Read Your Passage

Read your passage several times in your preferred Bible version. As you read, use the highlight
any words or ideas that draw your attention. You could highlight things you want to look up later
or key phrases or sentences that seem important for the theme or main idea of the passage.

What questions or insights see in the passage? Take note of anything in the text that is confusing,
surprising, challenging, or hard to understand. Record your questions and keep them in mind as
you explore your passage further.

Desired Outcomes
 You will become more familiar with the passage and its ideas.
 You will begin developing your own questions and observations about the passage.

Reason
You should use your preferred Bible version to build consistency and aid in remembering
the passage later. Highlight anything that grabs your attention or that seems confusing at
first glance. Look up unfamiliar words and reread complicated sentences to make sure
you follow the author’s flow of thought.

Read the Passage in Other Translations

Reading the passage in more than one translation can improve your understanding of the
passage. Differences in translations may indicate places where the interpretation of the text is
debated, or the differences may reflect different approaches to translation (like sticking close to
the wording of the original versus adapting the wording to make it sound natural in the language
of translation).

Make note of one or two differences in the texts of the translations you’ve read of your passage.
How do the differences affect your understanding of the passage? Are they simply saying the same
thing in different words or do they reflect different understandings of the passage?

Desired Outcomes
 You may see possible additional nuances in meaning by consulting other translations.
 You may notice specific words or phrases that translations tend to handle differently.

Reason
When you look at text of multiple versions side by side and view textual differences if
desired. All Bible translations vary somewhat in how they relate to the biblical language
editions, especially regarding how literal they are versus how much they try to use
natural, idiomatic language.

Identify People in Your Passage

Most passages include references to people and other intelligent living beings. Here we want to
identify the people mentioned in the passage and explore the roles they play. You can understand
your passage better if you make note of all the people involved including individuals and groups
and their roles in events.

Who are the main players in your passage? What makes them important to the passage?

Desired Outcomes
 You will determine the key actors in your passage.
 You will gain background knowledge about the groups and individuals mentioned in the
passage.

Identify Important Cross-References

Examine relationships between your passage and other passages in the Bible. Letting Scripture
interpret Scripture has been a guiding principle of biblical interpretation for centuries. The idea is
that the meaning of an obscure passage might be clarified by other passages where the meaning is
more straightforward.

Review each key cross-reference and consider its relevance to your passage. Why is the cross-
reference relevant for your passage?

Which cross-references are most important for your passage? What additional insight do the
related passages provide for your understanding of your passage?

Desired Outcomes
 You will better understand the relationships between your passage and other passages in
the Bible.
 You will identify cross-references relevant to consider in the study of your passage.

Reason
The idea that Scripture interprets Scripture means that an interpretation should be
consistent with the clear teachings found throughout all of Scripture. To check this, you
should evaluate other passages that are similar, or add more context, or provide historical
background. Identifying cross-references is important, but you must also determine why
the cross-reference is important.

In identifying and evaluating cross-references, you will get more relevant results by
focusing your attention on a smaller section of Scripture. For example, an entire biblical
book or full chapter will include many cross-references to evaluate while a paragraph or
single verse will likely have a smaller number of cross-references that are directly
relevant to the content of that short section of Scripture.

Summarize Your Passage

Review what you have studied and summarize it. Writing a brief summary of your passage and
what you’ve learned about it will strengthen your understanding of the passage and help you
remember the main points from your study.
 In a brief paragraph, summarize the passage and the main points you have learned about it
from your study.

Desired Outcome
Summarizing what you have learned will help seal your understanding of your passage.

Reason
Arriving at your own informed understanding of a passage is important before you move
on to consult resources like commentaries that give you the interpretations that other
people have reached about the same text.

Review Commentary Discussions

Look at Bible commentaries to see how others have interpreted your passage. Review the
commentary’s discussion to find out which parts of your passage are most challenging or unclear.
A commentary discussion may alert you that something you thought was clear in the text is
actually a complicated and debated issue.

Record insights gained from reading the commentaries. Note especially the parts of your
passage that inspired the most discussion in the commentaries.

Have the consulted commentaries modified your understanding of the passage? In what way?

Desired Outcomes
You will examine commentaries and consider their contributions to better understanding
your passage.

You will determine how your study should account for what you learned from the
commentary discussions.

Reason
Commentaries come in many different forms and not all have “commentary” in the title.
For example, a study Bible is a type of commentary because it offers notes that point out
things in the passage that are difficult to understand and provides brief explanations of
possible interpretations. Commentaries generally find ways to bring in important
exegetical, theological, or historical information whenever it is relevant to understanding
the passage. Bible commentaries often spend the most time on aspects of the book that
are unclear or challenging to understand.

Determine Your Passage’s Theological Principles

An important part of Bible study is determining what timeless principles are taught in a passage
so that you can apply those principles in your own life. The meaning of a passage will be applied
differently at different times and in different places, but the underlying truths of Scripture will be
applicable in some way at all times and places. Before we can apply a passage, we must
understand its theological principles.
What theological principles are communicated in your passage?

Which theological principles from your passage are most important? How might they be applied
today?

Desired Outcomes
 You will consider the deeper meaning of your passage.
 You will identify the theological principles taught by your passage.

Reason
Application requires identifying the core principles taught in Scripture. This aspect of
interpretation is one of the most challenging because we often have trouble separating the
timeless theological principles in the text from the cultural and historical particulars that
accompany those principles in the text. A list of the primary theological themes found in
the passage provides a starting point for determining a passage’s theological principles.

Apply the Passage’s Principles to Yourself

Consider how to apply the theological principles you identified in this passage to your own life.

How has this passage challenged or moved you?

What issues, personal or corporate, are involved with this passage?

What spiritual struggles are addressed in this passage, either directly or indirectly?

