Intensive course on how to study the Bible in Valle de Cauca

My Methods of Bible Study II group.

This past Tuesday through Friday I traveled to the department (Colombian equivalent of a state) of Valle de Cauca to teach a continuing education class for a group of pastors from the Evangelical Missionary Union of Colombia. The denomination has three large meetings per year at their camp in the eastern part of this department, about an hour and a half east of Cali, the third largest city in Colombia. The first two days of their meetings deal with matters within the denomination and in the final three days they divide into four groups to study different diploma programs, two groups studying diplomas in Biblical Interpretation, one group in Old Testament, and one group in Counseling, with the first three groups being taught by professors from the Biblical Seminary of Colombia (my seminary) and the counseling group being taught by professors from the Baptist seminary in Cali. They also have services each evening, and I got to preach on Jonah last Tuesday night.

Praying to finish my sermon on Jonah.

To give a bit of background on the denomination, they are particularly strong in this region of Colombia and, as is the case with many denominations here, have a generally Wesleyan theological perspective with some Pentecostal influences, especially stylistically in music and prayer (the continuing ed director told me they were “pentecostalized” rather than Pentecostal per se, since who counts as Pentecostal or charismatic can be very fuzzy in Latin America). They are strongest in the departments of Valle de Cauca and Cauca with influence extending in all directions from there. This location gives them an interesting ethnic makeup, having a very significant Afro-Colombian presence and some significant ministries among indigenous groups as well. One pastor in my class, for example, had worked in various towns, including a stint among an indigenous group in the Pacific coastal region.

Given their geographical location, many ministers are also on the front lines doing ministry in regions that are known for being caliente—that is, “hot”—regions where there has been a history of armed confrontations between the army and the FARC guerrillas. This region is not far from some of the rural mountain areas where the FARC originally started and have had some of their most consistent presence. Since I was at a camp or retreat center and travelling with two other professors from the seminary, I did not feel any particularly significant risk being in the region. Most armed confrontations take place exclusively between the army and the guerrilla, whereas the most common effect on civilians who live there are extortion or robbery, although in some areas with stronger guerrilla presence robbery and other run of the mill crimes are actually low, since thiefs who disrupt the order imposed by the guerrilla may not be spared. To put it in Colombian terms, I didn’t have any problems because I wasn’t dando papaya—“giving papaya”—an idiomatic way of saying when someone is “asking for it” by putting themselves in a situation where someone would want to take advantage of them, like strolling through town by myself as a foreigner or visibly displaying money.

(While I didn’t know it at the time of the class, there was a FARC attack on the army on Tuesday night in the department of Cauca to the south of Cali, killing 11 soldiers and imperiling the progress in the peace talks between the FARC and the government. Please pray for wisdom for Colombia’s leaders in how to best respond and for lasting peace and reconciliation in Colombian society.)

With that background, back to the course. Methods of Bible Study II was the fourth course in the Biblical Interpretation diploma. They started with an introductory module a year ago, took a course on Literary Genres last September (the course I taught in early March elsewhere), studied Methods of Bible Study I last December, will take a course on Applying the Bible this September, and will finish with a final course on Biblical Theology this December. In my group were 31 pastors, all of whom have at least 10 years of ministry experience.

Their first methods course covered the inductive Bible study method, using Philemon as their text they worked on throughout the 15 hours of class. My course looked more in depth at different aspects of the historical context, literary context, other literary features of texts, identifying the main idea and theological principles of a passage, and then briefly touched on application of these principles (which they’ll look at in more depth in the next class). We used Haggai as our text to which we applied the different concepts, which turned out to be a great choice.

