Transcription
Hey everybody, so we're going into lesson three of communion, um, shadows and reality. And um, we're still busy with uh, how to study the word and how to correctly divide the word of truth.
You know, as I have um, um, learned the things that I'm teaching you um, about Bible study, as I've learned them only over the past maybe four years or so, it's changed everything which regards to how I approach the word and how I study the word. Um, and uh, you know, this isn't the only subject in uh, um, Grace Life Ministry School that we teach this. And so you've been confronted and I hope bombarded with the reality of um, you know, Genesis to Malachi in the Bible is referred to as the scriptures. Then if if we look at the gospels and we look at Acts, they are historical eyewitness accounts. Um, we get some Doctrine from them, but they are not the purpose of them is historical eyewitness account, not Doctrine. Then we've got the Epistles of the New Testament, which is the explanation of the mystery which is hidden in Genesis to Malachi, okay? And they are a commentary on Genesis to Malachi, and we find doctrine of the church in in the Epistles, but it's rooted in Genesis to Malachi. That's just an overview, uh, just in a few seconds.
Um, but I finished off by saying that um, in Bible reading and by reading, remember we don't just mean um a a casual observation of a text. By reading, we we're talking about um a diligent careful study uh of text, looking at the words, looking at the context, looking at the author, looking at the audience. And uh, we finish off by saying that when we're studying the word, when we're reading the word, we need to take literal as literal, and we need to take figurative as figurative, okay?
And so as an example in making a a clear distinction between literal and figurative, and that's something we need to do as we study the word, um, it's important to take a closer examination of Jesus's use of the term Daily Bread. Okay, what was he talking about? Was it literal or was it figurative? Okay, Matthew 6:1 in the so-call uh Lord's Prayer, he says, "Give us this day our daily bread," okay? The word daily is translated uh from the word which implies sufficient, okay? And um, yeah, Jesus is talking about bread that's always sufficient. What does that mean? Always enough. A very close Old Testament text linked to Jesus's statement on this is found in the Book of Proverbs. Remember, even Jesus was teaching from the scriptures, Genesis to Malachi. He never just thumb sucked something; he was teaching from something, okay? If he had just come up with his own ideas, then um, he would have people would have said blasphemy, but he had to explain the scriptures. So Proverbs 30:8 says, "Remove far from me the vanity and lies, give me neither poverty nor riches, feed me with food convenient for me." Now the word convenient means sufficient, okay? So, "feed me with food sufficient for me." So the food here is being that's being referred to is neither poverty, it's not riches, so it's implying that the food that the the writer is talking about is something immaterial, okay? So this bread has a a long has a has a um an implication of long-lasting or Everlasting bread. I hope that you're putting two and two together as we we dig into this.
So you know, if we look at other statements of Jesus, it should help us to understand further what is he talking about when he says, "Give us our this day our daily bread, our sufficient bread." John 4:34, Jesus says unto them, "My meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work," okay? Even though the word meat is used, it's not talking about beef or chicken or or pork or whatever, okay? It's referring to something um uh uh figurative, okay? You know, the statement that Jesus made when his disciples bought him food, this is the statement this this statement he made when his disciples brought him uh food, okay? And in John 4:32 he says unto them, "I have meat to eat that you do not know of," okay? So he takes their attention away from the literal meat, okay, to the the the meat referring to the work that uh uh he was sent for. And so in this text we can see that the term meat is figurative, okay? John 4:35-38 says, "Say ye not, There are four months, and then cometh the harvest: behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto eternal life or life eternal; that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. Verse 37, Herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth. I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour: other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labour." So the context of the discussion indicates that he was talking about the work of the Kingdom; he wasn't talking about farming. Amen.
So we can also see this in Matthew chapter 9, verse 36-38 where he says, "But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion toward them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd. And he saith unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest." So you know, after that he sends them to preach. So you Matthew chapter 10, verse five uh the the 12 Jesus sent forth and commanded them saying, "Go ye not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand." So they were to preach the kingdom of uh uh the gospel of the Kingdom, okay? John 4:14, "But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." Can you hear in all these verses there's something figurative that Jesus is talking about? He's using parables, he's using pictures to to to convey a point. So Jesus here in John 4:14 is taking the woman's attention away from literal water to Everlasting water, okay? And so he's using the the the phrase water figuratively.
