Tag: Writing

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The Most Basic Bible Study Tools

The Most Basic Bible Study Tools

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What tools and techniques do you need to understand Scripture properly? If you look up books on hermeneutics, you will be greeted by a host of methods for understanding the Biblical text. Suffice to say, whether you are a new believer or a seasoned expositor, you can always find ways to improve your analysis and application of Scripture. However, just like in an actual tool box, there are some tools that are so fundamental and useful that everyone needs to know how to use them. In this post, I want to give two of the most basic Bible study tools that you need in order to understand Scripture.

Tool #1: Decomposition

Decomposition is simply taking something complicated and breaking it down. You come in contact with decomposition every day without even realizing it:

  • Recipes decompose a dish into a series of logical steps
  • Your GPS decomposes a route into a sequence of turns
  • A to-do list decomposes your day into tasks to complete
  • A puzzle decomposes into a large set of individual pieces
  • Sentence diagrams break apart a sentence into its component parts of speech (nouns, verbs, etc.)
  • A pros and cons list decomposes a decision into its benefits and drawbacks

And those are only a couple examples. Essentially, the goal of decomposition is to take the complex and make it simple. Decomposition allows you to understand the pieces that make up the whole. The best metaphor for decomposition is taking apart a puzzle: you have something big and complex and you want to break it apart into pieces to understand how they fit together.

Decomposition is one of the most basic bible study tools you can apply to a text. You can view any text of Scripture, long or short, as a complicated blend of language, theology, historical context, authorial intent, and a host of other things. Your goal in decomposition is to simply separate each of these pieces in order to examine and understand them. You break text apart so when you put it back together again, you understand how the pieces relate to the whole.

Decomposition Example

There are countless specific ways to decompose a Biblical text. You can decompose it based on the languages, you can decompose it in terms of how it relates to the surrounding context, you can decompose it by looking at the “5 Ws and H”. Any time you divide and examine the parts of a Biblical text, you are doing decomposition. Consider the verse below:

but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

John 20:31 ESV

You might roughly decompose this verse by outlining it as follows:

  • What: These are written
    • Why: So that you may believe
      • What: That Jesus is
      • Who: the Christ, the Son of God
    • Why: and that by believing you may have life
      • How: in his name

As you can see, by simply doing this rough and approximate decomposition, you can already begin to notice some features of the text. The main point of the verse is to describe why John wrote his gospel and there appears to be two related reasons given: that the reader might believe something about Jesus and that the reader might experience the outcome of that belief. You can further analyze the text by asking what specific things does John mention that a person should believe about Jesus.

Again, this is only a rough example of one way you can decompose a text. There a countless other tools that are essentially ways of decomposing a text. But the important thing to notice here is that good decomposition can lead to better observations. Before you make observations of the text, start with decomposing it. Once you have the pieces broken out, you can look at them and then make more insightful observations on each component of the text and how it relates to the whole.

Tool #2: Externalization

The second of these two basic Bible study tools is externalization. Your mind can only hold so much inside it at once. Therefore, a crucial tool for analysis is externalization. This means simply getting what you are thinking in your mind written down on paper. Again, you externalize throughout every day of your life:

  • You write out a meal plan so you don’t have to remember all the meals for the week
  • Your to-do list is simply an externalization of what you think you need to get done in a day
  • When you take notes during a presentation you are externalizing ideas you want to remember so you don’t have to trust yourself to remember every detail of the presentation
  • Any form of writing is externalization and if you are reading this post, you are simply reading an externalization of my own mind and thoughts

Externalization gets your thoughts outside of your mind. And the purpose of this is simple: once your thoughts are written down you can examine them critically, add or subtract from them, reword them in a better way, and otherwise analyze them. The more you externalize, the less you have to hold in your mind at once and the better you can think about an issue.

Externalization stands out amongst other basic bible study tools because a lot of times people don’t actually think of it as a “tool”. Even though a lot of Christians journal or write their thoughts on a text when preparing a sermon, very rarely do they consider how important externalizing their thoughts about a text is. Whether you are doing a brief morning devotion or preparing a 45-minute sermon, you need to externalize all your thoughts about a text.

