What to do on Thursday: A Layman's Guide to the Practical Use of the Scriptures

by Jay E. Adams

“Walk in wisdom before those who are outside, making the most of opportunities. Let your speech at all times be gracious, so that you may know how to answer everyone” (Col. 4:5, 6).

be very careful not to “Put a stumbling block in anyone’s way” (II Cor. 6:3), whether “Jews or Greeks or God’s church” (I Cor. 10:32). Indeed, in every biblically legitimate way he will seek to “please all sorts of people in all sorts of matters, not seeking [his] own advantage” but rather the advantage of others (I Cor. 10:33).

I Peter 2:12

1. The importance of the holding principle.

2. The use of other pertinent principles found in various sorts of passages: a. passages having to do with business and work; b. passages having to do with authority situations; c. passages having to do with personal responsibility: (1) those dealing with truth and honesty; (2) those dealing with the Christian’s relationship to unbelievers.

1. A problem arises (or a circumstance calling for decision/ action).

2. One must know how to describe or analyze the problem in general terms (evaluate and name it biblically).

3. He must know where in the Bible to locate pert...

4. He must know how to reach a biblical solution by applying the principles to the situation and laying out a biblical plan...

the psalmist meant when he wrote, “Your word have I hidden in my heart that I might not sin against you” (Ps. 119:11).

To “hide” in the heart literally means to “store up” in the heart.

The passage refers to more than memorizing verses; it has to do with storing up biblical principles in the heart (the inner life by which one’s words and actions are governed). When they are truly stored in the inner life, they will guide.

1. A problem arises:

2. A biblical description and analysis of the problem: Breaking fellowship is what the Bible calls an unreconciled condition or a “brother having something against you” (Matt. 5:18).

3. Pertinent principles:

4. How to reach a biblical solution:

You also know that Matthew 18:16 sets forth the action to be taken next: you must go to see him, taking one or two others with you. But this plan must be implemented by (1) deciding whom you should take and enlisting their help, (2) prayerfully setting a time and place for the three of you to make the visit, and (3) deciding which one of you will ask to make the appointment and lead the discussion (not everyone can do this).

1. A problem arises (or in another case, a decision must be made):

2. A biblical description and analysis of the problem:

3. Pertinent principles:

4. How to reach a biblical solution:

To begin making that change, you will keep a daily record for the next several weeks to discover under what conditions the temptation to lie arises.

And you will develop alternative, biblical responses to each tempting circumstance, while prayerfully working at proper responses on a daily basis. That way you will design a complete prevention program to make you aware of such tempting situations as they occur and to make it difficult for you to sin again in the same way.

The practical use of the Scriptures, then, involves awareness and a biblical und...

A Christian must be able to locate and to interpret Bible passages that throw light on a problem; he also must be able to label and evaluate the problem b...

he must have the capacity to locate, understand and apply to the problem biblical passages t...

he must learn how to lay out plans to implement the biblical solution in concrete ways that grow out of and are consistent at every ...

1. a good knowledge of Bible content, including knowledge of the location of pertinent passages, or knowledge of how to find them;

2. an ability to interpret Scripture, abstracting principles one has found;

3. a knowledge of how to apply scriptural principles to one’s situation and how to implement ...

Bible information,

Bible interpretation,

Bible impleme...

getting to know where to locate crucial passages of Scripture—for use on Thursday.

Your concern must always be to discover and to use Scripture for the purposes for which it was given. When Christians don’t know where to locate passages applying to problems, they are likely to distort, misinterpret and misapply others that they do know and that only seem to apply.

If your problem of decision has to do with some difficulty encountered in everyday living, you will probably want to turn to some pertinent passages in the Letters or, possibly, to some applicable passages in the Gospels (like the Sermon on the Mount) for help. Of course, you will have to know where within each larger unit of the Scriptures to find the particular information that you need. We will come to this later on. But, at the broadest level, when a problem arises on Thursday, your first question ought to be “Hmmmmmmm...let’s see now...what parts of the Bible (here, New Testament) are most likely to say something about that?”

Matthew writes as a Jew to Jews. He represents Jesus as the Messiah who fulfilled Old Testament prophecy—note his many quotations from Old Testament prophets.

Within Matthew’s broad sweep—which is chronological—the book selects and groups materials topically.

Mark, in his brief Gospel, portrays Christ as the busy Servant of God (note the repeated use of “immediately”) who demonstrates supernatural power over nature, disease, madness and demons.

Luke, “the beloved physician,” writes the most complete Gospel, a Gospel that was designed for Gentiles, picturing Christ as full o...

Luke writes all, even the details, in chronological order, rather than grouping his ...

John? In his Gospel you meet a theological portrait of Christ, covering a number of different materials and somewhat different ground, principally setting forth Jesus’ great signs and speeches to produce a Gospel that features His eternal Deity and saving power. The picture is of God manifest in the flesh; the purpose of the book is to bring readers to a saving faith in Christ (John 20:31).

When Scripture is used for the purposes for which it is intended, we may expect good results. But to use it correctly, we must first discover the purposes of various books and of their individual parts and sections.

The Gospels, then, are biography with a purpose. The selective biography, and the way in which it is presented in each Gospel, is designed to accomplish the purposes of the author.

The second division is Acts. Luke wrote this book as a sequel to his Gospel. The first treatise (the Gospel), he tells us, was written to describe all that Jesus began to do before His resurrection (Acts 1:1, 2) The Acts contain the continued acts of Jesus (not the acts of the apostles) from heaven by the Holy Spirit through a part of His church.

Throughout, the content of the gospel that was preached (the good news that Christ died a substitutionary death for guilty sinners and that God raised Him from the dead) is continually made clear—cf. 2:23, 24; 3:13-15; 4:10; 5:29-32; 13:28-33; 23:6; 26:33).

1. Letters to churches (Romans, I and II Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, I and II Thessalonians, Hebrews, I and II Peter, James, I John, and Jude).

2. Letters to individuals (I and II Timothy, Titus, Philemon, II and III John). Of these, the first three were written to preachers. From this breakdown, we discover that the letters contain material for churches, for individual members of the church and for leaders.

Romans was written to Christians at Rome, setting forth the need for and plan of salvation (Rom. 1-11) and the implications of this sa...

I Corinthians, the letter of church problems, was written to the church at Corinth. It deals with the following subjects: division (chap. 1); wisdom (chap. 2); incest, church discipline (chap. 5); lawsuits and sexual sin (chap. 6); marriage and divorce (chap. 7); Christian liberty (chap. 8); ministerial rights (chap. 9); Christian liberty (chap. 10); the Lord’s supper (chap. 11); gifts (chaps. 12, 14); love (chap. 13); the resurrection (chap. 15); Christian giving (chap. 16). If there is a problem in a local church, here is the place to turn first; chances are you will find it discussed here.