Lesson 10 | Digging Deeper into the Text
Add Other Bible Study Methods
Phrasing is not the only Bible study method, or even the best Bible study method. (I don’t think there is such a thing!) Rather, it fills a unique need in Bible study, that of using grammar to trace the arguments of Scripture.
Arcing and Bracketing
To help you know God and his Word better, I recommend you learn Arcing and Bracketing as well, which are offered as courses here at Biblearc. Arcing and Bracketing are not two Bible study methods but rather one method, each of which uses a different graphical representation. The following is an identical arc and bracket of 2 Thessalonians 1:1-2.
The abbreviations and symbols and curved and right-angled lines in the above images serve one purpose: helping us understand the logic of the text. As Phrasing is focused on grammar more than logic, so Arcing and Bracketing are focused more on logic than on grammar. And as Phrasing is focused on phrases (groups of words that form a conceptual unit; see Step 1.2), so Arcing and Bracketing are focused on propositions (verbal ideas).
To learn more about Arcing and Bracketing, watch these two videos. They explain the goal of these methods, and the work it takes to get there.