When speaking with students about their Bible study habits, one refrain I often hear is, “I know I ought to read the Bible, but I don’t even know where to begin.” Others explain that while they read the Bible regularly, they struggle to draw out any truths from what they are reading, much less apply them to their life.
Diving into such a large book can indeed be intimidating, and many people have developed effective ways to study the Bible. One of the most impactful methods that I have used is referred to as “homiletics.” This word actually refers to the art of developing sermons, but while I personally am not using it for that purpose, I have found it to be an excellent way to study a passage of the Bible in a way that makes it easy to discern applicable truths.
I learned this method of Bible study while participating in Bible Study Fellowship, an international organization that holds Bible classes throughout the world.
How it Works
The purpose of homiletics is to break down a passage of the Bible into its most basic elements in order to arrive at a single sentence that summarizes the whole passage. You can use this method when studying any book or chapter of the Bible, but I suggest that you study no more than 10 – 15 verses at a time when doing homiletics.
To start out, prayerfully read the passage in its entirety, asking the Holy Spirit to communicate the truths therein to you. It is God’s word after all, and this is something that is important to do no matter how you choose to study the Bible! It is a good idea to read the passage at least twice so that you are familiar with it before you start.
There are five steps that you will follow. These are:
- Content
- Divisions
- Subject Sentence
- Truths
- Application
Content
This first step involves observation. What is the passage about? Who are the main characters? What specific events are occurring? Are there any repeated words, phrases, or themes? It helps to underline anything that sticks out to you as you read through the passage.
Start to write down these observations as you break down the passage verse by verse. Make every effort to simplify the passage rather than rewording it, and don’t worry about writing complete sentences. Many people I know even like to use symbols (numbers, arrows, etc.) when applicable because it helps them to avoid being too wordy. List these simplified paraphrases next to the corresponding verses. Feel free to group multiple verses together if they are part of the same thought.
Here’s an example of how you might do this. The following verses are John 4: 1-10:
Therefore when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John 2 (although Jesus Himself was not baptizing, but His disciples were), 3 He left Judea and went away again into Galilee. 4 And He had to pass through Samaria. 5 So He came to a city of Samaria called Sychar, near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph; 6 and Jacob’s well was there. So Jesus, being wearied from His journey, was sitting thus by the well. It was about [a]the sixth hour. 7 There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” 8 For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. 9 Therefore the Samaritan woman said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” 11 She said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep; where then do You get that living water? 12 You are not greater than our father Jacob, are You, who gave us the well, and drank of it himself and his sons and his cattle?” 13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”
This is how you might paraphrase the main thoughts, broken down by verse:
Vs. 1-2 Pharisees see Jesus becoming popular
3-4 Jesus goes to Galilee via Samaria
5-6 Jesus arrives at Sychar/Jacob’s well
6 Jesus tired and thirsty
7-8 Jesus asks Samaritan woman for a drink – he’s alone
9 Woman, surprised, questions why Jesus would speak with her, a Samaritan
10 Jesus affirms His deity and offers living water.
11 Woman asks Jesus how he will draw living water from well.
12 Woman questions whether Jesus is greater than Jacob.
13 Jesus: drinking regular water = continued thirst.
14 Jesus: living water = eternal life.
This is by no means the only way to paraphrase the content of this passage, as you might choose to highlight other details. Again, the main idea here is to simplify the passage. One way to know if you’re on the right track is to ask yourself this question: If I were to explain this passage using only these phrases, would someone be able to identify it?
Divisions
The second step in homiletics is to divide your list into sections. These sections may represent a change in subject or event. If the passage you are studying is narrative in nature, you can think of it as a play with scene changes. Whenever the “scene” ends, you’ll want to place your division there. Depending on both the length of the passage and the nature of the text, you’ll typically aim for 2-3 divisions; on the other hand, if there is no clear natural break, change in tone, direction, or action, you might only end up with one division.
This is how I divided the John 4 passage:
Division 1
Vs. 1-2 Pharisees see Jesus becoming popular
3-4 Jesus goes to Galilee via Samaria
5-6 Jesus arrives at Sychar/Jacob’s well
6 Jesus tired and thirsty
Division 2
7-8 Jesus asks Samaritan woman for a drink – he’s alone
9 Woman, surprised, questions why Jesus would speak with her, a Samaritan
10 Jesus affirms His deity and offers living water.
11 Woman asks Jesus how he will draw living water from well.
12 Woman questions whether Jesus is greater than Jacob.
13 Jesus: drinking regular water = continued thirst.
14 Jesus: living water = eternal life.
There seems to be a shift between the events leading up to Jesus arriving at the well and His conversation with the Samaritan woman, so I separated it into two divisions.
Once you have determined your divisions, you will write a summary sentence for each one:
Vs 1-6 Jesus stops at a well in Samaria on the way to Galilee.
Vs 7-14 Jesus offers living water and eternal life to a Samaritan woman.
Subject Sentence
Step three is to write a subject sentence that summarizes the whole passage. Use your division sentences to create a complete sentence that is 10 words or less. The idea is to keep it simple, yet specific enough so that you can read it later and recall what passage it is referring to.
Here is my subject sentence for John 4:1-14:
Jesus offers eternal, living water to a Samaritan woman.
Truths
Once you have written down your subject sentence, the next step is to list several truths that you can draw out from the passage. What did you learn from your study? Try to write down at least 3 truths. If you need help, try seeing if you can pull out one truth from each division.
These are some truths that I learned from John 1:1-14:
Jesus looks beyond the external and sees our real need.
Only Jesus can provide eternal life.
Jesus freely gives eternal life to anyone who asks.
Application
The final step of homiletics is to write down some application questions from the passage you just studied. You can come up with as many applications as you wish, but try to come up with at least one for each division. These application questions should be specific and open-ended, so avoid writing down anything that is too vague. Likewise, avoid easy “yes” or “no” questions. “Will I obey God?” is not specific or challenging enough! I always try to start my application questions with words like “what” or “how.” Here are some examples:
How have I responded to Jesus’ offer of living water?
What can I do to see beyond the external and focus on others’ real need?
With whom can I share Jesus’ offer of eternal life?
Now you have some specific things to pray over as you seek to draw closer to God and share the message of the gospel with others!
Wrapping it all up
I remember the first time that I used the homiletics method to study the Bible. It seemed intimidating and – to be honest – time-consuming. You can always start by doing the first step (content) and then add one more step each day. The more you use this method, the more proficient you will become at it, and the more benefit you will receive from your study of the Bible.
One of the benefits of doing homiletics is that you will be better prepared to teach others. This is a wonderful way to prepare a Bible study. You can use your divisions to form an outline and the subject sentence as your focal point. One variation is to write down an “aim” for step 4 instead of the truths. The aim is what you want your audience to learn, so you can build your application questions around it.
Whatever your purpose for using a Bible study method like homiletics, the key is to pray and stay consistent. I know how much discipline is required to take time to sit down and study the Bible each day, but I also know that my outlook on life is dramatically different when I persist in reading God’s word daily. If you want to grow as a disciple of Jesus, you will need to take the time to read His word.
“So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:31-32.
