4 Steps to Reading the Bible
1. Selection - What do I study?
- Pray
- Pick a passage
2.
Observation - What do I see?
Study different translations,
commentaries, Bible dictionaries, Bible encyclopedias, interlinear Bible (Greek
and Hebrew to English), Bible handbooks, and Bible atlases, time lines, and
topical Bibles.
A. Look at
the Text
Who are the people in the passage?
What are the important ideas in the
passage?
When did this occur?
Where are the places in this
passage?
What is the literary genre of this
passage? Is it poetry, narrative (story), Epic, Priestly Writings, Law,
Liturgy, Lament, Teaching, Prophecy, Gospel, Parable, Letter, or Apocalypic
Literature?
B. Look at
the Context
What comes right before and right
after the passage?
What events are happening in the
original time period?
C. Look at
the Historical Setting
When was the passage written?
Where was this passage written?
Who is the author?
Who is the audience?
What was the original purpose for
this passage?
3.
Interpretation - What does it
mean?
A. Language
What is the meaning of
each word in the original language?
How are the significant
words used in other places in Scripture?
How does the genre
effect the text?
What is the sentence
structure?
Why are these particular
words used?
Compare the passage in
other versions of the Bible?
B. Historical
How does the historical,
sociological, or historical situation affect this text?
C. Theological
What truths are taught
about God?
What truths are taught
about human nature?
What does the passage
tell us about sin or about salvation?
What does the passage
say to the church?
What does the passage
say to me as an individual?
4. Life
Application - How does this apply to my life?
How does this passage apply to the
contemporary situation?
How do we apply this
passage to our modern day assumptions, values, and goals?
What principles apply to
our society today?
What does this passage
say about social issues?
How does this passage apply to me personally?
How do these principles
apply to the church?
How do these principles
apply to my friends and family?
How do these principles
apply to me personally?
How does this passage
effect my moral decisions?
How does this passage
effect my personal goals?
What am I going to do
with what I learned?
What personal goals am I going to
set in my life to apply these principles in this passage? Pray for
God to help you apply the principles in the passage to your life.
DO NOT’S
Do not
“proof-text.” (Take verses out of context.)
Do not be
too literal. Ex: Matt 5:29-30
Do not
ignore cultural, historical, and literary background of the Bible.
Do not read
your own ideas into Scripture.
No comments:
Post a Comment