I got my first King James wide-margin Bible with gilded edges for my birthday during middle school. I still remember the Sunday morning I took my new Bible to church and my youth pastor thumbed through the pages, excited for me. My pastor, counselors, and parents began to teach me how to study my new Bible, and I was also challenged to read it from Genesis to Revelation, which I did my 8th grade year. Getting this Bible and that advice launched me into a pursuit of God’s word that made me one of the “weird kids”. The weirdness continued into high school as I took that Bible with me every day to classes. I read those amazing words and studied them when I had free time during the school day. I eventually borrowed a book from my dad’s library about how to study the Bible. One day I took it into my room and reviewed those pages, looking up verses and reestablishing the principles I had learned in middle school. After I finished studying, I took my Bible, held it to my chest, and made this commitment:
“God, I will NEVER leave your book!”
By God’s grace, I have kept that commitment. As I look back on those days, I praise God that I was “weird,” because God was setting me up for ministry (whereas back then I thought I was going to be a sports agent). As I look back on those days, one of the simplest but greatest principles I learned when it came to the study of God’s preserved words was the three main applications of scripture: Historical, Doctrinal, and Personal.
Historical Application
Historical application is the anchor to true Bible study
The Historical Application is the first application that we must understand. What is written in the pages of the Bible must be understood as having literally happened. All of scripture is filled with real people and involves real events, and it all fits somewhere in the concept of time.
Now you may be saying, “Well duh, Code!” But even though this may seem elementary, it is fundamental to your understanding of the Bible. This is the first objective any new believer must seek and seek with intensity. People will often read the Bible and say, “Well, I didn’t get anything from it.” I usually ask the question, “What did you read?” They will begin to tell me the details of the passages they just read. I then say, “You did get something! You got the historical application.” Once you get the historical application, you are just a few steps away from the other two applications. Never underemphasize the historical application.
Let’s look at Paul as an example of this application. In 1 Corinthians 10:1-5, he gives a historical application:
1 Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; 2 And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; 3 And did all eat the same spiritual meat; 4 And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ. 5 But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness.
Now, outside of Paul telling us the baptism of Moses and who the Rock was, he is simply giving us the historical application of this story from Exodus. You must understand the historical, obvious, literal application before you can ever get the other two applications. Without this approach, it is easy to quickly get lost in the weeds.
Let me give you an example. Stephan A. Hoeller, a Regionary Bishop of Ecclesia Gnostica writes:
The Gnostic Christians who authored the Nag Hammadi scriptures did not read Genesis as history with a moral, but as a myth with a meaning. To them, Adam and Eve were not actual historical figures, but representatives of two intrapsychic principles within every human being. Adam was the dramatic embodiment of psyche, or soul, while Eve stood for the pneuma, or spirit. Soul, to the Gnostics, meant the embodiment of the emotional and thinking functions of the personality, while spirit represented the human capacity for spiritual consciousness. The former was the lesser self (the ego of depth psychology), the latter the transcendental function, or the "higher self," as it is sometimes known. Obviously, Eve, then, is by nature superior to Adam, rather than his inferior as implied by orthodoxy. 1
Paul tells Timothy, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away [their] ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” (2 Timothy 4:3-4).
Myths—or fables—with a meaning, perhaps? The Gnostic Creation Myth has reemerged in our modern day in the form of the New Age Religion. Leaving a historical application is the first step in turning others away from the other two applications. Without a proper historical application of scripture, you can make the Bible say whatever you want the passage to say. Historical application is the anchor to true Bible study, because the Bible we hold is a true historical account from the beginning to the end.
Doctrinal Application
Most, if not all, prophetic doctrinal application points to the theme of the Bible
God never meant for us to have only historically accurate accounts or only personal devotions; instead, he teaches his truth through those historical accounts by pointing towards a certain teaching, or doctrine. God has a purpose for every word, every chapter, every book and that is to teach us a biblical truth. That is what doctrine simply means: teaching.
2 Timothy 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine...
All scripture has a particular concept or command it is teaching through the words that have been recorded. In a day and age where the ecumenical movement has permeated the churches in America, you will hear more and more frequently ideas like, “We love Jesus! You love Jesus! So let’s drop our doctrinal differences and love people and Jesus together.”
Paul warns Timothy of this. He tells Timothy, “Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee” (1 Timothy 4:16).
The Church receives its main doctrine for today in the Pauline epistles: Romans through Philemon. These are books specifically written to local churches or to men involved in local churches. These books are where we get our doctrine for salvation, eternal security, baptism, and so on. Anything the Bible teaches is considered doctrine, though not all doctrine is directly applicable to all people. One aspect of this is prophetic doctrine.
