Scripture
Week 3: Study
As disciples of Jesus, we want to be students of the Bible. We not only want to know what the Bible says…we want to know what it means. So far we have focused on a devotional reading of the Bible through meditation, silence & solitude, and Lectio Divina. This is very much at the heart of Bible reading. We not only want to encounter the Bible, we also want to encounter God himself (John 5:39). In order to do that well, we have to be good students of the Bible.
The practice for the week: This week we are going to learn the basics of Bible study. We will learn to discern not only what the Bible says, but what the Bible means.
01 – Read the passage. Take some time to carefully read through the passage of Scripture.
02 – Ask good questions. First, ask questions like, “Who is writing this? Who are they writing to? Why did they write this down?” Then ask questions like, “What would this have meant to the original audience?”
03 – Context. Once you’ve read the passage and asked good questions you can start to look at the passage’s context. Here you are looking for the following:
Literary context: What comes before and after this part of Scripture? What does it say before and after? How does this passage fit into the overall book? What words or phrases are used? What is the genre — history, a poem, instruction, narrative, etc.?
Historical context: When was this written and who was it written to?
Cultural context: How would the people of this time have understood this?
04 – Find your place in the text. When you look at a group photo the first thing you probably do is try to find yourself. We do the same thing with the Bible… But we look in the wrong place. We read ourselves into the story as the hero. But we’re usually the disciples who aren’t getting it yet, the one who needs Jesus’ help, and so on. We need to find our place in the text. A good question to ask is “What would God say to me if I was the person in the story or the person being described in the passage of Scripture?
05 – Determine meaning. Ask what does this mean? This is where we go from reading to interpretation. Don’t worry. The goal isn’t to be a theological rock star on day one. The goal is to learn how to study the bible over time. I would highly recommend getting your hands on Craig Keener’s New Testament Commentary to help along the way.
06 – Application. God speaks though the Bible. When we close our Bibles we, in many ways, close our ears to God. We close our hearts, our lives, our minds, and our very selves off from the power and influence of the Spirit. But God has given us the Bible because he wants to speak to us. God is a relational God. He wants to know you. He wants to speak to you. And when he does, it will change your life. The key to all of this is putting it into practice (Matthew 7:24-27). So, what would it look like for you to live today as if what you read is really true?
Recommended reading: The IVP Bible Background Commentary