7 Steps: How to Do an Inductive Bible Study

Learning to check out and study Scripture is a fundamental part of the Christian life. And while pastors and instructors are vital gifts of Christ to his church, individual Christians need to also have the ability to pick up any passage and read it with basic understanding and application. How do you do that? The inductive Bible study method is one reputable way.

What is inductive Bible study, exactly?

The inductive technique is an investigative method of studying Scripture that can be utilized by new and experienced trainees alike. It's a powerful tool for those who wish to learn how to study Scripture well.

When applied appropriately, the inductive method will supply a much better overall understanding of a passage:

• What it says
• What it meant to its original audience
• What it indicates today

Anybody can utilize the inductive Bible study method by following 3 basic steps:

1. Observation
2. Interpretation
3. Application

Nevertheless, considering that the primary objective of inductive Bible study takes care observation that causes real-life application, I'm going to break the steps down a bit more below.

Table of contents

• What is inductive Bible study, exactly?
• Action 1. Pray: What is the proper spirit for Bible study?
• Action 2. Read: What's the huge picture?
• Step 3. Observe: What does it say?
• Step 4. Translate: What does it mean?
• Step 5. Discern: What's the truth?
• Step 6. Apply: What do I do now?
• Step 7. Confess: Who can hold me to these truths?
• Resources for additional study
• How to do an inductive Bible study utilizing Logos
• Conclusion

Action 1. Pray: What is the correct spirit for Bible study?

Request the Holy Spirit to open your eyes to comprehend the word. Don't read it in the flesh. Attitude is critical in understanding the Bible. It can either hinder us or help us in studying the Word. I would encourage you to pray before, during, and after your study.

Pray for preparation, lighting, and correct application.

Failing to technique Scripture with the right frequency or intent can undermine the Bible's power in our lives.

3 ways we undermine the Bible's power in our lives

1. Ignoring to check out it
2. Reading it without depending on the Spirit's power to help us comprehend it
3. Reading it, but not obeying what we read

Malfunctioning attitudes

The following mindsets will impede studying Scripture well. If your attitude about Scripture is represented in among these four categories listed below, start by asking the Holy Spirit to change your heart.

1. The Defeated

I will not be able to comprehend anything anyway, so why attempt to study the Bible?

2. The Negative

I wish to find out how to study the Bible much better, but I doubt if anything I discover would be good or right.

3. The Closed Heart

I do not think everything the Bible teaches. How can it have any value today? So, why research study it?

4. The Lazy

I suppose if I tried I might comprehend, however what I read seems dull and difficult. I do not understand if I wish to invest the energy to discover how to study.

Positive attitudes

On the flip side, here are some handy attitudes you could work to adopt as you approach Scripture:

1. The Positive

I want to learn how to study the Bible. I make sure there will be things in the Bible I won't understand, but through the aid of the Holy Spirit, I can find out to acquire insight into God's word.

2. The Receptive

God asks of me just an open heart and an open mind so he can expose himself and his truths to me.

3. The Expectant

I'm coming to God's Word to let him speak to me. I don't need to inject ideas into my reading or attempt to squeeze realities out of it that aren't there. As I study and pray, I believe that the Scripture passage will unfold itself to me.

4. The Faithful

I can not expect much from Bible research study unless I'm prepared to invest energy and discipline in the study. If I only scratch the surface, my benefit is a few crumbs. If I dig deeply, my benefit will be rich treasures.1.

Action 2. Read: What's the huge picture?

Go through the whole book you've chosen-- Genesis, Romans, Colossians, James-- a minimum of 3 times to get the huge picture. It's crucial to get essences and styles down before you enter the specifics of smaller sized areas. Find the author, receivers, function of the book, the situations surrounding its writing, etc.

A great exercise might be to do a book summary. Find the key verses, major themes, and major concepts that form the book. Lay out the book with essential headings of its major areas. Once again, it's great to get a sense for the general structure of the book that you are studying.

Action 3. Observe: What does it say?

Before you ask what a Bible passage suggests for others or on your own, you have to very first ask the concern, "What does it say?"

