Helping ordinary people learn to study the Bible
This week, the Logos Talk blog published a guest post Ryan and I worked on together, called “How to Ask Excellent Bible Study Discussion Questions.” The post abridges some of the lengthier material from our series on how to lead a Bible study. If you’d like to lead a small group discussion well, we recommend you master these four kinds of questions:
Exodus 1 showed us a new devil attempting to take God’s place in the life of God’s people, and the chapter left us wondering what would come of his decree to drown the sons. The Lord will reveal something about himself in this chapter that none of us would ever have expected.
As usual, though my list must be highly selective, I hope it still proves representative of the narrator’s intentions.
Most repeated words in ESV: Moses, said (each 10 times), child, daughter, when (each 8x), Pharaoh (7x), God, water (each 6x).
Names/Titles:
Grammar/structure:
Steve Perin (2007), Creative Commons
A few possible questions:
Answers (numbers correspond to the preceding questions):
Train of thought:
Main Point: God will deliver his people through the hand of his appointed deliverer…just not yet.
Connection to Christ: He came to his own, and even his own did not receive him (John 1:11). And even those who have received him, who have become children of God (John 1:12), still must wait eagerly for him to appear a second time to truly, finally save them (Hebrews 9:28).
Application should be as varied as the people who put it into practice. Here is mine for today.
Inward:
Outward:
For a few years, I’ve promoted the idea of reading the entire Bible as quickly as possible. I’ve made it my annual practice beginning on New Year’s Day for 6 years now, and it shows no sign of slowing.
What do I get out of the practice?
Now I have some more reasons to offer you, courtesy of Jordan Standridge:
Standridge writes of his experience reading the entire Bible quickly in an article at The Cripplegate. Check it out!
If we’re honest, sometimes we don’t want to study the Bible. We know we should feel differently, but it’s the truth. At times we simply lack the motivation.
What are we supposed to do with that?
Petr Kratochvil, public domain
Humans are treasure-seekers. Though we seek different treasure in different ways, we’re all on the hunt for meaning, significance, and happiness. And we can’t help but give our time to this pursuit.
We want to be respected and admired, so we put in long hours at work. We tweak our presentation over the weekend and answer email at the soccer game. We need people to know we’re on top of our game.
We want to belong, so we find people of similar interests. We stay up late for fantasy football, get up early for CrossFit, or zealously track our favorite celebrity on social media.
We want to be comfortable, so we agonize over the perfect house, neighborhood, and job. We research our decisions three times over so nothing is left to chance.
We’ve all done this. We latch onto something of great value, and in the pursuit of it we become single-minded, focused, and consumed. We target our love like a hawk tracks a field mouse.
The Bible reveals that we were made for God. Despite our attempts to find value and pleasure elsewhere, he is the top prize in the universe.
This is why the “one thing” David wants is to gaze upon God’s beauty and inquire in his temple (Psalm 27:4). This is why Paul lost everything for the sake of Christ and considered it garbage so that he could “gain Christ” (Phil. 3:8).
God gives us good gifts, so the lesser riches we seek are not inherently bad. But they are nothing compared to God. Jesus came “that he might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18). He is our great treasure.
Anyone that is brought to God is brought by Jesus. A supernatural, spiritual work must take place inside us.
This transformation reorients our hearts. When we confess our pathetic treasure-seeking in light of the glory of God, he changes and purifies our desires.
Though Christians have experienced this once-for-all change, we still drift and search after other fulfillment. We still need reminders about what is most valuable, what is most fulfilling, and what is the best use of our time and resources. (See Matthew 6:19–21.)
Of course, God gives us this instruction in the Bible. This is where God warns us, encourages us, gives us hope, and convinces us of his unending love. In short, we find God, our supreme treasure, in the Bible.
Sometimes I avoid the Bible because I forget what I’ll find there. The Bible isn’t just rules, stories, parables, and prophesies. In his word we encounter God himself.
In the Bible I see how to obey God, how to trust him, and how to love him. I learn that Jesus gave up his life for me and that the same power that raised him from the dead is working within me.
I read that my life is not to be protected or guarded at all cost. Rather, I find true life—that is, treasure—when I lose my life for others out of love for God.
