You can study through any book of the Bible fruitfully as a Theology Network hub. If you don’t know what to read, start with one of these:
Genesis
Exodus / Deuteronomy
Ecclesiastes
Isaiah
A Gospel (Luke / John)
Romans / Galatians / Philippians
1 John
Whatever you choose, read with patience and openness. The guide below will give you a good idea of how to do this well. Don’t try and do everything here but choose questions most relevant for the passage in front of you.
1. Pray before you read:
Recognise that what you are about to read is the Word of the God who lives and speaks today. Pray that the Holy Spirit would illuminate what you are reading so that you see what God is saying to you.
2. Read the passage (What is it saying?):
This step is about more than just reading the passage out loud. It is about spending time carefully seeing what the passage actually says. Read the passage more than once in different ways (out loud all together, silently on your own, etc.) before raising any questions about the text and discussing what it says. Don’t rush on from this step, instead encourage curiosity and questions.
You might want to vary how you read the passage depending on the genre. Here are some examples, get creative:
Narratives (Old Testament stories, Gospels, Acts) – Have one person read the passage out loud once, then take it in turns a retelling the story in as much detail as you can remember. Encourage members of the group to jump in with details that the current storyteller misses. Keep retelling the story until your confident you’ve told the story well (or everyone has had a go).
Prose (Law, Epistles, etc.) – Read the passage out loud. Read it again quietly to yourselves noting down repeated words and ideas, structural clues (like ‘therefore…’), and anything that you find interesting or raises questions for you. Discuss what you have noted down. You might want to try and summarise the passage together into a number of short bullet points.
For more on the place of genre for reading the Bible check out How to Read the Bible for All its Worth by Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart.
Pay attention to context:
- What comes before and after this passage in the book that it’s in? How does that help you understand what it is saying?
- Are you aware of anything in the historical context of the passage that would help you understand what it is saying?
- How does the passage fit in the context of the whole Bible? Where does it fit in the overarching story? Where does the genre fit? What kinds of things do you expect it to speak about?
3. Interpret the Passage (What does it mean?):
This step is about trying to understand the meaning that the author is conveying. How do the things that have been said in this passage communicate about God, the world, humanity, etc. What is God saying in this passage?
What does the passage reveal about God?
What does the passage reveal about humans?
What does the passage reveal about the world?
How does this passage shed light on broader theological themes in the Bible (e.g. grace and works, sin and judgement, hope, God’s mission, God’s people, etc.)?
Honour Christ in your interpretation:
- Where is Christ in the picture?
- Does the passage point forward or backward to Christ in some way?
- Does it highlight a particular need for a saviour or particular pattern of how God saves?
- Does it say anything about the lives of those who are united to Christ?
- How does Christ make sense of the central claims of the passage?
4. Apply the passage (What is its significance?):
This step is about letting the truth of what we have read sink in and shape how we think, speak, and live. This might not always be a practical action to do but it will always contribute to our slow formation into people who look like Jesus.
How does this passage glorify Jesus? How can you glorify Jesus in response?
What does it look like to live in light of this passage?
How does this affect the way that you relate to God, the world, others around you, yourself?
What does this passage lead you to give thanks for? How can it fuel your worship?
Is there anything for which this passage highlights the need to repent? Any sin from which you need to turn?
Are there any implications from this passage for how you study theology? How you speak about Jesus to others?
How has this passage helped you grow in your understanding of something? In what ways do you know God better?
5. Pray along with the passage:
Pick some things that you spoke about in application and pray about those things. This might be prayers of thanks and worship for who God is, prayers of petition and intercession for one another, or something else appropriate to the passage, your discussion it, and your lives.