Search for things like the purpose of the book, repeated phrases within it, the point the author eliminates, the characters involved, the time and sequence of occasions (when, then, now, will be, and so on), persons, locations, ideas, sensible connectives (for that reason, however, because, so, hence, due to the fact that, for, that, etc), and what is in fact being said.

It's critical at this phase not to add anything to the text or take anything away. Avoid the temptation to attempt to make the text "imply" anything right now. Observe what's there, and record it. Compose everything down (you can bear in mind directly in Logos), and as soon as you feel like you have a great idea of what's taking place in the text, it's time to move on to the next step.

What to look for

• Who, what, where, when, why, and how?
• Verbs and tenses (commands, pledges, etc)
• Repetitive words and phrases
• Cause and effect, contrasts, and comparisons
• Genre (history, law, poetry, narrative, parable, letter, prophesy, etc)

Step 4. Translate: What does it mean?

After you have observed the text, ask, "What does it suggest?"

Your task at this stage is to discover what the author is attempting to communicate.

And to do this, you need to look at the context (Logos resources like the Lexham Context Commentary can be a terrific assist with this). Here are a couple of concerns you can ask:

• What is the cultural and/or historic context of this passage?
• What else do I know about the book, author, and broader context of the passage?
• What other Scripture passages might assist me better analyze this one?
• Have I neglected anything or brought any concealed assumptions to the text that the text needs to correct?
• What is the clearest significance of this text?
• What does the author mean by this?
• Why did the author say that?
• How does this idea associate with that one?

As Oletta Wald composes:

The main function of interpretation is to find what the author indicated by what he said, to discover his purpose and message.

When trying to interpret, we are not to think what the passage implies to us, but what it appeared to imply to the author.2.

Guidelines for interpretation

There are a few vital guidelines to bear in mind when attempting to interpret a passage:

1. The rule of initial intent

Translate with the objective of finding the author's original meaning for the initial audience. Don't "twist" Scripture-- meaning, don't control the text to get it to say something you 'd like for it to say. This is a deceitful method to analyze the text.

2. The rule of sensus literalis

Try to find the plainest interpretation first. Believe that the text implies what it says. In some cases there will be figurative language and confusing imagery, but don't begin by looking for concealed significance. Start with the apparent. Interpret the Bible in the sense in which it is written (parables, symbols, poetry, historical, letters, etc).

3. The guideline of unity

Bible translates Scripture. Permit the Bible to assist you understand other passages of the Bible. Where similar words are used, check out the context of each of those instances.

4. Context

Interpret passages in consistency with the remainder of the context. Prevent basing crucial doctrines on odd passages.

5. Other passages

Translate passages in consistency with other texts/passages. Link each passage back to the gospel and the wider message of the Bible.

6. The rule of logic

Apply the guidelines of logic, language, and typical guidelines grammar.

7. The Christological principle

Scripture is to be analyzed in light of God's central self-revelation in Jesus Christ.

Make sure you invest an excellent chunk of time with this stage. Ask yourself all of the crucial concerns above, and answer them as truthfully as you are able.

Handy tools & & resources

Every worker requires the right tools. However, our labors are joined with the labors of others: the church toils together in understanding the Scriptures. These tools bring a few of the very best results by the most expert minds together with your personal study:

1. Study Bibles

Although research study Bibles are not comprehensive in nature, they will help you get some basic information to help you start in the procedure of digging deeper into your study.

2. Concordances

A concordance can assist you find Bible passages on specific subjects. You can discover other parts of Scripture where a certain word might be used. It is also useful in discovering cross-references.

3. Bible dictionaries

A Bible dictionary can assist you discover the meaning of key words utilized in Scripture that may provide you insight into its meaning.

4. Commentaries

When doing an inductive Bible study, it's great to keep away from commentaries until you reach completion of your study or discover yourself genuinely baffled by a passage. These should be used as a last option to acquire insight into hard passages.

Step 5. Discern: What's the truth?

A principle is a "broad, general, or essential truth that a specific passage teaches. It is an extensive and fundamental law, teaching, or presumption." 3.

