Learning and Living Scripture. Geoffrey D Lentz
Sharing
The final step is sharing. You do this both to give others the benefit of what you have learned and to benefit from their comments and perhaps corrections.
As you study and question, find something to share. Remember that sharing can be in the form of a question. For example, one might ask others how they understand a particular word, such as “incarnation,” “poverty,” or “atonement.” Take notes on their answers, and bring that information back to your study.
Then ask yourself what your neighbors will hear when you make particular statements, such as “I must be bold for Jesus!” or “Jesus is the only way to receive atonement.” Do those statements mean something to them? Do they mean the same thing to them as they do to you?
This is part of contemplatio, as you try to be and do the text. We often think of sharing primarily as telling someone things that we have learned. But if what you learned is that God loves prisoners, for example, you might find that the best way of sharing that lesson is to become active in prison ministry.
Sharing demonstrates that you don’t believe the text is your private possession. It is God’s gift to the Christian community.
4 Preparation and Resources
Getting ready for study and finding the best resources to aid in your study
Preparation
I was in a Bible study group in which we were discussing the gospels. We had just read one of the many passages in which the disciples fail to understand something that Jesus was teaching them. One class member immediately responded, “How could the disciples be so stupid? How could they possibly not understand?”
This type of response is very common in Bible study groups. We look at the Bible stories from outside, from the perspective of advanced, better informed people who obviously know much better than those who were involved. When we look from that perspective, we will tend to find the things in the story that will help us justify ourselves. “We are better; they were worse. We have advanced so much since their time!”
We’re not suggesting that we need to behave precisely as the characters in Bible stories behaved. What we are suggesting is that we need to come to the Bible prepared to learn from the text as we read it. We can learn from the good and the bad, from the clear and from the unclear. Having a learning attitude, and allowing our thinking to be challenged is more important than simply learning the facts.
In order to do this we need to be prepared for the type of study we plan to do, and also to be prepared in terms of our attitude. This is why we emphasize prayer before and during Bible study, or for those who are just looking at the Bible, but are not Christians, we recommend thinking specifically about your attitude as you study. This does not mean that you must decide to agree with everything that you read. Rather, you decide to learn from their experiences, and judge their experiences from their perspective.
Types of Study and their Purpose
We can place types of study along a continuum from general light reading to serious, point by point study. Don’t get the idea from the word “light” or “serious” that we think one end of the spectrum is better than the other. We think Bible study needs to involve a variety of activities, from reading long passages quickly, to careful examination of every grammatical detail of a verse.
Your preparation will relate to what you’re trying to do. When you set out to do some light reading of lengthy passages, select an easy to read Bible version and sit down in a place that is comfortable for you and just read. You don’t have to concentrate constantly in this case; the process is very similar to that of reading a novel. This will allow you to get an overview of whole books or blocks of books. For example, you can read Luke and Acts together in this way, trying to complete both books at one sitting. Other large blocks are Joshua through Kings, Chronicles along with Ezra and Nehemiah, or the entire Pentateuch (or just the narrative portions of it). Just remember to prepare for the type of study you intend to do.
Choosing a Passage
Your approach to study is going to depend on what you’re trying to study. You may be wondering just how you select the passage you’re going to study.
It may be that you have a passage selected for you, such as in your Sunday School curriculum, your church bulletin with the scripture reading on Sunday morning, or the passage selected by your small group.
If you are looking for a place to start there are a number of options.
1 Reading the Bible through. Many people try this method first, but it isn’t one of the better approaches to Bible study. You tend to get some of the most difficult material to interpret early in your study, such as Leviticus and Numbers.
2 Choosing a Bible book. Mark or John are good books to start with, though you’ll want to return to John again when you have more experience. John is simple on one level, but it offers depths that can only be reached through long and careful study.
3 Choosing a topic. This isn’t an approach we recommend in general, but if you study substantial passages from various books on a subject it can be valuable.
4 Using the Lectionary. The Lectionary is a calendar of Bible readings selected for use during the Christian year. These normally include an Old Testament passage, a Psalm, a selection from one of the epistles, and a gospel reading. The Lectionary uses three cycles of readings, each covering one year, cycles A, B, and C. You can find the current readings at www.textweek.com. If your church uses a Lectionary for worship, studying the Lectionary each week may help deepen your worship experience and further your learning.
Materials
Each person will use different materials. There are three major elements in deciding what materials you will use:
1 Notes If you like to take notes, you may want some extra note paper. Look for a size of paper that is easy to use, and also easy to preserve and organize. Pens or pencils for notes can be of any color you choose. Many Bible students use different colored pens in underlining, and occasionally in note taking, with the various colors indicating particular subjects. Some people don’t find that color coding helps them a great deal, but don’t hesitate to invest in some pens if it does. I tend to keep my notes in the margins of my Bible. As one of my wedding presents I received a New Revised Standard Version, printed by Cambridge University Press in their wide margin Minster text. I can take notes in the margins and add cross-references. I even keep complete sermon notes in the margins simply by giving my next scripture reference along with each key point. Recently, I have started to keep many of my notes in my Logos Bible software, which keeps them organized, and prevents me from discarding scraps of paper that have crucial notes. The bottom line here is to do what works, both in terms of colors and where you keep your notes.
2 Underlining Again, there are different approaches. Some readers tend simply to underline key points in the author’s devel-opment of his idea. I find using a highlighters with a colored flag dispenser attached helpful to tap items for follow up study. Highlighters and/or colored pens can make it easy to track down materials on a particular subject. Again, there are no rules here, but get the materials you need to mark texts and keep the notes you want for your study.
3 Purpose of your Study Consider the purpose of your study. There are several places in in this text where we suggest reading large portions of scripture quickly in order to get an overview. If you are going to sit down to read quickly, you may need nothing other than your Bible and a place to sit. If you are reading for an overview, resist the temptation to underline or take notes. As you read quickly, try to take in the whole picture.
Here are some possible materials and how they would be used.
Pen Note taking, including marginal notes if your Bible allows