Latest / Reformed Thinking / Brothers, Query the Text | John Piper

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Brothers, Query the Text | John Piper · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome along to the Deep Dive, part of our regular Reformed
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Thinking podcast. Great to have you with us.
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Good to be here. So here in the Deep Dive we we
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take different sources, articles, studies, sometimes
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just our own thinking and pull out the core ideas.
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The aim is really to get you informed quickly, maybe with
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some facts or perspectives you hadn't considered.
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Exactly, And hopefully keep it engaging along the way.
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Today we're diving into materials you shared with us,
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focusing on something really central for us, how we actually
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approach and truly understand God's written Word.
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Yeah, a foundational topic. And if you listen to Reformed
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thinking, you know, we value, let's say, a robust, systematic
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way of looking at biblical truth.
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So our goal today is to unpack methods and perspectives from
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these sources that might help us all move beyond just, you know,
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surface reading. Towards more genuine coherent
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grasp of what scripture is saying.
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Right, which brings up a question, doesn't it?
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How do we really gain insight from the Bible?
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And maybe why is it sometimes feel harder than we think it
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should? That's the core of it and the
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discussion today, it's going to draw from a few different
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voices, contemporary teachers, some historical figures too, and
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they illustrate a particular approach, a way into biblical
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understanding. The sources, well, they
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definitely challenge some common ideas about Bible reading, and
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they offer a path towards not just more information, but a
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more unified truth that can hopefully really deepen your
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understanding. I the central call relentless
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querying of Scripture. OK, so let's dig into this first
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major idea. The sources really seem to
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hammer home this concept. The Bible is God's God breathed
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book. That phrase is key, God
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breathed. It tells us something vital,
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doesn't it, that it flows from his unified mind.
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It's not just a collection of human ideas about God.
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Right. And if we really believe that,
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if we hold to that. Then our whole approach to
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Scripture has to change. It has to aim at seeing the
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harmony of the coherence of divine truth.
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It implies a certain kind of active engagement.
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It's much more than just a quick glance over the words a a call
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to grow and advance in biblical truth.
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So it's about growth, continuous growth.
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Precisely. The goal isn't static.
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It's not like you arrive at understanding and stop it's
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continuous growth. OK.
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Think of Jonathan Edwards. The sources mention his lifelong
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resolution, something like to study the scriptures so
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steadily, constantly and frequently.
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Steadily, constantly, frequently.
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As that I may find and plainly perceive myself to grow in the
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knowledge of the same. Wow, so for him it wasn't a one
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off thing, it was a persistent increasing pursuit.
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Exactly. A steady, progressive gaining of
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knowledge. That's the objective, always
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ongoing. And this connects directly to,
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well, practical ministry, doesn't it?
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Especially for pastors, elders, teachers, Very much so.
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The sources are pretty direct. This continuous growth and
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understanding is essential for them to actually feed our
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people. If the teacher isn't growing.
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Then the understanding they offer can become the sources use
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the word insipid. Lacking flavor, lacking
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spiritual life, Yeah, still. And the teaching itself.
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Yeah, it risks becoming what they call the lame work of
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second handers. Just repeating what others have
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said, maybe without fully grasping at themselves, right?
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No fresh insight drawn directly from wrestling with the text,
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and the result is stark. Congregations will go hungry.
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That's a powerful image. Spiritual malnutrition stemming
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from a static approach to the word B.
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What querying the text truly means.
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So how do we avoid that? This brings us to the core
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method the sources push for querying the text.
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Querying the text. It sounds academic, maybe, but
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it's about persistently asking questions.
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Not just reading, but interrogating.
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In a way, yes. It means allowing yourself to
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be, as the sources put it, systematically disturbed by
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things that at first glance don't make sense.
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Disturbed. That's a strong word.
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It is. It means you don't just glide
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over difficulties. You let them bother you.
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You let them force you to think hard.
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So confusion isn't necessarily a bad sign.
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It's potentially the start of real thinking.
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OK, this makes me think of that anecdote in the sources about
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John Piper. The T-shirt.
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Yeah, right. His teaching assistants gave him
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a T-shirt on the front. Jonathan Edwards, initials JE
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and. On the back.