The concepts we draw from Scripture are what bridge the context of its original audience to our scenario today. And these concepts are the basis in which we begin to use the Word to our really lives. Principles are classic facts that need to assist the way we act and think.

Step 6. Apply: What do I do now?

Now that we've observed and translated what the passage has to state, it's time to talk about what it implies for us.

How do we use what we just found out to everyday life?

We do not study the Bible simply to acquire understanding. We study to get understanding so we understand how to live our lives due to what we've learned.

Go back to your questions from the beginning and ask them again because of what you've learned, and apply it to our context today.

• Who?
• What?
• When?
• Where?
• Why?
• How?

Howard Hendricks, a professor at Dallas Theological Seminary, once said,

Observation plus interpretation without application equates to abortion. To put it simply, whenever you observe and analyze however stop working to use, you carry out an abortion on the Scriptures in terms of their purpose.

Based on what you've found out, what does this passage mean for you? If you've uncovered truth you've not known or comprehended previously, what does it suggest for your life, top priorities, and decisions now that you do comprehend it?

Be transformed

We began by saying that a person of the ways we weaken the Bible's power in our lives is when we read it and after that not follow what we read.

The unfortunate fact is that for many students of the Word is that it stops at interpretation and never gets to application. Bible research study was never ever meant to be simply information, but for improvement. When it disappoints application, it has only become a psychological workout and not much more.

All of us require to ask ourselves are we studying the Word that we might be more like Jesus or more like the Pharisees? Don't be tricked! Every time we hear the Word of God, we are either a little closer to heaven or a little further away. We are either a bit more sweetened or a little bit more hardened. However we are never simply the very same. As soon as we know what a passage means we are responsible to live it out.4.

Be specific

Go back to your concerns from the beginning and inquire once again because of what you've learned, and apply it to our context today.

• Who?
• What?
• When?
• Where?
• Why?
• How?

Based upon what you've learned, what does this passage imply for you? If you've revealed truth you've not understood or understood in the past, what does it indicate for your life, priorities, and choices now that you do comprehend it?

Be honest

Honest application of the text needs these sort of concerns and the wrestling of ideas when fact causes dispute. It might be tempting to stop at the interpretation stage, however you'll be selling yourself and Scripture short if you do.

Make the effort to dive into the application step. It's worth it.

Potential risks in application

1. Replacing interpretation for application as did the Pharisees
2. Substituting shallow obedience for substantial life-change
3. Substituting justification for repentance

Valuable concerns to ask

• Are you an altered person as a result of getting the Word?
• Have you yielded your will and desires to him?
• What has God stated to you today?
• Do you love God more today then yesterday?
• Exists a sin in your life that requires to be confessed and repented of?
• What pledges do I require to claim?
• What can I design and teach?
• What does God desire me to show someone?

Action 7.

Confess: Who can hold me to these truths?

Truth is best discovered and resided in the context of community. Our vertical relationship with God is actualized in the horizontal relationship with people.

When believers gather together for responsibility and affirmation, our spiritual life will naturally skyrocket. Responsibility is that crucial. Responsibility assists us achieve that function that God has meant for us.

Think about the people in your life. Consider who can help hold you accountable to the facts you hold dear.

Resources for further study

The inductive Bible study approach is a reliable way for the layperson to method studying Scripture. The following resources are a fantastic location for more information about this basic methodology.

Inductive Bible study videos

Inductive Bible study links

• Word by Word: 5 Basic Bible Study Techniques You Should Never Ignore
• Word by Word: How to Study a Psalm: Essential Steps for Starting Right
• Word by Word: How to Identify a Passage's Repeated Words in Seconds
• Crossway: 10 Tips for Getting Started with Inductive Bible Study
• The Gospel Coalition: Inductive Bible Study Is Not Just for Adults
• Navigators Website: Inductive Bible Study
• Into Thy Word Ministries: Teaching People How to Study the Bible
• Precept: Know God Deeply.
  
  

  
  
  

Conclusion

Now you understand the 3 easy actions to running your own inductive Bible study: observe, translate, and apply.