Many who own Bibles don’t know how to use them. They’re good at absorbing and repeating material from sermons, commentaries, and blogs, but the average Christian alone with a Bible is as helpless as the average guitarist stuck with real sheet music.
The Reformation and its offspring put Bibles in the hands of ordinary people, but these hands are often clumsy in their craft. So explanatory materials multiply according to their kinds, and swarms of leaders want to help but often don’t know how.
These leaders may have effective ministries. People come to Christ. People grow in Christ. People lead others to Christ and engage their communities. The church or small group thrives. But the ministry often centers on the leader. People come to the leader with questions; they get answers and go on their way.
Maybe you’re one of these leaders, but you want a better legacy for the Lord—one where you can make disciple-making disciples—but you don’t quite know how to reproduce yourself. You do what you do instinctively, and you’re not sure how to package it up for wholesale distribution.
Here’s my attempt to offer such a package. It’s not so much a program as a way of thinking. I offer it not as the only right way to do it, but merely as a pattern I’ve found helpful.
Phil Sexton (2008), Creative Commons
Part 1: Teach OIA
Some parts of the Bible are hard to understand, and those who are untaught or unstable will distort them (2 Peter 3:16). Unstable people distort the Bible intentionally. Untaught people distort it unintentionally. But both groups fail to study the Bible properly and end up distorting it. The first category needs a stable foundation, and the second needs only to be taught.
So we teach the basics. We teach the main point of the Bible. And we teach observation, interpretation, and application (OIA). It’s the best method we can give people. See this post for a summary of the method (you can learn it or teach it in 5 minutes). And see this post for an explanation of all the parts.
I find it helpful to have a forum for discussing the OIA process itself. I might give a brief overview at the beginning of a Bible study. Or, I might discuss it with a group one step at a time over 10 weeks or so, while we also study through a book (see Part 2). The key is to take time to be explicit about the best way to approach the Bible.
Part 2: Demonstrate OIA
Abstract principles aren’t enough; people need to see them in action with real Bible texts.
Most leaders already follow this part of the model. Teaching the Bible fits well within their job description, because they know people need sound Bible teaching (2 Tim 4:1-5, 2 Pet 3:1-7).
And people must have examples to imitate. Without them, they’re more lost than the audience at a revival service. Jesus saw himself as a pattern for his disciples to follow (Matt 16:24-25). Paul had the same expectation (1 Thess 1:6, 2 Thess 3:9, 1 Cor 11:1). So also those who teach the word should be examples to the flock (2 Tim 2:2, 1 Pet 5:3).
The point that’s easy to miss is that our teaching should be imitable. That is, others should be able to imitate it. If we’re not imitable, our ministry will always center on us as leaders. It slows down when we slow down. It dies when we die.
When you teach the Bible, do you “show your work”? Are you clear about both the truth of the text and the manner through which you discovered that truth from the text? Could a listener go back to the same passage and arrive at the same conclusions?
Herein lies the beauty of a discussion format, whether in a small group or classroom setting. I set some ground rules: that we all must be honest about what the text says, even if we disagree with it (the last point is important if I want non-Christians to feel welcome to the discussion). I reserve the right to keep the discussion on point and to keep people’s noses in the text. I can then measure how imitable my prepared conclusions were by how close the group’s conclusions come to them.
Part 3: Practice OIA
Spirit-Fire (2010), Creative Commons
Don’t stop at Part 2 of the model. It’s not enough for people to see you demonstrate good Bible study principles in your teaching. They must also practice the principles on their own, like in-season athletes conditioning their bodies for competition. They have to internalize the principles. They have to pickle in them for weeks and months.
Thus, though a weekend seminar on Bible study might give a nice push in the right direction, it won’t be sufficient on its own to train people.
When all your Bible teaching drips with OIA, people will catch on. Then you can set expectations for the learning environment and ask people to practice the skills themselves. You could give homework to those who attend your classes or studies, and then you can have them report on how it’s going.
In some studies (with people who have already learned the principles), I require participants to do their own OIA preparation. At the meeting, I won’t even read the text. I’ll begin with, “so what struck you in your study this week?” It’s a little like off-roading, but with more adrenaline, I think.
As people practice the skills, they experience the benefits. Their time in Scripture grows more exciting than ever and fuels greater fervor for the Lord. Before too long, they’re ready to teach others. As they do, your ministry flourishes well beyond your capacity.