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Simple phrase, asking questions is the key to understanding.
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That really sums it up. It does.
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It tells us that questioning isn't a sign of weak faith or
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disrespect. It's actually the engine of
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insight. It's the weigh in when something
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puzzles you. That's not a roadblock.
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It's an invitation to go deeper, see the goal unified, divine
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truth, and God's coherent mind. So we ask these hard questions.
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What's the ultimate goal? Why query like this?
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The purpose, according to these sources, is to see the coherence
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of biblical revelation and the unity of divine truth.
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Coherence and unity. So it's not just about
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collecting interesting facts or verses.
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No, it's about seeing how it all fits, seeing more and more
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pieces fit together into a glorious mosaic of the divine
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design. A mosaic.
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I like that image. It suggests the Bible isn't
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random, but a unified artwork. Reflecting a single coherent
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divine mind. And that confidence, that
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belief, is foundational, isn't it?
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The sources stress this, believing that God's mind is
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truly coherent and not confused. Absolutely.
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And that his tongue is not forked.
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He doesn't contradict himself. So if we find things in
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scripture that seem to contradict or just don't quite
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line up easily. We have to operate on the
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conviction that there's an underlying root of unity.
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It's not that God is unclear, perhaps, but that our
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understanding hasn't yet grasped the deeper harmony.
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Exactly, and the sources point to King David in Psalm 119.
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Praying open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of
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your law. Wondrous things, not just
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surface things. Right.
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He was seeking that deeper, unified truth.
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He wasn't satisfied with just the obvious.
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He longed for the wonders hidden in the coherence of God's Word
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to the catalytic spark, embracing difficulties.
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OK, so relentless questioning is key.
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We need to ask hard questions to see the unity.
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But what actually sparks those questions?
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This is where it gets really interesting, maybe even the big
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counterintuitive. How so?
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The sources argue that true thinking, genuine insight, is
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often sparked by the difficulties, the things that
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bother us in the text. So the problems are the starting
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point, not something to avoid a why being troubled is essential
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for thinking. Pretty much.
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The sources bring in John Dewey, the philosopher who observes
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something like people only truly think when they are confronted
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with a problem, and they apply that directly to Bible study.
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We often do not think until we are confronted with a problem.
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So without that challenge, that dilemma.
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Our engagement can stay habitual rather than thoughtful.
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We read the words, maybe not alone, but our minds aren't
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fully engaged. It doesn't stick.
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Wow, that's yeah, that's a bit uncomfortable.
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Doesn't mean if I read a passage and it all seems perfectly
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straightforward, I might be missing something.
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It could mean that, yes, or at least the potential for deeper
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understanding hasn't been unlocked yet, the sources argue.
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We need to be troubled by our faltering efforts to grasp its
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intricacy. So that feeling of hang on this
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doesn't quite make sense or how does this fit with that other
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verse That's not intellectual weakness.
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No, it's the catalyst. That's what pushes us from just
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passively receiving information to actively investigating it.
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If the apparent knots don't bother us, we likely won't try
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to untie them. Be examples from Scripture that
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provoke thought. Can you give some examples from
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the sources? What kind of difficulties are we
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talking about? Sure, the sources list several
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pairs of texts that seem on the surface to pull in different
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directions. These are the kinds of things
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that should trouble us into thinking harder.
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OK, like what? Well, take Paul's command in
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Philippians 4.6. Do not be anxious about
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anything. Seems clear enough.
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Right. A cornerstone verse for many.
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But then in 2nd Corinthians 11.28, Paul talks about the
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daily pressure on him, including his anxiety for all the
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churches. So he says don't be anxious, but
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admits he is anxious. How does that work?
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Exactly. That's the question that should
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spark thought or consider. Rejoice always from First
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Thessalonians 5.16. Another foundational command
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yet? Romans 12.15 tells us to weep
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with those who weep. How do you reconcile constant
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joy with genuine participation in sorrow?
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Yeah, that requires some nuance. You can't just hold them side by
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side without thinking. Another pair, Ephesians 5.20,
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Giving thanks always and for everything.
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Always for everything. That's what it says.
