Three Step Bible Study

This is not the "one ring to rule them all." There are plenty of great ways to study the Bible (and even more really bad ways), so I'm not about to present the one best way that all must follow or be relegated to coach class in heaven. It is one good way. A lot of folks struggle to have a regular Bible study time because they don't have a particular approach they use, so I offer this way as one of many to help us get into a regular habit. When we see success happen, then we no longer have to find motivation - it's already there!

If you've studied Bible study methods, you'll recognize many elements below, perhaps even using different labels and terms.

This approach is simple enough - just three steps. But the order is important. Your rate of success will be orders of magnitude better if you exercise just enough discipline to work on these steps in order. (If a thought jumps at you that is out of order, quickly note it and then come back to the step you were on. You'll come back to that point soon enough and be able to develop it.)

I recommend having your Bible, a notebook, and a pen (or computer) so that you keep all of your notes together. And I do recommend writing (or typing) - there's something about the physical act that helps you ponder your thoughts more thoroughly.

The three steps are Understand, Interpret, and Cultivate. Pick a passage, large or small, read it at least three times, and then begin taking notes.

1. Understand. In this step, you are concerned only with what the text says, not what it means. You're not yet concerned about how it affects you or what to do about it. The only task here is to get a grasp of what the text claims. What do the key words mean? What happened? Who did what? Can I summarize what the passage says in one sentence? What are the main ideas or events? How did people respond? You can't ask all of these questions for every passage, but these are the types of questions to ask. You know you've done a pretty good job if you can succinctly state what the author intended to say (and the author intended to say one thing!).
2. Interpret. Now we talk about meaning (but not how it applies to our lives, yet). For example, what the author said could be "God's right arm" - that's the Understand section. That's what the author said. Now for Interpret, what does this mean? Does it refer to a literal arm? In this case, no - it refers to God's power (which brings victory). Is the author being literal or figurative? Is he being sarcastic? What is the main point? Is he telling us what did happen or is he giving us an example to follow? The parable was about three guys who got some money from their boss and did different stuff with it (Understand), but what is the parable teaching us (Interpret)? You know you've interpreted well when you can succinctly state what the author meant by what he said (and the author meant one thing!).
3. Cultivate. Finally, we talk about how this text affects our lives. How is this text intended to cultivate us into a stronger followers of Jesus? We often talk about application - how the text applies to our lives, but we want to go further than application. How do I learn to obey what this passage says? What does God want me to do or say or think? How does my following Jesus deepen in response to this passage? How can I cultivate this truth into someone else's life? How is this passage like nourishment for growth? You know you've cultivated well when your life actually changes to be more like what the text teaches. I would venture that we don't truly understand a passage until our lives reflect it.

Note that the author's context must be considered to Interpret, and our context must be considered to Cultivate. We should not, for example, take an Old Testament passage about the covenant with Israel and just assume we're supposed to do the exact same thing - like sacrifice a goat!

When I study a passage for my own devotional life, I use this pattern in my notes, whether the passage is large or small. I often try to study a paragraph or a distinct unit, such as a full parable, instead of just a couple of verses or an really long section. It's perfectly OK just to list questions without answers, by the way!

My notes often look something like this brief example:

Passage: John 3:16 (NET)

For this is the way God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

Understand

• Who is speaking? Is this a continuation of Jesus' dialog from vv. 10-15, or is this now John giving us his understanding as the author?
• "this is the way" - Some translations have "For God so loved...", but that sounds like quantity, not manner. This phrase is referring to the manner in which God loves us.
• "world" - Who is the "world"? Every person? The rebellious "world" that we're not supposed to love (1 John 2:15)?
• "perish" - What kind of perishing is included here?
• ... and so on ...

Interpret

• Note that God expresses His great love by an act of giving, and that this giving is complete. He did not withhold anything in this gift - He gave us Christ completely, as evidenced by His death on the cross.
• He gave us His Son for a specific outcome - belief that results in eternal life.
• Is this believing a pure act of will or is it the inevitable action for the elect (how Calvinistic is this passage)?
• When does this eternal life begin?
• ... and so on ...

Cultivate

• How can I love as God loves? How can I love by giving Christ to others as the Father gave us Christ?
• How can I demonstrate that love this week?!? (It's best to actually list something specific here!)
• Who do I know that will perish because they do not believe? Who of these people will I see today? This week?
• ... and so on ...

Devotional books and study guides are often very helpful, but I much prefer that we interact with the text directly on a regular basis. (It can be helpful to refer to these other materials after interacting with the text on your own.) A simple tool such as this one can be used by beginners as well as lifelong students.

Getting the Point

On a few occasions, we have discussed in this column various methods of effective Bible study. We've talked about the value of reading in the literary context, understanding the cultural context, reading a passage multiple times, online study tools, marking up your Bible, looking for structure, and even creating the right environment in which to do your studying. There's one more that I find highly valuable. It's remarkably simple, but amazingly challenging.

The method is to write out one summary sentence that encapsulates the passage I'm studying. Sounds simple, doesn't it? Yeah.

