Hi ~

(I’m talking about the beauty of one part of the Bible connecting with another—don’t you love it?!)

I’ve loved the responses I’ve been getting to my emails. I may be a bit slow in answering, but if you’ve written to me, thank you.

One response that I’ve gotten several times involves variations of the question of how to study the Bible better. Eventually I’ll most likely compile some of my replies into a blog post.

But here’s one thought I’d like to send out right now. It has to do with cross referencing.

Cross referencing has been a huge part of opening up the Bible for me.

“How do you do it?” is more or less the basic question.

Well, I’ll put this in three parts.

First, use a Bible that has cross references in the margins. Look up the cross references. That’s a place to start.

You may find, as I have, that “Hmm, this cross reference doesn’t seem to have anything to do with this verse.” Or even “Hmm, Jesus says right here He’s quoting something from the Old Testament, but there’s no cross reference to it.” So there can sometimes be frustrations with this method, but it is certainly a place to start.

Second, you’ll be establishing cross references yourself. And this is exciting. It’s especially exciting when you can say, “Oh, this Scripture reminds me of that one!” and you can connect the two and see how they enlarge on each other.

When someone in the New Testament is clearly referencing an Old Testament writing, even if there’s no cross reference in your Bible’s margin, stop and find out what it is. Look it up.

(This is so much easier to do now that I can’t even tell you. It’s like the difference between when I used to ask my dad what a word meant and he said “Look it up” and I actually had to go find the dictionary and turn to the right page and run my finger down the column. And now. You get the idea.)

Here’s an example of this from my own old wide-margin Bible, the one I got when I was 19 or so, which I still use.

When I was 24 (I’ve dated all my notes through the years), I was reading these words from Moses, found in Deuteronomy 6:24-25:

‘And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as we are this day. And it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to do all this commandment before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us.’

I waxed eloquent in my marginal note about this righteousness, ending it with the words, “What a sermon outline!”

Along I come three decades later with a new note, underneath it:

“Maybe a sermon outline, but an Old Covenant one. Romans 10 reminds us that though Moses taught righteousness through the law, there is a righteousness that is by faith.”

What a shift.

But how did I know to connect this passage with Romans 10? (And is that connection even accurate?)

Well, the whole reason I made that note in Deuteronomy at that time was because

· I was reading Romans,

· Paul referenced Moses’ words about righteousness through the law, and

· I looked it up to compare.

Here are Paul’s words in Romans 10:5.

For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them.

One time when I was reading Romans, after I understood the importance of cross referencing, I stopped right there. I said, “Where does Moses talk about that?” Though I was studying in a Bible with built-in marginal cross references, there was none for that obvious reference. I had to do a bit of digging, wrote that little acerbic note to myself at the Deuteronomy passage, and then I wrote the Deuteronomy reference in my margin there at Romans 10.

The rest of this passage in Romans 10 draws a contrast between the righteousness of the law and the righteousness that comes by faith. It’s beautiful. But it is VERY definitely a contrast with the righteousness of the Old Covenant.

That’s an example of my own personal cross referencing that over time has helped in making the connections to see the beautiful truths that God is conveying in the Scriptures.

There’s a third thing about cross referencing, but I’ll tell you that tomorrow.

With you in being unafraid to write in my Bible,

Rebecca

Untwisting Scriptures at heresthejoy.com

See my Untwisting Scriptures series

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