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But then you have Paul in Romans 9.2 saying I have great sorrow
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and unceasing anguish in my heart over his fellow
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Israelites. How does unceasing anguish fit
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with giving thanks for everything?
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OK, I see the pattern. These aren't trivial
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contradictions. No, or Jesus telling us to turn
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the other cheek in Matthew 5. Passive resistance.
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But then in Matthew 10, he tells the disciples, when they
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persecute you in one town, flee to the next.
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So stand your ground or run. When do you do which right?
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And one more of the sources mentioned.
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Yeah, descriptions of God himself.
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Exodus 34 says God is slow to anger.
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A defining characteristic. But Psalm 2 warns that his wrath
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is quickly kindled. Slow or quick, how do both
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descriptions hold true? And the sources say there are
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hundreds and hundreds of these apparent disparities.
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Yes, large and small throughout Scripture.
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And the point isn't just to notice them, but.
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But to wrestle with them, the sources argue that failing to
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think them through, to seek their root of unity, would
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actually dishonor the text. Dishonor it.
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By implicitly suggesting God is refused or his message is
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contradictory. But we believe God is coherent,
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His word is true. So the problem isn't with the
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text, it's with our initial level of understanding we need
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to dig. See true reverence, questioning,
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not avoiding. This connects to another really
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crucial point the sources make about reverence.
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Yes, the idea that asking hard questions might seem irreverent.
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Right, like you're you're challenging God's holy book.
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But the sources tackle his head on they say something like it is
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impossible to respect the Bible too highly, but it is possible
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to respect it wrongly. Respect it wrongly.
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What does that look like? It looks like not taking these
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apparent tensions seriously, not asking hard questions about how
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different parts fit together. Why is that wrong?
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Respect. Because it implies one of two
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things according to the sources. Either you think you have a kind
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of superhuman understanding and see how it all fits instantly.
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Which none of us does. Right.
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Or it implies a kind of indifference to coherent truth.
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You just don't care if it makes sense as a whole.
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And neither of those shows proper regard for God's Word,
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neither honors its depth or unity.
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Exactly true reverence for God's Word, the sources argue, demands
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that we ask questions and pose problems.
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Demands it. Yes, demands it, but with a
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crucial attitude, believing there are answers and solutions
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which will reward our labor with treasures new and old.
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So it's not questioning out of skepticism, but questioning out
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of faith that there's a deeper coherence to be found.
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Precisely. This humbly bothered approach,
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as they call it, is just the opposite of a reverence.
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It's what you do if you genuinely crave the mind of
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Christ. You want to understand His
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thoughts even when it's hard. There's another little story in
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the sources that illustrates this really well about Piper's
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daughter again. Talifa, yeah, when she was 6.
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He says when she's learning to read and comes across a verse
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she can't make sense of, she asks him about it it.
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Makes perfect sense for a child learning.
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And he points out, he doesn't accuse her of being irreverent
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for asking. She's just struggling to
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understand. It's a natural part of learning.
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Exactly. And the point is that struggle,
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that questioning, is natural and healthy for all of us, no matter
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how long we've been reading the Bible.
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It's not a failure, it's engagement 3, the method of
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insight. Quality over quantity.
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OK, so we need to ask hard questions spurred by
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difficulties seeking unity and doing it reverently.
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Now the sources shift gears a bit to how we do this
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effectively, and they make a strong claim.
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Quality over quantity. Yes, this is another area where
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they push back against common assumptions.
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The assumption being that reading more Bible equals
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understanding more Bible a dispelling the reading a lot.
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Myth exactly that the sources call it an erroneous belief.
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This idea that there's a direct correlation between reading a
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lot and gaining insight. Erroneous.
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So it's just wrong. According to these sources, yes,
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they state quite bluntly, there is no positive correlation at
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all between the quantity of pages read and the quality of
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insight gained. Wow, no positive correlation at
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all that really challenges the Bible in a year plans or just
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feeling good about reading large chunks.
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It does, and it gets even more provocative.
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They suggest that for most people, insight diminishes as we
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try to read more and more. Diminishes reading more leads to
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less insight. How?
