11 Steps to Reading and Applying the Scriptures

I’m convinced that every believer in Christ should be able to teach the Bible—in at least some capacity. Not every believer ought to be teaching a class. But every believer ought to be discipling someone—and you can’t faithfully disciple someone unless you are bringing God’s Word to bear on their lives. Therefore, I say that every believer ought to be able to teach the Bible, at least in some capacity.

I’m also convinced that a vast majority of Christians aren’t equipped to faithfully teach the Scriptures. They can likely tell you what the Bible means to them, but we want to aim for something far greater. We want our people to faithfully communicate God’s Word to people—in whatever capacity the Lord has granted them.

In the local church where the Lord has planted me, I’m working on helping people learn how to read and rightly apply the Scriptures to their own lives. As I’m doing this I’m also attempting to teach them how to teach others. Here are the 11 Steps I’ve developed for them. Feel free to use them in your own study:

11 Steps to Reading and Applying the Scriptures

OBSERVE AND INTERPRET. (The World of Biblical Bob)

Step One. Read Through the Text.

Step Two. Pray.

Step Three. Outline the Text. How does the text flow? (Make mental notes about questions to ask of the text). Keep it simple. Your outline doesn’t need to be fancy—just try to map out what the flow of thought is in the passage.

Step Four. Circle words that are difficult to understand or might have a meaning that you need to consider further. Mark words that seem to repeat. Make notes of anything else that catches your attention.

Step Five. What do you believe the author’s main point is? Just take a stab at it—but be willing to be proven wrong.

Step Six. Consider context. Why does he say this? Why does he say this here?

Step Seven. Try to answer the questions that you looked at in step four. Consult commentaries if necessary.

Step Eight: As clear as you can explain what did this text mean to the original audience. Try to condense it down to one simple sentence.

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APPLY (Building the Bridge to Modern Marv)

Step Nine. What do we have in common with the original audience?

Step Ten. How does the original message speak to us today?

• What does it teach?
• How does it reprove? Where do I fall short? Why do I fall short?
• Does this text point to a correction that needs to take place? What will I do as a result of this passage?
• Is there a principle here that I can make a consistent part of my life?
• How does the gospel inform this passage of Scripture?
• How does this passage speak to our church?
• How does this passage speak to our community?What is the missional impact of this text?

Step Eleven. Pray for application to be driven home. (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication)

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That’s it. Each week in the men’s Sunday school class I’m teaching we go through these eleven steps using Paul’s letter to the Philippians. We’ve been doing this for a little over a month now and my hope is that some of this is becoming second nature to those participating.