study Archives - Plain Bible Teaching

Andy Sochor November 17, 2025

Add to Your Faith (Part 3): Add Knowledge

As we continue our series about characteristics we are to add to our faith, we now turn our attention to knowledge. In the previous lesson, we discussed moral excellence or virtue, which is a moral goodness that can be seen by others. If we want to continue to grow in that quality, we must know what is good and right.

“Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:5-8).

Filed Under: SERIES: Add to Your Faith Tagged With: growth, humility, knowledge, study, truth, word of God

Andy Sochor November 5, 2025

Solomon’s Advice on Teaching

When Jesus gave His apostles the Great Commission, He told them to preach the gospel throughout the world (Mark 16:15) and to teach the disciples to observe His commandments (Matthew 28:20). Even today, the message of the gospel is spread through teaching. The gospel is God’s power for salvation (Romans 1:16), and God calls us to Him through the gospel (2 Thessalonians 2:14).

Understanding this, it is critical that we endeavor to teach others. And since souls are at stake, we need to do this to the best of our abilities. How can we do that?

At the end of the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon described the process by which a “Preacher” could best communicate the message of truth. It was going to require diligence, but the importance of truth makes the effort worth it. While preachers in particular should pay attention to Solomon’s advice, all of us ought to take heed to these instructions in order to make the most of our efforts to lead others to the truth. Notice what the wise man said:

“In addition to being a wise man, the Preacher also taught the people knowledge; and he pondered, searched out and arranged many proverbs. The Preacher sought to find delightful words and to write words of truth correctly” (Ecclesiastes 12:9-10).

When it comes to public teaching, this is about more than just standing before others and saying whatever comes to mind off the top of our heads. The same applies to any teaching we might do in written form. We do not write in a stream of consciousness and expect it to benefit others. It involves work, and Solomon listed five steps we need to take if we want to teach effectively.Continue Reading

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: preaching, study, teaching, writing

Andy Sochor August 6, 2025

Steps to Achieving Righteousness

The book of James is filled with practical instructions for our lives as Christians. In the following passage, James discussed, in practical terms, how to be righteous.

“This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God. Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls. But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves” (James 1:19-22).

Our aim is to “achieve the righteousness of God.” How do we do that? James outlined four steps we can take to reach this goal.Continue Reading

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: humility, listening, meditation, obedience, repentance, righteousness, study, word of God

Andy Sochor April 28, 2025

Big Words in the Bible: Conclusion

There is no topic more important than our salvation. Understanding what the Bible teaches about this is crucial to appreciate what God has done and take advantage of His offer of eternal life.

As we have noticed in this series, the Bible uses some “big” words to explain this. This is not meant to hinder our understanding but to convey the concepts being described accurately. Even if these words are not common in our everyday vocabulary, we can understand them if we are willing to take the time to define them, see how they are used in the New Testament, and examine how they fit in the context of the passages in which they are used.Continue Reading

Filed Under: SERIES: Big Words in the Bible Tagged With: study, understanding, word of God

Andy Sochor March 17, 2025

Big Words in the Bible: Introduction

The Bible has been written so that we can understand it. Paul told the brethren in Ephesus, “By referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ” (Ephesians 3:4). He expected them to be able to take the letter he wrote them and come away with the same understanding that he had of the things that God revealed to him. As these inspired writings have been preserved for us, we can do the same today.

However, the fact that the Bible is understandable does not mean everything in it is easy to understand. Referring to Paul’s writings, Peter said, “As also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction” (2 Peter 3:16). Peter did not say Paul’s writings were impossible to understand. But some passages are more difficult than others. Despite the difficulty, we still have Paul’s assurance that we “can understand” what we find in the inspired word of God. We just might need to put some additional effort into studying certain topics or passages.Continue Reading

Filed Under: SERIES: Big Words in the Bible Tagged With: study, understanding, word of God

Andy Sochor December 20, 2023

Safe and Sane Solutions

Few preachers associated with the Restoration Movement fought so strongly and effectively against innovations and apostasy than Daniel Sommer (1850-1940). His efforts were motivated by a profound respect for the word of God, and his ability to defend the truth as he did was possible because of his diligence in studying the Scriptures. This respect and diligence can be seen in the quote below from Allen Sommer – the son of Daniel Sommer – as he recalled the memory of his father.

“When he was home, as a child I remember going to bed at night leaving Father seated at a writing table with the Book open before him, and a piece of heavy paper or card-board bent around the coal-oil lamp chimney, to shade his eyes … there he was—reading and writing—always writing and reading … And when I sleepily drifted into the room next morning, there he was—reading that Book, and writing … always writing and reading. I wondered if he’d been there all night … Sometimes he’d pause, lift his massive head and shoulders and gaze straight ahead. I wondered then what he saw. Later I concluded he was turning over in his mind a scripture, looking under, around, and behind, for safe-and-sane solution…” (Faith and Facts Quarterly, Volume 48, Number 2, p. 19).

Daniel Sommer had such a habit of Bible study that his young son wondered if he ever went to sleep or stayed up all night with the word of God open before him. This diligence is commendable. We all need to strive to maintain such a habit of studying the Scriptures. Yet there was more involved in the study done by Sommer than just the time he spent in it. His young son noticed the time, but as Allen Sommer grew up, he realized that his father’s approach to the Scriptures – looking for a “safe-and-sane solution” to the issue at hand – enabled him to teach and defend the truth so effectively.Continue Reading

Filed Under: Restoration History Tagged With: authority, Daniel Sommer, study, understanding, word of God

Andy Sochor September 20, 2023

Looking Over the Preacher’s Shoulder

James L. Davis (1865-1947) spent several years laboring to preach the gospel in Kentucky around the turn of the twentieth century. He enjoyed great success in many places he preached despite fierce opposition to his teaching. In his short autobiography, Davis described an older man who had been warned about his preaching and wanted to make sure he caught him when he said something in error.

“From there we went to Bethel where we had been badly misrepresented, and begun to preach the Gospel with very few to hear, but we succeeded in establishin’ the truth there with fifty-one additions.

“From there we went to Friendship and begin preachin’ the Gospel where this same pastor as above had labored hard to keep us out. We went there and he fled—Proverbs, 28:1. We begin preachin’ with very few to hear us. One of the old elders was so poisoned agin us that he did not think we preached the truth, and he asked the liberty to stand by my side and would look at the Scriptures as I would read it. He only had to stand a few discourses until the old man, with tears in his eyes, confessed that he wa’ wrong, that his mind had been confused by the modern pastors, and thus he remained my friend till his death.” (The Mountain Preacher, p. 14)

Because Davis had been misrepresented, this older man did not believe he would be teaching the truth. However, what he did was commendable. Rather than refusing to listen to Davis’ preaching, he listened carefully to see where he was wrong. When he realized that Davis was preaching the truth and that others had wrongly accused him of false teaching, he accepted his message and became friends with him.Continue Reading

Filed Under: Restoration History Tagged With: listening, study, truth