In John chapter 3, Jesus took Nicodemus's mind away from literal birth to being born again, okay? John 3:3-4, Jesus answered and said unto him, "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Nicodemus saith unto him, "How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?" So Jesus explaining being born of the spirit using a a a figurative term water, okay? He's not literally referring to water, but the spirit. And we can see that even in the Book of Ezekiel, okay? Ezekiel 36:25-26, one of my favorite verses, "Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh." You know what water exists that um would make someone truly clean on the inside? There isn't one. And yet you have crazy preachers who I I saw a video uh uh yesterday or today of a crazy preacher on television um saying, "You know, call us today and we'll send you a free little sachet of water which we've prayed over, and you drink the water, put the water on your checkbook, put the water on your head and you'll experience the blessing of God." That is fraud! That is fraud! It doesn't matter who propagates that; it's fraud, okay? Because when the Bible's talking about water, for example, it's not saying, "You know, put real water on you and you'll be clean." It's saying that um it's using it figuratively; it's talking about the cleansing work of the spirit, okay? And how the spirit cleanses us and makes us clean, okay?
So now let's go back to Matthew chapter 6 to see the context of the use of the word bread. So daily we see is talking about sufficient, "Give us our daily bread," okay? Now let's look at the rest of this prayer, Matthew 6:6-9, "But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him." Uh, after this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. And in verse 10 he talks about the kingdom, "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven," okay? In verse 12 he addresses the subject of forgiveness, "And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors." And in verse 13 he teaches about temptation and the kingdom again. Um, he follows um that straightway with another discussion on forgiveness in verse 13, "And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." So you know that his discussion is about the kingdom of God. There's much we need to say about that prayer, and we can do it in another lesson, but um, you know, we need to see um in our context what is he talking about. And you know, if we go to the the Gospel of John, we can see how he uses the word bread as well, "Give us our sufficient bread." What is he talking about?
Okay, so let's see how he uses the word bread in John chapter 6, verse 31, "Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat," okay? So they had just eaten literal bread, and they spoke about Moses's manna, okay? They had just eaten literal bread, and they spoke about Moses's manna, okay? Verse 26 and 27, Jesus answered unto them, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled. Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed," okay? So now we need to observe how Jesus took away their their focus from the literal and put it onto the physical, okay? Look at verse 32 and verse 33. Then Jesus said unto them, John chapter 6, "Truly, truly, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world." Now if you think about that verse, that statement, it's not talking about a loaf of Albany or a loaf of Sascho or a loaf of artisan uh um uh whatever bread; it's talking about Jesus, okay? You can eat bread, you can pray over bread, and you can eat bread, and it will do nothing for you eternally, okay? All that that bread does, whatever bread or cracker or whatever, it does nothing for you physically. It's the bread of life, Jesus, that does something for us eternally. Amen.
So he goes on to say the same thing uh further in that chapter, okay? Verse 47 to 51, "Truly, truly, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead." They ate manna in the wilderness, but now they're dead. They had a physical food, but now they're dead. Verse 50, "This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. I am the living bread." Now Jesus is is clarifying, okay, what the living bread is. "I am the living bread, which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." Now this is where so many problems start to come in. We know Jesus is not talking about literal flesh; he's talking about something uh phys um um figurative, okay? Jesus is using the word bread to refer to himself; he's not using that bread literally. He's not saying a loaf of bread is going to come down from the sky and give you eternal life; he's using a figure of speech, okay? John chapter 6:53-56, "Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you." Now if you're going to take this literally, you're going to have some problem problems because you can't find physical blood and body of Jesus on Earth to eat and drink, okay? So it has to be talking about something uh figurative, okay? It's not literal. Verse uh 54, "Whosoever eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him." Again, if we're taking this literally, we've got big problems. So now we need to look at what is Jesus saying, okay? Eating and drinking were used figuratively; it wasn't talking about a literal eating and drinking. John chapter 6:57 and 58, John 6:57-58, "As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever." Okay, so clearly bread is being used figuratively here, okay? Um, and he's talking about Jesus himself who gives eternal life. So he's figuratively using the filling of bread to teach about eternal life, okay? He's not referring to real bread, but he's talking about the spirit, how when we're filled with the spirit, now we have eternal life. That's what salvation is, Ephesians chapter 1:3, "Being sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise," okay? So yeah, Matthew chapter 6, bread is being used figuratively for the kingdom of of God, and it's used figuratively for the suff the Kingdom's sufficient bread, okay? The the the the the the the the next statement in verse Matthew chapter 6:12 says, "For and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors." So the bread of the kingdom is forgiveness. This is about bread of the Kingdom; this is about forgiveness of sins and eternal life. That's what the the so-called Lord's Prayer is talking about, okay? Um, it's figurative, not literal. Some people don't eat bread; some people can't eat bread for health reasons, and I know you can get healed; I understand that. But what I'm saying to you is it's not talking about bread, okay? It's talking about salvation, eternal life, Jesus.
