Isaiah 28 - Do Your Church Teach Bible Line Upon Line, Chapter By Chapter?

[SetFree]

How many go to a Church that teaches The Bible line upon line, chapter by chapter? And if not, then WHY not?

 

[SetFree]

God through His prophet Amos revealed a problem that He would cause at the end of this world, a famine in the land, not of bread or of water, but of hearing the words of The LORD...

Amos 8:9-13
9 And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord GOD, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day:

10 And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day.

11 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD:

12 And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it.

13 In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst.
KJV


Verse 9 above is a future event linked to the time of the END per Matthew 24:29, Revelation 8:12. It's about the events of the end of this world.

One of the problems today with many Churches is that very few of them are covering all of God's Word line upon line, chapter by chapter to their congregations. The job of God's priests was to read God's Word to the people, and then give the meaning, and to go through all of it for them, not slice'n'dice Bible Scripture and apply men's commentaries to it like a bunch of lawyer philosophical precedence. And the speaking was to be kept simple, not like presenting some master's degree thesis dissertation to try and show how educated one is.

And instead of relying on commentaries like, this man says, and that doctor says, and those men say, it should be about what GOD Himself says in His Word. Many Bible commentaries were written in a past era when Christ's Revelations were not as clearly seen as they are today. Only in this present century have we seen the actual prophecy of a one-world government structure coming into existence as prophesied would come per the Revelation 13 one-word beast system (i.e., the United Nations). And that's only one example of Bible prophecy being revealed to us in these present times.

 

[Lamb]

How many go to a Church that teaches The Bible line upon line, chapter by chapter? And if not, then WHY not?

Right now my Pastor is leading us through the book of Isaiah, line by line.

 

[Albion]

Generally not, although that's a format often used in Bible Study groups. Studying line by line, verse by verse, and never departing from it, does not allow for comparing different verses found in other Gospels or Epistles, for example. And making such connections is often essential for understanding.

 

[Castle Church]

Not in the Sunday sermon, but usually the teaching is based on a few verses at a time. The Bible was not intended to be divided up between verses, so teaching line by line, verse by verse can be misleading to the intent of the author, sometimes. It is better taken in larger chunks or in context of the whole.

 

[SetFree]

Right now my Pastor is leading us through the book of Isaiah, line by line.

Excellent! Isaiah means 'Yah is Salvation'.

I cannot find any Church in my area that covers all The Bible, nor a whole Book line upon line.

 

[SetFree]

Not in the Sunday sermon, but usually the teaching is based on a few verses at a time. The Bible was not intended to be divided up between verses, so teaching line by line, verse by verse can be misleading to the intent of the author, sometimes. It is better taken in larger chunks or in context of the whole.

I can't really agree, since if only a few verses out of a Chapter is covered God's Message in that Chapter can be incomplete. One of the things that God does in His Word is He often puts an anchor point that seals the context in a latter verse of a Chapter, like in Luke 17:37 for example.

 

[Lees]

How many go to a Church that teaches The Bible line upon line, chapter by chapter? And if not, then WHY not?

Why do you not give the verses that you are addressing? What does (Is. 28:13) mean?

"But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little, that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken."

Lees

 

[Lamb]

Excellent! Isaiah means 'Yah is Salvation'.

I cannot find any Church in my area that covers all The Bible, nor a whole Book line upon line.

Are you looking at church bible studies or their sermons?

 

[Castle Church]

I can't really agree, since if only a few verses out of a Chapter is covered God's Message in that Chapter can be incomplete. One of the things that God does in His Word is He often puts an anchor point that seals the context in a latter verse of a Chapter, like in Luke 17:37 for example.

I agree, perhaps I was not being clear. I don't think that teaching line by line or verse by verse is the best way to teach the meaning of the text. When I said that our pastor teaches on a "few verses" I meant the natural starting and ending point for a subject in a chapter or divides the subject or chapter into a series of sermons on the same subject.