Because we all want treasure we don’t need to produce motivation to study the Bible. We need to channel our natural desire and point it toward the most precious prize in the world, God himself.
OIA Bible study is a wonderful tool. With this tool, anyone can get to know the Lord Jesus by learning to study his word.
Perhaps you’ve worked through our series of posts walking you through the full process of observation, interpretation, and application. Perhaps you’ve read the book Knowable Word, which gives clearer examples and practice exercises in a manageable package. These resources have helped you to learn the OIA process, but you’d like something more.
What you could really use is a shorter booklet that merely summarizes the key principles. You don’t need all the drama or the fluff; there’s no need to pierce your ear with an awl just to prove how committed you are (Ex 21:5-6). You, like the Apostle Peter facing Ananias and Sapphira, just want the facts (Acts 5:7-9). You might use such a booklet as a reference guide to help you practice OIA, as it reminds you of the main concepts and the steps. You don’t want to have to go back to the complete book every time you have a specific question. And you don’t want to have to sift through page after page on this website to get a speedy answer or reminder. So what is there for you?
Yesterday, I would have sadly turned you away, like a bridegroom at the door of his wedding feast (Matt 25:10-12). But not today. Today, I am happy to welcome ye who are weary and heavy laden. May you find some rest for your soul.
We’ve had a project in the hopper for many months, and I’m delighted to finally release it for general consumption. We have a short booklet outlining basic Bible study skills, and we’ve uploaded it for you to use at no cost.
You could keep this booklet on your desk as a handy reference. Or you could print it out for your study group or church book table. The booklet focuses only on the principles; it gives almost no illustrations or practice exercises. The point is simply to have all the concepts in a short reference guide.
Without further ado, you can find the booklet here:
I’ve also put these links up on the blog’s resources page, so you can find them easily in the future. Happy studying!
Many, many thanks to my colleagues who made this project come alive:
A few more articles from this blog have been translated and posted in Spanish. Thanks to Armando Valdez for taking on this work!
I created a new page that links to all the articles on Armando’s Spanish site. I’ll keep that page updated as he posts more. You can navigate to that page right from the bottom of the Resources page if you ever want to check back for more.
Check it out!
If I am correct that the main point of Exodus is to ask, and then answer, the question, “Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice?” (Ex 5:2)—we should expect chapter 1 to somehow set up this main idea. And in fact, it does so, by establishing the characters and creating the conditions under which the question must be posed.
Of course, there are many, many observations to be made. For the sake of space, my list will have to be selective. But in these sample Bible studies, I plan to mention what appears to be most important.
Significant repeated words in ESV: Egypt (7 times), Israel (7x), people (7x), all (6x), midwives (6x), live/lives (5x), Hebrews (4x), multiply (4x), sons (3x).
Names and titles:
Grammar/Structure:
Crossett Library (2011), Creative Commons
A few possible questions:
Answers (numbers correspond to the preceding questions):
Train of thought:
Main Point: The sons of God have many enemies, but none can prevent God’s promises from being fulfilled.
Connection to Christ: The Son of God himself had many enemies. None could prevent him from winning many brothers. If they had known what they were doing, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory (1 Cor 2:8). Their own tactics (persecution and murder) have turned against them to bring about the Lord’s greatest triumph.
Here is my application. You’re a different person in a different context, so you may have to come up with your own. And if yours look very different from mine, that’s okay!
Inward: When I face trials of many kinds, do I allow them to shake my confidence in the Lord?
Outward: When others face trials of many kinds, encourage them not to lose confidence in the Lord.
Erik Raymond writes of “A Couple Phrases I Wish Preachers Would Stop Saying So Often.” And though Raymond directs his comments at pastors, Bible study leaders would be wise to listen in:
In recent years I’ve noticed an uptick in a couple of phrases from preachers and teachers. I don’t want to go so far as to mark them as homiletical cuss words, but I do want to draw a circle around them and ask why we are saying them so much. These two phrases are “I think” and “I feel.”
Let me explain. Suppose someone is preaching through Colossians and they come to chapter 3. They then read the following words aloud:
“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.” (Col. 3:1–2)
Then they say, “I think what Paul is saying here is that we need to be seeking the things above.” After a pause, he goes on to say, “I feel like this is especially hard for us today because of all of our temptations for distractions.” Later he says, “I feel like too many of us, myself included, are really susceptible to this. I think it can really hinder our walk with Christ.”
