people to do it. That's how I encourage my students to do it at the seminary. And when I teach this and seminars and things like that, is that that's exactly what we do. We start and say, okay, I have a passage in front of me and I am going to literally take out a blank sheet of paper and I am going to write, I can observe that.
And then I'm going to start filling in the blanks. So in other words, I'm going to observe words. I'm going to observe things about who's speaking, who they're speaking to.
I am going to observe the verbs that are used. I mean, God chose to use human language. And so if I'm going to be a good observer, I need to first observe what God said, which means I'm going to have to ask and answer the question, what do I see? What is right there in front of my eyes? So observation is a huge thing. We could just spend our entire time talking about observation because we live in a culture where we're not good at that. I would argue that all of this technology and everything we're doing, we're all a little add or ADHD, right? I mean, we've got lots of moving pieces and we have a hard time concentrating, and we just quickly want to know, well, what does somebody else think about that? And I'm thinking the place we need to start is, well, what has God said about that? And so it is a very purposeful step of slowing down and say, I'm going to study this passage of Scripture, and I'm going to write down what I see, and here's what I've found through the years.
The more time we spend in observation, the less mistakes we make in interpretation. And the opposite of that is true.
The less time we spend in observation, the more time and mistakes we're going to spend in interpretation. So this first step of learning to simply be good observer is critical in being a good student of the Word of God.
[00:15:00] Speaker B: As you are transitioning, you've made your observations, you've sat down. Maybe it's a blank piece of paper, like you said, and then you're thinking about, I think a lot of people, their first thought is, okay, how am I putting this into practice? Right away? People want to jump straight to application. Is that correct?
[00:15:17] Speaker C: Oh, my goodness. And that's the problem. We actually want to jump to interpretation or we want to jump to, how does this apply to my life? And there's nothing wrong with getting there, but there has to be a proper way to get there, because if you get there the wrong way, you're going to be interpreting it incorrectly. How bad would that be? Then we're doing something with the text that the text is not saying. And the same is true of application. So we've got to get there. But we first have to get there by observing the text.
[00:15:44] Speaker B: And what's interesting to me is not only by jumping straight to application, somebody is almost saying, the most important thing with this is me.
[00:15:54] Speaker C: Right?
[00:15:55] Speaker B: Whereas if you take your time in observation and you're thinking, what has God said? The most important thing doesn't become me. The most important thing becomes God in his word.
[00:16:04] Speaker C: Amen.
[00:16:05] Speaker B: And then the results can be, how does this affect my life? Rather than, this is just my self help book.
[00:16:11] Speaker C: That's right. Well, we do live in the I generation, right? Seriously, it's the iPhone. It's everything i. And to your point, sometimes God is speaking about who he is. He is talking about I mean, sometimes the presentation is not directly to me, right. I always use this phrase, right? The Bible wasn't written to me. It was written for me. And notice the move in the prepositions, right? So in other words, it's not to me. I need to know who the author and the audience are because I've got to start then and there before I can start talking about application here and now. So you're exactly right. Yeah. It can't be just about me. Even though we want to ask the question of how does that Bible inform me of who I need to be as a believer?
[00:16:54] Speaker B: So as you're talking about this and you've mentioned interpretation a little bit already, what does that interpretation interpretive step look like?
[00:17:01] Speaker C: Okay, that's great. Well, first of all, you used a word at the very beginning that I want to kind of make sure that our listeners are okay with, because you hear that word hermeneutics and call it what it is, it sounds like something you need to go see your podiatrist about. I've got some hermeneutic problems or something. And hermeneutics is just a big, fancy academic word for interpretation.
