How to Study the Bible

01/10/18

1. Hendrick’s inductive methodical method
   1. Observation – What do I see?
      1. Terms
      2. Structure
      3. Literary form – genre
      4. Atmosphere

1. Interpretation – What does it mean?
   1. Questions
   2. Answers
   3. Integration

1. Application – How does it work?
   1. How does it work for me?
   2. How does it work for others?
2. You must learn to read
   1. Read Thoughtfully – Proverbs 2:4
   2. Read Repeatedly
      1. Read entire books at one sitting
      2. Start at the beginning of the book
      3. Read different translations
      4. Listen to recordings of the Scriptures
      5. Read out loud
      6. Schedule Bible reading

1. Read Patiently
   1. Work with one book for a month or a year
   2. Be patient with the text and with yourself
2. Read Selectively
   1. Who?
   2. What?
   3. Where?
   4. When?
   5. Why?
   6. Wherefore? – so what?

1. Read Prayerfully
   1. Don’t try to imitate other Christians
   2. Turn Scripture into prayer
2. Read Imaginatively
   1. Use different translations and paraphrases
   2. Write your own paraphrase
   3. Read Scripture in a different language
   4. Have someone else read the text out loud
   5. Vary your setting

1. Read Meditatively
   1. Joshua 1:8; Proverbs 23:7; Psalm 1:1-2; 119:97; 19
2. Read Purposefully
   1. Purpose through grammatical structure
      1. Verbs
      2. Subject and Object
      3. Modifiers
      4. Prepositional phrases
      5. Connectives
   2. Purpose through Literary structure
      1. Biographical structure
      2. Geographical structure
      3. Historical structure
      4. Chronological structure
      5. Ideological structure
   3. Read Acquisitively
      1. Personal, active involvement in the process
   4. Read Telescopically
      1. Look for connectives
      2. Pay attention to context
      3. Evaluate the passage in light of the book as a whole
      4. Look at the historical context of the book

1. How to read a book – Sentences
   1. 1. Repetition of words
      2. Contrasts
      3. Comparisons
      4. Lists
      5. Cause and effect
      6. Figures of speech
      7. Conjunctions
      8. Verbs – where all the action is
      9. Pronouns

1. Paragraphs
   1. General and specific
   2. Questions and answers
   3. Dialogue
   4. Purpose statements
   5. Means (by which something is accomplished)
   6. Conditional clauses
   7. The actions/roles of people and the actions/roles of God
   8. Emotional terms
   9. Tone

1. Discourses
   1. Connections between paragraphs and episodes
   2. Story shifts: Major breaks and pivots
   3. Interchange
   4. Chiasm

1. Working with the text – Acts 2:42-47
   1. Increasing our observational powers – things to look for.
      1. Things that are emphasized
         1. Amount of space
         2. Stated purpose
         3. Order
         4. Movement from the lesser to the greater, and vice versa
      2. Things that are repeated
         1. Terms, phrases, and clauses
         2. Characters
         3. Incidents and circumstances
         4. Patterns
         5. New Testament use of Old Testament passages

• Things that are related
  1. Movement from the general to the specific
  2. Questions and answers
  3. Cause and effect

1. Things that are alike and unlike
   1. Similes
   2. Metaphors
   3. Use of but
   4. Metaphors
   5. Irony
2. Things that are true to life
   1. What does the story tell you about reality?
3. The Interpretive Journey – Duvall and Hayes
   1. Step 1: Grasping the text in their town.
      1. What did the text mean to the biblical audience?
      2. Summarize in a sentence or two.
   2. Step 2: Measuring the width of the river to cross – how big of a bridge are we going to need?
      1. What are the differences between the biblical audience and us?
         1. Culture
         2. Language
         3. Time
         4. Situation
         5. Covenant
      2. Step 3: Crossing the principlizing bridge
         1. What is the theological principle in this text?
            1. The principle:
               1. Should be reflected in the text
               2. Should be timeless and not tied to a specific situation
               3. Should not be culturally bound
               4. Should correspond to the teaching of the rest of Scripture
               5. Should be relevant to both the biblical and the contemporary audience
            2. Write out in one or two sentences – use present tense
         2. Step 4: Grasping the text in our town.
            1. How should individual Christians apply the theological principle in their lives?