So in reading the scriptures, we need to ask the question, "What was this statement for?" Okay? This brings us to the the issue of concept and context words, okay? Words should be given the the the we cannot give words a universal meaning. We we have to get the the meaning of a word from the context and the usage in context, okay? So I mean, you know, I I used to butcher the the the word because if you read about salvation often it's a soia or Soo, and uh if you translate Soo sometimes it can mean healed. And so then you look at about forgiveness of sins scriptures where it's talking about being saved, and I would automatically apply that that means healed. And you can't do that; that's butchering the the the word because it has a it doesn't have a universal meaning; it has a specific meaning, okay? You know, um, it's like that in the English language today. You know, I can say I'm hot, and it could mean you you you could in 10 years' time read that if I write I'm I'm so hot today, and you could think he's he's being modest. He's not being modest; he's he's he's he's talking about his looks; he thinks he's he's good-looking, or I could be saying, you know, even though it's cold weather today, I'm really just so hot, like I I need to uh cool down a bit, maybe I've got a fever or something. You know, the words that we use carry the the words used car are um carry the meaning of the author. You know, sometimes um I I have a a friend who will remain anonymous. I've been in two situations in the past while where um a pastor friend used the instead of using he wants to me to do something for him, and then he's going to tweak it, like adjust it, he said he's going to twerk it. And obviously there's two different meanings, okay? But when he said he's going to twerk it, I knew that he didn't mean he's going to twerk it. I know that he meant that he's going to adjust it, okay? He was using the wrong word, but that word in its sentence carried the meaning of his intention, you understand, okay? Now the authors in the Bible didn't use wrong words, okay? So we can easily find the intention and what were what they meant. But when translators brought it over from um Greek and from Hebrew into Latin and then into English and even into German uh because one of the first Bibles was in German like with all of this um uh sometimes the words that they chose don't correctly and um honestly carry the meaning that was intended by the author. Sometimes uh uh the the translators um tried to bring across their Doctrine, their theology in the the the passage. Sometimes they they they didn't do a good job of um translating it because of their lack of understanding, or like the the the you know, we got to realize English is not a spiritual language. Hebrew is not a spiritual language; Greek, Latin, all of these languages are not spiritual languages. And so we're trying to encapsulate spiritual truths in a language that is man-made, and so there's going to be some complications when it comes to translation.
So many people have have over the years said to me, "Shane, you go into this too deeply. I believe it should be simple; read the Bible and take it as it is." You know, that's that that's an immature Christian will say something like that. Why do I say that? Because an immature Christian wants to be lazy in just being able to open up the Bible and take it for what it says. They don't want to do due diligence to understand the meaning of this word intended by the author or the context. You know, they'll do it with pet verses because, for example, we don't we don't like the verse that says, "Women must be silent in church," so we'll do a a um a contextual study to try and explain that away and say that you know Paul was speaking into a specific situation and a specific culture and there was this problem and there was that problem, and so that that doesn't stand for us today because of this, but then we'll read other verses and we'll say, "No, no, no, that's what it means," but we don't use our brain to interpret those verses and study those verses the same way we do the verses that we don't like so much. A lot of people have a hypocritical approach to studying the word, okay?
