Inductive Bible Study #3 – Discovering the Train of Thought

Unless we are joining together random thoughts and experiences, we tend toward a logical rhythm to our written ideas. In a letter, one sentence unfolds to reveal the need for the next. In a book, words are shaped into phrases, joined with like ideas to form sentences, lumped together to build paragraphs, strung in line to create paragraphs. When studying a selection of verses in the Bible, it is wise to note the flow of ideas also known as the “Train of Thought”. Once the inductive observations have been made, this is the formative step to create a helpful and accurate interpretation.

To illustrate this, let’s return to the passage we originally looked at to showcase observational skills – John 2:1-5. The story of the Water turned into wine marks the first recorded miracle Jesus did in the Gospels. As the forerunner, it teaches us much about his approaching public ministry.

1 On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there,2 and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding.3 When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”4 “Woman  why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.” 5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

Because this paragraph is telling a story, we can discern the train of thought without much effort. John’s idea flow goes something like this:

1. A wedding
2. Jesus mom attends
3. Jesus and his disciples attend
4. They run out of wine
5. His mother tells Jesus they are out of wine.
6. He tells her about his mission.
7. She tells them to do what he says.

That’s all there is to it. So what is the purpose to laying out the passage in this design? It is impossible to interpret meaning until you can take random ideas and string them into something you recognize. For many people, the writing of the Scriptures are treated like ancient heiroglyphics, dutifully read but little understood. When we have to restate simply the stream of ideas, then our mind engages the truth. It is at this point we can then take the observations and tie them into the train of thought.

If you re-examine the list above, one of the points stands out from the rest. Most of these ideas are straight-forward, mundane details of life in a village. The real point of the passage is the point that jumps out. Can you see it? It is the statement of Jesus about his mission. It is this statement that colors all the other elements of the story. Next time, we’ll determine how you can merge your inductive observations with this discovered Train of Thought.

How to Do Inductive Bible Study #2: Special Observations

 With Inductive Bible Study, you simply observe what is there before drawing any conclusions. This is different than other methods of studying the Bible that people use where they go looking for verses that back up what they already believe. So how do you do Inductive Bible Study?

When you are observing anything, you often do two things. First, you use your senses to determine what is happening. In this case, the writers of the Bible have already done that. They have used their senses to record what was happening, where and when it happened and who said what (including God). The second thing you do when you observe is to ask questions: who, what, where, when and how. (Why is also a question, but that doesn’t come in until you are ready to interpret what you’ve found). This is exactly what a scientist does in an experiment. They observe before they interpret.

In the first lesson, we saw how you can use your basic observation skills and the “reporter’s questions” to milk meaning out of the Bible section you are studying. But sometimes, just looking at the words will not give you enough of the meaning to build an interpretation. There are four special observations that also need to be made and in this lesson we’ll go through all four using a parable from Luke chapter 11:5–8:  The parable of the Friend at Night.

 ⁵ Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; ⁶ a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ ⁷ And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ ⁸ I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.

From this passage, let’s see the four special observations that we need to make while studying a passage.

1. Contrasts: The easiest way to begin building meaning and interpretation out of any story or teaching is to look at the elements that contrast. There are easy contrasts to spot that use language (eg. “Not this…but that” and “He said…but she said”). However, sometimes the contrasts are not all that easy to spot at first glance. In this passage, there are several contrasts:

• A friend has come…I have no food
• Don’t bother me…I can’t get up
• Lend me three loaves…a friend of mine has come on a journey (a contrast of roles: one supplies food, the other is traveling)
• My children and I are in bed…you go to him at midnight
• even though…yet because of the shameless audacity he will get up

The purpose of the contrast is to show the flow of ideas, action, character and plot. If you can spot where there is a contrast, you will know where the critical points of meaning are found.

2. Conflict: Conflict is a contrast where two things are actively ( or in some cases, passively) opposing one another. In this scene, there is the conflict between the friend at the door and the man in the bed. There is the conflict between the friendship and the audacity. There is the conflict between the need to eat and the need to stay in bed and sleep. Conflict often tells us what we are supposed to be watching for. They are like beacons telling us that something needs to be changed, or needs to be addressed, or needs to be heeded.

3. Repetitive Words: Often this is an observation made more easily in a longer passage of Scripture. For instance, it is often necessary when studying an entire book of the Bible inductively to see the key words that flow all through the book. But in this passage, we see a couple of words that repeat. Obviously the word “friend” is mentioned numerous times. When we come back to interpretation keys later in our lessons, we’ll return to this passage and we’ll see the word “friend” is the key to a proper interpretation of this parable. “Bread” is mentioned a couple of times, as is the phrase “get up”. These are also key ideas that will come out in the interpretation.

4. Unusual Concepts: This passage contains a concept which at first glance may not seem obvious. But when you are asking questions of the passage (as we did in lesson #1), you often make observations that raise other questions. For instance, in this passage we read about a man traveling at night. Was this a practice they did a lot in those days? Was it safe to do so? Why did this guy need to be fed in the middle of the night? Asking questions like this will go a long way in solving the meaning of the Scripture you are studying. If you don’t ask those questions, you may find that the Bible is just a collection of sentences that don’t form any real ideas in your mind. Or, you may have wondered why it is significant that they guy can’t get up because of his children. Is he afraid of waking them up? What were the houses like back then? How would the father getting up affect the children? These questions form a great backbone in the future interpretation.

How to Do Inductive Bible Study – Step One: Observe

There are several legitimate ways to study the Bible. Most people just read it the way they look out a window on a road trip: They’re going somewhere and want to see if anything long the way interests them. If that describes your normal way of studying the Bible, would you be willing to learn a different way?

Inductive Bible Study is a method built around the idea of “inducing” something. Inductive reasoning is the process where we observe, interpret and discover something rather than figuring it out before observing. With Inductive Bible Study, you simply observe what is there before drawing any conclusions. So how do you do it?

When you are observing anything, you often do two things. First, you use your senses to determine what is happening. In this case, the writers of the Bible have already done that. They have used their senses to record what was happening, where and when it happened and who said what (including God). The second thing you do when you observe is to ask questions: who, what, where, when and how. (Why is also a question, but that doesn’t come in until you are ready to interpret what you’ve found). This is exactly what a scientist does in an experiment. They observe before they interpret.

Let’s give an example of how you might observe something from the Bible. It is often good to start with a section of Scripture that is narrative (meaning that someone is telling a story or relating an historical event). In this case, let’s start at John 2:1–5. This tells the beginning of the story where Jesus turned water into wine (every wine lover just had their interest piqued).

Let’s make a few observations using the five questions:

1. Who: make a list of all the “whos” in these five verses:

• Jesus’ mother
• Jesus
• His disciples
• the servants.

2. What: This lists all the nouns in the passage:

• third day
• wedding
• wine
• “my time”
• “whatever he tells you”

3. Where:

• Cana in Galilee
• “there”
• “to the wedding” (note: sometimes a place is implied..the wedding is both a thing and a place)

4 When:

• On the third day
• “when the wine was gone”
• “my time” (this is both a what and a when)

5. How: (this will be a list of all the verbs and action ideas)

• wedding took place
• mother was there
• had been invited
• wine was gone
• mother said to him
• they have no more
• why…involve me?
• my time…not come.

As you’re making the list, you are building the stones together to form your interpretation. The more thorough and clear your observation is, the more opportunity you have to get the interpretation correct. If you skip over the observations you will make glaring errors of assumption and application that will be regretable. Next time we will talk about another element of observation: Setting.