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Perhaps because the focus shifts, it becomes about
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covering ground, about what the source is called.
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The deceptive urge to carve notches in our bibliographic.
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Gun right, just ticking boxes. Regenesis today finished Romans.
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Instead of actually understanding what you've read,
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the focus shifts from comprehension to completion.
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Be intensive headache producing meditation.
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So if reading lots of pages isn't the key, what does produce
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genuine insight? The sources are very specific,
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intensive, headache producing meditation on two or three
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propositions and how they fit together.
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Headache producing? That sounds intense.
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It implies real mental effort. It's not passive reading.
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It's reflection and rumination that flows directly from asking
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those hard questions we talked about.
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Wrestling with the text, basically.
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Yes, diligent mental work. And this kind of deep thinking,
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this meditation, it takes time, right?
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Absolutely, the sources emphasize it cannot be done if
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you hurry. So speed reading the Bible is
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probably counterproductive if insight is the goal.
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It seems so. The approach advocated is slow,
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deliberate. It's the opposite of rushing
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through to cover ground. It's about absorption, not just
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exposure. I know I've definitely fallen
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into that trap of just trying to get through chapters quickly.
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This idea of slowing right down is challenging.
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See the slow down query Ponder Chew approach.
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Which leads to the very practical advice summed up in 4
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words. Slow down query, Ponder, chew.
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Slow down, query, ponder, chew. That's memorable.
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It captures the whole process. Slow down the pace, ask
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questions, query, think deeply about the meaning and
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connections and really digest it.
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Turn it over in your mind to like spiritual rumination.
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Like getting all nutrients out of it, not just swallowing it.
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Whole. And they offer a striking
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example to illustrate the power of this approach.
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Oh yeah. What is it?
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They suggest that taking say 2 hours to ask 10 questions of
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Galatians 2.20. Just that one verse.
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Two hours on one verse. Yes, that intensive focus, they
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claim, could yield 100 times the insight you would have attained
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by quickly reading 30 pages of the New Testament or any other
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book. 100 times the insight from one verse versus 30 pages.
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That's the claim. It makes a owerful argument for
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depth over breadth, focused deep engagement versus a superficial
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sweep. It really clarifies where the
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value lies if understanding is your goal. 4 hindrances to deep
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inquiry and how to overcome them.
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OK, this approach, slow, questioning, deep sounds
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incredibly valuable, but let's be honest, it's not the easiest
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path. The sources acknowledge there
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are strong forces working against this kind of biblical
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study. They do.
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It requires conscious effort to swim against the current.
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Sometimes a the misconception of time energy use.
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What's the first hurdle they mentioned?
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It comes back to what we just discussed, the time and energy
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involved. Wearing like this consumes a
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great deal of time and energy on one small portion of scripture.
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Right, two hours on one verse is a significant investment.
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And it goes against that ingrained, mistaken belief that
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covering more pages equals more learning.
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We're often conditioned to think efficiency means speed and
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quantity. So overcoming this first hurdle
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means consciously deciding to prioritize depth.
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Yes, understanding that true insight comes from focused
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effort, not mileage. It means being willing to invest
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that time in a few verses, trusting the payoff and
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understanding is worth it. B Contemporary fashions against
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systematizing truth. What's the second hindrance?
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This one sounded more academic or cultural.
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It is, the sources note, that it's fundamentally unfashionable
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today, at least in some theological circles, to
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systematize things and seek harmony and unity.
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Unfashionable. Why?
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They suggest this noble quest has fallen on hard times, partly
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as a reaction against past attempts.
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Apparently, so much artificial harmony has been discovered by
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impatient and nervous Bible defenders.
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So forcing texts together that don't really fit just to make
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everything seem neat. Something like that.
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The reaction has been for some to just highlight the tensions
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and leave it there, maybe even celebrating the fragmentation.
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But the sources push back hard against that trend.
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Very hard, they argue, if God's mind is coherent and the Bible
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is his God breathed word. Then careful interpretation
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exegesis must aim to see the coherence.
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It must look for the unity. Right, we need to resist the
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atomistic, meaning fragmented and basically anti intellectual
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fashions that are content to just dabble forever on the
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surface of things and only talk about tensions.
