HOW TO READ THE BIBLE — a short course from Dardanelle Missionary Baptist Church • Pastor Chuck Trusty • Lesson 8 of 13 • a new lesson every two weeks
Last Time
Last lesson you took 1 Corinthians 2:9 home:
"But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." — 1 Corinthians 2:9
Did you catch the signpost? "As it is written" — Paul was quoting, reaching back to Isaiah (64:4) and setting it down in the New. One Book, agreeing perfectly: that was last lesson's tool.
But now read the whole verse to its very last words. This great promise is not aimed at everyone in general. Like a command, a promise has an address (remember Tool 3), and here it is plain: "for them that love him."
So a plain question follows: how do we show that we love God? Not by a feeling that rises and falls. The Lord answered it Himself — "If ye love me, keep my commandments" (John 14:15): love is shown by obedience. And it cannot be a divided heart — "Ye cannot serve God and mammon" (Matthew 6:24); to love God is to take Him as your one Master. Real love does something. Hold that — it is the heart of today's lesson.
The Verse
"And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity." — 1 Corinthians 13:13
The Question
Look at that word — charity. To our ears, "charity" means giving money to the poor. But read the chapter it closes, and charity "suffereth long, is kind, envieth not" — that is not about coins. And why does the King James say charity here, and not simply love? Is something bigger hiding in that word?
The Tool — walked together
Bring your questions, all five. WHO? Paul, writing to the church at Corinth — and "these three" belong to every believer. WHAT? Three things abide — faith, hope, charity — and the greatest is charity. WHEN? "now abideth" — now, and on and on; these three last. WHERE? The verse does not say — an empty box; but its neighbors (chapters 12 to 14) set it among the gifts, where Paul calls charity "a more excellent way." WHY? Charity is the greatest because it lasts longest — "charity never faileth" (verse 8); it outlives even faith and hope.
Every box accounted for. Now run the rest of the toolbox. Read the whole verse: three things abide, and the last words name the greatest — charity. Every command has an address? This is no command but a statement, so that tool rests. A verse has neighbors: chapters 12 to 14 set charity among the gifts, "a more excellent way" — the neighbors already spoke. Let the Bible define its own words: and it does — the chapter itself tells you what charity is by what it does, "suffereth long, is kind." Is there a dark verse needing a clear one, or two verses that seem to clash? Not here — both those tools rest. What this verse asks is simpler: our word for it is too small. And that is the new tool.
TOOL #8: sometimes our language has one small word where the Book has a bigger one. When a word feels too small for what it carries, ask which word the Book actually used. How do you find out which word the Book used? A few taps on your phone — see The Helper page. Our English has just one word, love. We use it for food, for pets, for a husband or a wife — one small word, stretched thin. The language the New Testament was written in was richer. Look closer at that one word.
ONE WORD
CHARITY. Where we have one small word for love, the Book's language had several — and they are not the same.
There is the love of family — the natural bond of parent and child. There is the love of a husband and wife. And there is the warm love of friends — the Bible has a word for it we still hear in the name of a city, Philadelphia, which means "brotherly love." These are good, and God-given. But see the one thing they share: each of them answers something. We love our family because they are ours. We love our friends because they love us back. Even the lost do that much — the Lord said, "if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them" (Luke 6:32).
Now the highest love, and a different kind — agape. Agape does not wait to be loved first. It gives, and looks for nothing in return. It loves the undeserving; it will even love an enemy. That is the word First Corinthians 13 uses. And here is the wonder — remember Lesson 7, where "a new commandment" meant new not in time, but new in kind? This is that new love. Family love and friendship are as old as the world; but a love that pours itself out for those who can never pay it back was shown in its fullness only at the cross — "while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). That is why charity is the greatest of the three, and why the King James guards it with a taller word — charity, not merely "love" — to keep it from shrinking back into a feeling.
And watch how the chapter proves it: charity is known not by what it feels, but by what it does. It "suffereth long, is kind"; it "envieth not"; it "beareth all things." Agape is love with its sleeves rolled up — a chosen doing, not a warm feeling.
Try It This Week
Here is your verse. As you read it, remember: the word behind "love" here is that same big, chosen word.
"Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." — Matthew 22:37-40
Now think. You cannot be ordered to feel something — feelings come and go. But this is a commandment: "thou shalt love." How can love be commanded? Because it is agape — a chosen love, a love that acts, and you can obey it today whether the feeling is high or low. That is why the greatest thing in the Book can also be a command. Love God, and love your neighbour — not merely feel it, but do it. And notice where the whole law comes to rest: on these two.
Your Toolbox So Far
1. Start with the questions — WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, WHY. 2. Read the whole verse — all the way to its last word. 3. Every command has an address — ask who it was spoken to. 4. Let the Bible define its own words — the Book is its own dictionary. 5. Clear explains complex — let a plain verse light up a deep one. 6. A verse has neighbors — read the ones just before and just after. 7. The Bible agrees with itself — when two verses seem to clash, read closer; they lock together. 8. When our words are too small — ask which word the Book actually used.
Next lesson, in two weeks: the Old Testament has a word so deep it holds a whole nation's rescue — one word, and the Exodus is inside it.
‹ Lesson 7 — The Bible Agrees With Itself • The Course Index — all lessons
