In my church in Germany, we have quite a few military attenders. That being the case, we lose a substantial % of our church members and regular attenders every summer. Having been at GIBC now for nearly five years, I continue to become aware of the importance of teaching our people at Grace how to study the Bible for themselves.
Many of our folks have been in Bible studies, but very few have ever been taught how to simply pick up a Bible and glean from it. I’m afraid we’ve done a decent job of teaching our people how to read commentaries and study guides, but we’ve generally done very little to equip them to engage directly with the Bible. The result has become a group of Christians that are easily swayed, because they have not been equipped to interact critically with study guides or with teaching from the pulpit or in the classroom. Add to that Bible study leaders who largely fit the same paradigm, and the result is often sad and many times disastrous. The pastor holds all the knowledge, and he dispenses it as he sees fit and the congregation, being largely ill-equipped – or non-equipped – simply receive it without question, interaction, or any kind of meaningful engagement. Its as if we’ve returned to the church before the Reformation and the invention of the printing press.
Many have built entire worldviews and belief systems based on teaching which they’ve never explored for themselves. I’m convinced its often not because they’re lazy, but simply because they’ve never been equipped to do it.
As a result I’ve changed the way I lead Bible studies at our church. Part of my intent is to guide thinking and to dispense information and content, but a regular, underlying intent is to teach our people how to read the Bible and engage with it in a thoughtful way. The result has been astounding. We now have classes of adults engaging with the Bible, coming to group meetings prepared with thoughtful questions and comments, and eager, and ready to not just sit and listen, but to truly engage in the Bible study time – whether it be in the Bible study hour prior to Sunday morning worship or whether it be the Thursday night community group that meets in our home.
Its been absolutely fulfilling to see the change in the way our adult members and attenders. It is as if they’ve been starving without awareness, and now having tasted food, they discover they are famished and they begin to devour what they are encountering. It is truly wonderful!
At this point we’re keeping things simple…a bit more involved in our Thursday night group. I’ve equipped our folks with a simple five-step process…and bear in mind I’m learning how to do this as well. Its quite a paradigm shift for all of us! This process will surely change and morph over time. I appreciate all the input I’m receiving and continue to receive. If you have thoughts, I’d love to hear them!
In the meantime, here’s the five-step process we’ve been teaching at GIBC. Following this you’ll find a short list of helpful resources that I hope will grow over time .
Thanks for listening, and thanks for your help!
I didn’t include prayer as a step, but it should be understood before, after, and during your study. Without the illumination of the Holy Spirit, your study of the text will not provide all that it could.
Here’s our process…
1) READ a biblical text…more than a verse, as verses can be ripped out of context and used to do all kinds of things that we’re never intended by the writer.
2) Put the passage in its TEXTUAL context…read the verses leading up to the text and read the verses following the text…the amount you’ll need to read will vary…sometimes it’ll be just a few verses…other times it may be quite a bit more in order to get the textual context.
3) Put the passage in its CULTURAL context…if you’re going to know what to do with a text, you need to know how the original audience received the text. Why did the metaphors make sense to the original hearers? What about this church made this passage significant when Paul wrote it down?
4) Pose QUESTIONS of the text. For instance, in I Corinthians 9:27, what does Paul mean by disqualified? Disqualified from what? Or in I Corinthians 9:24…what is the IT that YOU are receiving? There’s a lot of interplay between “I” and “we” and “you” in I Corinthians 9…how does that impact how we interpret verse 24?
5) Start digging!
A) First, what does your gut tell you based on what you already know about the writer or the church in view or how this issue has been addressed elsewhere in the Bible? What does your gut tell you disqualified means based on other texts you’ve read in the Bible? In Paul’s writings?
B) Where else has the writer used this word…for this you’ll need to find out the original Greek/Hebrew/Aramaic word…most concordances will help…Does he use it differently when referencing himself? When referencing other people/other congregations?
C) Return to context…does the context allow you to make the interpretation you’ve arrived at?
6) Bring your conclusions to your group meeting and test them out as everyone talks about what they’ve studied.
As for RESOURCES…there are tons, and the volume of resources can contribute to making the whole process even more overwhelming. The trick is to begin with just the most basic resources.
I’d begin with…
1) A good, word for word, translation of the Bible
- I highly recommend the ESV, but the KJV, NKJV, NAS, RSV are all word for word translations. While translations like the NIV, CEV, NLT are beneficial, for serious study, you need a translation that is more of a word-for-word translation and not a dynamic translation.
- while study Bibles are great, and I highly recommend them, for the type of study we have in mind here, I’d get one that doesn’t have a tons of added notes. The point is to learn to do it yourself, and if you’ve got a million notes, if you’re like me you’ll immediately jump to the notes instead of doing the digging for yourself. Both are valuable but the conclusions you reach for yourself will be the more meaningful ones and they’ll be the ones that stick the best.
2) an exhaustive concordance that matches your translation
- Because Strong’s Concordance is so good (and freely available online), I’d definitely have a Strong’s…even if my primary translation for Bible study was not the KJV. That being said, if you aren’t using the KJV as your primary study translation, you’ll need to have one in order to properly use Strong’s. The reason Strong’s is so good is because of the Greek and Hebrew keys in the back. Not only will you learn where the words occur, but you’ll also be able to discover the Greek word that is being translated, AND when you look the word up in the back, you’ll find a more precise definition of that particular Greek or Hebrew word. Strong’s is so widely recognized, that many other tools will reference the “Strong’s numbering system”…so to have Strong’s will help you with other tools as well.
- Since I recommend the ESV and since many (most) in our congregation read the ESV, I’ll also mention the ESV exhaustive concordance – The Crossway Comprehensive Concordance of the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, compiled by William Mounce and published by Crossway.
- If it were me…I would use the online Strong’s and the online KJV (free) and buy an ESV and the ESV concordance.
3) a Bible Handbook – very useful for context questions!
- Halley’s is good…also Holman…I use Holman
4) a Bible Dictionary – good for words, ideas, concepts…you name it!
- again, Holman is good…I use Holman…also Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Dictionary; Unger’s has been around a long time…you can go crazy here but not necessary…Anchor Bible Dictionary, for instance, is 6 volumes!
And honestly, that’s where I would start.
If you want commentaries, my advice is to avoid sets and to avoid most single volume ones. As you study your way through a biblical book, find out what the best commentaries are and grab one or two of them…this is also where good study Bible notes come in handy. This is a website you might want to be familiar with – http://www.bestcommentaries.com. They give some really excellent guidance in choosing helpful commentaries for every skill level.
And there ya go! That’s what we teach our folks as a framework and that’s how I would recommend resources for study. You don’t need to spend a ton of money. Much is available online now for free that is really helpful and thoughtful. Grab a good Bible, the matching concordance, a handbook and a dictionary and you should be ready to go!
I look forward to your feedback and to your comments!
May God bless you as you study His Word, and may the Holy Spirit light your path!
Happy digging!
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