Bible Question: What is inductive Bible study ? I am REALLY confused now on how to study the Bible. Thank you for helping me go forward. Mother |
Bible Answer: Mother S. -- The essential ingredient of 'inductive' Bible study is to allow Scripture to become its own interpreter by the process of comparing Scripture with Scripture. Illustration: Suppose you want to find out the various contexts in which the word 'grace' is used throughout the Bible. Using an exhaustive concondance, you would look up the word 'grace' and you would find a list of all Scripture passages that contain the word. An exhaustive concordance, by the way, lists all words (except the, a, an, and, etc.) that appear in the Bible in the translation to which the concordance is attuned; e.g., if you are using the NASB, you will want to use the NASB Exhaustive Concordance. A good book on the inductive method of Bible study is "How To Study Your Bible" by Kay Arthur, available on-line through Amazon.com or Christianbooks.com, or at Christian bookstores..... If you have access to the MacArther or Ryrie study Bibles, you will find short articles on Bible study in each of those. Another suggestion: If you have none of the resourses I've cited, simply pick up a reference Bible (one that has column or side scriptural references) and begin to read. A good place to begin might be with the Gospel of Luke and following with the book of Acts, which is actually Luke's sequel to his gospel. You will read of the life of Christ and of the beginnings of His church in these two books. Read through an entire book first, without paying attention to the side references. Then go back and take small portions of the book at a sitting, study that portion, follow up the references, and proceed in this way through the book. Then return to the book and read it through once more. By the time you have finished with this process, you should have a fairly good idea of what the book is all about. You will not become an authority on the book, of course, nor digest or exhaust everything the book has to teach you, but you will have taken an important first step to reading, studying and appreciating the vast riches of the greatest story ever told. The more I study God's word, the more awestruck I become of the word and of the Sovereign God who inspired it. Reading and studying the Bible is a spiritual journey that has no peer. Bon voyage! --Hank |