Ideas for Externalization

Why does this help in Bible study? Because thoughts and insights are fleeting. Don’t ever assume you will remember an insight about a text tomorrow that you noticed today. If you see something noteworthy, write it down. My Bibles are covered with notes and cross references that came to mind when I read a particular passage. If I notice a repetition in the text, I externalize it by circling the repeated word. When I intuitively understand the structure of a passage, I write a quick outline and save it for later.

As with decomposition, there are many ways you can externalize your thoughts when studying a passage:

  • Have a blank journal where you write down your thoughts as you read through the Bible
  • Write down related texts that come to mind in your Bible when you read a particular passage
  • Have a folder of “sermon skeletons” where you have rough outlines of passages
  • Circle, underline, use multi-colored pens, anything to notate to your future self what you notice in a particular text as you study

Your mind will not be able to hold everything you know about Scripture at once. By externalizing your insights, you can come back at a later date and see if you notice the same things you noticed in the past. Externalizing is a Bible study tool because it allows you to connect thoughts you have had in the past to what you are studying in the present. Every time you read a good commentary you are benefiting from someone else externalizing their thoughts. By getting something down in writing, you can come back to it later and analyze it and reorganize it as needed.

Conclusion

Decomposition and externalization, in my opinion, are the most basic Bible study tools and almost every other tool or method depends on both of these. Even if you didn’t know it, you probably have used these tools in the past when you study a text. Improving in Bible study is not just about learning more and more new techniques. You also need to work on getting better at the fundamentals. If you can master the arts of decomposition and externalization, you will see fruit in your Bible study, your teaching, and your preaching.

This post was inspired in part by a section in “Psychology of Intelligence Analysis” by Richards Heuer, Jr. It is a good read if you want more detail on these subjects.

If you want more tools to help you in your personal Bible study, click here. If you found this post helpful, share on social media and subscribe below. Follow The Average Churchman on Instagram to get more content.

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100th Post: 3 Reasons I Created the Average Churchman

100th Post: 3 Reasons I Created the Average Churchman

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Today marks the 100th post on “The Average Churchman.” I really can’t believe it has been over a year since I started The Average Churchman. I’m grateful to the Lord for this opportunity to write and reflect on His truth. I’m grateful to my wife for all her support. And I am so very grateful to you, my readers, who have encouraged me along the way and appreciated my thoughts. In light of this milestone, I thought it would be useful to write out some of the reasons I created The Average Churchman.

1. To keep track of all the Bible study tools I found

The first of several reasons why I created the Average Churchman was both personal and practical: I simply wanted a place to contain all the different Bible study tools I found. Before this website, I simply used a massive Google document full of different Bible study methods, application questions, tips and tricks and anything else related to Bible study. It got a little unwieldy, so I thought a better solution would be a website.

This idea especially came to me when trying to teach younger men at Church how to study the Bible. Why not have a website with the different tools I had found so I could give them the resources they needed? This became the “Tools” section of my website in which I write some of my favorite and most technical posts. Even though I have written on topics such as outlining, applying a text, structuring a sermon, and many others, I still have a ton more Bible study tools to share with you. Hopefully in the coming years, I will be able to get more and more resources that I have found on this site for you to utilize.

2. To practice writing

I have always been an avid reader, but I had never tried my hand at writing consistently. After I started the Average Churchman, it became clear to me that I wasn’t just creating a place to store Bible study tools. Another one of the reasons I created the Average Churchman was to give me a place to practice my writing. If you look at one of my early posts compared with a recent one, you can see how far I’ve come. I’m more than a little embarrassed by the quality of my early posts.

Practicing writing also had a personal and practical purpose. My local Church has given me more and more consistent opportunities to teach and preach. I currently am teaching Kids4Truth every Sunday night, teaching Sunday School once or twice a month, and preaching several times a year. I realized that, as a busy husband, father, and employee, I needed to become better at writing in order to create better teachings at a faster rate. I needed a place to practice taking my Bible study or personal thoughts, structuring them into a logical flow, and then expounding on them in written prose.

