Bible Study Helps

Last week, in our Wednesday evening service, Bryan S. gave us some Bible study helps, especially for preparing to teach a Sunday School class or to participate in one as a student.  This assumes that studying a passage from Scripture is at the center of the Sunday School class activity.  The information in this post will come from that evening's teaching.  I apologize in advance for not being able to credit properly all that I have in my notes--without going to more pains than I feel up to at the moment.  If anyone can supply sources, I will gladly add them.  It's possible also that my notes may not repeat exactly what was given, although I believe it reflects it fairly accurately.  Corrections are welcome, and if you submit them in comments I may simply make the corrections rather than post the comments.

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First, here are some recommended how-to-study-the-Bible books:

1.  Living by the Book by Howard Hendricks.

2.  Grasping God's Word by J. Scott Duwald.

3.  Read the Bible for Life by Howard Guthrie.

Some of these recommendations may have come via Bryan's Iowa friend, Dwight Gingerich.

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Here are some "their town (the Bible times context)/our town (our time and place)" imaging steps in transitioning from Bible study to personal application:

1.  Think of "their town" as being located on the bank of a river.  On the opposite bank is "our town."

2.  Look at the dividing river and notice how wide it is (i.e. how close or distant the "towns" on opposite banks are).

3.  A "principlizing bridge" over the river connects the two towns.  Identify the principles in the bridge structure.

4.  Ask "How do those principles apply in our town?"

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Another way of studying is to use a checklist approach, presumably reading through the target passage multiple times, each time looking for every occurrence of one kind of thing the checklist names.  Here is the checklist as I wrote it down:

1.  Repetition of words
2.  Contrasts (differences)
3.  Comparisons (similarities)
4.  Lists
5.  Cause and effect relationships
6.  Figures of speech
7.  Conjunctions
8.  Verbs
9.  Pronouns

To use this checklist approach, I've found the following details helpful:

1.  Print the passage so that you can mark it up to your heart's content and still read the text afterward.  Here is how I do it:

a.  Type the reference for the passage into the Google search box, followed by the acronym for the version you prefer (or go straight to the Bible Gateway website and print in the reference in the search box on that site).
b.  When you've found the passage on the website, copy it into a text document.
c.  If you haven't already set up a text document with the proper formatting, do it now, before you paste.  Here's the format I love:

i.  Select "landscape" orientation.
ii. Set all  margins to 1/2 inch.
iii.  Select "columns."  You will want two, and you will specify that there be a one-inch spacing between the two columns.
iv.  Paste the Scripture text into this landscape/columns document.
v.  Format the reference at the top, in the left column, the same way you do titles--centered, 14-point bold, etc.
vi.  In this step you will use the line spacing feature to spread the entire document as widely as possible over these two columns.  As long as it all fits on one page, you want as much white space as possible.  d.  Fold the paper in half between the columns, with the print side out.  This will make the paper similar in size to a Bible or other book and is more convenient if you want to do your marking on this document while sitting in a recliner, for example, or in any place where desk space is not available.

2.  Use a different kind of marking for each item on the checklist.  This can be done in a variety of ways, with the use of color, line, shape, and abbreviations being the obvious variations.

a.  For color, you can use pens, highlighters, or colored pencils.  If you're doing it all at the computer, and have a colored printer, you can use colored fonts.

I personally find a handwritten method easiest for this application.  When I went to find something to use for marking my SS lesson last week, I found an amazing writing instrument for this purpose.  The label says Multipoint Pencils by A & W.  In the clear pencil-sized barrel of this pencil are about ten different colored pencil "leads," each inserted into a small plastic sleeve, only one color of which sticks out at the writing end at any time.  When I'm ready for a new color, I tug a bit on the "sleeve" that's sticking out of the writing end and move it to the eraser end, where the barrel is also open.  When I shove it into the barrel, a new point with a different color emerges at the other end.    I use a new color every time I move to a different item on the checklist.

I think I got this pencil as a gift from one of my students.  I'm deeply embarrassed that I can't remember who gave it.  Please tell me if it was you, or you know who it was.  I have been using it gratefully, and would love to thank the giver again.  I haven't been able to locate a source for pencils like this.  Online, every option I've seen has only one "lead" color in each "barrel."  I'd give some away as gifts if I knew where to purchase them.

b.  Underlining is a no-brainer way to mark a certain kind of item on the checklist.  This works exceptionally well for conjunctions, verbs, pronouns, and figures of speech, each marked with a different color.   No further marking is needed, although FS might make figures of speech stand out from the crowd better than a simple underline.

c.  The most obvious shapes are circles and rectangles.

Circles.  Since each of the "C" items that remain on the checklist are observations with two parts, I would draw a circle around each part and link them with a labeled line or arc.  Cont. will mean contrast, comp. will mean comparisons (similarities), and C/E will mean "cause and effect."  Although each of these can also be done in a different color, the labels really help to identify them quickly afterward.

Rectangles.  Lists and Repetition of Words can go inside rectangles.  They could be labeled with "L" and "R," but it might not be necessary, because lists will always be a longer text in one string, and repetition of words will almost always be single words or very short phrases.

With the above marking methods, the checklist might most conveniently be ordered in this way:

1.  Conjunctions
2.  Verbs
3.  Pronouns
4.  Figures of speech
5.  Contrasts
6.  Comparisons (similarities)
7.  Cause and effect
8.  Lists
9.  Repetition of words

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I will add here yet one homemade Bible study approach:

1.  Read the passage and write down any direct commands that are present.  Note to whom they were originally given and note also how they might apply in other contexts.

2.  List by topic any significant teaching that is not given in the form of direct commands.

3.  Note the narratives and observe any indications of cause and effect relationships.

4.  Record "initiatives," or specific things you want to apply in your own life.

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I'm posting these things here so that I can locate them conveniently in the future.  I hope others might also find them useful.