A few of the ways we got to see how these aspects provided a deeper reading of Haggai were:

• We saw how the historical circumstance of drought was explicitly connected with the problem of priorities in Haggai’s hearers in Haggai 1. In theory they thought rebuilding the temple was a good idea, but said the time wasn’t right because of their economic problems. God’s message to them was that they had it precisely backward—their economic problems were the result of their failure to prioritize the temple project, not a legitimate pretext for delaying that project. God drives this point home by intentionally choosing to call the temple his “house,” setting up a contrast between their attitude toward their own houses versus their neglect of God’s house.
• We also worked to identify the main idea of Haggai 1. While it sounds simple to identify what the passage is talking about and what it says about what it’s talking about, it can actually be quite tricky in practice. Students invariably struggle with putting the main idea in one sentence, but I have found it is one of the most important steps. This exercise helps students synthesize all the details they’ve learned from the study of the historical and literary contexts.
• We looked at the significance of the fact that the political leader of Israel was a governor under a foreign king rather than a king himself and how this showed an incomplete restoration of the nation. Later we looked at the prophecy in 2:20-23 to that governor, Zerubbabel, compared with the background in Jeremiah 22:24-30. By looking at this literary context of Haggai among the other prophets, we saw how Haggai’s message shows God’s reaffirmation of the Davidic covenantal promise to the post-exilic generation, reversing the curse on Jehoiachin (Zerubbabel’s grandfather), one of the last kings of Judah before the exile.
• I had students read 2:1-9 in three translations and discuss how each understood 2:7 (“Desire of the nations” or “wealth of the nations”), seeking clues for understanding the phrase in its immediate context and how it impacts the interpretation of the prophecy. This was the part that caused the most consternation as many students didn’t want to even consider the possibility that 2:7 may not be messianic. I think there is likely at least some messianic element or undertone to the passage (in 2:9 at least, and given the use of 2:6 in Hebrews 12:26), but am not entirely positive whether it’s best to see that in 2:7 itself, so I sought to show how the different readings understood the passage and how to use comparative analysis of translations to identify interpretive issues when one doesn’t know Hebrew or Greek.
• We looked at the comparisons between Deuteronomy 28 and the consequences Haggai’s hearers faced to understand the blessings and curses of the Law. Then we discussed the importance of knowing where a text is in redemptive history and in what sense the teaching on blessings for obedience applies under the New Covenant. While we don’t have specific promises related to fruitful harvests in a promised land (since we live as exiles on the earth awaiting a heavenly inheritance), God does urge us to seek first his kingdom trusting that he will supply our needs (Matthew 6:33) and he does indicate that he still uses adverse circumstances as a form of discipline (Hebrews 12), whether directly for a specific sin or for more general character formation.
• We noted the importance of paying attention to the historical moment of a message, such as that Haggai’s first two prophecies occurred on Jewish feast days (the New Moon and the seventh day of the Feast of Tabernacles) and that the name Haggai means “festal”. This points out the importance of the temple project for Israel’s religious life and relationship with God.
• We saw how there is a general pattern in Haggai of how in the face of the people's necessity, in each of the four prophecies God responds with his grace, promising his presence, blessing, or faithfulness. While Haggai emphasizes the need for human response, he does so in a way that clearly highlights God's grace in the face of our spiritual and practical needs (note especially 1:13 for God's role in stirring their hearts to respond!).

Overall, the course went well and students commented that they were challenged both in learning some new approaches to interpretation and also in the powerful message of Haggai regarding proper priorities in life. I pray that this course has served as another step in learning to be better readers of Scripture and more faithful preachers and teachers. It was a tremendous blessing to be a part of training so many people with a passion for the gospel and serving in what are often quite difficult contexts.

Afternoon soccer game amongst the different pastors. They were surprised I actually played decently. Playing since kindergarten has paid off in Colombia!

Camp/retreat center facilities.

View from the car of agricultural region in the Valle de Cauca. The valley there is one of the largest in Colombia and is known across the whole country simply as "the valley". This region grows almost exclusively sugar cane, and at times we saw trucks with five or six trailers attached that were hauling sugar cane away from the farms. I'm not sure how they can possibly drive them safely, but I'm sure they find a way.