Lesson 10 | Putting it all together
Strategies for a comprehensive study (Course Review)
Here, at the end of the course, it is worth taking a step back in order to gain a big-picture view of all the Bible study strategies you have learned.
Reading
Whole books of the Bible
Multiple times
Aloud
Actively (by taking notes and marking up the text)
Prayerfully
Outlining (Use the “Divisions” feature in the Read module to divide out sections.)
Major themes
Units
Subsections
Observing (using a Notes module)
Author
Recipients
Occasion
Themes
Purpose
Tone
Key words
Anything else you might observe
Comparing English versions
Probing (using a Notes module)
Who?
What?
When?
Where?
Why?
How?
Anything else that you can think of.
Unpacking the unique elements
Genre
Figures of speech
NT uses of the OT
Identifying the connections (using a Discourse module)
Divide into single statements
Identify connections
Discerning the key points
main point
primary supports
secondary supports
Paraphrasing to unpack the author’s...
Assertions
Connections
Figures of speech
OT quotations and allusions
Tone.
Summarizing
Main point
Primary supports
Finding takeaways
Commands
Means
Motivations
Anchors
Sharing
Get feedback
Encourage others
A few observations from this outline
There are a lot of pieces to the puzzle here—do not be overwhelmed by them all! You will not use every strategy every time you sit down to study Scripture. You should, however, grow ever more familiar with them all. Many will even become somewhat intuitive and built into your patterns of reading.
And once again, let me remind you of the place paraphrasing has within the whole. It stands as the culmination of the all the previous work aimed at gaining an accurate understanding of the text. It thus serves as both a test and a demonstration of your understanding, so that you are then ready to wisely discern the implications of the text for your life.