[00:17:21] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:17:22] Speaker C: So when individuals hear that word hermeneutics, let's think about interpretation. And I kind of think that there are two or three things primarily that are going on with interpretation. Number one, it means that to be a good interpreter of the text after we've done this step of observing it, it means that we need to go back and we're going to have to really make sure that we understand the words. So we're going to have to look at the language. So let's just start there. We're going to have to look at the language. Now, for a lot of us, that means, oh, my goodness, are you going to start talking about grammar and nouns and verbs and modifiers? Well, maybe so. And we can all certainly improve in our elementary age areas that we're all going, oh, I wish I'd have paid more attention back then. But learning how the words are put together is very important. And sometimes we're going to have big, giant words that I go, I am not real familiar with that word. So we're going to need to study the words to make sure that we understand what God chose to say in a written format. Okay? So we're going to study words. We're also going to have to study the context. Context is huge, and that may be literary, but it may also be geographical. It may be the background to this text. So to be a good student of the word means that we're also going to have to step back in time just a little bit and we're going to need to understand the background literarily and historically with when that moment occurred. Okay? The third thing that I think is real important in Hermeneutics is studying here's another big fancy word, the genre of scripture. Now, all that means is the type of scripture that it is. So think about it. Things that our listeners know that there are different kinds of literature in the Bible, right? There's narrative. We know what that is. That's presented in a great storyline. There's poetry, there's prophecy, there's historical, there is letters. Or unless you're all churched up and we say epistles. I remember the first time I heard that. I thought the epistles were the wives of the apostles. I had no idea. What are epistles? Well, they're just big letters is what they are, right? And so you don't approach every genre the same way. So in hermeneutics, those are at least three things that are going to be important for us to be a good student of the word of God. We're going to have to look at the words, we're going to have to look at the context, and then we're going to have to look at the type of literature that it is.
[00:19:40] Speaker B: And in doing all of that, what is your goal then in interpretation?
[00:19:45] Speaker C: The goal is to understand what God meant by what God said.
Let me repeat that. It means that our goal is to understand what God meant by what God said. So again, if God has gone to such great lengths to use real human language, right, we know that the Old Testament with Hebrew and Aramaic and the New Testament with Greek, those are the languages that God chose to communicate in in a written form. So if God has gone to that great length, I need to know the words that he chose to use in order to understand what he has said.
So meaning then is going to be bound. Now, I'm back to kind of our beginning of why was that such a dangerous situation? What does that mean to you? Because words can't just mean whatever we want them to mean, right? I mean, in other words, we are bound by words in a context, and they have to mean certain things. We do that every day. You and I are sitting here having a conversation and whether we know it or not, right, we have boundaries. We have words that are common to you and me, and we have body language as we're sitting here in the studio and recording this, and we're talking with one another and we're using pictures and metaphors, and that's how communication works. And if I all of a sudden started having other definitions of words, normal words, and all of a sudden I meant word to mean a flamingo.
I mean, all of a sudden you'd be going, how can we communicate? And the answer is we couldn't. So we're just going back and saying, what are the meanings of words. I always say this, words have meaning and sentences have structure and we kind of have to start with the very basics god has chosen to speak. I need to know what God has said. If I can look at those words, if I can look at the context, if I can look at the type of literature that it is, it is going to keep me within the field of play, within the rails. It keeps me out of the ditches, if you will, and of knowing what the text actually means.
[00:22:01] Speaker B: Related to all this is another word I'm wondering if you could take the time to define.
[00:22:04] Speaker C: Sure.
[00:22:04] Speaker B: Similar to hermeneutics, is this word exegesis?
[00:22:07] Speaker C: Okay, yeah.
[00:22:08] Speaker B: We haven't brought it up yet necessarily in this conversation, but a lot of people hear this word used. Extra Jesus. What are you talking about? I'm all for extra Jesus.
[00:22:18] Speaker C: Right.
[00:22:19] Speaker B: What does the word exegesis mean, especially in this context?
[00:22:23] Speaker C: Yeah, it's great. I first heard that word and I thought, man, wash your mouth out with soap, don't use the Lord's name in vain like that. And what I realized that it's a Greek phrase that really means literally, it's a compound word, but it means to draw out. Okay, so when you'll hear people reference the exegetical process, let me use it that way, it means that they're going to dive in and really study in a deep rooted way. A lot of times it means they're going to engage in the biblical languages. So it's a really good phrase in terms of students of the word. They want to engage in the biblical language to understand what God has said. But in one sense I would actually argue that anytime that we are taking the time to study words and meanings and context and we're using Bible dictionaries and we're using really good sound commentary systems to help be a good student of the Word, that's actually part of the exegetical process. And so all that means is we're attempting to draw out in order to understand that makes sense.
[00:23:34] Speaker B: So we've talked about observation, talked about interpretation, we've mentioned application some how does that transition happen and how does the application process begin or how is it done. I should say in a way that's honoring to God's word and not just saying, okay, now it's time to be all about me.
[00:23:54] Speaker C: Yeah, that's right. That's good.
