“No one who truly delights in God's word will be indifferent to the disregarding of it.”
KEVIN DEYOUNG
WHAT IS INDUCTIVE BIBLE STUDY?
Though there are many useful and fruitful ways to read and study the Bible, Entrust the Word aims to articulate and explain inductive bible study. Specifically, we define inductive study as studying the Bible as your primary source through observation, interpretation, and application.
*Special thanks to Precept Ministries International for their training in this method.
THE 3 PARTS OF INDUCTIVE BIBLE STUDY
Careful observation leads to accurate interpretation, which leads to right application.
OBSERVATIONWHAT DOES THE TEXT SAY?
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INTERPRETATIONWHAT DOES THE TEXT MEAN?
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APPLICATIONHOW DOES THE MEANING OF THE TEXT APPLY TO MY LIFE?
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OBSERVATION
Observation answers the question, "what does the text say?" We often move about our lives merely glancing at the realities around us instead of noticing them. The same happens in our Bible reading and Bible study. Instead of observing the text - carefully slowing down to notice details, events, locations, reasons, context - we skim and glance. Students of God's word engage in active learning when they observe Scripture carefully, returning over and over to consider a text and meditate on each word and phrase, and how they connect to one another. Thorough observation trains the reader to remember what he/she has learned and to meditate on the truth repeatedly.
INTERPRETATION
Interpretation answers the question, "what does the text mean?" We often read our Bibles seeking to know God, but become discouraged and frustrated when we can't understand what a passage means. Difficult names, unfamiliar locations, and new information can feel intimidating or overwhelming at times. As a result, we often give up or quickly turn to commentaries to explain our questions. Though others' thoughts on the Scriptures can be invaluable, it is dangerous to rely solely on others who have done the work for us. Without a personal relationship with the text, we will be unable to discern truth from error and will become dependent on others to guide our steps. God intends more for us! "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. (2 Timothy 2:15). We ourselves must do our best to rightly handle God's word, to enjoy and obey Him for ourselves. Thus, the goal of interpretation is to understand not what the text "means to me," but what God means in the text.
APPLICATION
Application answers the question, "how does the meaning of the text apply to my life?" This is the ultimate aim of all good observation and interpretation - to be changed. Without this final step and the applying work of the Spirit of God, Bible students become arrogant and puffed with knowledge, void of heart-level transformation and the fruit of love for God and neighbor. Though humans may be able to logically piece together concepts in the text through careful study, no true transformation will happen apart from the work of God in our hearts. We need God to teach us what He means in the text, and to conform us to the image of His Son from one degree of glory to another (Romans 12:1-2, 2 Corinthians 3:17).
"Our Bible reading is never just for seeing, never just for learning and doctrine. It is not even just for savoring, if that savoring is thought of in a private way that leaves us unchanged in our relationship with others. No. We read the Bible—we always read the Bible—for the kind of seeing and savoring Christ that transforms us into his likeness.”
JOHN PIPER, Reading the Bible Supernaturally
JOHN PIPER, Reading the Bible Supernaturally