Now what’s wrong with this phrasing? On one level, nothing. He is not saying anything wrong. But, at the same time, he is not saying it like he could. If he is not completely declawing the passage he is at least filing down its nails. He is saying it in a less authoritative and offensive way. And while he may still be bouncing the ball to his congregation for application it is a bit of a deflated ball, or at least not as pumped up as it could be.
To see how Raymond would revise such comments to sharpen their claws, you’ll have to read the full article. Check it out!
However, I will make one disclaimer. When we are not (or cannot be) certain about the meaning of a passage, “I think” would be a perfectly reasonable thing to say. Or if we move off the main point into the sub-sub-sub-points of the passage, we should also avoid confident bluster and bravado. Remember, the main points are the ones worth fighting for. And they are the points whose claws must never be pared.
Picture it. You’ve made time for devotions. Envision your room, your chair, and (perhaps) your beverage. Now, what book is in front of you?
Angela (2015), public domain
You have a lot of options. You could listen to any one of a million sermons. You could grab a devotional book or a study guide or a book on a biblical topic. You could even pick up a commentary.
None of these resources are inherently bad, but they all have one thing in common. They put distance between you and God’s word.
The desire to use an extra-biblical resource is understandable. If you view your devotions primarily as a relaxing way to begin or end your day, you’ll think devotions should be easy. And since reading (or hearing) someone else’s interpretation requires less effort than discovering one yourself, it’s simple to see why many people prefer these materials.
Reading a devotional work or listening to a sermon can stimulate your spirit. But this is not the same as reading and studying the Bible for yourself. You need to hear directly from the mouth of God.
Perhaps two analogies will help.
Jim is supposed to read Crime and Punishment for his high school English class, but he plays sports with his friends instead. When it’s time to consider the book in class, Jim relies on the plot summary he read online. During the discussion, Jim is able to talk about a few important themes of the book.
But when his teacher asks him pointedly about the book’s impact on him, Jim freezes. He cannot recall any of the powerful scenes or locate any of the moving prose, because he doesn’t know the work itself. He only knows this book through a filter.
Even when filters are reliable and thorough, they don’t offer a genuine interaction with the author.
In the middle of the afternoon, Sarah knocks on her brother Mark’s door. “Mom wants you to clean up your room before dinner.”
Mark puts his folded laundry in his dresser, makes his bed, and recycles the papers on his floor. Then he returns to his comic books.
At the dinner table, Mark learns that his mother wanted much more than a little straightening. She wanted him to dust the furniture, vacuum the carpet, and clean the windows. She wanted a deep clean.
Sarah wasn’t lying, but she wasn’t clear. And Mark didn’t ask Sarah or his mother for clarification.
In this scenario, the messenger softened the blow, and as a consequence, Mark fell short of obedience.
Portions of the Bible are impossible to envision without a personal encounter with God’s word.
I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. (Psalm 119:11)
I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways.
I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word. (Psalm 119:15–16)…but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. (Psalm 1:2)
How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! (Psalm 139:17)
In the Bible, God has told us about himself. He has given his requirements, his promises, and his plan to save his people. He has shared the good news about the Savior of the world, his son Jesus. And he has described what his people should believe and do as they tell the whole world about him.
The Bible is lovingly and wonderfully given by God to his people for their good and the good of the world. You might prefer to read a different book, but when you meet with God, yearn for his voice. Don’t turn away from your heavenly father.
We’ve considered the principles of Bible study in great detail. Now it’s time to put them into practice through a series of sample Bible studies in the book of Exodus. We begin with a book oveview.
While you could find many of the following points by reading a decent commentary or study Bible, you’ll have more fun—and the key points will have greater staying power in your life—if you glean them by simply reading and re-reading the book many times. To prepare this overview, I’ve consulted a few helpful sources. But I’ve spent most of my time reading Exodus 8 times in the last 3 months. I hope to read it 12 more times before the end of the year. Perhaps the repetition will lead me to change my mind at a few points.
