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When Bible Study Means Something

It was not until I became very serious about Bible study the Bible opened up like the Red Sea did for the wayward Israelites. For me the ‘sea’ parted when I enrolled in Dallas Theological Seminary. At the seminary, Dr. Howard Hendricks, taught me and hundreds others the building blocks of good Bible study. The class was/is known as Bible Study Methods and Rules of Interpretation.

The first step in good Bible study begins with ‘observation’. Observation is the Bible student’s desire to ‘see’ what is actually in the text. What type of literature is the passage found, i.e. Hebrew poetry, prose, narrative, a gospel, an epistle or perhaps prophetic literature. Next ask of the text, ‘who, what, when, where, how etc.’- in essence become a detective identifying all the clues these questions reveal. Only then are you ready to go ahead to step in Bible study- interpretation.

Interpretation, we were taught, involves the determination of the meaning of the biblical text when it was originally written. We learned to take the Scripture literally, taking words, phrases and sentences in their usual, normal, natural, customary sense. We were taught to look for key words, and discover their meaning in light of the context of the passage. And so it goes in good Bible study that the main key to a passage is context, context, context!

Lastly good Bible study moves to application. Bible doctrine always effects behavior. Once careful observation, interpretation and application are done, these great truths very specifically change the way we act, think, and behave in our lives, with our families, the world around us, and the church.

Therefore, the keys to Bible study are simple, observe the text, interpret the text in context, and then by the power of the Holy Spirit apply it to your life or the situation around you. I use these techniques every week as I go to the holy text.

Submitted by Paul McClung