This is a bonus post in a series that is designed to help people better understand the Bible and how it speaks to us. Read the series Introduction post to learn how this series is designed to help you.

I provided an overview of Biblical Engagement in Part 15. From there, I outlined the three methods of Biblical Engagement and how to approach each one. If you need a refresher, they are:

Reading

Studying

Meditating

In this post, I will walk you through how each of these three methods work together to help you get more of God through Scripture.

The Gerasene Demoniac: A Test Case of Reading, Studying, and Meditating

Let’s say you started a Reading plan that had you Read the New Testament in 30 days. You would read Matthew in 3.5 days, and then you’d move to Mark.

In day 2 or 3 in Mark (day 4 or 5 overall), you’d read a passage about Jesus crossing the Sea of Galilee, encountering a demon-possessed man who lives in the tombs and is chained because he is so dangerous (Mark 5:1–20). As you read the narrative, you realize “hey, this sounds familiar… didn’t I just read about this the other day?” You jot a note to investigate further after you’re done reading.

Upon investigating, your learn of a parallel story in Matthew 8:28–34. Matthew’s account is shorter, and it involves two demon-possessed men. Weird.

Maybe you read a study Bible entry on the passages, maybe you don’t. Ultimately, you continue your Reading plan.

A few days later, you read another parallel story of Jesus healing a demon-possessed man in Luke 8:26–39. Luke’s account stands out to you because it is now the 3rd time you have read a version of this story, and you think “what is going on?!”

So, you investigate the three passages.

By re-reading all three accounts, you notice a few things:

• Mark’s is the longest
• Matthew says there are two demoniacs
• The location is the same in Mark and Luke but different in Matthew

Now you’re really interested! What is going on with these parallel passages? Are they contradictions? Did they even happen? Did Matthew ‘mis-remember’ the event?

Your interest level results in you committing some time to study the passages. Upon doing so, many of your questions get answered:

• The Gospels aren’t biographies (literary genre), so they don’t play by modern biography rules; the ancient world wrote differently
• Through the inspiration of God, the human writers had a purpose for writing and an intended meaning they wanted their readers to arrive at
• Matthew’s Gospel emphasizes Jesus as a Jewish Messiah who fulfills the Mosaic Law, so two demoniacs complies with having “two or three witnesses” (Deuteronomy 19:15)
• The two demoniacs in Matthew is not a contradiction with Mark and Luke because there very well may have been multiple demoniacs present, but Mark and Luke chose to focus on one of them
• Similarly, the different locations (Matthew’s “Gadarenes” vs. Mark & Luke’s “Gerasenes”) can be explained by the level of familiarity each writer’s audience has with the regional geography. Matthew’s description likely refers to the region controlled by the city of Gadera and therefore illustrates a better understanding of the geo-political makeup of the region.¹
• Finally, you learn that regardless of whether the demoniac(s) were from Gadera or Gerasa, they were in a gentile region, and the healing was ultimately proclaimed to the gentiles.

These three accounts offer even more awesomeness than what we’ve listed above, but this suffices for this post. Upon learning this, you are blown away by the reliability of the Gospels and the Person of Jesus and His Messianic mission.

To wrap up your study, you re-read Mark’s account for the purpose of noticing what’s tugging at your heart.

The verse “They came to Jesus and saw the man who had been demon-possessed by the legion, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind” (Mark 5:15) stood out to you.

“in his right mind” is such a strong contrast to the description of being chained and cutting himself. You meditate on the transformation from death to life provided by Christ.

Or

Maybe you meditate on God’s providential hand of preserving the good news of Jesus.

Or

Maybe you meditate on how God’s Word is nuanced and complex, but it is still good and true.

You walk away praising God, having your trust in the Bible reinforced, and you’re eager to do it all again.

Reading -> Studying -> Meditating

Reading allowed you to notice the repetition of a story in Mark and Luke that you had read in Matthew. Studying allowed you to dig into the nuances and complexities of those stories, and your investigation resulted in a deeper understanding of God and His Word. In turn, that investigation provided you with multiple truths to Meditate on, thus extending your time of praise throughout the days and weeks to come.

This is how the complementary approach to Biblical Engagement allows you to ‘get more’ of God through His Word.

Happy Bibleing!

Footnotes

1. Leon Morris, The Gospel According to Matthew, PNTC; Accordance electronic ed. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1992), 208. ↩︎