Word Study
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Five Steps for a Word Study:
o Step
1 – Choose a word to study- start with a limited word, ie. surrender, obey, not
something like Messiah or Lord
o Step
2 – Define the word with a modern definition from a dictionary.
o Step
3 – Discover Bible usages of the word (use
a concordance to write out Scripture references, use a Bible dictionary to
discover deeper meanings to the word, find alternate words used (synonyms) in
other translations for the word, take notes of the context of each scripture
where the word is used – book, writer, concepts, etc.) Choose 3 of the
references for your word and any comments or notes you have associated with
those references.
o Step
4 – Summarize what you have learned about the word from your study.
o Step
5 – Apply the word study – to your relationship with God, to your life, your
relationships and the church.
Yeast:
o Step
1: Yeast
o Step
2: a microscopic fungus consisting of single oval cells that
reproduce by budding, and are capable of converting sugar into alcohol and
carbon dioxide.
o Step
3:
§ attached
Scripture verses (Blue Letter Bible) 57 times in 48 verses (10/10 are NT). The NT verses either refer to the fact that
yeast works all through dough or to the corrupt teaching of the Pharisees (and
Herod)
§ (topical
bible)
§ yeast
- “ζύμη” (dzoo-may) in Greek (Blue Letter Bible) – leaven;
metaph.
of inveterate mental and moral corruption, viewed in its tendency to infect
others
§ (Holman
Bible Dictionary) - A small portion of fermented dough used to
ferment other dough and often symbolizing a corruptive influence. The common
bread of Old Testament times was made with leaven. Such bread was acceptable as
wave offerings for the priests and as loaves to accompany the peace offerings (Leviticus 7:11-13; Leviticus 23:17 ).
However, bread made with leaven or honey, both associated with the process of
fermentation and thus a source of corruption, was never to be used as offerings
to be burned on the alter (Leviticus 2:11-12 ).
Unleavened bread was also prepared in times of haste (1 Samuel 18:24 )
and was required for the Feast of Unleavened Bread which was celebrated in
conjunction with the Passover festival (Leviticus 23:4-8 ).
This unleavened bread, or bread of affliction, reminded the Israelites of their
hasty departure from Egypt and warned them against corruptive influences (Exodus 12:14-20 ).
In the New Testament,
leaven is a symbol of any evil influence which, if allowed to remain, can
corrupt the body of believers. Jesus warned His disciples against the leaven of
the Pharisees, their teaching and hypocrisy (Matthew 16:5-12; Luke 12:1 ). Paul urged
the Corinthians to remove wickedness from their midst and become fresh dough,
unleavened loaves of sincerity and truth (1 Corinthians 5:6-13 ).
Jesus also used leaven to illustrate the pervasive growth of the kingdom of God
(Matthew 13:33 ).
o Step
4: The parable of the yeast is told in conjunction with the parable of the
mustard seed. Both parables speak of
great growth. The parable says the
kingdom of heaven is like yeast, so I am inclined to say the yeast isn’t
speaking of corruption. Unless it’s
speaking of the corruption of the man-made law with which the Jewish leaders
were crushing the people. In Matthew 16:12, Jesus warns the disciples to be on their guard against the "yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees." Scripture says the disciples understood Him to mean they were to be on guard against the "teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees." Yeast is teaching, not corruption. The teaching (yeast) of Jesus regarding the kingdom of heaven will go a long way!
o Step
5: I want to take the truth I receive from God each week as I study and spread
this teaching everywhere I go. I want to
share in my Sunday School class, in my BSF Leaders Circle and my BSF Discussion
Group. I want to share at home and at
choir and at work. I want God’s word to
transform me so deeply that I don’t have to say anything to anyone, but that
they will see changes in me!
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