So um, let me get back to my notes here. Romans chapter 1, and let's look at the word spiritual here. Romans ch 1:1 says, "For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established," okay? So the word spiritual is translated from a word that RAR means of the spirit, of the spirit, okay? So you know, in this Romans chapter 1:1, the word gift is described uh with the adjective spiritual, so the gift of in and by the spirit. So Paul's using the word spiritual to refer to a spiritual gift, okay? Romans 7:14, "For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin." In this verse, the word spiritual is um used in reference to the law, okay? This means the law has a spiritual impact. So now you have a spiritual empowering or gift; now you have um a spiritual impact. 1 Corinthians um chapter 2:15 says, "But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man." So this is now referring to a person; the believer has received the spirit of God is one with him. 1 Corinthians 16:17. So now we we've received the spirit of God, and so now we are called spiritual. See, you need to look at the context to understand what it's talking about, okay? 1 Corinthians 3:1, "And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ." You look at 1 Corinthians chap 10:3 and 4, it says, "And did all eat the same spiritual meat? Verse four, And did all drink the same spiritual drink? For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ." This is this is this is amazing. So in this chapter, chapter 10 of 1 Corinthians uh chapter 10 um it's historically referring to Exodus, okay? And to the children of Israel and their response to the message that Moses brought to them. But their response was one of unbelief. Remember, Moses had a message; he was preaching salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. That's the whole message of the Bible: salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. That's what we we we we we we we see how Paul describes the scriptures to Timothy. The message of the Bible is salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus, and we find that from Genesis to Malachi and in throughout the New Testament as well, okay? And um the the children of Israel responded in unbelief to the message that Moses, the Gospel According to Moses, think about the Exodus, you that's a picture of Salvation. It was the the message of Salvation being dramatized to them. We're going to dig into that more, but you know, reference to Moses and the children of Israel um is he spoke about the spiritual meat, the the spiritual drink and a rock, okay? This was in reference to the message that Moses gave them concerning Christ. Hebrews 4:1 and 2, "Now you can see you can't just read the Bible at a casual glance and become spiritually mature; you need to dig in. Hebrews 4:1 and 2 says, Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it." So there you can clearly see that Paul is not Paul, but the writer of Hebrews is saying that um the the children of Israel had the gospel preached unto them from Moses, but they didn't believe it, okay? Paul references this in his letter to the Church of Corinth in 1 Corinthians chapter 15:44, he says, "It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body: there is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body." So remember we're talking about we need to look at the word and see what do we take as figurative, and we take figurative as figurative, and we take uh uh literal as literal, okay? So here he uh uh um it's used to refer the word spiritual to physical body, putting on immortality and being changed from corruptible to incorruptible, okay? Ephesians chapter 1:3, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ." So he's describing the blessings available to the believer in Christ, and he's describing them as spiritual, not natural. That means the blessings that are ours in Christ, it's never money, it's never gold, it's never material uh uh uh wealth, okay?
It's something much more valuable, spiritual. Okay? Ephesians 5:19, speaking to yourselves in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your hearts unto the Lord. Look at Colossians chapter 3:16. Colossians chapter 3:16, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, in all wisdom, in teaching and admonishing one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Look at how the word "spiritual" is being used: singing with grace in your hearts unto the Lord. So you know from these verses, the word "spiritual" is referenced for Psalms and hymns and songs of the spirit. Ephesians chapter 6:12, for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Now, "spiritual," it's not talking about literal, but it's talking about spiritual, uh, wickedness. It's re- so "spiritual" can also be referenced for wickedness in high, your powers, the rulers of the darkness of this world. So the word "spiritual" cannot just have one application. That's what I did all of that to show you. Okay? We need to understand the word "spiritual" in its context. How is this word used? Okay? And they have given you many examples, but another example of, of contextual application we can see in James chapter 1. Okay? James, uh, uh, also uses similar words to explain different concepts. Look at James chapter 1, verse 2 to 4. It says, "My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into diverse temptations, knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience; but let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing." Okay? Then if you look down a, you look, look at how he, he, he talks about temptations. Okay? Now if we look down a few verses to verse 13 to 15, he says, "Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: but every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. And when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death."
