Suggestion # 11 On Bible Study

Suggestion # 11 On Studying The Bible: Recognizing The Two Audiences: Every book of the Bible has two audiences in mind. First, is the primary audience. This is the audience to whom the audience was FIRST written to. This is very important. It is also tied to the time in which the book was written. If you do not get this issue right then you are in big trouble in ever understanding any book of the Bible. This is one of the great errors I see with many who seek to teach the Bible. They never get the first audience of any book in the Bible, right. 



Examples: Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible, also called the Law or Torah. It was written for and present to the Jewish Nation. The Torah was never intended as a law system for the United States of America in 2013. It was written for the Jews long ago. Another example is the books of 1 & 2 Corinthians. These books were to the "church of God which is at Corinth" (1 Cor. 1:2). One should study ancient Corinth in the first century Roman Empire. Studying Corinth and the people of Corinth, their time and life will unlock so many of the issues with these great books. Ignore this study and you will come up with many invalid conclusions about these sacred writings. 

Next, let us see the second audience that is being considered for each book of the Bible. The second audience is just that, the secondary audience. That is the peoples of the earth passed from generation to generation until the end of time. Yes, God intended for the Bible to be passed on from generation to generation and to be studied and investigated and obeyed. It is the absolute Word of God.

However, you will never know what the message is for you today until you first seek to discover what the messages was for the primary audience. Here is something that might shock you. The Bible contains things that you are NOT to do. Judas hanged himself. That is in the Bible. You are not to hang yourself. Peter denied the Lord. That is in the Bible. You are not to deny the Lord. These lessons are there to show sin and to help us avoid such. Our great quest in studying the Bible is learn in it what God wishes for us to do, today. God help us to study the Bible in its historical context and part of doing that is to see the differences in the two audiences being considered. We must examine well the primary audience. Spend more time on the primary audience and it will help open up amazing things in your life. God bless you as you study the greatest book in the world.