Video Class

Lesson 1 - Guarding the Deposit

Welcome to the Training and Equipping Video course

In this course, you will learn what Inductive Bible Study is and how you can do it.

Paul’s second letter to Timothy is a wonderful summary and template for what we are trying to accomplish.

2 Timothy 1:14 KJV 1900

That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us.

In other words, you need to guard - good deposit of the Gospel and the truth of God’s word.

But how was this to be done?

2 Timothy 2:2 KJV 1900

And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.

So the deposit is guarded best when students of the Bible not only study well, but teach others to study and teach.

And the focus of Inductive Bible Study is of course the Bible.

2 Timothy 3:16–17 KJV 1900

All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

Inductive Bible Study helps us know what to do with our Bible so that we can understand and respond to all of it.

Not just our favorite parts, but even the parts that seem difficult and a little bit distant to us.

Therefore, the goals of this course are to (Develop, Equip, Deploy) you into fruitful Bible study and teaching ministry.

1. Develop - Our first goal is to Develop you

We need to develop individual skills in Bible study.

2 Timothy 2:15 KJV 1900

Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Inductive Bible Study implies that there are proper and improper ways of studying the Bible.

If you are unsure of these ways, there’s a greater probability that you are utilizing improper Bible study methods.

But lets take a step back and ask why it is important to develop good Bible study skills?

What you believe about the Bible impacts your life and the vibrancy of your worship.

Doctrine feeds doxology - Poor doctrine, poor doxology. Strong doctrine, strong doxology.

Doxology is the way in which you bring glory to God in every aspect of life - not just when you are worshipping at church - But when you do all that you do.

1 Timothy 4:1–16 KJV 1900

that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; 2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; 3 Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. 12 Let no man despise thy youth; (doxology is not a product of age, but a product of doctrine) … 13 Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.

A core aspect of church ministry is to help others develop Bible study skills so that they can teach others (2 Tim 2:2))

2. Equip - Our second goal is to equip you

I want you to be equipped to do this work.

Ephesians 4:11–16 KJV 1900

11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; (preposition) For the perfecting (equipping) of the saints, (so that) for the work of the ministry, (resulting in) for the edifying of the body of Christ: [The result is that the church would be strengthened, and wouldn’t be tossed around like a buoy in the ocean.]

A part of what equipping means is that you have good resources.

If you go to a carpenters shop, he has resources that equip him to do his craft well.

The same is true for Bible study…and I have good news - there are a lot of good resources - more than ever before and this course will help you get access to some of these resources

3. Deploy - The third goal is to deploy you

It is my desire to see men and women growing and teaching.

There’s a cyclical pattern to teaching. Kostenberger says that we are to:

How to Understand and Apply the New Testament: Twelve Steps from Exegesis to Theology What Is Exegesis?

1.

Inductive Bible study doesn’t end with the student. It spills over into the lives of those around the student.

Titus 2 KJV 1900

1 But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine: 2 That the aged men be (sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience.) 3 The aged women 4 That they may teach the young women 6 Young men likewise exhort to be sober minded. 9 Exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters, and to please them well in all things; not answering again; 10 Not purloining, but shewing all good fidelity; 10 that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things.

Titus 2 KJV 1900

15 These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee. (remember doxology isn’t a matter of age, it is a matter of doctrine)

Throughout this course, there are 4 Ground Rules we want to always remember...

Be Humble - We will not agree on everything.

Be Teachable - We all need to grow & no one is right on everything

Be Reasonable - Not everything is worth dying over

Be Worshipful - Every truth is meant to cultivate deep affections for God

Lesson 2 - Hermeneutics (the rules)

Welcome to the Training and Equipping Video course

In this course, you will learn what Inductive Bible Study is and how you can do it.

In this lesson, I want to give you a Road Map of Inductive Bible Study and then I want to define several words I will use throughout the course.

First, lets look at our Inductive Road Map which helps us see where we’re going and how we will get there.

It also helps you see how these words are connected and related to one another so when we define them, you already have a basic understanding of how they fit together.

Inductive Road Map

Hermeneutics > BIBLE > Exegesis > Theology (Biblical and Systematic) > Doxology

Our road map begins with HERMENEUTICS - which also happens to be the first word we will define in today’s lesson.

Now you might ask why hermeneutics comes before the Bible. (Why don’t we just start with the Bible?)

Without jumping to far ahead, hermeneutics is what we do when we approach the Bible.

Think of it like a lens. Depending on what lens you use to read the Bible you will see different things as you read.