So I say that to get to application, it means you have to go through those steps first and foremost of what we've already just said. Be a good observer, I want to interpret it correctly. The last question that I really need to ask is how does this thing work? So think of the questions that we've asked. We've asked and answered the question of what do I see that's observation? We've asked and answered the question of what does it mean, that's interpretation. Ultimately we're getting to how does this work.
That is the field of how does this thing apply? So if we have gone through the proper process in order to get to there, there's lots of questions that we then need to bombard the text with. Is there a very specific command that this text is given? Now, in all fairness, there are plenty of passages of scripture, right, that are very direct. So off the top of my head here, right? Do everything without complaining or arguing. Two. Timothy. Excuse me. Philippians, chapter two, verse 14. A passage that I do not like, by the way, and probably most of our listeners do not either, because the more you study it, the worse it gets, actually. Do each and everything that you do without complaining or arguing. Okay? That's a pretty direct command.
Let's go into the Gospels. Jesus wept.
Okay? I mean, is there a command there? Is that saying we're supposed to weep? How does that relate to people's deaths? Because that's what's going on in the context and Lazarus and all that kind of stuff. See, all scriptures have to be taken in their context. So we need to start asking questions related to application.
Is there a direct command that is given in the text? We need to ask that question. We need to ask, is this part of a larger context that is directing the believer a particular way? Now, think of how complex this gets when you get into, like, narrative, into stories that are presented. So that's where the genre comes in very helpful. Now, to me, this is what I do. And when I teach this, I really kind of design a circle, and I ask questions and say, okay, if I have observed this passage and I feel like I really know what it means, in other words, there's no confusion over the words or the context or anything like that. I ask the question. I say, what bearing does that text have upon? And then in my circle, I have a whole bunch of things. So let me give you some examples. My job. So it's real big, right? Does that text have anything that it speaks into my priorities?
Does that text have anything that it addresses about my values? You see where I'm going here? Does that text have any contribution to my family life?
Does that text have anything and I made this real small. I said sex life because we don't like talking about that. So it's real small to make us feel comfortable. I think you see where I'm going here. We have to bombard then, or let the text bombard all of these areas in our lives and say, okay, is this passage contributing to who I am as a person? Because what I'm describing as a person is true of all of us, whether we're married, whether we're not, whether we have a family. We all have jobs, we make a living. How I treat people. My view of. Who God is. All of those things are at play here. And I think it's fair for us to ask the question of application about, is that passage being directed at one of those areas in my life? Now that's very personal to me and the things that on the application side. Here's the interesting thing. Observations, I don't think they can change. They should be the same for all of us. We're looking at the same words and same sentences, interpretation. We're all going to be pretty close if we're really following this path. But when we get to application, the application actually may be different because my life is not yours. I struggle with things that you don't. You struggle with things that I don't. And so that is, to me, the amazing thing about the word of God. It is true consistently in what it says, but how it impacts us will vary at different times. It's like when you're hearing this, you ever had one of those moments where you've read a passage over and over again. You have studied a book, you have studied whatever it is based upon your season of life, how it's changed.
[00:28:33] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:28:34] Speaker C: That passage takes a different challenge at that moment, doesn't it? Does that make sense? No.
[00:28:41] Speaker B: Absolutely. Yeah, I think we've all experienced that. Absolutely. Yeah.
[00:28:47] Speaker C: And so that's the amazing thing about application, is that it will take different forms and different phases and stages.
With four kids, I realized that I have to be a different parent today than I was when my kids were little. Right. I mean, things change based upon relationships. And I think applications are the same way. Sometimes they are driven directly from the text. They all have to be honoring to the text.
So we have to be good stewards and be very transparent with the word of God and let God's word just pour over us in that application process. So when you go back to that beginning right, and there we are in that Bible study, I do think a lot of times that when individuals, whoever that teacher is, that might pose that question, what does that mean to you? I really think it's unfortunate and confusing language. Does that make sense? They may mean, hey, how does that apply to you? But think of how silly that is to start there. Right?
[00:29:55] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:29:55] Speaker C: We got to first say what's God said. Let's start there. I think great Bible studies are ones that teach people actually how to be good observers of the text. I've had the privilege for years and say, hey, let's just start together. Let's take the first 1015 minutes here and let's make observations. What do we see? Oh, my goodness. When you get a group that is grounded in that philosophy of how to study God's word, all of a sudden it begins to explode. When you get to interpretation, and certainly by the time you get to application, then all of a sudden we have a good grasp of what that text means, how it applies. By the time we get there, then God's Word is doing its thing, and it's a great place to be.
