Inductive Bible Study - Part 1

 Inductive Bible Study - Part 2

(1) Observation

 The Observation stage of inductive Bible study involves reading the text closely and making sure you understand the basic details of the passage.  In Observation you ask the basic questions of who, what, when, where, why, and how.  It’s very important to engage the text directly yourself before you look at study guides or other helps like study Bibles of commentaries.  Asking questions of the text yourself will help you navigate through the interpretative options provided by other resources.  It’s also important for you to read your passage in full before you start looking carefully into the details.  Read your passage several times in your preferred Bible version.  As you read, mark any words or ideas that draw your attention.  You could highlight things you want to look up later or key phrases or sentences that seem important for the theme or main idea of the passage.

Desired Outcomes: 

• You will have a solid understanding of the basic facts of the passage.  
• You will be deeply familiar with what your passage says and aware of what aspects present difficulties for understanding.

Explanation

The Observation stage is the foundation for the Interpretation stage.  Only when you have studied what the text says and become familiar with the essential literary, historical, or cultural background will you be ready to determine what the text meant for its original audiences.  Familiarity with the basic content of the passage will help you make informed use of other resources like commentaries and Bible dictionaries, or Encyclopedias at the Interpretation stage.

The questions you will consider during the observation stage are: 

• Do I understand the basic facts of this passage? 
• Do I follow the author’s flow of thought in the passage?
• Have I become familiar with the literary context by reading text before and after this passage?  
• Do I know what I need to study further?  

Read your passage several times in your preferred Bible. 

As you read, mark important words, key ideas, and noteworthy people, places, or events.  Highlighting can help you note key aspects of the passage and reinforce your familiarity.   

What questions or insights do you have about this passage?  Take note of anything in the text that is confusing, surprising, challenging, or hard to understand.  Record your questions here and keep them in mind as you explore your passage further.  

 Your observations:

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Read your passage in multiple versions.

Reading your passage in multiple versions such as a Hebrew or Greek edition or a variety of English translations can improve your understanding of the passage.   Using translations that take different approaches may draw your attention to problems in interpretation.  As you read, be sure to notice things that sound strange, or that seem confusing.  You will want to remember these things for later study. 

Consider what you have read.  Are there things that you don’t understand?  List them here and make sure to keep them in mind as you examine the passage more deeply. 

Your observations:

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What else do you notice in this passage?

Your observations:  ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Establish the boundaries of the Passage.

Sometimes different Bibles establish the boundaries of a passage differently.  These passages are often called “pericopes” (a word that simply means a selection of text from a larger work).  

Are the boundaries of the pericope that contains the passage generally agreed upon?  If not, what appears to be the cause of the differences? ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 Identify people.

Review your passage and note references to people (such as explicit references, descriptions, or pronouns).  Identify whether the people noted are major players involved in the action of the passage or whether they ae noted for background information or symbolic reference.

Who are the main players in your passage?  What makes them important to the passage?

Your observations: ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Identify important words.                                                                         

Each passage has certain key words or ideas that are central to the meaning of the passage.   Identifying and examining these key terms and concept is essential to understanding the passage properly.   Taking different positions on the meaning of a passage’s key terms is often how significantly different interpretations arise.  

Identify words that appear to be contextually important and explain what is significant about those words. 

Your observations:

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

(2) Interpretation

The key historical context for the passage that you’re studying is the location of the book in which the passage appears.

• Who’s the author? 
• When was it written?
• Who are the recipients?
• What was the purpose of the writing?

These core questions orient us to the broader historical context before we talk about the particulars of what’s happening in a given passage.

Record the basic facts that you’ve learned about the book’s context: author, date, audience, and purpose.

Your observation:

 __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Evaluate the type of literature of your passage.

There are a number of distinct styles of literature found in the Bible.  These different styles or types are commonly referred to as genres, but we also sometimes label them as literary types.  You are probably familiar with common genres still used today like poems, letters, or novels.  Identifying and understanding the literary style or genre of a passage is important for interpreting it correctly.  Your expectations about a text’s meaning are heavily influenced by what you think you are reading. You would not expect the same things when reading a repair manual as when reading a novel.  Or you would not read a poem the same way as you would read a news story.  If a particular literary genre occurs in your passage, it should be identified and carefully evaluated.

• What are the literary types identified in this passage? 
• Do the indicated types fit your expectation of what sort of text you are reading?  Why or why not?
• Does the passage have any shifts in type or genre?
• What significance might those shifts have for the meaning of the passage?

Examine historical context.

• What are the main events in world history that are relevant to your passage? 
• Do those events connect to the Bible and provide any helpful knowledge to inform you understanding of the passage?     

Identify Biblical cross-references.

Identify cross-references related to your passage.  Taking careful consideration of the relationship between your passage and a related passage can help you reach a better understanding of both passages.

Review each key cross-references and consider its relevance to your passage.  Why is the cross-reference relevant to your passage?

Examine commentary discussions.

Locate commentaries that discuss your passage and review the discussion to better understand which aspects of your passage are most challenging or unclear. A commentary discussion may alert you that something you thought was clear in the text is actually a complicated and debated issue.

Record insights gained from reading the commentaries. Note especially the parts of your passage that inspired the most discussion in the commentaries.

Have the consulted commentaries modified your understanding of the passage? In what way?

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Summarize your passage.

Review what you have studied and summarize it. Writing a brief summary of your passage and what you’ve learned about it will strengthen your understanding of the passage and help you remember the main points from your study.

In 25 words or less, summarize the main points you have learned about this passage.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________