I am not a professional theologian or commentator. I don’t know Greek or Hebrew, and I rely heavily on the work others have done to dig deep into the Bible. But I am going to write through books in the Bible anyway.
There, I said it.
Frankly, I think it is a good thing to use the research and tools available to us to dig into scripture. I also think that too many Evangelicals rely on the study of others thoughts to see the Word of God in the right light. How do I square these two statements? Like this: too many of us sit in the pew on Sunday or download podcasts from iTunes and simply soak up the words of our favorite preachers. Is this bad? Certainly not, the preaching of the Word goes back to the very beginnings of the church. My reference is the studying the scriptures. Good pastors don’t simply read the passage for the week and then create their thoughts out of their own mind alone. They use tools. Word study, commentary, books on life in biblical times, etc. to bring the truth of the passage into our lives and times. I truly believe that on some level we should do the same.
Now, I don’t fire up Logos and drill into every verse in my reading plan each day – I just don’t have the time and I suspect most other laymen are the same. I do use the excellent ESV Study Bible
I will be working through a book on a semi-regular basis (goal is 2-3 posts a week). I will use the tools and knowledge I have on hand and in my head to write through them. It’s not a commentary per say, just simple a discussion of what I find, and application that can be drawn.
So… off to write the introduction to Romans.
