Two weeks ago I mentioned the Bereans who received Paul's teaching with eagerness then went home to check what they had learned against Scripture. That one line in Acts gives us insight not only into the Bereans lives, but also into Paul's teaching. Let me explain by telling you about two types of Bible study...
- A "deductive" Bible study begins from a point that a teacher is making, and then uses a number of scripture verses and examples to support that conclusion. Many sermons and Bible studies are conducted this way.
- An "inductive" Bible study begins with the raw text of scripture. The student (or in our context, the teacher) takes the time to observe what is happening in the text, the “who, what, when, where and why.” The teacher asks questions which help him to understand what is going on, what is being said, and how. Then he moves on to determining the application based on the observation and interpretation.
I like the inductive approach in study because of the more precise interpretation of the text and, therefore, the correct application that it brings. It is why I went to Bible College. There I went through years of “inductive” Bible study. However, the inductive method in teaching has its limitations. When standing in front of people it is time consuming and laborious to get to the point using the inductive approach. What works in Bible College with students who are committed to years of training in the classroom and are paying to get an education, does not work with people in a service that lasts one hour each week. When people come to church they don’t need to watch the pastor "study" the text on the stage. They need to know the results of the study they are trusting him to do.
When you have only about 30 minutes to stand in front of people, it’s important to get to the point quickly. It’s not good stewardship of people’s time to spend 27 minutes “observing” and “interpreting” while only spending the final 3 minutes applying. What people really need when they are receiving the Word is a brief explanation of how you arrived at the specific conclusion and then what to do with it, or how to apply it. They don’t need to sit and watch you observe and interpret. People want and need to know what God wants from them. The pastor/teacher is supposed to deliver the goods, not put on a show of intellect.
However, the inductive method done from the stage is preferred by many Christians who consider the historical and cultural information as “meat” and the application of the text as “milk.” In fact, I've often seen new Bible College students with a semester or two under their belt (i.e. just enough Bible knowledge to make them dangerous) scorn teaching that doesn't sound like one of their classes. They think they are chewing meat when in reality they are crunching back story facts. Hebrews tells us that meat of the word (or solid food) is the application of the Scriptural text in a way that helps us to discern what we should and should not do (Hebrews 5:13-14). In a word, meat is “applicable” Bible teaching, not the details and the minutiae of the back story.
James 1:22 actually says that we can listen to the word and be deceived. How? Be not applying it. In Matthew 7:26 Jesus tells us that when we hear His word and don't apply it we're like the foolish man who built his house on the sand. The emphasis of Scripture is on "doing."
As always, at New Hope we try to do things in such a way in our services that we do not alienate the people God has called us to reach. Paul encouraged the church at Corinth to do things in their gatherings in such a way as to not alienate the people who were outside of the faith (1 Corinthians 14:23). Therefore, effective teaching that can hold the attention of a wide audience will feel like a deductive study – but is really inductive. The inductive part is done in the privacy of the pastor’s office. The lesson is then put into a form that gets to the application quickly. The Apostle Paul obviously used this method in his teaching. I say this because the Bereans listened to him teach, but then went home and checked the Scriptures to see if what he had said was true (Acts 17:11). The observation and interpretation often found in public in the inductive method was missing from Paul’s sermon(s) – but was obviously done in private because of the purity found in his teaching.
Information without application leads to frustration.
Information with application leads to transformation.
And at New Hope we want transformed lives!
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