This summer we will be doing a little something different for our Sunday evening L.I.F.E. Institute class. Rather than work through a structured class curriculum, I’m going to invite all who are interested to join me in an informal study of the book of Romans. By informal, I mean that there will be very little preparation — even by me! — ahead of time. The point would be to allow you to walk with me through a passage as I study it.
My purpose would be to help those who attend learn to study passages of scripture on their own. We’ll address questions such as:
- How do you find the natural, contextual breaks in a passage of Scripture? (In other words, how do you know when a chunk begins and ends?)
- How do you figure out which words are significant?
- What is a word study, and when should you do one?
- What makes a commentary good?
- How do you go from the text to a teaching outline?
Among the tools I hope to share is something called “tracing the argument,” also known as “arcing.” I learned how to do this in seminary and have found it to be the single most helpful tool in studying the Bible that know. I’ve taught this to others over the last few years and the feedback is always the same — this changes the ease with which you read and understand the Bible! While learning to trace can be a bit frustrating at first, it is well worth the effort.
Lord willing, our class will meet at 5:30 PM on the following Sundays: July 3, 10, 17, 24, and August 7, 14, and 21. You’ll want to bring a Bible, notebook, and pen, and you can bring any commentaries on Romans you might have. Please let me know (pastorjake@fbcmb.org) if you plan on attending so that we can make sure we have enough space for everyone.
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