[00:30:40] Speaker B: That's really helpful. Thank you very much. As we kind of close here, I'm wondering if you have any recommended resources as people are seeking to interpret the Bible and they haven't been able to go to Bible college or seminary, things that they can access to help them in biblical interpretation.
[00:30:56] Speaker C: Yeah, you betcha. Let me start with some good books that are out there. And I don't want this to sound self serving, but I really do believe in that book that I put out there.
It's.
How to read the Bible like a seminary professor. It's got a lot of narrative and stories in it, some of that because I want to use the episodes of life to get us to think about the importance of the biblical text. And so that's why I wrote it the way I did. I'll be perfectly honest. There's a lot of wonderful good books out there on interpretation and hermeneutics, and it's just painful to read. I mean, you're plowing through some deep snow there, you know what I mean?
[00:31:37] Speaker B: They're a lot more academic, I would say.
[00:31:39] Speaker C: Exactly, yeah. Good phrase. And so I was actually challenged by a publisher to put this in the hands of regular people. And so that's who it's written for. It's actually picked up, and it's used in a lot of Bible colleges and seminaries and things like that. And I'm happy about it. But there's another wonderful book. One of my mentors of the faith, guy by the name of Howard Hendricks, wrote a great book called Living by the Book, and he uses a lot of that traditional language that you and I just talked about of observation and interpretation and application.
There is a wonderful book by a guy by the name of Gordon Fee, and it's a little small paperback book, how to Read the Bible for All It's Worth. That's a wonderful little book. I'm also a Leland Reichen fan. He wrote a lot of great books called how to Read the Bible as Literature and a lot of their stuff. I also tried to weave into that one that I wrote. So those are some good books that I think would get people started. Former professor of mine by the name of Roy Zuck, longtime faculty member at Dallas Seminary, now with the Lord, wrote a book called Basic Bible Interpretation. It's pretty academic. It's got lots of examples, things like that, but he's got a lot of good things to say. So those are some of the books that are out there. There's some real good, free resources that are out there on the Web, if I can phrase it that way. In regard to just being able to read the Bible, I'm a big blue letter Bible fan. A lot of folks that are out there with that. It's just a free tool that is out there. And you version of the Bible in that regard is some really good material out there and you can get a lot of different versions for free that are out there. Sometimes simply when we're making the observation stage, just comparing English translations will help surface some things then that you want to study later. So those are some of the free resources that are out there. A good website that I send a lot of people to isbible.org has a lot of good, real conservative evangelical material that's out there. You can go there and just type in how to study the Bible. It'll bring up some good resources, some really good sound commentaries that are available.
I'm a big fan of the new version of the Expositors Bible Commentary Series, a tremendous resource that I think is one of the greatest gifts to the church. Former colleague of mine that taught at DTS for years and years name is Tom Constable, and his free notes on the Bible are just life giving. And I'm telling you, just as a free tool, if you just type in Tom Constable Bible notes into Google, you'll see that surface and it's just a wonderful free tool for the church. So those are some recommended resources that I would put out there for our folks that are listening today.
[00:34:32] Speaker B: That's really helpful. I know that you well, you wrote the book eight years ago now, so it's probably a little too late for really a press tour for your book, but I would recommend the book. I really appreciated that it wasn't filled. I've got lots of books filled with footnotes and I'm thankful for them, but it wasn't filled with tons of footnotes, a lot of stories to help kind of drive the point home. Pretty much every chapter started out with some sort of personal story or something from your life, which they were just enjoyable to read. You're a great writer and that was a lot of fun to read.
[00:35:03] Speaker C: You're very kind to God be the glory. You can still pick that thing up on Amazon. It's still sold in a lot of different places and bookstores across the country.
[00:35:10] Speaker B: Fantastic. Well, thank you for coming on today. We really appreciate it.
[00:35:12] Speaker C: It has been an honor. I've enjoyed the discussion.
[00:35:14] Speaker B: Thank you.
[00:35:16] Speaker A: Thank you for listening to concerning him an Emmaeus podcast. Ministries like Concerning Him are possible because of the generous contributions from our partners around the world. For more information about partnering with us, please visit emeas.edu partner.