What response do you think the passage should inspire in others if you shared it and your
insights with them?

Desired Outcomes
 You will evaluate how the passage has inspired or challenged you.
 You will consider how to apply the passage in day to day living.

Reason
Application means discovering what actions God intended believers to take as a result of
their encounter with the biblical text. While you can know the Bible and know what it
means without applying it, knowledge of the Scripture should lead us to action and
inspire change in our lives.

Share the Insights from Your Bible Study

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Resources
The Basic Tool: A Good Translation
How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth, by Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart
Knowing Scripture, by R. C

Scripture Interprets Scripture

Introduction to Biblical Hermeneutics, by Walter C. Kaiser Jr. and
Moises Silva

Commentaries
The Epistle to the Romans, by Douglas J. Moo
The Message of Romans, by John R. W. Stott

Thematic Outlines:
Day of Atonement

Synopsis

The most holy day of Israel’s year (the tenth day of the seventh month) on which the high priest entered
the Most Holy Place to offer sacrifices for the sins of the nation. Hebrews sees this day as symbolic of
the achievements of Jesus Christ on the cross.

The priestly rituals on the Day of Atonement

The priest’s own preparations

See also Le 16:4; Le 16:6; Le 16:11–14

The preparation of two male goats

The sacrifice atones for the people’s sins:

Ex 30:10; Le 16:15–19

The scapegoat symbolically carries away the people’s sins:

Le 16:10; Le 16:20–22

Concluding procedures

he may come into the camp. 27 And the bull for the sin offering and the goat for
the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the Holy Place,
shall be carried outside the camp. Their skin and their flesh and their dung shall be
burned up with fire. 28 And he who burns them shall wash his clothes and bathe
his body in water, and afterward he may come into the camp.

Additional offerings on the Day of Atonement

Nu 29:8–11
Features unique to the Day of Atonement

The priest entered the Most Holy Place

See also Le 16:2

Sacrifice was made for all the sins of all the people

Le 16:30

It was a festival requiring humility and fasting

Nu 29:7

See also Le 16:29; Le 16:31; Le 23:27–32; Ac 27:9

The Day of Atonement is paralleled and contrasted with the achievements of Jesus Christ in his
death

Jesus Christ entered the Most Holy Place

Heb 9:24

See also Heb 6:19–20; Heb 9:11–12

Jesus Christ’s blood was offered in sacrifice

Heb 9:12

See also Ro 3:25

Jesus Christ’s sacrifice was outside the city gates

Heb 13:11–12

Jesus Christ’s sacrifice was once for all

Heb 9:25–26

See also Heb 10:12

Jesus Christ’s sacrifice gives inner rather than ritual cleansing

Heb 9:13–14

See also Heb 9:9–10

Jesus Christ’s sacrifice gives access to God

See also Le 16:17; Mt 27:51; Eph 2:18; Eph 3:12

Abolition

Synopsis

The final ending and elimination of practices or states of affairs. Scripture looks forward to God’s final
abolition of the present order, through the inauguration of the new Jerusalem.

The abolition of idolatry in Israel – a blessing to the nations

Israel was commanded to abolish Canaanite worship

Ex 23:24

See also Ex 34:13; Nu 33:50–52; Dt 12:2–3

Abolition and the law

The law has not been abolished

Mt 5:17–19

See also Ro 3:31

The law has been abolished as an instrument of condemnation

Col 2:13–14

See also 2 Co 3:6–17; Eph 2:14–16; Heb 10:1–10

The law does not abolish God’s promises

Ga 3:17–18

See also Ro 4:14

The offence of the cross is abolished by accepting circumcision

See also 1 Co 1:22–24; 1 Co 2:2; Ga 3:13; Ga 5:2; Ga 6:14–15

Exclusiveness

Synopsis
The keeping of a distinctive group identity by drawing clear boundary lines, to separate those within the
group from outsiders with whom they are unwilling to associate.

The practice of exclusiveness by God’s people, grounded in God’s claim to exclusive worship

Ex 20:3

See also Ex 34:14; Dt 6:14–15; 2 Ki 17:35–39; Is 42:8

Exclusiveness in Israel, a practical expression of being a people set apart

An expression of being set apart for God

Le 20:26

See also Le 15:31; Le 20:23–24; Dt 7:1–6

An expression of being set apart from others

Nu 23:9

See also Jos 23:7; Ezr 6:21; Ne 13:1–3; Eze 44:9

The practice of exclusiveness

The marks of Jewish exclusiveness

Circumcision

Ge 17:9–14

See also Ex 12:48; Le 12:3; Ac 7:8

Ex 12:14–16

See also Ex 12:17–20; Le 23:26–29; Nu 9:13

Effects of Jewish exclusiveness

Division between Jews and Samaritans

Jn 4:9

See also Ezr 4:1–3; Mt 10:5–6 Jesus Christ was here dealing with his priority for that
time; Lk 9:51–53

Division between Jews and Gentiles

Ac 10:28
 See also Mt 10:5; Mt 15:21–28 Jesus Christ restricted his earthly ministry in general to
the people of Israel, but instigated a mission to the Gentiles after his resurrection; Jn
18:28

The problem of Jewish exclusiveness among the first Christians

The negative evaluation of Gentiles

Ac 11:1–18

See also Ga 2:11–13; Ga 2:15

The requirement that Gentile believers be circumcised

Ac 15:1

See also Ac 15:5; Ga 5:2–6; Ga 6:12; Tt 1:10

Jewish exclusiveness overturned

By God giving his Spirit to the uncircumcised Gentiles

Ac 15:8

See also Ac 10:44–11:18; 1 Co 12:13; Ga 3:2–5

By the argument of justification by faith

Ga 2:15–16

See also Ac 15:9–11; Ro 3:28–30; Ro 4:9–12