(August - September 2025)
Doctrinal Focus - General & Special Revelation
Our God is a God who speaks. In the beginning, God spoke, and the world was created out of nothing. And God continues to speak through His creation. Since God created everything, His character and nature are revealed in the goodness of what has been made. Romans 1:19-20 tells us that “what can be known about God is plain…because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.” This self-disclosure of God through natural creation is known as General Revelation - the Lord’s communication of Himself to all persons, at all times, in all places. As we look at the world, we see the grandeur of God’s power in the mountain ranges, His beauty in the sunset, His care in the intricate features of a newborn infant, His wisdom in mathematics and scientific discovery. These features of our world stir our hearts to praise Him for who He is in His majesty and glory.
But, as with all things, this world has been marred by the effects of sin. Therefore, our knowledge about God in creation has become distorted. We can know true things about God by observing the world around us, but we cannot know God truly. We need greater revelation.
Even after the Fall, the Lord continued to speak to His creation. In Genesis 12, He spoke to Abraham. In Exodus, He spoke to Moses and gave the people of Israel His written Law. And throughout the rest of the Old Testament, the Lord spoke through His prophets - calling His people and the surrounding nations to follow Him. This unique communication from God through His spoken and written word is known as Special Revelation. Special Revelation reveals truths about God that we cannot discern from the created order alone, namely pertaining to His redemptive, salvific purposes. The culmination of God’s Special Revelation was the sending of His Son, Jesus Christ. Hebrews 1:1-2 says, “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.”
The Bible has been delivered to us as God’s true, inspired, authoritative Word (2 Tim. 3:16-17), written by Spirit-inspired authors (2 Pet. 1:21) concerning Christ himself (Jn. 5:39-40, Lk. 24:44). The Bible has been preserved for us and it tells one, unified story that proclaims Christ as Lord. It is, therefore, our greatest and most necessary tool for learning about God and experiencing His salvation by grace through faith (Rom. 10:14-17). A recognition of the significance of God’s Word leads us to grow in our hunger to read, understand, and apply it to our lives through the practice of study.
Disciplined Practice - Study
“‘…add to your faith virtue…’ (2 Peter 1:5). Add means that we have to do something. We cannot save nor sanctify ourselves…But God will not give us good habits or character, and He will not force us to walk correctly before Him. We have to do all that ourselves…Add means that we must get into the habit of doing things.”
- Oswald Chambers in My Utmost for His Highest
In the evangelical (Baptist and non-denominational) churches where I grew up, there was one spiritual discipline that was preached far and beyond any other: to read my Bible and read it daily. Unfortunately, I was provided little education on how to read the ancient, ambiguous, and diverse book that we call God’s Word. Here are a few guiding principles for reading and engaging the text of Scripture. First, it is essential to understand the original intent of the biblical author, lest you interpret and apply verses out of context. Secondly, Scripture should help us interpret other Scripture - with clearer texts providing clarity to more obscure texts. The Bible was never meant to be read as step-by-step directions on which path to take when you face a fork in the road of life. A black-and-white reading of the text, in a vacuum, will leave the attentive reader rather confused. For example: Jesus said “Don’t let your left hand see what your right hand is doing,” (Matt. 6:3), but he also said, “Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matt. 5:16). Both of those cannot be followed at the same time if read as absolutes. The wise person understands how to hold both truths (humility and a desire to see God glorified) in tension when determining the wise path to take in a certain situation. Clearly, this does not mean Scripture is untrue; it means we must interpret it in context and not simply based on how it “hits” us.
