What Is a Good Starting Point for a New Convert? What Are the Basics? - Ask Ligonier

Podcast Summary

Ask Ligonier — Episode: "What Is a Good Starting Point for a New Convert? What Are the Basics?"

Host: Nathan W. Bingham
Guest: Dr. Stephen Nichols, President of Reformation Bible College and Ligonier Ministries Teaching Fellow
Date: June 12, 2025

Episode Overview

This episode addresses a foundational listener question: What is a good starting point for a new believer, and what are the basics of the Christian faith? Dr. Stephen Nichols offers practical and theologically rich advice on growing in faith, highlighting essential disciplines and resources for new Christians. His guidance is structured around four main pillars: reading the Bible, prayer, theological growth, and devotion through hymns.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Be a Lifelong Student of the Bible

Dr. Nichols emphasizes reading and studying the Bible as the first priority for new believers.
- "First, I would say read, and not just read, but study your Bible." — Dr. Stephen Nichols [00:27]
Context is King:
- Understanding the context of any Bible verse is crucial for correct interpretation.
  - “The number one rule about interpreting the Bible: context is king.” [00:39]
  - Verses must be understood within their literary unit, the surrounding book, and the whole biblical canon.
  - Recognizing the overarching story: creation, fall, redemption, recreation.
Key Questions to Ask While Studying:
- "What does this passage teach me about God?"
- "What does this passage teach me about me and what I need to do?" [02:14]
  - “The Scripture itself calls itself a mirror... it's shining back on us, those parts of our life that we need to work on.” [02:29]
Takeaway: New believers should approach Scripture as an ongoing journey, always connecting the passage to its broader literary and historical context.

2. Cultivating a Life of Prayer

Utilize Scriptural Models for Prayer:
- Jesus provides the Lord’s Prayer as a foundational model (Matthew 6).
- “The phrases of the Lord’s Prayer are wonderful gateways into thinking about what Christ is saying we should pray for.” [03:10]
Praying the Psalms:
- Many Psalms are prayers and can guide personal prayer time.
- “Many Christians love to read the Psalms... and as we read the Psalms again, we have a model for us learning how to pray.” [03:27]
Learning from Biblical Prayers:
- Old Testament: Nehemiah’s prayer (Nehemiah 1)
- New Testament: Paul’s prayers in Ephesians 1 & 3

3. Grow as a Theologian

Everyone Is a Theologian:
- Dr. Nichols references R.C. Sproul: “Everyone’s a theologian.”
- It’s essential to grow deeper in understanding doctrine, starting with foundational church statements.
Key Resources:
- The Apostles’ Creed: “Just like the Lord’s Prayer, the phrases of the Apostles' Creed are gateways that open these broad vistas of rich theological material.” [04:17]
- Early Church Creeds: The Nicene Creed (c. 325), Chalcedonian Creed (451), especially focusing on Christology (the person and work of Christ).
- The Five Solas of the Reformation:
  - Sola Scriptura (Scripture alone)
  - Sola Fide (faith alone)
  - Sola Gratia (grace alone)
  - Solus Christus (Christ alone)
  - Soli Deo Gloria (the glory of God alone)
    - “All again summarizing the great doctrine of justification and salvation and the person of Christ.” [05:00]

4. Reflect Through Hymns of the Faith

Spiritual and Theological Enrichment in Hymns:
- Great hymns provide both literary and theological depth.
  - “Some of these hymns, the hymns of Isaac Watts or the hymns of Charles Wesley, these are beautiful pieces of literature, and they’re also so theologically rich.” [05:33]
Hymns help cultivate a heart of worship, reflection, and doctrinal understanding.

Memorable Quotes and Moments

On God’s Work in the Believer:
- “Remember that God began this work in you and he will complete it and bring it to bring you to that point of glorification and bring all of us to that point where we are conformed to the image of our dear Savior Jesus Christ.” — Dr. Stephen Nichols [05:54]

Notable Timestamps

[00:27] — Opening advice: Begin with study and context in Bible reading
[02:14] — Key questions for Bible reflection
[03:10] — Using the Lord's Prayer as a prayer model
[04:17] — Importance of the Apostles' Creed and early church creeds
[05:33] — The value of classic hymns
[05:54] — Encouragement in God’s faithfulness to finish the work He begins

Conclusion

Dr. Nichols outlines a clear, gracious path for new believers: continually study Scripture with an eye for context, pray using biblical patterns, deepen your theological knowledge through the creeds and solas, and ground your devotion with classic hymns. The journey of Christian growth is life-long, but God is faithful to complete His sanctifying work.