So it’s important to use the proper lens/hermeneutic

The BIBLE is the subject matter. It’s origin is from God and it is completely authoritative in everything that it says.

How we approach the Bible is important and what we do with the Bible is important

This leads us to EXEGESIS which is the process we use to examine the Bible.

You may often hear the phrase “exegetical process” - what we do with what we find in the Bible

Exegesis is where we examine and analyze what is there

Exegesis is the second word we will define and we will discuss it in lesson 3.

What comes out of our exegesis is our THEOLOGY.

“Theology” is the sound doctrine Paul refers to in 1 Timothy 4.

It is what we understand about everything God says about Himself, mankind, sin, and redemption.

Theology begins with analyzing but moves to synthesizing (put things together)

Now, the focus of this Training and Equipping course is not to teach you theology, but to teach you how to get to good theology on your own

Which brings us to DOXOLOGY.

The point of Inductive Bible study is worship

Some people study the Bible because they have a high view of themself: they want to have the answers, they want to be right, they want to be the person in the spotlight teaching...

But doxology is quite literally the opposite and Inductive Bible Study helps us understand that.

The inductive process focuses on what God is saying which always magnifies His glory, not ours.

And when a person practices inductive study consistently, it begins to to shape how they view themselves and God.

That is when Christ increases and we decrease (in the words of John the Baptist).

In this lesson, the only word we will define is Hermeneutics.

1. Hermeneutics

How to Understand and Apply the New Testament: Twelve Steps from Exegesis to Theology What Is Exegesis?

(Naselli) Hermeneutics concerns

Remember - our hermeneutic is like a lens we use to read and interpret

It’s important to know that you use hermeneutics every time someone communicates with you.

You do this without even realizing it.

Let me give you an example:

If you’re reading a news paper and you read the phrase “and he died” what does that mean? how should you respond to that?

If you’re reading the comic section, there is a rule and principle you automatically understand. You know this phrase is supposed to be funny so you laugh.

But what if you’re reading an obituary, there is another rule you understand. The author isn’t trying to be funny, he is being literal.

Faith Seminary - Brent Aucoin

Universal principles of communication | established by God | in order for us to understand Him and have genuine relationship with him.

Let me summarize by saying that Hermeneutics are the rules we use to read and understand truth so that we can genuinely worship God.

Some Rules of Proper Hermeneutics

Let me give you two of the most important rules

1. What we see in the Bible should be understood literally (or normally) in its context.

In other words, it means what it says...

If it’s a figure of speech, it should be understood how that figure of speech is normally understood

If it’s not a figure of speech, it should be interpreted to mean exactly what it says

2. We should interpret based on the priority of authorial intent. (what the author intended to say)

In other words, it means what the author meant to say

Not what you want it to say or even what you think the author is saying, but WHAT THE AUTHOR SAID IN THEIR CONTEXT

As I conclude this lesson, you should know that using different rules produce different results

Therefore, understanding hermeneutics (to some degree) is really important.

In his book, The Hermeneutical Spiral - Grant Osborne

“The big problem with Bible study today is that we think it should be easier than other things we do.”

Bible study takes work, but the work is worth it and it directly impacts your Christian joy

Osborne also asks,

“Why do we think that the Bible is the only subject we should not have to study? - Make the Bible your hobby.”

Lesson 3 - Exegesis (Exegetical Process)

Welcome to the Training and Equipping Video course

In this course, you will learn what Inductive Bible Study is and how you can do it.

In this lesson, I will define Exegesis and illustrate what happens when you do the opposite of Exegesis.

In our last lesson we learned that Hermeneutics are the rules and principles we use to approach the Bible

Now, Exegesis is the process we use to examine the details.

The word Exegesis:

Literally means, “to guide out” (Exegesis - or the Exegetical Process is how we ensure that what we say is what the Bible is saying)

We are guiding out of the text what the text says.

Exegesis examines and analyzes on every scale possible.

In his book....

How to Understand and Apply the New Testament: Twelve Steps from Exegesis to Theology What Is Exegesis?

[Naselli says] Hermeneutics concerns principles of interpretation (i.e., it’s about how the interpretive process works), and exegesis applies those principles. Hermeneutics supplies the tools to discover a text’s meaning, and exegesis uses those tools (and discover’s what is there).

Let me try to illustrate the difference between Hermeneutics and Exegesis by using the example of a detective

If you were a detective entering a crime scene:

Hermeneutics would be the rules and principles you would follow before you enter the crime scene.

