I have recently come back to the Lord, and looking to build my relationship with Him through understanding His word. I have looked up “how to study the Bible” and found as you stated to break down the chapter into paragraphs to understand. As silly as this seems I’m not exactly sure how to do this, in your example on Romans 1:15-17, verse 15 is found at the end of the paragraph and the new paragraph starts at 16 (ESV) How do we know when to take verses outside a paragraph to understand its context? Based on what I have been reading I would have read your example starting in Romans 1 at 16-17 because those two verses make up a paragraph. I have not been strong in studies in the past so please bear with me on with this question.
I think one reason why John Piper chose to start with verse 15 is that verse 16 starts with "For". In this case, it would seem that verse 16 is there to explain about something already mentioned (verse 15). These "linking words" (e.g. for, because, therefore) usually points to these relationships and that's why it's often suitable to look at the other parts. (conversely, is that it's easy to take a verse out of context if we ignore these connections between verses) I think you could argue that since verse 15 also started with "So", we should link verse 15 with verses 8-14. (I think John Piper left verses 8-14 out because of time, and also because it is a different topic, but feel free to go ahead and see how you see the verses link up and connect with each other!)
Pastor John is an incredible preacher and truly planted in the Word of God. But indeed it is always good to test the message of everyone, and discern back with scripture and the Holy Spirit, and prayer. There is only one Spirit, one Faith, and therefore one Truth. You know the tree/heart by its fruit, and pastor John's preaching has always lined up with the Word of God! I hope you are progressing well on your Bible reading journey :)
I have recently come back to the Lord, and looking to build my relationship with Him through understanding His word. I have looked up “how to study the Bible” and found as you stated to break down the chapter into paragraphs to understand. As silly as this seems I’m not exactly sure how to do this, in your example on Romans 1:15-17, verse 15 is found at the end of the paragraph and the new paragraph starts at 16 (ESV)
How do we know when to take verses outside a paragraph to understand its context?
Based on what I have been reading I would have read your example starting in Romans 1 at 16-17 because those two verses make up a paragraph.
I have not been strong in studies in the past so please bear with me on with this question.
I think one reason why John Piper chose to start with verse 15 is that verse 16 starts with "For".
In this case, it would seem that verse 16 is there to explain about something already mentioned (verse 15). These "linking words" (e.g. for, because, therefore) usually points to these relationships and that's why it's often suitable to look at the other parts. (conversely, is that it's easy to take a verse out of context if we ignore these connections between verses)
I think you could argue that since verse 15 also started with "So", we should link verse 15 with verses 8-14. (I think John Piper left verses 8-14 out because of time, and also because it is a different topic, but feel free to go ahead and see how you see the verses link up and connect with each other!)
I hope and pray you are as REAL as you seem. I just ordered one of your books on understanding the Bible.
Pastor John is an incredible preacher and truly planted in the Word of God. But indeed it is always good to test the message of everyone, and discern back with scripture and the Holy Spirit, and prayer. There is only one Spirit, one Faith, and therefore one Truth. You know the tree/heart by its fruit, and pastor John's preaching has always lined up with the Word of God! I hope you are progressing well on your Bible reading journey :)
Just shared this to my group would love to connect just subscribed:)
comparing spiritual with spiritual !!!!!!!!!!!!