The New Testament regularly quotes or references the book of Exodus and attributes it to Moses (Mark 7:10, 12:26; Luke 20:37; John 6:32, 7:19; Rom 9:15; 2 Cor 3:13-15; Heb 7:14, 8:5, 9:19). We shall do the same.
After reading Exodus a few times, it becomes clear that the book focuses on the rescue and establishment of the people of Israel as a new nation before God. The book ends with the people at Mount Sinai, ready to move on to the land of promise. In addition, Exodus fits squarely within the flow of Exodus-through-Numbers. The book was clearly written to the Hebrews on their way to Canaan. It’s not clear, however, whether the book was “finished” for the first generation who came out of Egypt, or for the following generation. Numbers was clearly not finished until the second generation, since it reports the rebellion and death of the first generation. So Moses may have written Exodus a few decades earlier (possibly with Leviticus), for the first generation, or along with Numbers, for the second generation.
Either way, the book of Exodus serves as a charter for this new nation. What does it mean to be not only a new sovereign state but the specially chosen people of God? When God remembers his covenant promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, what will that mean for these frightened and fearful former slaves? And how do they know God won’t eventually abandon them?
Most of the book presents itself as historical narrative. The events that take place here will shape the nation for generations to come (such as, Ex 12:1-6). Yet this narrative has frequent sub-genres: speech, dialogue, miracle story, and law code.
About a third of the way through, we get a long poem (Ex 15:1-21). Perhaps this attention-grabbing shift signals a climax of some sort…?
Steve Day (2008), Creative Commons
Reading Exodus, you can’t miss the theme of rescue from slavery. The first part of the book (chapters 1-15) tells the story of the greatest rescue in Old Testament history. And that rescue casts a long shadow even on the laws that follow (for example, Ex 22:21).
And while we might think of Exodus as being primarily about the exodus from Egypt, that event covers less than half the book. We also see a significant chunk of laws (chapters 20-23) and tabernacle instructions/construction (chapters 25-31 and 35-40). So our summary of themes must do justice to all these major sections:
Interestingly, each of these three themes goes nowhere without the intercession of a mediator. God delivers the people through the hand of Moses. God issues his laws through Moses’ representation. And God passes his building instructions through the same human lips. If you happen to miss this idea early, you can no longer ignore it when the tabernacle instructions are repeated twice, in their entirety: Once in dialogue to Moses, and again as Moses’ underlings carry those instructions out.
Another thing to look for in a book overview is explicit statements of purpose from the author. In Exodus, such purpose statements abound, often placed on the lips of God.
To the Hebrews: “I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the LORD your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians” (Ex 6:7).
Concerning the Egyptians: “The Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the people of Israel from among them” (Ex 7:5).
To Pharaoh: “But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth” (Ex 9:16).
From Jethro, priest of Midian: “Now I know that the LORD is greater than all gods, because in this affair they dealt arrogantly with the people” (Ex 18:11).
Regarding the tabernacle: “I will dwell among the people of Israel and will be their God. And they shall know that I am the LORD their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt that I might dwell among them. I am the LORD their God” (Ex 29:45-46).
Beginning to end, Exodus portrays a God who wants all people and communities to know who he is and what he has done. This God wants an awareness that goes even beyond humans. He’s wants to take down rival deities as well. “For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the LORD” (Ex 12:12).
The shifts in theme and genre are the literary clues we need to find the book’s structure.
Of course, that last section is shockingly interrupted with the Hebrew’s grievous sin with the golden calf (chapters 32-34). This incident suggests a larger shape for the second half of the book, as follows:
1. Covenant made – Ex 19-24
2. Tabernacle instructions – Ex 25-31
1′ Covenant broken and repaired – Ex 32-34
2′ Tabernacle constructed – Ex 35-40
Bringing these pieces together, we get the following big picture:
Connecting all the threads of occasion, genre, themes, purpose statements, and structure, we can state the main point of the book of Exodus in a single question:
“Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice?” –Pharaoh, king of Egypt (Ex 5:2).
Exodus unequivocally answers Pharaoh’s question in three parts: Who is Yahweh [in English Bibles, “LORD” in all caps], and why should you obey? He is the God who 1) demolishes the house of slavery, 2) prepares to rebuild, and 3) builds his house in the midst of his people.
Now we’re ready to dive into the details. This main point will guide us as we work our way through the book.