So within the opening chapter of the Book of James, James chapter 1:2, he uses the word "temptations" to describe trials and tribulations, and he's encouraging the believers, "Count it all joy," okay, when you encounter these trials and temptations. But then you read further in the same chapter, and, uh, he uses the word "tempted," uh, to explain basically the motions of sin. Okay? A fact that, you know, he intellectually, um, uh, uh, uh, well, let me put it like this. So now he's, he's describing how that that type of temptation, like, has nothing to do with God. Okay? So God is absent from the motions of sin in everywhere. That's what he's saying there. But in, in explaining the case of, um, you, of Adam, then, and how, um, Adam brought forth sin and ultimately death. So we need, it's vital that we highlight the fact that all forms of literature, including the Bible, need to be read in context. When we study Shakespeare, we cannot give it our own meaning and come up with an LGBTQ+ whatever kind of, um, uh, scenario because he speaks about being gay. Okay? We have to understand words in context. You know, um, uh, so it's sufficient for us to say that a statement in the Bible cannot be given a life of its own. Okay? The meaning of a statement must come from the context of how it's used in the text. The context of a word or statement can be within that chapter; it can be within an entire letter, or it can have a larger application, the context of the scriptures. So we have to consider how does this apply. Okay? So we need to, to kind of see that the New Testament writers of the Bible are writing, like I said previously, from the Old Testament books. Genesis to Malachi is the foundation of what Matthew to Revelation is talking about. Jesus showed us this in Luke chapter 24, like I've already said. He taught upon his resurrection, okay, um, to, to many disciples, and he says in Luke 24:25 to—oh, let's read 25-27, and then we'll read 44-45. Verse 25, "Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken." Verse 26, "Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?" Verse 27, "And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself." Verse 44, "And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms concerning me." Verse 45, "Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures." So Jesus is teaching from Moses and the prophets. This is the pattern of Christ's ministry, teaching ministry. This is the pattern of the Apostles in the book of Acts, and even with their epistles, they're not just sucking things out of the sky. What are they doing? They are explaining Genesis to Malachi. Acts chapter 17, verse 2, "And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures." He used Genesis to Malachi to reason with them. So studying the subject of the communion table, shadows and reality, okay, we need to make sure that we read any texts in their contexts, and we don't read anything in isolation. That's what we're going to do. All texts that we use to study communion, what we call communion, need to be read in context. So I'm concluding now. Okay? I'm concluding the, the, the introduction to this subject. It's clear that the Bible reading—when I say reading, what am I talking about? I'm talking about, um, a, um, how did I put it? A, a thorough, in-depth, uh, meticulous, even, a, a study of a text. Okay? We're not talking about a casual reading or, or observation of a text, but, uh, when we're, when we're reading the Bible, we mustn't rush; we mustn't gloss over words. Okay? Um, people usually do that because they're lazy and they don't want to, uh, do some homework. Okay? Bible reading requires—and Bible, Bible reading again, our mean study—it requires patience, painstaking attention to detail. It takes reading paragraphs; it takes reading chapters; it takes reading books; it takes reading a whole book. Um, and what this is exactly what we're going to do as we study this subject. Okay? Our study in this, uh, matter is going to be systematic; it's going to be line by line, because I'm going to shake what many people hold as extremely valuable, and I want to tell you right up front, don't get upset if you disagree. It's okay. We can love each other; we can work together; we can serve the Lord together, but I want you to just consider what I'm saying. When I first heard these things, I disregarded them, and, uh, after studying them out—at first I didn't even study them out, I just disregarded them because it's not what I was taught—but as soon as I started to study, I couldn't deny what I had seen. Okay? So we're going to look at the use of words in explaining this subject, and we're going to look at the use of words carefully; we're going to painstakingly examine them. So you're going to need to be patient. Um, we're going to do grammatical analysis; we're going to look at the use of figures of speech; we're going to use other elements in vocabulary. Okay? The literal will be taken as literal, and the figurative will be taken as figurative. The meanings of words are not going to be assumed in general. Okay? Rather, we're going to look at the context of how words, phrases, and, and, and parables even are used, and we're going to consider their usage. You know, this is also going to influence the explanation of, uh, concepts addressed by that author. Okay? Scriptures will speak for themselves. We're not going to read tradition into what the Bible says, and, um, this will also influence our explanation, uh, uh, uh, we're going to see quite in depth what the Bible's actually talking about. Okay? We want to arrive at the author's intended meaning of what they're saying. We want to arrive at what the author means, not, not what we think it means. The bi—the what the Bible teaches, it means what it teaches. You can't thumb-suck what you think it means. We have to get to the—what did Paul mean? What did Pet—you know, Peter mean? What did all of these guys mean? And we will get there. Amen. A text of scripture can never mean what it never meant when it was written. This is a very important Bible interpretation statement I'm making. You need to write it down. A text of scripture can never mean what it never meant when it was written. Okay? The background, in enclosing the background of the New Testament is the Old Testament. Okay? The foreground of the Old Testament is the New Testament. So for every concept in the New Testament, there's a narrative in the Old Testament, and so we need to patiently and carefully read in order, and read intensely with a careful observation of context, in order to accurately arrive at the word of Truth. And who is the word of Truth? Jesus Christ. That Jesus is the message of the Bible, and so any subject we look at needs to con—clude in Christ. Amen. I'm looking forward to digging into this subject with you.