 

[SetFree]

Are you looking at church bible studies or their sermons?

Strictly Bible, not commentaries, which I consider Bible studies as a type of commentary, because the believer who reads man's studies is still required to go directly into God's written Word and confirm what is being taught.

 

[SetFree]

I agree, perhaps I was not being clear. I don't think that teaching line by line or verse by verse is the best way to teach the meaning of the text. When I said that our pastor teaches on a "few verses" I meant the natural starting and ending point for a subject in a chapter or divides the subject or chapter into a series of sermons on the same subject.

Well I do... believe teaching Bible line upon line is... the best way, and is God's Way.

I've noticed some who think what God said about covering His Word "precept upon precept,..." in Isaiah 28, they think that is a bad thing. No, God was actually saying that about the vanity of the leaders of Jerusalem that wouldn't follow that method, as God was mocking them. And because of their vain attitude against His Word line upon line, God said they would fall backwards, and be taken, The Word becoming a 'stone of stumbling' for them.

Is this not how it is when we study a technical subject? What if we just skipped line upon line study and did a slice'n'dice of a technical guide for learning electronics?

 

[Albion]

I can't really agree, since if only a few verses out of a Chapter is covered God's Message in that Chapter can be incomplete. One of the things that God does in His Word is He often puts an anchor point that seals the context in a latter verse of a Chapter, like in Luke 17:37 for example.

Leaving out something from any passage that is critical wouldn't be right, I think we all can agree. But at the same time, thinking that there's something amiss with comparing different passages by different authors when dealing with the same topic seems shortsighted. It's all God's word.

In other words, I can't agree that there is something superior with a line-by-line approach throughout the whole Bible. Or that the "precept upon precept" reference refers to what we're discussing here and now.

Although one's pastor may take the line-by-line approach at some time or other with his sermons, it doesn't mean that any other method of study has to be defective. And I surely do not agree with the 'Holier than Thou' attitude that some congregations which specialize in the line-by-line method take on themselves.

Is this not how it is when we study a technical subject? What if we just skipped line upon line study and did a slice'n'dice of a technical guide for learning electronics?

No one here who's replied to the original post recommended doing anything like that!

 

[SetFree]

Something else to show why study of God's Word "precept upon precept,... line upon line," is real important to do.

In 1 Chronicles 4 is the genealogy of Judah.

Starting at verse 1, we are shown the lineage of Judah, with begats and such.

But at 1 Chronicles 4:9 it starts talking about JABEZ and does not say who begat him, nor who Jabez begat. It's like God simply INSERTED Jabez into that Chapter at that 9th verse...

1 Chron 4:8-11
8 And Coz begat Anub, and Zobebah, and the families of Aharhel the son of Harum.

9 And Jabez was more honourable than his brethren: and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, Because I bare him with sorrow.

10 And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, "Oh that Thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that Thine hand might be with me, and that Thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me!" And God granted him that which he requested.

11 And Chelub the brother of Shuah begat Mehir, which was the father of Eshton.
KJV


Notice above there is no indication of just how... Jabez got into Judah's genealogy above, nor where Jabez's origin was from. It should be obvious that Jabez was not in Judah's lineage, but God was wanting to reveal something by inserting that in Judah's lineage.

Would that have been noticed by jumping around in that Chapter with not covering it line upon line? No, it would have been missed. This is how God's Word is. God has put pieces of the puzzle in understanding the deeper Truths in His Word spread across the various Books of The Bible (what Jesus called the 'mysteries of the kingdom of heaven' in Matt.13). A topical coverage is not enough.


First thing to remember from Bible history, was that leftover Canaanites which God told the children of Israel to destroy when coming into the lands of Canaan, remained dwelling with the tribes of Israel (see Judges 2 and 3, and Joshua 9). This of course included the tribe of Judah.

