I went to seminary at the New York Theological Seminary in NYC back in the 1950s. I went there because they promised to focus on how to study the Bible for yourself. I was very satisfied with what they taught me and have continued to teach what they called “The Inductive Study of the Bible” down through these many years. The method introduced by my now deceased professor Robert A. Traina in his still available and now inexpensive book Methodical Bible Study.
This method is simple and can be applied at various levels of one’s study. I shall share its four basic steps here for your interest and edification. Although the method can be applied at various levels, all the way from a single verse to an entire Bible book, I shall focus here on interpreting a single familiar passage, the 23rd Psalm. First, with paper, pencil and a good modern translation of the Bible ask yourself what we shall call “Interpretive Questions” concerning Psalm 23.
After we have asked a great many such questions we shall seek to find the answers to our questions using various sources such as Hebrew and/or Greek dictionaries, historical research sources, and relevant commentaries. For instance, the Psalm begins with the words “The Lord is my shepherd”. What is the meaning and significance of the title “The Lord”, especially of the article “The”, and why is he likened to a shepherd? What are the major characteristics of a shepherd?
What is the significance of items like “leads”, “still waters” and “green pastures”? Such specific questions can continue to be asked about the Psalm. The answers to such questions can be sought in Bible dictionaries, commentaries, and theological books. One can draw columns with these questions on the one side and the answers in the column next to it. This can, of course, be tedious work, but it yields a great deal of understanding. The title “valley of the shadow of death” turns out to reference a specific narrow valley on the trail leading up to Jerusalem from the desert. One might also ask about the difference between “thy rod” and “thy staff” how and why would these be “comforting”?
After accumulating a good number of answers one can work on correlating them into an interpretive summary of the Psalm, followed by a short exploratory application of these finding to one’s own life, or to the corporate life of, say, a church or a nation. Such explorations might well include wider applications to other aspects of human and co-operate life. Such applications might also lead to conversations with others about the significance of the Psalm.
Take another example: “God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself”. (1 Corinthians 5:19) Here the key terms are obviously “God”, “in” , “Christ”, and “reconciling”. Much research would need to be done to fill in the meaning of the key terms “God” (Theos) and “Christ” (Christos) involved here. The preposition “in” turns out to have been crucial in the history of theology. In what sense was God “in” the person of Jesus? The verb “reconciling” would be absolutely key in determining the significance of Christ’s efforts on behalf of humankind.
Here, of course, one would need to consult some Bible dictionaries and Bible commentaries to see what these key words of the passage mean. This could grow into a rather huge task, but would also result in a great deal of learning. To a large degree such studies constitute an end in themselves. The process itself is highly educative, even if few conclusions are arrived at. I have always felt a bit like an amateur Sherlock Holmes tracking down the key that unlocks the mystery.
In the end one can then write up a semi-summary of the passage under consideration, together with its application to one’s daily life, as well as that of any community in which one happens to participate. Of course, all of this can be very time and energy consuming. It helps to do such studies in a group with others of like-mindedness. The Bible, after all, is perhaps the widest read and honored book in the history of the world. By the way, this methodical approach might serve well in the study of any important document, such as the Constitution of The United States for instance.

“Way Back When”, I spent my college years at a fundamentalist school some funny things sometimes happened. Here’s one. In the summers the college sometimes rented out its extremely beautiful campus to various church groups for their regular summer conferences and the like. One summer they rented the campus to a group from the Hollywood Presbyterian Church, not knowing that the featured speaker would be the British theologian J.B. Phillips.
Now, perhaps many if not most of my readers will not have heard of J. B. Phillips. He had recently authored the now very well-known and popular fresh translation of the New Testament letters entitled Letters to Young Churches. Since Rev. Phillips was bye then world-renowned even we rather benighted narrow-minded fundamentalist Christians were excited about sitting in on the conference. This om the King James translation outdated Scofield Reference Bible of 1811, a fundamentalist version of the King James translation.
Well, to begin with, during the week Reverend Philips was frequently seen strolling around the campus smoking a cigar. This set a good many folks on edge because smoking was not allowed at our school. Fortunately, no hubbub resulted from this awkward situation. Secondly, however, it soon became known that the Philips translation of Paul’s letters not only differed from the standard King James version, but actually disagreed with it at certain crucial junctures. This presented a more formidable difficulty for those on the college faculty.
Actually, partly because of the growing popularity of the Philips translation Rev. Philips soon produced his translation of the Gospels, making it possible to publish the full Philips translation of the entire New Testament. Indeed, the Philips translation pretty much held sway in many churches until the arrival of the new Revised Standard Version and The New English Bible in 1976. Since those days, of course, numerous translations of the Bible have appeared, some obviously more valuable than others.
Well, once the conference got under way we college folks all learned a great deal from Rev. Phillips daily talks and from meeting people of different, broader views about the meaning of the Christian Faith. We learned that the perspective of the Hollywood Presbyterian Church was not actually so very different from our own, except for certain issues concerning how one becomes a Christian and heaven and hell, and all that. Later on I was to find out that this particular group of Presbyterians were far more conservative than regular Presbyterians, but that’s a horse of a different color.
At the close of the conference Rev. Phillips talked to us more informally about his life, his ministry, and his actual translation work. He shared that as he worked with the original Greek texts the New Testament “came alive” for him in a new and fresh way. They seemed to be more vibrant than when he had read them in the King James version. Then he shared a letter he had received from an American lady admirer in which she thanked Rev. Phillips for “burning out” for God there in England.
After a solemn pause, Rev. Phillips related to us how he had replied to the lady. He said something to this effect: “My dear madame, I thank you for your encouraging remarks, but I wish to assure you that I am not “Burning out for God”. I am simply trying to do the very best I can for as long as I can.” Since we in the audience were used to hearing people speak about “burning out for God, we were rather stunned by Rev. Phillips reply. Over the years, however, I have come more and more to appreciate his candor and insight. I can easily resonate with his desire to “Burn as brightly and as long as I can”.