Discussion Group
February 2015 – May 2016
Our group had two primary objectives. We wanted to learn from the Gospel account that John wrote, and, in the process, we wanted to focus on the methodical inductive study of his text.
My experience with Bible-study groups has taught me that there are at least two very different approaches (and certainly more). Groups that approach the study with the attitude of “Let’s get together and tell each other what we know about the Bible” are sometimes useful, often unproductive, and occasionally dangerous. There is always a useful benefit in talking about Scripture – God’s Word never returns void or empty. But since those kinds of discussions tend to be rambling and unfocused, they often are not very productive, discussing a wide range of ideas without much depth. The potential danger comes in misunderstandings or distortions or even intentional twisting of isolated proof texts into “hearsay impressions” that lead away from the actual meaning of the original author.
The other approach, which we have tried to follow in this group, is, “Let’s get together and see what we can learn from the Bible.” The subtle difference is critical. This kind of group focuses on a particular text, recognizing that there may be questions not answered in the passage. The goal is to find what we can discover in this passage, to explore the depth of the passage. More breadth from cross-references and commentaries and study-Bible notes can come later. The immediate attention is on the specific passage.
The following pages contain a variety of notes about the process. Inductive Bible study follows a simple framework: Observation, Interpretation, Application; or, What does it say? What does it mean? What does it mean for me? The method is easily reproducible. One of the goals of the group was to encourage each participant to his or her own inductive study. Toward that end, the notes used to prepare for the study are included below. Unfortunately, the idea of gathering the notes together came late in the process. The completeness and clarity of the notes are less than perfect. The notes include a variety of stages in the process. Some of the pages are the initial observations and thoughts about how to lead the discussion. Other notes consist of the marked-up handouts used during the time together. In the later meetings of our group, we were not using prepared handouts. Using our own Bibles further reduced the dependence on a single leader or facilitator. For those discussions, the white-board notes that resulted from our interaction in the passage together are included as photos. Most of the discussions were reflected in blog entries on www.GoodNotSafe.com under the “Blogs” menu. Naturally, since these different pieces were not originally prepared for public display, not every detail will be clear (or helpful). My hope is that some benefit might be gained by “looking over my shoulder” into the inductive study process. The most help in learning to use the inductive method is, in the words of a popular advertising slogan, “Just do it.” Use Observation, Interpretation, and Application in your own study and see how your immersion in God’s self-revelation of Scripture draws you further up and further in to fellowship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.