Knowing Scripture

Car advertisements on TV have progressed (??) from being informative in years past, to idiotic, to truly moronic in modern times. So please pardon me when I borrow an overused phrase from contemporary silly car commercials, but Sproul’s little volume, Knowing Scripture, is truly “best-in-class” for concise books that help the reader interpret the Bible. Sproul’s writing is warm and friendly, almost whimsical at times, which belies the immensely intelligent, well-schooled, sharp mind behind the volume. The average layman will find this book easy to read, easy to understand, and very encouraging as it admonishes him to read—and interpret—his Bible. The first chapter explores the motivations and necessity behind the Christian’s obligation to read the Scripture, and the second chapter follows on smoothly with the question of private Bible interpretation. Sproul argues for the idea that private interpretation is necessary and legitimate, but must be informed by the teachers (through history) God has gifted to the Church. He also deals with the matter of objectivity and subjectivity in interpretation. A wide-angle view of hermeneutics occupies the third chapter as Sproul deals with larger issues such as genre analysis, metaphor, the grammatical-historical approach, source criticism, and how such matters inform literal interpretation. If chapter three deals with hermeneutics on the “strategic” level, chapter four approaches it from the “tactical” level as the author unfolds and explains eleven rules to guide the interpretive endeavor. Chapter five deals with some of the difficult issues swirling around the question of how both the biblical writer’s and modern reader’s cultural contexts affect meaning. Finally Sproul lists numerous helpful resources and tools for Bible study in chapter six. As a humorous side note, Sproul thinks it is a simple matter to master the Greek and Hebrew alphabets (well, okay), and a thousand-word vocabulary of Greek (ah, not so simple). Maybe it is simple for him and for other men and women of his intellect, but I found it very challenging (and then found maintaining a hard-earned Greek and Hebrew vocabulary to be nigh unto impossible, since other demands crowd into post-seminary life). Knowing Scripture is truly the “best-in-class” volume for an introductory look at how to read and interpret the Bible. Highly recommended.

If you are someone who is knew to studying the Bible this book is a great introduction to help equip you for that task which will lead you to knowing scripture in a deeper way. If you have tried to study the Bible on your own but are not familiar with hermeneutics this book will be a prefect starting point for you as well. Hermeneutics is the science of biblical interpretation. Its goal is to give rules to interpret the Bible in a way where you will leave with true biblical accurate conclusions grounded in scripture. Instead of leaving with unbiblical conclusions that you thought were grounded in scripture but in reality, weren't. All Christians are going to interpret the Bible at some point but there is no need to feel overwhelmed because this book will give you the basic rules from a seasoned expert to help you in your interpreting of scripture. Paul the apostle told Timothy to continue in the things he learned (scripture). That same commandment of Paul is for us as well. We must continue in the revelational truths found in scripture and we must continue in them with an accurate understanding of them. Because if we don't accurately understand them, we aren't obeying Paul because we are no longer continuing in Gods truth but a distortion of that truth. And that is why learning to study the Bible (learning hermeneutics) is so important for our Christian faith. If you want to know scripture and continue in Gods truth than get this book titled for what you are seeking (Knowing Scripture).

In my opinion, the late R.C. Sproul was the best Bible teacher in the English-speaking world. Subsequently, what happens when the best teacher shows you how to properly study the greatest book ever written? The answer is, “something special.” Do you want to discern what the Word of God actually says? Knowing Scripture will show you how. It is an easy-to-read Bible study guide that is accessible to every student of the text. It equips you with the tools you need to interpret without distorting; to understand so that you can apply; to arrive at objective truth without drowning in subjectivism; to practice exegesis without eisegesis. The “meat and potatoes” of the book is located in chapters three and four: “Hermeneutics” and “Practical Rules of Biblical Interpretation.” In the former chapter, Sproul discusses the “science” of interpretation by providing the fundamental principles. The latter chapter shows how to specifically apply the principles with 11 rules of interpretation. What is central to the entire process is the faith that assents to the reality that God said what He meant and meant what He said. The book ends with, “Practical Tools for Bible Study” which provides explanations of and recommendations for Bible translations, study Bibles, the KJV and the textus receptus, commentaries, concordances, Bible study computer programs and Bible reading plans. The hope that Dr. Sproul provides to his readers is that you don’t need any special training to study the Bible properly. The bottom line is that if you can read, then you can read the Bible, but in order to read the Bible properly, then we all need some assistance. What thus separates Bible “novices” from “experts” is effort. This guide will make your attempts far less painful.

Sproul hits a home run with this book. A must read for any student of Scripture.

This book has a great balance of interesting topics and an “easy to read and follow” format. For a short read, the material seemed pretty inclusive and hits a lot of big issues regarding translations, historical background, common misconceptions etc…. This is a clear, concise, and rather interesting read that should give the reader useful insight and a bit more confidence when approaching accurate handling of scripture. Thank you Mr. Sproul!

This is a great book for me. I come from a Greek Orthodox background and I married a woman recently who comes from a charismatic evangelical background. She and her friends can quote the Bible chapter and verse very well. We both thought we were Christians but soon after we got married we realized there are great differences between the two of us when it comes to Bible interpretation. I know the Nicene Creed, liturgy, vespers many chants and so on. But I soon realized I did not know the Bible like she and her evangelical friends did. So what to do. I got this little book on my Kindle and it is a fairly quick read and it has really helped me in "Knowing Scripture". RC Sproul is an excellent teacher and theologian. The book begins by outlining reasons why to study the Bible: he explodes 2 myths right off the bat. 1-"the Bible is too difficult for the ordinary person to understand". 2-"the Bible is boring". Then he attacks the problem of motivation. He notes early on that the theme of his book "is not how to read the Bible but how to study the Bible". He points out that the reason we don't study the Bible is because it is "work". Make no mistake about it reading RC Sproul's book is work. You learn such words as exegesis, hermeneutics, existentialism, the medieval quadriga, etc. and he introduces 11 rules which you can use for biblical interpretation. So yes reading this book is not an easy read (but it is like I said a fairly quick read) but you will come away with a sound structure for understanding the Bible as you read it. Using these rules and guidelines you will be miles ahead of people who read the Bible and depend on other people to interpret it for them. In chapter 6 he introduces practical tools for Bible study which I found were very helpful if not a little daunting. So, for those people who want to know the Bible this is a good place to start because it tells you how to get to know the Bible without being influenced by other people who think they know the Bible but really don't. Begin your Bible study here!

This book should have took me 2 to 3 days to read. I'm now on day 7 only half way through with note taking and additional re research. RC does an amazing job breaking down hermeneutics and how to properly study and understand each bible verse. Point: A scripture passage passage has one meaning! But it may have a host of applications to the wide variety of things in in life.

Organization and some type of logical structure to apply to our Biblical learning is needed otherwise we completely go off track in both how we interpret and consistency in interpretation. RC Sproul is an easy to understand way of studying the Bible and is consistent in terms of something to apply.

Amazing read

Excellent

En mycket bra hjälp för Bibelstudier Om man kan engelska, vilket jag gör.

I thank God for the purchase of this book! A great 'tool' to own if one is a serious Bible reader/student. It makes a 'world of a difference' when you know and understand better how to recognize the 'genre' of a passage of the Bible one is reading.