Study Guide for When My Ox Gores My Neighbor

Chapter 1
Sinai Thunders
Secure sinners must bring the thundering of Mount Sinai before we bring them to Mt. Zion.
—George Whitefield1
Big Ideas
• Everyone has presuppositions and brings them to the text.
• Everyone has backgrounds that influence their thinking.
• Books need to be studied with authorial intent.
• Hermeneutics is the study of interpretation.
• The reason one needs to study the Bible is because it is a life-and-death, heaven-and-hell, situation.
• The best way to share the truth of the Bible with people preset against it is to share the Law before sharing the Gospel.
Exercises
• Write a list of your presuppositions, including your worldview and ultimate source of authority.
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• Write down your background, including upbringing, work experience, social economic status, and religious background.
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• Consider your presuppositions as well as your background, and keep in mind how they will influence your study of the Bible. What are some ways that will do that?
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Three Reminders
1. Remember that your presuppositions are not bad. They just need to be checked at the door when you are studying a passage of scripture.
2. Remember as you are studying scripture that it is not about what it means to you but what it meant to the original audience.
3. If you come up with an interpretation that is contrary to two thousand years of church history, then you are wrong.