While some doctrine speaks to us today, some doctrine speaks about tomorrow; that’s prophecy. This is where types or pictures (especially in the Old Testament), and sometimes express statements, point towards some future event.
This part of the doctrinal application is often the hardest of the three applications, and it takes exercising 2 Timothy 2:15 which says, “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”
To understand this application of scripture takes study, the work of comparing scripture with scripture, and an effort to rightly divide. When God teaches you through his Word and his Spirit, this is the exciting deep stuff! This is where Cain is no longer just an evil brother, but a type of the Antichrist. This is where Job is a picture of a Jew in the tribulation. But prophetic doctrinal applications are where most will get hung up. Most, if not all, prophetic doctrinal application points to the theme of the Bible, which is the King and his Kingdom (also known as Christ’s Kingdom Glory, the second coming of Christ, the day of the Lord, that day).
Let’s look again to Paul in 1 Corinthians 10:1-5 and verse 11 as he uses a prophetic doctrinal application:
1 Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; 2 And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; 3 And did all eat the same spiritual meat; 4 And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ. 5 But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness.
11 Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
If we would go back to the historical account described in verses 1-5, we would see that those accounts were pointing towards Jesus Christ, and at the end of verse 11 Paul is pointing towards the doctrinal truth of a future event.
Personal Application
God wants to teach you principles, promises, and processes that will guide you
The idea of the personal application means that there is something in all scripture for you and your life today. God’s words have a specific personal and practical application to your life. Sometimes this application is also called devotional or inspirational. We should always strive to make scripture apply to our lives, but not by sacrificing the other two applications.
In 1 Corinthians 10:6-11, Paul describes a historical application and then teaches us the personal application of scripture:
6 Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things [PERSONAL], as they also lusted [HISTORICAL]. 7 Neither be ye idolaters [PERSONAL], as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play [HISTORICAL]. 8 Neither let us commit fornication [PERSONAL], as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand [HISTORICAL]. 9 Neither let us tempt Christ [PERSONAL], as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents [HISTORICAL]. 10 Neither murmur ye [PERSONAL], as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer [HISTORICAL]. 11 Now all these things happened unto them [HISTORICAL] for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition [PERSONAL], upon whom the ends of the world are come.
Did you see how Paul set the example of these applications? He used the historical to reveal the personal application! God wants to teach you practical applications through his words to conform you into the image of Christ. Even though some of the Bible is not written directly to us, all of the Bible is written for us. God wants to teach you principles, promises, and processes that will guide you. He wants to have personal fellowship with every believer and he will do that by showing you key truths that apply to you and your life. Open the pages of that Holy Book, because our Holy God wants to speak to you!
Throughout the scriptures, we see all three applications revealed by Paul. But what about by Jesus?
As it turns out, Jesus does the same thing with a simple example of Jonah in Matthew 12:40-41:
40 For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; [HISTORICAL] so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth [DOCTRINAL]. 41 The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas [HISTORICAL]; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here [PERSONAL].
Jesus used the historical application of Jonah to reveal a future or doctrinal application about his future death, burial, and resurrection. He also used a historical application to call the people to repentance and to turn to him, a personal application.
Another example is the story of the Ethiopian eunuch. Philip presented all three applications of scripture to him!
Acts 8:29-39 Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot. 30 And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias [HISTORICAL], and said, Understandest thou what thou readest? 31 And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him. 32 The place of the scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth: 33 In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth. 34 And the eunuch answered Philip, and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man? 35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus. 36 And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized? 37 And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. 38 And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him. 39 And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing.
In verse 34, we see that the eunuch was only understanding the historical application of Isaiah, and the Spirit used Philip to reveal the doctrinal application (pointing towards Christ) and the personal application (the call to salvation).
I hope you can see that these applications are not just a way to apply scripture, but the way to apply it.
Recently, one of the men at Downtown Baptist Temple was teaching our men’s group about this and he made a very profound statement. He said, “One of the greatest evidences for the preservation of scripture is the principle of the three applications. What other book can have three applications in one passage? Only God’s word can do that.”
This principle of the three applications of scripture greatly influenced me as a young man and led me to fall deeper and deeper in love with God’s word. The depth of the Bible amazes me, and the precision of his words is remarkable. The commitment I made back in high school has grown even greater as I daily apply this principle to God’s word. Brother, sister: don’t settle for just one or two applications of scripture. Our God meant his word for more, which is one of the many reasons there is no other book like it!
To learn more about how to know the Bible for yourself, apply it into your own life, and invest it into the lives of others, check out lfbi.org.
Code Blaise is the pastor of Downtown Baptist Temple in Ocala, FL and serves in ministry with his wife and three children.
1 Hoeller, Stephen A. “The Genesis Factor.” http://gnosis.org/genesis.html