Honestly, looking back over the past 100 posts, I am so grateful for the ways God has grown me through simply writing what I am learning and what I am reading. The simple act of writing several days a week clarifies your thoughts, improves essential skills like analysis, communication, and outlining, and also has the added reward of externalizing your thoughts to share with others. If there is one thing that has surprised me, it is how much I have enjoyed writing posts for others to read.

3. To encourage average Church members in their walk with the Lord

I chose the website name “The Average Churchman” for two reasons. The first, is that I am not an Elder at my Church, nor a Pastor. In that sense, I am just an “Average Churchman” who writes his thoughts on Scripture and Church-related topics. No MDiv. No ordination. I am just a Christian who is a member of a local Church. But the second reason I named this site “The Average Churchman” is because I wanted to encourage all Church members in their walk with the Lord.

I wanted to write about topics normal Church members who work a 9 to 5 think about and deal with on a week to week basis. To talk about things as simple as “how should I do my work?” and “I feel lonely at Church. How can I grow closer to those Church members around me?” Every Bible study tool I have shared, every book quote I have analyzed, every reflection I have shared has been for one purpose: to encourage you as you seek to glorify God and imitate Christ.

Conclusion: My love letter to the local Church

I love the local Church. And as much as I have been encouraged by my Elders and my Pastor, ultimately every Sunday morning service, every small group, every Bible study is made edifying by normal Church members. People who aren’t called to formal ministry but who do ministry every day in their homes, at their work, and yes, in the local Church. I’d like to think that this website is, at it’s best, simply my love letter to the local Church. I owe everything I am today to God using “average” Church members in extraordinary ways.

And if my writing encourages one Church member to be more faithful to the Word of God, then this website is a success and has done exactly what I intended it to do.

Soli Deo Gloria.

Click here to read other reflection pieces that I have published. If you found this post helpful, share on social media and subscribe below. Follow The Average Churchman on Instagram to get more content.

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Practical Ways to Practice Writing

Practical Ways to Practice Writing

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Writing was never my favorite subject in School growing up. I didn’t hate it, but I never imagined I would enjoy it. Now, But as I have grown, I have found the power and pleasure writing brings. A question has always been in the back of my mind though: how does one become a good writer? What should you do to practice writing?

Others have made the crucial point that “writer’s write.” But if you are already writing, how do you become better at your craft? I was reading a secular book called “Grit” the other day, and part of a chapter gave me the answer I was looking for. Apparently, Benjamin Franklin devised a practical way to practice writing. I think his method is worth sharing.

How Ben Franklin became a better writer

Practice writing by “rewriting” the work of others

In his autobiography, Franklin described a simple but effective method he used to improve his writing. The first exercise he discussed had the following steps:

  1. Find a piece of writing you admire (choose something small to medium length, like an essay)
  2. Make short notes on each sentence
  3. Wait a while, normally a day or two
  4. Try to rewrite the original piece using only your notes
  5. Compare your “rewrite” with the original to see where you can improve

This is a brilliant little method for improving your writing. Essentially, you use the writing of others to get instant feedback on your own writing. You begin to see all the choices writers have to make as they find words to describe reality or abstractions. Since most of us don’t have an English teacher at our beck and call to edit our writing, rewriting an essay and comparing it with the original is a useful way to see where you can improve as a writer.

If you want to try this, find an article on Desiring God that you enjoy and see if you can rewrite it. You will be amazed at the insight you get into your “writing style” simply by performing this exercise once.

Practice writing by analyzing the logic and structure

Getting feedback on your writing in general is not always enough. You must test your ability to string together logical arguments and test the way you structure papers. This second exercise is similar to the one above, with a few notable additions:

  1. Find a piece of writing you admire (choose something small to medium length, like an essay)
  2. Make short notes on each sentence. Put each sentence’s notes on a separate note card or sticky note
  3. Wait about three days
  4. Jumble up your note cards or sticky notes
  5. Try to put them back in a logical order
  6. Proceed to try to rewrite the piece you made notes on using only your notes
  7. Compare your “rewrite” with the original to see where you can improve

As you can see, the process is almost identical to the first exercise except you mix up your notes. This added step forces you to think about how to organize your writing. It makes you think about the flow of a paper. Structure and logic are crucial to good writing, and this exercise makes you “reverse engineer” both of these from a paper.