Relatedly, “We must understand…that a vast difference exists between the study of Scripture and the devotional reading of Scripture. In the study of Scripture, a high priority is placed upon interpretation: what it means. In the devotional study of Scripture a high priority is placed upon application: what it means for me.” If you have not read the Bible front to back, then a daily (chronological order) reading plan is a great strategy for making sure you have consumed all of it. However, once you have read the Bible cover to cover once or twice, simply reading through the Bible again in the same manner is more of a devotional exercise and less like the time-honored means of grace we call study. Devotional readings can be beneficial, particularly as a means of focusing your affections on things of the Lord or honoring him with your utmost, but there are more effective ways of being transformed by God through his word. “Remember that the key to the Discipline of study is not reading many books, but experiencing what we do read.”1
“Study” is less like using flashcards to memorize isolated facts for a quiz and more like revisiting a concept repeatedly until you begin to see how all the parts fit together in a larger framework or story. It can be a time consuming process, but the result is often far more fulfilling than the typical cycle of quick memorization and information-dump to which we are accustomed. Expect study to often feel like a somewhat emotionally barren exercise until it suddenly isn’t. Instead of asking, “How does this make me feel?” or “What should I do in response?”—the kinds of questions we tend to ask in devotional reading—elevate your focus to questions like, “What did this mean to its original audience?” and “What does this mean in light of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection?” The effort to answer these questions first with genuine curiosity will likely reshape how you respond emotionally and practically afterwards.\
This kind of mental and intellectual exercise is a valuable pushback against the “magic” of technology that often atrophies our capacity to love God and others with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Here are some ideas for how to spend the next few months. We encourage you to pick a text, pick a resource to go with it, and decide on a rhythm. Find a commentary or book that highlights cultural context and helps make sense of the New Testament in light of the Old Testament (e.g. The New Testament in its World by N.T. Wright & Michael Bird). For this particular practice, avoid resources that are focused primarily on life application. Consider reading the informative and pithy Out of Context by Richard Schultz or How to Read the Bible for all it’s Worth by Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart.
Examples
Schedule an intensive for 2-3 days to study away from home. Study for several hours per day.
Work through a Bible Project course in their app.
Read a major Biblical book straight through, studying a chapter each day after you’ve read it fully.
Read a smaller Biblical book straight through each day for a month, and another the second month.
Pair your Bible studying with the reading of a classic Christian book.
Pick a day of the week, and for the next two months on that day listen to the audio version of Mark (free on the Bible app) first in The Message, then in the NIV, then in the ESV instead of podcasts, music, or other media.
Experience what you read: less content and more depth.
Commit to doing this with someone else, if that increases your enjoyment and commitment.
Directed Affections - Humility
I have found this to be a useful prayer: “Lord, teach me which truths I think are correct that are not.” We are all blind to some extent or another, unaware of how easily we can become self-righteous about our politics, worldview, and corner on the truth. Scripture reading, prayer, study, and ultimately the whole of the spiritual life is meant to be something that transforms us. This transformation must be experienced in mind, body, soul, and spirit, not simply assented to cognitively or abstractly. Mere cognitive belief will lead to little change indeed. As Eugene Peterson, quoting Fr. William McNamara, wrote, “There are no LITTLE prayers! Prayer enters the lion's den, brings us before the holy where it is uncertain whether we will come back alive or sane, for ‘it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God.’” One of the easiest ways to humbly prepare yourself to experience what the Lord has for you, before praying or reading scripture, is to take a slow breath in, inhaling as much as you can, then squeezing in a tiny bit more, before slowly exhaling. You can do this exercise, sometimes called a “physiological sigh,” two or three times, reducing anxiety and allowing you to be more present in mind and body. The more present you are, the more likely you are to receive what the Lord is communicating.
Potential Spiritual Pitfalls
The evangelical tradition’s emphasis on orthodoxy (right belief) and Scripture, when unbalanced, is always at risk of leading us towards a salvation of belief that is divorced from works that evidence our faith. This is why the evangelical tradition pairs so needfully with the social justice tradition that emanates from the life of Christ, teaching us to care for the poor and bind the wounds of the sick. As Paul writes, we are saved by grace through faith and created in Jesus to do good works (Eph 2:8-10). These concepts–grace, faith, and good works–are inseparable. In his commentary on Luke 10, William Barclay wrote “It is no new experience to find the orthodox more interested in dogmas than in help and to find the man the orthodox despise to be the one who loves his fellow-men. In the end we will be judged not by the creed we hold but by the life we live.”
Small Group Discussion
Why is it important that we have a God who speaks -both through His world and His Word?
In your own words, what is the difference between General Revelation and Special Revelation?
Read Hebrews 1:1-4. Why is it significant that we see Jesus as the pinnacle of God’s revelation of Himself?
What is the significance of the rest of Scripture in highlighting the revelation of God’s Son?
This article makes a distinction between the discipline of study and the practice of devotional reading. How are these two practices related? How are they distinct from one another?
What are some of the dangers of neglecting a deeper study of Scripture?
What are some of the potential pitfalls of relying too heavily on our depth of study?
What is a book of the Bible/passage that you would like to do a deeper study on over the coming months?
Read through the examples given above - what is a study practice you would like to adopt to help with this selected passage/book?
Pray together - that our affection for the Lord would grow as we learn to delight in His Word.