So teach the principles of OIA. Demonstrate them in your teaching. And make sure you train people to practice the principles on their own. As you do, may the Lord grant you an army of skilled warriors who know how to wield their swords against the gates of hell.
Peter, it’s neat to see your writing get better and better. I especially liked the Genesis 1 allusion in your second paragraph.
You wrote a post last year about mistakes people make when using (or not using) commentaries in conjunction with Bible study. I’m wondering how you handle “showing your work” when teaching OIA with your use of commentaries.
Ryan, thanks for your encouragement. Blogging regularly has done wonders for my writing. I’m grateful the Lord has given me the margin for it. And I like sneaky allusions, too.
Unfortunately part of your comment got caught in a virtual slough of despond. I was able to retrieve it, however, and the angels in heaven now rejoice over it more than over ninety-nine comments that were never lost.
You wrote, “You wrote a post last year about mistakes people make when using (or not using) commentaries in conjunction with Bible study. I’m wondering how you handle ‘showing your work’ when teaching OIA with your use of commentaries.”
I think Bible teachers should use commentaries to stay connected with the insights of generations. The purpose of commentaries, however, is to elucidate the text. So, quoting commentaries because you can’t think of anything else to say produces worthless drivel (okay, few people do it for only that reason, but sometimes I wonder). Aimlessly stringing together quotes is how the Jewish rabbis taught, but Jesus gave his followers far more authority to speak his words (Matt 7:28-29, 1 Peter 4:11).
In other words, my reason for quoting a commentary should be clear to my audience.
Perhaps the commentator has a better turn of phrase than I can muster. Perhaps my point is controversial, and my audience will calm down if they know I’m not the only one to have ever thought it. Perhaps the quote helped me to see the text in a fresh way, and I want my audience to experience the same drama in their exploration of the text.
Whatever the reason for the quote, “showing my work” means explaining why I’m quoting the quote. Sometimes I might even toss in a sentence or two to explain how I use commentaries in general (only after I think I’ve arrived at the author’s main point, in order to “check my work”), so others can imitate my example.
Am I understanding your question? Do you have any further thoughts?
Thanks for your thoughts here, Peter. I didn’t really have in mind sharing a direct quote from a commentary. There have been times when I’ve been stuck in my own OIA process at the point when I need to answer Interpretation questions. Can I illustrate with an example?
The small group I lead is studying Isaiah at the moment, and when we got to chapter 8, verse 8, the reappearance of “Immanuel” was clearly important. I observed that “Immanuel” showed up in Isaiah 7:14 as well as in Isaiah 8:10. The natural interpretation question that came to mind, then, was “What does Isaiah mean here in verse 8?” I couldn’t figure it out. (I’d be glad to share more about my thought process, but this comment is going to be long enough and the interpretation of this verse isn’t really the point.)
So, I consulted some commentaries to see how others have interpreted this verse/passage. And I shared these insights with my small group, not as direct quotes, but as general approaches to answering that particular interpretation question.
I guess I wanted to see your reaction to this question: Was the OIA method a sufficient approach to studying the Bible for me in that instance? When we cannot answer an interpretation question ourselves or in our Christian communities, does that show a weakness of the OIA method?
I have some thoughts on this, and you know that I do not ask this at all to denegrate OIA, but I’d like to hear your answer, if you have some time.
Thanks!
If I’m understanding you correctly, I would say that yes, OIA is/should be sufficient. However, doing OIA does not mean that you can’t or shouldn’t consult with others. We can observe, interpret, and apply together in community.
Sometimes others (whether they be personal friends or commentators) will observe things we didn’t see. Or they might have better questions, or more text-driven answers, than we do.
In this case, it sounds like you were stuck and had made as much progress on your own as you could (or at least you didn’t have any more time to invest in it). So you consulted others who could help. Great!
However, I expect that you didn’t agree with any commentaries thoughtlessly. I imagine that you took each conclusion and weighed it in light of the text (i.e. through OIA). So I think OIA is sufficient as a means of understanding communication. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that we can do OIA perfectly by ourselves. We need help from others.
What are your thoughts?
Peter, thanks for your thoughts here. I think you nailed it, and this clarified my thinking a bit too. In our effort to get folks (and ourselves!) to stay in the Bible and confront the text, it may be easy to make it out as a Lone Ranger endeavor. But a hearty amen to working out OIA in community! Thanks, brother!