In our worship services, we have recently been discussing the paramount importance of the study of Holy Scriptures for the believer. Under the teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit, the Scriptures are God's primary tool for the formation of Christ's followers. His purpose is to sanctify us -- to make us holy, to set us apart for lives of Kingdom significance. We must understand that the Bible is how He accomplishes that. Christ's prayer for us, in John 17:17, was that God would "Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth." Without our daily study of God's Word, submitting to the Holy Spirit, we simply cannot grow in Christian character and please the Lord. As I have stated these past weeks, the spiritual lifelessness and immaturity experienced by so many professed believers is down to the fact that they do not take this seriously.
I have also spoken about devotional literature recently. I want to emphasize again that I believe devotional books to be beneficial--but that they are only to be a motivator to our own deep-dive into the treasures of God's Word. Devotionals usually deal only with brief segments of Scripture, not arranged in any sort of systematic way so as to comprehend the wider context. They are scriptural hors-d'oeuvres, accompanied by anecdotes from the author's own experiences and reflection on how that small sampling of the Bible applies to them. All well and good--these show examples of how to go about applying God's Word to one's particular life. These can show us how to begin the process of discovering and applying the precepts of the Bible to our own unique lives.
I must hasten to add, however, that even here we must be discerning. For every good example I have seen on the responsible application of Scripture, I have seen at least one bad example. Scatter-shot samplings of the Bible often cause one to take passages out of context, and lead to conclusions that are far from the author's intent. More on proper context in the next article; for now, I'd like to use a simple image to illustrate the importance of studying and discovering the truths of Scripture for oneself. Think about flowers. My wife's grandfather was a horticulturalist, and I am told his flower gardens were a marvel to behold. There is a beauty in well-tended flower gardens that can never be touched by an arrangement purchased from FTD. Cut flowers are pretty, yes, but bouquets begin to lose vitality the moment they are severed from the life-giving soil, as well as the wider context of the garden around them. In their original context, a flower garden overwhelms the soul with a sense of verdant life that words cannot capture. One senses the signature of the Supreme Artist on His own canvas. This experience of the sacred shows the difference between a pre-cut scriptural bouquet found in a devotional, and one's own discovery of God's Word in its proper context.
With that in mind, I want to exhort you to your own, daily study of God's Word. Discovering His rich truths for your own life is not the unique province of pastors, theologians, or authors of devotional books. It is not a daunting, arcane art. After asking the Holy Spirit to lead you into all truth, it is simply a matter of slowing down, quieting your mind, silencing preconceptions, determining to pay full attention to what the author was trying to say in full context, and only then to ask how it applies to oneself. As Sir Arthur Conan Doyle said through the mouth of Sherlock Holmes, "I have trained myself to notice what I see." This is what we must do with Scripture, though our culture has not taught us to place much value on this type of attentiveness. It is well within our ability to do, though--we must simply establish some new habits.
You might think that it was my time in seminary that taught me the art of digging into Scripture. There's no question that it helped--but it's not where I learned most of it. The most valuable tool was shared with me in a campus Christian group I found at Iowa State University, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. Along with fellowship and support among like-minded Christian students, I would say that InterVarsity's main mission is to help students learn the thoughtful study and discovery of God's Word. It was here that I learned the Inductive Method of Bible Study, and I would like to summarize its main features for you. It's not that you need to call it that, or that you must do it in exactly the way described; as I said, it's just a tool for you to slow down and really notice what is in the text. Far more detail is available in a collection of books that explain this method, but probably the most popular is Kay and David Arthur's How to Study Your Bible: Discover the Life-Changing Approach to God's Word (Harvest House Publishers). That volume is well-written and accessible for any reader. The guide from which I was taught was InterVarsity Press' own publication, Transforming Bible Study: Understanding God's Word Like You've Never Read It Before by Bob Grahmann. Either of these books, and several more, will provide all the information you could ever ask for. But really, the steps are simple, and to summarize them...
1) Zoom out. Do an eagle-eye scan of the book as a whole. The longer books should just be skimmed, but the shorter ones can be read through. But the idea here is to get just a skeleton of the book's structure. If it's a historical account, you can write down what seem to be the major events and characters. If it's an epistle, take note of the author of the letter, to whom it's written, and perhaps a few of the major themes that will be brought up. Poetry, like the Psalms, or wisdom, like Proverbs, will just have to be briefly scanned for major topics. They range through all kinds of subjects, so look for what gets brought up most. For this, and all else that follows, you're going to need a notebook to write down what you find.