The idea is to get one full, grammatically correct sentence that says what the passage says. It focuses on what the passage says, and covers the idea adequately. The sentence is not more broad than the passage, nor is it more narrow. The sentence cannot list all the details, but it does cover them in some way. Here's the hard part - the sentence is not to be a long, complex, regurgitation of the passage, with a dozen subclauses, hyphens, and semicolons. Rather, it is a straightforward, hopefully even elegant, encapsulation of the passage.

The passage being studied could be just a phrase, a paragraph, and entire chapter, or even an entire book. The method works no matter the size of the passage.

If you can do this adequately, then you understand the passage! If your sentence misses the mark, is too broad or too narrow, or has the wrong focus, then you don't fully understand the passage, yet. What a great study tool! The process of developing this one sentence forces you to really analyze what is being said until you "get it."

The best way to do this is to identify the subject and the complement. Uh oh, Middle School grammar terms! Very simply, the subject is what the passage is about. What is the thing that the passage is talking about? But, be as specific as the passage. For example, "God" is usually too broad - the passage is rarely talking about all of God. Usually it's talking about His love or His compassion or His faithfulness, etc.

For an example, let's look at James 2:14-17:


James 2:14 What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? 17 Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.

What is the subject? Some might say "works." Others might say "faith," or even "faith and works." If you look carefully, you see that it is more about "faith" than "works," but even "faith" is too broad. It's not about the entire topic of faith. This passage is about "what kind of faith is a saving faith?" That's the subject being discussed. If we say this paragraph is about "works," then we won't understand what it's saying. If we say it's about "faith," then we're not specific enough, and won't fully understand the passage.

After you find the subject, find the complement. The complement is what is said about the subject. What does the passage have to say about the specific subject we identified? So, what does James 2:14-17 say about the kind of faith that is a saving faith? In this case, it's a little bit odd - what is said about the subject is what is not true about the subject.

The complement here is, "not a faith that is without works." That is what is said about the subject, "What kind of faith is a saving faith?" Answer? "Not a faith without works!" (The next paragraph answers the question in positive terms, but we learn in this paragraph something important that is not true about our subject, which is just as important to know!)

So, a summary sentence might look like this, The kind of faith that is a saving faith (subject) is not a faith that is without works (complement). That is what this paragraph is about - whatever kind of faith is a saving faith, we know here what kind of faith is not a saving faith. The sentence encapsulates all that the passage says, and nothing more. If you can create a summary sentence like that, you get what the passage is about (and what it is not about!).

Some people read James 2 and think it's about works, and then they get confused because it sounds like we can be saved by works. But ... they got they wrong subject to begin with, so of course they will draw confusing conclusions. The subject is about a type of faith that saves, and the what is said about it here says that faith without works is not a saving faith. Then, if we did the same exercise for the following paragraph, we would learn what kind of faith is a saving faith (a faith that has works). We are still saved by faith, but not every kind of faith is a saving faith. The faith that results in works is the kind of faith that saves.

Creating a summary sentence helps us to see this important truth, and to avoid the common error of thinking James teaches salvation by works.

The Value of the Value of Repetition and Repeating Things

There are just a few simple things that have been the most helpful to me in trying to understand Scripture:

• Understanding the basic structure of a passage
• Having a basic understanding of the flow of biblical history (so that I can see where a particular passage "fits" into the overall story)
• Learning to ask good questions of a passage (which I wrote about earlier)
• Summarizing a passage in one coherent sentence
• Reading a passage several times

I want to address the last one - reading a passage several times.

Whenever you choose to spend time in the Word, purpose to read your passage at least three times, and preferably five times. Whether it's a big passage or a small passage, make reading it several times just part of your habit. And certainly, you can't read it too many times. Certainly, reading it one time is the way to get the least out of a passage, short of not reading it at all.

Through this practice, you will see things in the passage on the second, third, or fourth pass that you didn't see the first time. The first time you read something, you're focused more on the new words, phrasing, and more obvious parts of the passage. When you read it a second time, you already know where the passage is going, for the most part, and so your mind will naturally scour for new things, different angles, nuances, repeated ideas, and so on. Every time you read it again, you will pick up something new, or at least become convinced of the main points.

Scripture is a treasure trove! And we get more out of it by reading the passage before us more than one time. Why would we not want to get more out of it? And the time invested is not that much more, and certainly beneficial.

This also works for larger passages. I tried this some time ago for a pretty long passage - the entire book of Romans. I did not stop at any particular point to dig in deeper - I kept right on reading beginning to end, and then again. And as much as I've studied Romans in parts, I still saw new things in Romans I had never seen before, even though I've taught the book section by section. Now, all the parts make even more sense.

In your small groups and Sunday school classes, you might try this on occasion, when appropriate. There are many ways that we read Scripture in a small group, and we often butcher the passage in doing so. We either read too much to digest, we stumble over the words from reading aloud, or we stop at awkward places. How about reading the passage straight through one time, then either reading it again straight through, or just rereading each section as you intend to discuss it?

Another tip that helps: Read the same passage in more than one (good) translation. You get the benefit of repetition, but also the benefit of a few different words to address the same ideas. That broadens our understanding of a passage.

Hmmm ... I don't practice this reading technique in sermons. I'll have to think about how to do this without belaboring the message.