For more archives and future listener questions, visit ask.ligonier.org/podcast.

Transcript

A (0:04)

What is a good starting point for a new believer? This week on the Ask Ligonier podcast, We're joined by Dr. Stephen Nichols. He's president of Reformation Bible College and is also a teaching fellow with Ligonier Ministries. Dr. Nichols, what advice or counsel do you have for a new believer? What are some of the basics of the Christian faith?

B (0:27)

First, I would say read, and not just read, but study your Bible. Now let me give you a few pointers here on how to be a good student of the Bible. The first is to remember the number one rule about interpreting the Bible context is king. Now we can look at the initial context. So we like to read verses especially I think when we're a new convert, we may hear like John 3:16 or Romans 5:1. And so we sort of come into Christianity many times through verses. And so we love verses. But remember, verses are in a context. In the epistles, they're in context of paragraphs in the narrative sections, the histories. And that's a lot of the Bible, the Gospels, the historical books of the Old Testament, Acts there it's sections. And so we pay attention first to the literary unit that is the context of that verse. We also need to pay attention to the book. Biblical authors of the biblical books have themes. The narratives have a narrative arc that the story is unfolding. And so we need to take this particular passage in light of the book. And then of course, we also need to see it in light of the other books of the Bible. And there we can look at it two ways. We can look at it in terms of where this text fits in the context of history, a chronological understanding of of the Bible, where it fits in the grand plan of redemption, that grand story that goes from creation to fall, to redemption, to recreation. And also then within the context of the canon. So first is read and study the Bible. And that means context is king. Along these lines, speaking of context, we also have to apply the Bible to the context of our life. And so let me just give you a couple of quick questions can ask of every text that you're reading. And the first is simply, what does this passage teach me about God? What do I learn about the triune God as I'm reading this passage? And then secondly, what does this passage say about me? The Scripture itself calls itself a mirror. And when we look into Scripture, it's like a mirror and it's shining back on us, those parts of our life that we need to work on. So what does this passage teach me about God? And what does this passage teach me about me and what I need to do. So, first, basic for a new read and study your Bible and be a lifelong student of the Bible. The second is to pray. And here I would encourage you to use some biblical models to help to teach you to pray. Of course, the disciples asked Jesus this question, and he gave them the Lord's Prayer. And the phrases of the Lord's Prayer are wonderful gateways into thinking about what Christ is saying we should pray for. Many Christians love to read the Psalms, and some commit to reading a psalm every day. And the Psalms are, by and large, prayers. And as we read the Psalms again, we have a model for us learning how to pray. There's also specific examples of prayers in the Bible that can be very instructive. So for instance, in the Old Testament, at Nehemiah 1, there's Nehemiah's prayer. And a good New Testament example, if we go to Ephesians, we've got Paul's prayers in Ephesians 1 and in chapter 3. So new converts need to read and study their Bible, number one. Number two, they need to pray. Number three, I would encourage you to grow as a theologian. R.C. sproul wrote a book. Everyone's a theologian, but we need to grow as a theologian. So start with the creeds, and that's the Apostles Creed. And just like the Lord's Prayer, the phrases of the Apostles Creed are gateways that open these broad vistas of rich theological material. Alongside the Apostles Creed, there are the two creeds from the early Church that summarize the Bible's teaching on Christology, that is who Christ is and what he has done. And that's the Nicean creed from the three hundreds, and then the Chalcedonian Creed from 451. And then I would encourage you to study the solas. This is from the Reformation. So you've got sola scriptura, the authority of Scripture, and then you've got sola fide, the faith alone, sola gratia, grace alone, solus Christus, Christ alone, all again summarizing the great doctrine of justification and salvation and the person of Christ, and then soli Deo gloria. So grow as a theologian. Start with the basics, the early creeds, the solas, and keep going from there. Lastly, I would encourage you to spend time with the great hymns of the faith, and I think this will help you grow in your reflection and devotion. Some of these hymns, the hymns of Isaac Watts or the hymns of Charles Wesley, these are beautiful pieces of literature, and they're also so theologically rich. So those are some things that can help you get started as a Christian. This is a wonderful journey. And remember that God began this work in you and he will complete it and bring it to bring you to that point of glorification and bring all of us to that point where we are conformed to the image of our dear Savior Jesus Christ.