Learning to See How the Bible Uses the Bible

One of the best ways to become a better reader of the Bible is to learn to recognize when the Bible is using the Bible. The New Testament regularly quotes the Old Testament. It also alludes to Old Testament passages, themes, events, and language without always announcing it. When we recognize those connections and read the Old Testament passages in context, we are better equipped to understand what the New Testament authors are saying.

There are some good tools to help us do this.

I recently picked up Connecting Scripture: A Study Bible of Biblical Allusions and Quotations, edited by G. K. Beale and Benjamin L. Gladd. I've also used Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament, edited by G. K. Beale and D. A. Carson, for years. They are both excellent resources, but they serve different purposes. Connecting Scripture makes the connections easy to see. The Beale and Carson commentary helps you dig in and analyze those connections in much greater depth. One is quick and accessible. The other is a big, beefy beast of a commentary.

In this video, I walk through both resources and compare how they work with actual biblical passages. I also spend some time showing why these tools can be especially helpful when studying the book of Revelation. Revelation becomes considerably less mysterious when we stop looking to the news of the day and start looking at the Old Testament.

If you want to train yourself to see how Scripture interprets Scripture, both of these resources are worth knowing about.

Study on!