Several years ago, the Jabez Prayer Fad was pushed among the Christian Church with the prayer by Jabez in 1 Chronicles 4 was for MATERIAL GAIN. So some servant of the devil turned it into a prayer that Christians can pray, for materialistic blessing. In reality, Jabez in 1 Chronicles 4 represents one of the crept in unawares of the land of Canaan, and not of Israelite birth. Thus went the JOKE on those in the Christian Church that fell to that Jabez Prayer Fad.

 

[SetFree]

And a true Bible teacher will show the Bible student how... to do Bible study for their self, using the scholarly Bible study tools which God has given us through His servants, like a minimum of a KJV Bible and a Strong's Exhaustive Concordance. I recommend The Companion Bible, a KJV Bible put together by the 19th century British Bible scholar E. W. Bullinger, which his side margin notes are scholar facts, and not commentary.

 

[Lamb]

I think what some of the members are advising is that you can go line by line, but using other parts of scripture helps develop God's Word even more.

 

[Castle Church]

Well I do... believe teaching Bible line upon line is... the best way, and is God's Way.

I've noticed some who think what God said about covering His Word "precept upon precept,..." in Isaiah 28, they think that is a bad thing. No, God was actually saying that about the vanity of the leaders of Jerusalem that wouldn't follow that method, as God was mocking them. And because of their vain attitude against His Word line upon line, God said they would fall backwards, and be taken, The Word becoming a 'stone of stumbling' for them.

I disagree, if anything following it "line by line" is how the Pharisees ended up in the strict and human-centric thought of the 1st century and in the Rabbinic law we have today.

Is this not how it is when we study a technical subject? What if we just skipped line upon line study and did a slice'n'dice of a technical guide for learning electronics?

I am certainly not saying to skip line by line study, I am advocating to study line by line to understand the whole - the whole helps us understand the line by line. Taking a line by itself without understanding the whole is of little value, even more so in your technical manual example.

 

[Lees]

@SetFree

In post #(8) I asked you why did you give the chapter and not the verses.

Seems strange since you are supposedly taking a 'line upon line' stand.

I asked you what (Is. 28:13) means since the final 'line' is "that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken."

And, of course you ignore. Which can only mean you're not really about 'line upon line'. You're about what you can make Scripture say.

I will be the first to admit that a book Bible study is very good and informative. But, no matter what single book I study, I wind up going throughout the whole Bible. It is always that way because the Bible is in reality 'one Book'.

We can grasp the 'theme' of a single book that will help our interpretation of all verses in that book. But then we also come to 'rightly dividing the Word of Truth'. (2 Tim. 2:15) And that is where we take all we learn out of one book and divide it into the correct subject area of the rest of the books.

I will say I have been guilty of applying 'line upon line' to strict verse by verse teaching of the Scripture. But, after looking into it further, due to this topic, I don't think that explains what is being said in (Is. 28:13). Any explanation must take into account the last part of (Is. 28:13) "that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken."

Lees

 

[SetFree]

I think what some of the members are advising is that you can go line by line, but using other parts of scripture helps develop God's Word even more.

I'm not against Bible topic teaching, don't get me wrong. But a line upon line teaching is the method of the most coverage of God's Word.

Isa 28:13-14
13 But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.

14 Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.
KJV

 

[SetFree]

I disagree, if anything following it "line by line" is how the Pharisees ended up in the strict and human-centric thought of the 1st century and in the Rabbinic law we have today.

I am certainly not saying to skip line by line study, I am advocating to study line by line to understand the whole - the whole helps us understand the line by line. Taking a line by itself without understanding the whole is of little value, even more so in your technical manual example.

In order to understand... the whole of The Bible, it must first be studied line upon line, precept upon precept.

And some look at the Isaiah 28:9-22 Scripture and wrongly think it means NOT to study God's Word "precept upon precept..." when God is using 'their' own mocking words against them when saying that. In the Hebrew their mocking of "precept upon precept..." sounds like a rhythmic song.

In Isaiah 28:24-28, God then uses some agriculture comparisons on how to teach His Word.