2) Zoom level 1: It's time to get more detail about how the book is structured. If you're lucky, you have a Bible in front of you that does not include the headings for various sections. Those were added on later as the fruit of someone else's effort to do what you're working on right now. That's right, the subject headings are not the original text of Scripture! Now, they're usually quite valid, but you want to discover the organization of the book for yourself. In InterVarsity, we worked with re-typed books of the Bible, on loose leaf, with all the subject headings removed. That way, we could mark up the text and discover the structure of the book for ourselves. For the record, I occasionally have disagreements with the added-on subject headings. Not often--but sometimes, I find they've chopped up a section where they shouldn't have. So, if you have a Bible sans subject headings, that is ideal. (Paragraphs are fine.) If not, do your best to ignore them, and work up your own outline in your notebook. Try and get a sense of how the chapters of a book group together into major divisions. As a freebie, the book of Genesis is split up into 1. The world's early history (creation, fall, flood and aftermath) and 2. The history of the Patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph). Then, pick out what seems to be the major theme of the book. What do you think the Lord will teach you through this book, and how might it apply to your life? Again, I encourage you to write these observations down in your notebook. It doesn't have to be perfect--this is just for you, and no one else is going to look at it unless you share it with them! Begin to watch prayerfully for these things as you delve deeper.
3) Zoom level 2: This gets down to the level of the chapter, or major part of it, that you will study. Your daily time in God's Word will mostly happen at this level. Approach each chapter like a reporter. You've heard of the major questions a reporter asks to get the facts of a story, I'll wager. They consist of 5 w's and an h: who, what, where, when, why, and how. Who is speaking, and to whom? What is happening in the chapter? What facts can you learn about the people, events or teachings? When do things in this chapter happen? This gives you a sense of the order of events, the timing of God's work and promises, etc. Where do the events in the chapter take place? Why is this event talked about, or why does the author seem to bring up a particular issue? Remember, he wouldn't be mentioning it if there wasn't something that prompted it. How does an event take place? How does the character, or author, do a thing? How is a believer supposed to carry out God's command? How does a character illustrate a truth? Jesus' teachings in the Gospels, for example, are full of illustrations. Once you get these reporter's inquiries answered, you'll be well on the way to understanding the chapter or passage in detail.
While you're on this level, you should take special note of any key words or concepts presented. They will often be repeated; mark them and their synonyms or pronouns. Colored pencils can be used to set these off from the rest of the text, to organize and make them stand out. Use a different color or symbol for each key concept. A pictorial example of what I'm talking about can be found at the Kay Arthur's Precept Ministries, Intl. website. Check it out here. Once you've done this marking, you'll be able to see that each key concept is described with several details or steps. For each one, make a list in your notebook. Once you've arranged each important concept with the items that describe it, you'll understand that concept more deeply than you have in the past. Also note that key teachings are described by comparing them to something else, or contrasting (showing how they're different) from something else. Make these a part of your lists.
By now, you should be able to identify the theme of the chapter. Write that theme down. When you have done so for each chapter in a book, you'll be able to notice how those chapter themes relate to each other. That will lead you, in turn, to refine your understanding of how the book is structured. Update your notes accordingly.
At this point, I can guarantee that the Lord will be teaching you some things you've never considered before. You'll see some of the big ideas of the Bible, as well as practical points for how to grow in the Lord and progress in your life as His disciple. However, what I have described is just the first aspect of serious Bible study. The three parts are observation (covered here, briefly), interpretation, and application. For this discussion, I wanted to give you a kick-start toward digging into God's Word on more than just a superficial level. If you start incorporating these steps into your study, you will move beyond mere devotional reading. You will discover God's power for changing your life at a fundamental level. In the next discussion, we will cover how to interpret Scripture responsibly, so that you will arrive at conclusions that are supported by the context and the Bible as a whole. Until then, get out your Bible, notebook, pens, and your detective's magnifying glass. Don't just read over it--slow down and really pay attention! Ask the Holy Spirit to help you to notice what you see, and witness as God begins a new thing in your life.
