Unka Glen

Anonymous asked: Hi Unka Glen! I am a Christian girl dating a Christian boy. We want to learn about Jesus together. How exactly do you study the Bible as a couple? (can you make this anonymous? it’s just a bit awkward because a lot of our friends follow you :P)

Unka Glen answered: Um, yeah, your secret Bible study question is safe with me… so… okay. Here’s the picture I want to paint for you. You know those cop shows where you have a male and female partner, and there’s all this sexual tension, but we can’t deal with that now, because “we better follow-up on this lead before the trail gets cold!”?

Well, I think you should be just like that investigative team, but in your case, you’re investigating meaning. Biblical meaning to be exact. So, assuming you’ve both done the usual Bible study stuff before, and you’re both familiar with the basics, then I’d start with either Romans or Hebrews. 

Then I want you to grab all the commentaries you can find, Study Bibles, and alternate translations. Then start reading, and investigating deeper meaning in the passages that you read. The beauty of scripture is in it’s depth. There’s always more to see. With two people looking, you’re covering twice as much ground. And as you gather clues and facts, you report them to each other, and fit them together. 

As you go, a clearer picture of scripture emerges.

There are a ton of free online resources out there, but let me just mention one that can help you get started. This link will open in a new window, and you’ll see that you’re looking at several translations of Romans 8:1. There’s lots to explore here, but let’s look at the tabs above the text, and look for the one marked “Greek”. Click on that tab (or click here).

This will take you to a page where you see the original Greek words, and the English equivalents. Let’s look at the English word “condemnation”, it’s certainly the key word in this passage. Now moving left you’ll see the original Greek word, and then if you go all the way to the left, you see a row of Strong’s numbers (a guy named James Strong came up with a system for numbering all the Greek and Hebrew words in the Bible). Click on the Strong’s number for this Greek word, which is 2631 (or click here).

Now we’re looking at this Greek word “katakrima” in detail. When the Bible says there is no more condemnation for those in Christ, what does that mean exactly? Well if you read the details on this page, and piece those details together, you’ll see that this word depicts the process of evidence being brought in a court, and a guilty verdict being handed down, based on that evidence.

So that might say to me that this verse is saying that despite the evidence, there are no more guilty verdicts coming our way. The punishment has been paid in full by Christ Himself. It might also say that when other people want to put us down and bring old evidence against us, that this same truth holds. I’ve already been found guilty, and Jesus already paid the penalty. He is transforming me, and that process is far from over, and I’m an imperfect mess, but I’m not condemned. 

So there you have it. You keep reading together, and looking up the key words in various key verses and investigate together, and then report your findings to each other. Maybe you can keep a journal of all the stuff you discover.

And remember, don’t give in to those urges, you’ve got to keep that sexual tension going until after the wedding episode at the end of the season.