You wouldn’t assume you know who committed the crime before you entered the scene

Nor would you assume what the evidence was telling you before you saw it

In this case, the rules of understanding a crime scene include things like:

reserving judgment and just looking at the evidence.

You would assume that the evidence has something to say and your goal would be to grasp what it is saying, not what you want it to say

Now Exegesis is the process you follow to “guide out” of the scene what the evidence actually says

Exegesis is going to put gloves on before you touch anything.

Exegesis will look at the scene as a whole and look at each individual element

Exegesis will use a blacklight

Exegesis will take pictures of each element and log them in a journal

If you enter a crime scene with the right hermeneutic and apply the correct exegetical principles, there is a high likely hood you will figure out exactly what happened.

Likewise, in Bible study, our theology will be accurate when it is based on good exegesis.

In his book, Inductive Bible Study on page 340, Kostenberger rightly says that

Inductive Bible Study: Observation, Interpretation, and Application through the Lenses of History, Literature, and Theology Be Exegetical

“valid theologizing must follow the sound exegesis of the appropriate biblical texts.”

The opposite of exegesis is eisegesis which literally means “to guide in”

So using our crime scene illustraiton: exegesis lets the evidence say what it wants to say while eisegesis moves the evidence (or worse plants evidence) in order to let the detective say what he wants to say.

We can clearly see how that would impede a criminal investigation, so how much more would it impede our ability to hear and obey God’s word?

If it’s important for a legal court, it is infinitely more important to understand the God of the universe.

Warning - We tend to be Eisegetical by nature (our sinful hearts are bent to ourselves more than they should be)

Therefore we must work hard at applying exegetical principles to our Bible study.

Before we conclude, I want to briefly illustrate something we tend to do that is not exegesis...

Proof-Texting

Proof-Texting is when you use a scripture passages to support something you want to say, without considering the broader context or intended meaning of the text.

We could call this “Textjacking” - You’re stealing the text from the author to say what you want to say

Does this happen? YES

Why would anyone ever do it?

We want to prove a moral directive

We want to motivate or give self help

“If you worship me, all will be yours.” Luke 4:7

We want to make an appeal for political support

We want to prove our systematic theology

In conclusion, as Bible students, we aim to be exegetical, not eisegetical.

What we say should always be biblical:

We don’t use the Bible to prove what we’re saying (even if what we’re saying is a biblical truth).

We say things to demonstrate what the Bible is saying (even if we don’t like it).

Lesson 4 - Inductive (Method)

Welcome to the Training and Equipping Video course

In this course, you will learn what Inductive Bible Study is and how you can do it.

In this lesson, I will define Inductive and explain

To review, Hermeneutics are the rules and principles we use to approach the Bible

Exegesis is the process we use to examine the details.

In this lesson, we will see that Inductive refers to the method we use to take the details and draw a conclusion.

A good way to understand what Inductive means is to compare it to Deduction.

How does Köstenberger explain Inductive and Deductive?

Inductive Bible Study: Observation, Interpretation, and Application through the Lenses of History, Literature, and Theology Induction v. Deduction

Without getting bogged down in the theoretical, it’s important at this point to consider the merits of inductive, or evidence-based, study vis-à-vis (in relation to) deductive, or assumption-based, study.

The Inductive method is evidence based and the Deductive method is assumption based.

Let’s go back to the illustration about the detective.

An Inductive detective would be a CSI team. They examine everything in detail and do not make any conclusions until all the evidence demands a conclusion.

A Deductive detective would be Sherlock Holmes. He examines a few things and then considers all potential conclusions and then selects the one that seems most probable.

Bible study and Theology includes both, but at different times for different reasons.

It always begins with Inductive Bible Study and moves to Deduction only after every particular is examined.

Kostenberger explain it this way:

Inductive study begins with details (particulars) and moves to assertion (universals)

Deductive study begins with an assertion (universals) and moves to details (particulars)

The inductive method moves from the text in its context to an understanding of the text and finally toward an application.

These steps are frequently called Observation, Interpretation, and Application.

Observation - Text

Interpretation - Them/Then

Response - What the text means FOR us

Inductive Bible Study: Observation, Interpretation, and Application through the Lenses of History, Literature, and Theology Induction v. Deduction

And as we trace our own personal histories of preaching, teaching, and writing, we’re quite certain that there are cases where we, too, have not allowed the Bible to speak for itself, where we have imposed our own understanding upon the text before discovering its meaning through the process of inductive p 38 study. Nevertheless, we’re convinced that induction, as a driving force in Bible study, is superior to deduction and can produce more accurate and reliable results.