Scripture is true and is God's self-revelation. We can know God and truth by understanding and interpreting Scripture. Interpretation of scripture is like a continual spiral outward: each cycle of observation, exegesis, synthesis, and application refines your understanding while drawing you nearer to the text’s intended meaning. The goal of study is to better understand the message God first spoke through a human author in a specific setting and carry that Word from its ancient context through the text and into our own hearts.

The Process: God's Message > Scripture (in its ancient context) > Church’s collective wisdom > My understanding

A deeper explanation on how to determine truth: My Epistemology

Recommended study tool: Logos Bible Software

1. Pray 🙏 & Read

• Pray that the Holy Spirit will illuminate truth to you.
• Read the whole passage (or book) aloud a few times in one sitting. NO single verses yet, read a chunk.
• Note your first impressions, repeated words, obvious structure, and emotional tone. This establishes your pre-understanding, ready for sharpening. You can write these down, highlight, or just observe.

2. Beyond the Words - Historical and Literary Context

• Identify author, audience, occasion, genre, and where the passage sits in the book’s flow.
• Logos Hack: Type the book or passage into Factbook to pull this data. You can also click any place name and choose Atlas for a zoom-able biblical map.

3. In the Words - Word & Passage Study

• Examine significant words in Hebrew/Aramaic/Greek, noting semantic range (how the word is used across Scripture) and occurrences elsewhere.
  • Logos Hack: Right-click a word, choose the lemma, then Search this resource to view every occurrence. Factbook definitions and Lexham Bible Dictionary articles appear in the sidebar for quick lexical range checks.
• Trace how the verses before and after frame the passage. Ask how paragraphs, discourses, or poetic stanzas interact.
  • Logos Hack: Open Passage Guide (Guides > Passage Guide) for your verses. Scroll to Parallel Passages and Compare Versions to see how surrounding paragraphs flow and where your text stands in the discourse.

4. From the Words - Consult Commentaries

• AFTER you've done your own study, time to open commentaries to gain the wisdom of the wider church (stay discerning)
  • Logos Hack: open Guides > Passage Guide and expand the Commentaries section. Choose a commentary & skim through, note key insights (don’t over-quote).
• Ask how the passage fits in the big story of Creation-Fall-Redemption-Restoration and how it points to Christ. This guards against moralising.

5. Into Your Words - Synthesise & Apply

• Create a note and draft one sentence of the "Author’s big idea". Add bullet points for timeless truths and applications for today.