I have written before about the need to analyze a Bible passage’s argument in your study. I also wrote a whole post on the many different ways you could structure a teaching or sermon. This exercise gives you practice structuring your thoughts. And clear thinking often leads to clear writing.

Practice writing by poetry

Finally, Franklin gave what I consider to be the most interesting exercise of all. The first exercise gave you instant writing feedback, the second forced you to think about logic and structure; this final exercise is about expanding your command of language itself. The process is shorter than the previous two exercises:

  • Take a story (or some other form of prose) and write it as poetry
  • Wait enough time to forget the original story
  • Turn your poem back into narrative form
  • Compare with the original

I love this: you write poetry based on non-poems. How does this help you? Poetry is full of metaphor, imagery, and language meant to engage your five senses. In order to turn a non-poem into a poem, you must use all of these tools and ask yourself “If this event/line/concept was a poem, what would it say? How can I use sensory language to describe the same things going on in this non-poem?”

Interestingly, this is something the Bible does all the time. After the Red Sea crossing, for example, you read an extended poem responding to and interpreting the previous event. The Bible uses poetry and narrative oftentimes to describe the exact same event. Even if you never become “a poet”, this exercise improves your writing by forcing you to think “poetically.”

What if you don’t have time?

That is how Benjamin Franklin improved his writing. I don’t know about you, but I don’t always have extra time to spare doing extra exercises to practice my writing. Thankfully, Christians can perform these exercises as they do their normal spiritual disciplines.

Write a teaching based on a passage of Scripture

The first exercise is the easiest to do:

  1. Read a passage of Scripture
  2. Take notes as you study
  3. A couple days later, write a brief teaching based on that passage from your notes only
  4. Compare it with the original passage to see anything you missed

One of the reasons I have ongoing teaching series on this website is to force myself to perform Franklin’s first exercise. Bible study is vital for every Christian, but a lot of benefit comes from writing out what you studied in the form of a teaching. After you finish your study, ask yourself “how would I communicate these truths to others?”

There are always opportunities to teach and share truth with others. You don’t have to be a pastor or a Sunday School teacher. Share truth in your home, in your small groups. The process of writing out what you learned from a Bible study will not only cause you to remember God’s truth better and longer, it will also improve your writing.

Outline a passage or a sermon you listened to

Similarly, you can get the benefits of Franklin’s second exercise simply from outlining. Outlining forces you to think how a passage or a sermon is structured. Here is how to do it:

  1. Read a passage of Scripture or listen to a sermon
  2. Take notes on the structure of the passage or sermon in outline form
  3. Leave and come back to the same passage you read or heard preached a couple days later
  4. Make a second outline and compare it with the first

Outlining is one of many important Bible study tools. When I prepare a sermon, outlining is the first thing I do. You have to understand the structure and logic and flow of a passage first. But an added benefit is outlining makes you a better writer.

I don’t bother writing anything on this website without first having a clear structure and flow in my mind. Sometimes I change it as I write, but if you don’t have a plan going in, it becomes hard to get anything on the page.

Write hymns and spiritual songs based on Scripture

Franklin’s third writing exercise is actually the easiest for a Christian. You and I are called to “sing unto the Lord a new song.” In my experience, the best songs are those tied closely to Scripture. So, follow these steps:

  1. Find a passage of Scripture which grips you
  2. Turn that passage of Scripture into a hymn

You don’t need to necessarily share this song you wrote with the whole Church. But you can. God is worthy of infinite worship, so you can never have enough songs to sing to Him. Write a new one, a personal one to Him. Base it off the promises in His word. And you will also find your writing and use of language will improve as you do this.

Conclusion

Writing is rarely easy, but I have found it is always rewarding. It is an avenue of creativity the Lord gave humans as a means to externalize their thoughts and feelings and reflections. God chose to reveal Himself most directly through the written word. Christians should value and seek to develop writing and reading as skills. There are many ways to do this, but I hope the practical tips Franklin used can be useful for your own life as well.

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