What is Inductive Bible Study?

I've been doing a series of "Inductive Bible Studies" on the book of Matthew, but I haven't stopped to talk about what inductive Bible study is. Inductive Bible study is a method for studying the Bible in which one takes three passes through the text being studied in order to understand God's Word, and to apply it in one's life.

1. Observation - Looking at the text to determine what is happening
2. Interpretation - Thinking about the text to determine what it means
3. Application - Thinking about the text to determine how it applies to my life

In this post, we will take a closer look at the observation phase by examining Mark: 3:1-6:

Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there with a withered hand. And they watched Jesus, to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him. And he said to the man with the withered hand, “Come here.”  And he said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent. And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.

The point of the observation phase is to determine what is happening to whom and when and how it is happening. This is the plot analysis part of inductive Bible study, and it involves looking at the text and asking yourself  Who, What, When, Where, and How questions.

Who?

The people and groups of people mentioned in this passage are

• Jesus
• Man with withered hand
• Pharisees
• Herodians

There are several activities involved in answering the "who" question. First, you must untangle the pronouns. You cannot understand the sentence, "He said to him, 'Tend my sheep,'" (John 21:16) until you know who "he" and "him" are. Similarly, you must resolve all symbolic or figurative references--does "he" mean that he literally has a flock of sheep that "he" wants "him" to take care of? If not, what does he mean by "sheep?"

You also need to understand the references to groups of people. Who were the Pharisees? What did they believe? What was their agenda with regard to Jesus? What is a Herodian? Where do they come from? What is their agenda?

What?

Now that we know who is here, we need to ask, "Who did what to whom?" To answer that question, we will look, mostly, at the verbs:

• Jesus entered the synagogue
• The Pharisees watched Jesus
• Jesus said to the man with the withered hand, "Come here."
• The man with the withered hand came to Jesus
• Jesus said to the Pharisees, "Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?"
• The Pharisees were silent
• Jesus looked at the Pharisees
• Jesus grieved at the Pharisees' hardness of heart
• Jesus said to the man with the withered hand, "Stretch out your hand."
• The man with the withered hand stretched out his hand, and it was healed
• The Pharisees went out and held counsel with the Herodians to decide how to destroy Jesus

Establishing these facts may raise more questions that need to be answered: What is a synagogue? What is the Sabbath? What does the Old Testament say it was lawful to do on the Sabbath? What did he Pharisees think was lawful to do on the Sabbath?

When?

There are several layers to the "when" questions. This might include the following:

• What time of day is it? 
• What day of the week? 
• What was the season? 
• Was it a holiday? If so, what was the significance of the holiday? 
• At what point in Jesus' ministry did this take place? 
• At what point in the broader historical context did this take place? 

It may not be possible to answer some of these questions, and the answers to others may turn out not to be important, but you can't really tell until you start asking them. In the Mark passage, the day of the week is highly significant, but more on that when we discuss interpretation.

Where?

As with the "when" questions, there are multiple "where" questions you might ask:

• Is this happening in the city or in the country?
• Is it happening inside or outside?
• Is it in a house? by a lake? on a mountain?
• Are they traveling from one place to another?
• What region are they in?
• If the action is taking place somewhere "special" like a synagogue or the Temple, what makes that place special?

How?

Often the "how" questions are so obvious that one answers them in one's head before being aware that they have been asked. "How did Jesus get into the synagogue?" and "How did Jesus talk to the people?" are pretty obvious--He walked and used his vocal apparatus in the same way anyone else would. Sometimes, however, the "how" questions reveal something significant. This usually happens when something out of the ordinary occurs:

• How did that guy get lowered down through the roof?
• How did Jesus just "pass through" the crowd that was trying to kill Him?
• How did Jesus heal that guy's hand?

In these cases, the answers often point to some pretty amazing things like the faith of the paralytic's hands or Christ's divine nature.