{"id":326,"date":"2012-05-03T10:12:42","date_gmt":"2012-05-03T14:12:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/realbiblestudy.com\/?p=326"},"modified":"2012-05-03T10:12:42","modified_gmt":"2012-05-03T14:12:42","slug":"methods-of-bible-study-part-2-by-paragraph","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.realbiblestudy.com\/?p=326","title":{"rendered":"Methods of Bible Study Part 2–By Paragraph"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/fb:like>

II. Study by Paragraph<\/p>\n

A. Adopt a system of paragraphing, either your own, or that of a modern translation. You will benefit far more from the study if you do your own paragraphing.<\/p>\n

B. The best Bible to use for this study is one which has only the text, not annotated and paragraphed and outlined at the start (as a Scofield Reference Bible is, for example). In other words, use a plain text Bible.<\/p>\n

C. Read the Bible chapter and divide it into paragraphs. The paragraphs will be thought-units or subjects expressed in one to several sentences in the text. This kind of close reading of the text to discern its structure helps in understanding the text.<\/p>\n

D. Title each paragraph in three words or less. Occasionally a title might require as many as five words, but almost never more. Your titles should be distinctive, appropriate, brief, and original.<\/p>\n

E. Chart your results. Only by committing your study to paper will you really fully engage in the process and preserve your results. A simple chart can be drawn on loose leaf paper, or in a lined notebook set aside for Bible study. Above the chart write the book name followed by the words “Analysis by Paragraph,” since this is the step in Bible study being recorded. Draw two horizontal lines one space below, one on the next line down, and the other on the next line below that. Then draw a vertical line at the left extending down the page as far as needed to accommodate the number of lines needed to record your results. About a half inch to the right of that left vertical line draw another vertical line to form a left column to be headed “Chapter Number.” The next column may be a narrow column to record the paragraph number. The third column needs to be a bit wider to record the verses that define the paragraph, headed “verses.” There will remain a much wider fourth column at the right labeled “Title” to record the titles you devise for the paragraphs.<\/p>\n

I am unable to reproduce such a chart here using the keyboard, so I will display a partial example I have done in outline form.<\/p>\n

II Peter, Analysis by Paragraph<\/p>\n

Chapter 1.<\/p>\n

1. verses 1-4. Power for purity.
\n2. verses 5-9. Qualities yielding fruitfulness.
\n3. verses 10-11. Confirm your calling.
\n4. verses 12-15. Remember these things.
\n5. verses 16-18. Visual credentials: eye witnesses
\n6. verses 19-21. Written credentials: God’s Word<\/p>\n

Chapter 2.<\/p>\n

7. verses 1-3. False prophets–field, future
\n8. verses 4-9. God’s past judgments, warning
\n9. verses 10-16. Prophets for price.
\n10. verses 17-19. <\/p>\n

In actual practice I have not gone through very many Bible books using this process. I recall working through the first 8 or so chapters of the book of Acts with a neighbor friend who was ahead of me in high school. We attended the same Methodist Youth Fellowship at nearby Thoburn Methodist Church at the time. It was an exciting day of mutual Bible study I will never forget.<\/p>\n

In the Vacation Bible School class on How to Study the Bible taught by Miss Ellen Groh (a student at the Detroit Bible College) at Highland Park Baptist Church, where I was taught how to do this kind of Bible study, we went through the book of 2 Timothy using this process.<\/p>\n

Working independently, no two persons will arrive at exactly the same results. That sameness is not the goal. The goal is to get into a book of the Bible deeply enough to make it a part of your thinking and experience. Engaging in a study like this will help you remember more vividly what you have studied! <\/p>\n<\/fb:like><\/fb:like><\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

II. Study by Paragraph A. Adopt a system of paragraphing, either your own, or that of a modern translation. You will benefit far more from the study if you do your own paragraphing. B. The best Bible to use for … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[228,1],"tags":[621,620,615,341,614,619,617,618,616],"class_list":["post-326","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-how-to-study-the-bible","category-uncategorized","tag-2-peter-analysis-by-paragraph","tag-2-peter-bible-study-chart","tag-bible-study-methods-part-2-by-paragraph","tag-highland-park-baptist-church-detroit","tag-how-to-study-the-bible-by-paragraph","tag-methodist-youth-fellowship-bible-study","tag-miss-ellen-groh","tag-thoburn-methodist-church","tag-using-a-chart-to-record-your-bible-study"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.realbiblestudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.realbiblestudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.realbiblestudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.realbiblestudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.realbiblestudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=326"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.realbiblestudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.realbiblestudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.realbiblestudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.realbiblestudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}