Authorial Intent

When it comes to reading the Bible one has to be very careful not to use it as book of pithy statements that you choose from to offer comfort to someone who is struggling with something. Context is the key to understanding the Bible. The problem is that in order to understand context most of the time you have to read the entire book. The writers of the Bible were not writing random thoughts that came to mind. They were writing a story and the only way to understand a story is to read the entire thing. Let’s be reasonable. Imagine you picked up a 50 page book (very small for a book) and randomly opened it and read a paragraph and concluded that within that paragraph you knew what the book was about. That is complete nonsense. Yet somehow we do this with the Bible.

One of the best ways to understand context is as you read and you see a recurring theme or idea make note of it and trace it through the entire book. As you read the Bible you will see things being repeated over and over again because the author wants you to pay close attention to them. They are keys to understanding what he wants to say and you to understand. Once you have traced the theme through a book you will begin to see breaks in thought and transitions into other concepts or ideas. After you have done all this you can make a purpose statement about why the author wrote this book based on the themes you have traced through it. Once you have a purpose statement you can compliment it by emphasizing the reason you chose this purpose based on the themes you have seen throughout the book.

To help illustrate what I mean I have gone through the book of Mark and traced 3 themes, outlined it, and made a purpose and compliment statement. Since blogger will not let me insert rows and columns you will have to click on the picture to enlarge it.


Outline of Mark
Introduction 1:1-20
1. John the Baptist’s ministry 1-8
2. Jesus baptized and tempted 9-12
3. Jesus calls His first disciples 13-20

Beginning of Jesus’ ministry, His authority and majesty unveiled 1:21-3:19
1. Cast out demon and heal many 1:21-34
2. Jesus gets alone with the Father in prayer 1:35-39
3. Healing of leper and paralytic 1:40-2:12
4. Call of Matthew 2:13-17
5. Pharisees confront Jesus 2:18-6
6. The crowds come to Jesus for healing 3:7-12
7. Jesus selects the 12 Apostles 3:13-19

Jesus takes His message to the multitudes 3:20-6:56
1. Teaching with parables 4:1-34
2. Supreme power and authority revealed 4:35-5:43
3. Disciples sent on first mission 6:6b-13
4. 500 fed and walking on water 6:30-56

Jesus on His second mission to take His message to all 7:1-10:52
1. Rebuking of Pharisees for religious practices 7:1-23
2. 4000 fed and faith of apostles challenged 8:1-21
3. How to enter the kingdom 10:13-31

Surrender to God 11:1-14:42
1. Jesus ransacks the Temple 11:12-25
2. What are you willing to pay 12:1-44
3. The end is coming 13:1-37
4. Christ surrenders His life to the Father 14:32-42

Death, burial, and resurrection 14:43-16:20
1. Jesus arrested 14:43-51
2. Jesus on trial 14:53-15:20
3. Crucifixion 15:21-41
4. Burial 15:42-47
5. Resurrection 16:1-20

Epilogue 16:9-20
1. Jesus reunited with disciples 16:9-14
2. Jesus sends them to preach to the nations 16:15-20


Subject compliment statement for Mark

Purpose: To show the deity of Jesus through teachings and miracles and the faith required to enter the Kingdom of God.

Several times Jesus calls His disciples out for their lack of faith. These men traveled with Jesus and saw the amazing things that He did and they still lacked faith at times. (Mark 4:40, 16:14) Jesus emphasis on faith is shown clearly as to be the source of healing. (Mark 1:40, 2:5, 9:23) These verses show that the key principle to enter the Kingdom of God is faith. The people had to believe Jesus could do what they were asking Him to do. All this was done to show the deity of Christ and His authority to rule the earth. These miracles were the key to Christ’s deity. If He were not Christ He would not have been able to do or say what He did. Even the demons recognized who Jesus was and He shut their mouths as to not spoil His ministry. (Mark 1:24-25) Jesus came to show His authority, teach the way to Heaven, and show that the key to the door is faith.