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So acknowledging tension is maybe a starting point, but not
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the end point. Exactly.
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The goal is to wrestle through the tension to the underlying
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unity, not just point at it. See The Discouragement of
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Finding problems in the Bible. And the third hindrance they
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mentioned? This takes us back to the idea
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of reverence again. It's the fact that asking
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questions means posing problems, and many people have been
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discouraged all our lives from finding problems in God's holy
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book. That feeling of you shouldn't
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question this, just accept it. Precisely.
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It can be deeply ingrained from childhood or church culture.
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But as we already discussed, the sources argue this is a mistake
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in reverence. Yes, proper reverence doesn't
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mean ignoring difficulties. It demands that we ask questions
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and pose problems. But always with that underlying
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faith that answers exist, that coherence can be.
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Found. Exactly.
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It's driven by the sincere desire for the mind of Christ,
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which means engaging honestly with the text, difficulties and
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all, not sweeping them under the rug out of a misplaced sense of
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piety. V the Pastor's vital role
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Biblical theologian and nourisher.
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So given all this, the need for deep questioning, seeking unity,
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overcoming hindrances, how does this apply specifically to
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pastors and teachers in the church?
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The sources seem to put a special emphasis here.
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They do they see this approach as vital for pastoral ministry.
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A Becoming a biblical theologian.
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How so? What does it enable pastors to
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become? It's fundamental, they argue,
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for pastors become genuine biblical theologians.
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Not just preachers, but theologians.
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What's the distinction they're making?
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It's about grasping the bigger picture.
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A biblical theologian is someone who understands how things fit
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together, who sees more and more pieces fit together into a
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glorious mosaic of the divine design.
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So it's about understanding the interconnectedness of biblical
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truth, the whole council of God. Yes, this deep querying process
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sends them deeper into the counsels of God, moving beyond
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isolated texts to the unified plan and truth of Scripture.
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Superficial reading just can't achieve that be feeding the
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congregation. And this depth of understanding
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directly impacts their primary role.
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Which is feeding the flock. Right.
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This growing grasp of truth, fueled by diligent study, is
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essential for them to feed their people.
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Without it, you get back to that problem we mentioned earlier.
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The sermons becoming lame work of secondhanders.
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Spiritual leftovers, essentially, not fresh
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nourishment drawn from the pastor's own encounter with God
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in his Word. And the congregation will go
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hungry. It really frames the pastor's
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study not as some personal academic hobby.
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No, it's a core part of their responsibility to care for the
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spiritual health of their people.
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See Modeling Proper Biblical Engagement.
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And beyond the content of their teaching, there's also the
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example they set. Absolutely, yeah.
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Pastors need to train our people that it is not irreverent to see
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difficulties in the biblical text and to think hard about how
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they can be resolved. Show them it's OK to ask the
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hard questions. Yes, and model.
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How to do it? They're preaching, they're
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teaching. Should model this for them week
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after week. How might that look?
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Maybe by sometimes acknowledging a difficult tension in a
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passage, explaining why it's puzzling, and then walking the
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congregation through the process of seeking a resolution, showing
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how different texts connect, how context matters.
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So being transparent about the interpretive process sometimes
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not just presenting the final neat answer.
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Exactly. It equips the congregation to
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engage with the Word in the same robust way themselves.
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It teaches them how to seek the mind of Christ by demonstrating
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it. 6 Divine illumination and human effort.
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A unified path. OK, as we draw toward a close,
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the sources bring together 2 crucial elements, our human
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effort in studying and God's role in giving understanding.
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How do these fit together? It's not just about hard work,
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is it? No, it's definitely not just
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about human effort, but neither is it just about waiting
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passively for divine insight. The sources emphasize A
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partnership, a Paul's instruction to Timothy,
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cogitation and understanding. Where do they illustrate this?
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A key text they highlight is Paul's instruction to Timothy,
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the young pastor. In segment Timothy 2.7, Paul
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tells him, Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you
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understanding and everything. Think over what I say, for the
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Lord will give you understanding.
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Notice the connection. Paul sees no conflict between
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cogitation, that's thinking hard, meditating, and
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illumination, God granting understanding.
