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Feed Yourself Lesson Thirteen

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Law Of First Mention and Law of Usage

"This is the third time I am coming to you. In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established." 2 Cor. 13:1

As we carry on in learning how to feed ourselves, there are two more important rules or laws to keep in mind: The Law Of First Mention and The Law Of Usage.

The Law Of First Mention basically states that the first time a word is used in Scripture gives us a definition or an idea of how it will be used later in Scripture.

This can be applied to two ways. First, we can look at the first mention of the word in the Book we are studying. Second, we can look at the first time the word is mentioned in the Bible as a whole. Looking at the first time it is mentioned in the Bible as a whole gives a more complete picture. Keep in mind that the first time a word is mentioned in English may not be the first time the Hebrew or Greek word was used. To be sure you are seeing the first time an original word is mentioned, look up the Hebrew/Greek word in the Strong’s concordance. See what other ways it has been translated and then look up those words to see when it is first mentioned. When looking for the first mention of a Greek word, you may also want to find the equivalent Hebrew word and see where it is first mentioned to follow the concept from the beginning. To find the equivalent Hebrew word look in the Hebrew section of the word you have looked up. Find which Hebrew word is closest in definition to the Greek word and find the first mention for that word.

Dictionaries are great, but sometimes there are many definitions, sometimes the word is used differently in the Bible than elsewhere. For example, what does love mean? When we put our definition of love into the Bible we often twist Scripture. We need to find out what the Bible means by the word “love” in order to understand Biblical teaching. To understand what the Bible means by a word, we have to study how the Bible uses a word [more on that in Word Study]. In discovering what the Bible means by its usage of a word, we need to look at the first time it is used.

This may sound simple, but sometimes people twist words in order to make them say something other than what the original writer intended. We can be led astray if we are not careful. Sometimes people oppose capital punishment because they feel it is contrary to the Bible teaching on love. But that is a case of putting their own definition on love on the Bible.

For example, some quote Matt. 5:17 - "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill." They say that Jesus did not destroy the law but that "fulfill" means that He kept it and then abolished it. According to them, the law is no longer in effect.

Are they using the word "fulfill" correctly? If we look at the first time it is used in the Bible we find it used in Gen. 29:27 and Job 39:2. [Many feel Job was the first book of the Bible written.] In both cases we see the word used in the sense of completing something, not abolishing it.

Of course, the "fulfill" in Matt. 5:17 is a Greek word not a Hebrew word so what is the first time this Greek word is used? Actually the first time it is used is in Matt. 3:15 where Jesus talking about fulfilling all righteousness. Obviously, Jesus is not talking about abolishing righteousness, but completing it.

The Law Of Usage simply says that how a word is used throughout the Bible gives it its definition. The Law of Usage starts with the First Mention and then builds on it. Sometimes words develop in their meaning. It looks up every time the word is used and notes how it was used. It notes any time[s] it was used in a different than normal way and how we know it was used differently.

A good example of this is the word “day.” People who try to sneak millions of years in the Bible point out that the word “day” does not always mean a 24-hour period. They are right. However, if you study how the way day is used it becomes obvious that it is used as a 24-hour day in Genesis 1.

Going back to our word "fulfill," we see that it is used in 90 times in the New Testament in its various forms [fulfill, fulfilling, fulfilled, etc.] To do a complete usages study we would look up each of those verses and its context to see how the word was used. However, 2 Thess. 1:11, Col. 1:25; 4:17, and Phil. 2:2 use the same form in the same way. We can see by referring to these Scriptures that "fulfil" is never used in the sense of abolishing; therefore, it is a misinterpretation of Matt. 5:17 to say that it means abolish in that case alone.

Note: There are, at least, four different words which are translated "fulfill." If you are using the Internet SEC look at the list of Books and verses on the right hand side to see where the word is used. If you are using a physical copy of the SEC, you can easily scan the number column to pick put the verses which use the word.

WEEK THIRTEEN PROJECT

1. Choose one of your Key Words from your Book Survey. Find out where that word was first used in the Bible and the New Testament. Look at the different ways in which the word has been translated. Follow through the context of different passages where the word is used and record what it means in those passages. If the word has a lot of references, choose about 10 references to examine.

2. Continue with your daily reading/memorizing program.

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Reference Works Used In This Course:

Bible Study Methods by Mrs. Shirley Davis

The International Inductive Study Bible by Harvest House Publishers

Effective Bible Study by Howard F. Vos, Zondervan

How To Understand Your Bible by T. Norton Sterrett, IVP

How To Study Your Bible by Kay Arthur, Harvest House

Independent Bible Study by Irving L. Jensen, Moody

How To Study The Bible For Yourself by Tim LaHaye, Harvest House

Return to Feed Yourself Lessons.

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