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TITLE: Meaning of Words
TEXT: 1 Timothy 6:3-5
PROPOSITION: A study of the Bible requires a study of each word.
QUESTION: How?
KEY WORD: Meanings
SCRIPTURE READING: Same


INTRODUCTION:

  1. Most of the discussion and disagreement in Bible class is about “words”

  2. What does this word mean? Now? In NT or OT time? Greek / Hebrew?

  3. How can we know the correct meaning of a word?

  4. TOP LINE – A word cannot mean what it never meant.


  1. Meaning – English

    1. Helpful – not reliable

    2. We use words differently than Jesus did

  2. Meaning – Original Greek / Hebrew

    1. More helpful – IF – you rely on scholarship

    2. Most of us don’t know Greek or Hebrew

    3. Caution: Don’t put your faith in one man

  3. Context

    1. Sentence, paragraph, setting

    2. How author / speaker used it on other occasions

    3. Immediate context might explain it use

    4. How used in the book or writing

    5. How others used the word

  4. Type of literature

    1. Poetry

    2. Apocalyptic

    3. History / Narrative

  5. Literal / figurative / symbolic

    1. Most of the Bible is literal

    2. You can tell if it figurative or symbolic


Application – take the word – BAPTISM

  1. English – religious rite – 3 accepted modes – sprinkling, pouring, immersion

  2. Greek – to dip, plunge, immerse, bury, submerge

  3. Is translated:

    1. Wash – wash plates and cups – Mark 7:4

    2. Wash hands – Luke 11:38

    3. Sop – dip bread in a gravy or juice – John 13:26

    4. Dipped – to color fabric by dying – Revelation 19:13

    5. Dip – tip of finger – Luke 16:24

    6. Baptize – Acts 2:38, Mark 16:16

  4. Today – many try to change the meaning, expand the definition

    1. It just means to have a clean heart

    2. It does not demand physical immersion, just spiritual cleansing

    3. Outward sign of an inner working of the Holy Spirit

    4. A ritual to join a church



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