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They aren't alternatives like either you think hard or God
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gives it to you. No, they work together.
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And that little word for is doing a lot of work there.
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It really is. It's not think and maybe God
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will give you understanding. It's more like think because
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this is the means through which God will grant you
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understanding. So the understanding isn't a
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replacement for the thinking. No, it's presented as the
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result. The fruit of that diligent
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thinking, the promise of God's illumination, is directed
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specifically to those who think. B Benjamin Warfield's Insight,
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books and Knees. This reminds me of that quote
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from Benjamin Warfield, the sources included.
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Yes, BB Warfield from Old Princeton Seminary, a
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theological giant. What was his point?
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He was reacting to people who seemed to pit prayer against
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study, right? Exactly.
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He addresses the saying. Sometimes we hear it said that
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10 minutes on your knees will give you a truer, deeper, more
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operative knowledge of God than 10 hours over your books.
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OK, elevating prayer over study. In Warfield's response, he says.
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What is the appropriate response than 10 hours over your books on
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your knees? Ah, so it's not either, it's
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both hand. Precisely.
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He wasn't downplaying Trey at all.
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He was saying true, deep knowledge comes through diligent
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study combined with dependence on God expressed in prayer.
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You do the hard work over the books while on your knees asking
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for God's help and illumination. See Biblical Appeals for both
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meditation and prayer. So God's understanding comes
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through our effort, empowered by His Spirit, not instead of our
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effort. That seems to be the model
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presented, and the sources point out how often the Bible itself
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calls for this mental engagement, this meditation.
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Like in Joshua? Yes, Joshua 1.8, this book of
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the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall
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meditate on it day and night. That's a command to actively
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engage the mind. And the Psalms are full of it
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too. Psalm 1.2 The blessed man, his
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delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he
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meditates day and night. Psalm 119 is practically a whole
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chapter on delighting in and meditating on God's Word.
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Verse 97. Oh how I love your law.
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It is my meditation all the day. Verse 15.
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I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways.
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Verse 48 I will meditate on your statues.
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Verse 148 my eyes anticipate the night watches that I may
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meditate on your word. It's constant.
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And Psalm 143.5, I remember the days of old.
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I meditate on all that you have done.
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I ponder the work of your hands. It's active mental reflection.
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Paul also talks about setting our minds.
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Right, Romans 8.5. Setting the mind on the things
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of the Spirit. Colossians 3.2 Set your mind on
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things that are above. These are active commands
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involving our cognitive effort. So pulling it all together, the
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sources strongly argue that the gift of illumination doesn't
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cancel out the need for meditation.
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No, it comes through meditation. The promise of divine light
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isn't a blanket promise to everyone, regardless of effort.
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It's made to those who engage, who think, who meditate, who
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query. Our human effort isn't futile
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then it's actually the God ordained channel for receiving
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deeper understanding outro. Well, this has certainly been a
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deep dive. A lot to think about here, but
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the central theme seems pretty clear.
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What stands out most to you? That genuine understanding of
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Scripture comes through this deep engagement, questioning,
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pondering, really wrestling with the text to see its coherence.
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It's a call to honest, sometimes difficult intellectual work.
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Done in faith, trusting that God's Word is unified and true
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and that He rewards diligence seeking.
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And the sources had a really hopeful final thought, didn't
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they, about the long term perspective.
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Yes, a beautiful picture. The idea that God has called us
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to an eternity of discovery. An eternity of discovery, yeah.
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So that every morning for ages to come, we might break forth in
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new songs of praise. So the process of understanding
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God more through His Word isn't something we finish.
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It's endless. It's boundless, and it
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continually leads to worship. Even if we don't resolve every
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puzzle now, there's always more glory to see, more connections
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to make, more reasons to praise Him.
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That's a great perspective. So maybe the encouragement for
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you listening is to take up that challenge this week in your own
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time with God's Word. Try to consciously slow down,
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query, ponder, chew. Pick one verse, maybe one that's
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always puzzled you a bit, has some hard questions.
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See where it leads? See what wonders might be
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waiting there. Thanks for joining us on The
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Deep Dive. Thank you.