Simplifying Bible Study To Focus On Gaining Wisdom

I have always loved Bible study (crack open your Bible and read, not read a book about a book of the Bible), but I haven't always felt like that time was well spent. My university studies taught me to effectively use a dictionary, track with transliteration, research for context (social, political, geographical), and at the very least notice literary devices and the effect they aim to create. I can use a concordance and atlas with the best of them. Consequently, I can read the Scriptures, but applying what I've read; articulating to others what I've learned, is the missing piece.

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Bible Study With A Purpose

My Bible study was focused on collecting and hoarding knowledge. That's not how living in community works nor how the spiritual gifts are supposed to work. I was hiding my talent. womp womp

Additionally, I needed to be able to articulate what I'd learned while also remaining humble and teachable; to live out what I was learning and not just take at face value everything I read. Not to say that reading what others think or have learned is bad -- absolutely not. Perhaps as a consequence of the times we're living in, I am convinced that I need to add more critical thinking to my study time.

To that end, I've narrowed in these points going forward:

• Simplify

• Reduce Overwhelm

• Consistency

• Grow/mature character

• Actively seek the fruit of the Spirit

• Stop looking for myself or my story in Scripture

Finding A Bible Study Plan

Something had to change in this pursuit of wisdom. I want to engage with the Scriptures in a new way; a less me-focused way. I want to read the Bible not to find my story there, or find myself in the pages, but ultimately see what the people in the text were learning, what the original audience was learning, and apply those lessons to my life now.

Perhaps, in summary, I want to intentionally pray for, nurture, and grow in wisdom.

While I can get lost for literally hours in Bible study, this does lead to overwhelm and I'm sidetracked following rabbit trails. When life happens and I take time off of studying, I struggle to get back to where I left off. I wanted a system that would simplify, focus my time, and force me away from pet subjects that are me-centred.

These three systems resonate with me and day to day I mash them up. With this in mind, take what works for you from each one, or follow one strictly, but find a system that resonates with you.

SOAP Method Of Bible Study

The soap method of Bible study stands for Scripture, Observation, Application, Prayer. There's a website that will walk you through various books of the Bible using this system. For instance, the plan for the book of Mark breaks the daily reading into eight weeks. There's a bare bones type of summary of how to use this plan.

If you're a fan of Bible reading plans, this one may resonate with you by doing the planning for you. Simplifying the mental load, so to speak. I like the addition of prayer to this model. Meditation, prayer, solitude, so many disciplines are served by this and when practiced regularly are transformative.

CMA by Faith Womack

This stands for Context, Meaning, and Application. I picked this up from Youtuber Faith Womack and I've watched a number of her videos about Bible journalling. I'm not sure if this originated with her, but that's where I discovered it.

Side Note: There are two kinds of Bible journalling: the artistic, pretty pictures journalling, and note-taking journalling. I'm a big fan of the latter and have been doing that for twenty years.

Context

Context is all the stuff going on behind the scenes that helps to explain what's being written. This includes info about the author, geography, politics, populations, social concerns, etc. Where in the Bible does this story take place -- what else has or will happen here? What is the context of this chapter in the book it's in? What place does the verse/chapter/book have in the larger context of Scriptures and the early Church?

Meaning 

This is understanding the literal meaning of what's written, but also understanding that these authors used poetic structures and literary devices such as metaphors and repetition to add meaning or emphasis.

Look for repetition, the same thing restated in a different way, prophesy/foreshadow, etc. I'm going to look at the footnotes included in my Bible. I'm going to learn the punctuation the publisher of my Bible has used to highlight which bits were present or absent in early manuscripts. I might look at a concordance, an atlas, or commentary.

Application

So what? How? Now What? What do you do with what you've learned? That's application. I'm asking how do I live this out? What do I need to change -- attitudes, priorities, actions, heart, etc. What do I need to spend time in prayer about? Where do I need to find accountability, or do further study?

PaRDeS - Jewish Hermeneutics

I've spent the last three years or so learning from Marty Solomon at BEMA Discipleship. He teaches primarily how an Eastern reader would approach the text; what additional meaning might an Eastern reader take from a passage (we have a Western - more Roman/Greek approach to understanding Scripture).

Marty talks about how looking at Scripture through the both the Eastern and Western viewpoints gives a more holistic understanding. He likens it to playing the piano with one hand and having just the melody. You can probably identify the tune, but when you play the piano with both hands, the sound is just that much richer.

Marty says, the Eastern reader wants to discover the truth, to uncover what the text is saying in a particular place to a particular people. When you discover the truth, it changes you.

Peshat 

This is the surface, straight meaning. What questions do I have after reading this passage? What doesn't make sense?

Remez 

I love that there's space for the deep allegorical or hidden meaning. This is where you learn about chiasm, parallelism, repetition, midrash, etc. There's balance needed here, right.

Drash 

Where else do we see this in the Bible? Is this place mentioned somewhere else? Is this passage echoing, quoting, or fulfilling another portion of Scripture? This is where we do word studies and look at themes, etc. Often, writers will allude to other stories other places, other uses of a word to bring additional meaning or understanding to the text.

John the Baptist, John the Immerser, dresses in camel hair and eats locusts and wild honey. Who else did strange things like that (I mean, this was odd even for the time)? The descriptions of him point readers towards Elijah -- a man who openly defied the ruler of his day, and led the wayward nation of Israel back towards faith in God. Hmmm....

Sod 

Don't get weirded out. This isn't *woo woo at all. This is the meaning given through inspiration or revelation. I think of Peter at Caesarea Philippi when Christ asks who do you say I am and Peter answers, you are the Christ, the son of the living God. And what does Jesus say? "Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven." (Find this story in Matt 16; Mark 8, Luke 9). This is Sod.

There's no new revelation, no new Scripture, that's not what this means to me (or a Jewish reader I would imagine). But sometimes God speaks directly to us through Bible study that's personal, that's corrective, that directs our hearts and steps. This doesn't happen often, but it does happen and I appreciate a system that makes space for this.

Create The System That Works For You

Maybe there are some aspects of each system that resonate with you? Do your own mashup. If you don't like writing in your Bible, print the passage or chapter out and mark that up! Get a notebook and record your thoughts and insights that way. Take time to pray and meditate. Simplify and take the focus on where YOU fit into Scripture, on seeing yourself in Scripture.

I'm off to find a new Bible I think. I've taken some really sketchy notes over the last twenty-five or so years. I'd like a clean slate. Keep the old Bible to consult the notes I've already taken, add the ones that add value and meaning, and make new notes.

Go! Focus Your Bible Study! Apply What You've Learned.

How do you actively engage in studying the Scriptures? Do you have a system or plan that helps you stay focused and avoid overwhelm?