Studying a Text
(adapted from Basic Tools for Scriptural Interpretation by Kees Compier)
How can we understand a text as we are preparing for a sermon? The term often
used for this is “exegesis”—the process of interpreting a text. Here is an
approach that makes use of many of the different types of resources available.*
Studying the text can present the scriptures as a living voice to the
congregation—a voice that speaks from the past, helps us address the present,
and invites us to enter the future in faith.
- Come to your study of the text with an open mind and open heart. Know
that God is with you.
- Select the text. If you are preparing for a sermon, choose the text(s)
suggested in the lectionary.
- Define the text. Know where the passage begins and ends. How does the
story hang together?
- Read the text several times silently and at least once aloud. Read the
text in different translations (NRSV, New Jerusalem, NIV, IV, and others).
You might also look at the Gospel parallels if the passage is from a Gospel.
- Listen, think, feel, imagine, and ask when reading the text. Jot down
some of your initial responses.
- Check the footnotes in a study Bible for variant readings of the text.
- Know the setting of the text. What comes before and after it, and how
does this help us understand the intent of the author?
- Study the text in a structural way.
- How does the story develop? What is the plot?
- Look at the small but important connecting words such as: since, as,
for, but, if.
- Look at the verbs as they describe the action going on and look at
the role speech plays in the text.
- Be honest with the text; do not read in what is not there.
- Study the text in the various contexts.
- What do we know about the setting in regard to time, place, and
circumstances?
- What type of story or saying is it: wisdom, riddle, prophetic,
miracle, parable, healing, song? If it is a parable, what do we know
about parables in general that might help us?
- What theological thinking does the author reflect? For instance, how
does the author view miracles, the poor, suffering, eternal life,
prayer, or the death of Jesus? (Check a Bible commentary and look up
some of the key words in a Bible dictionary.)
- How does the writer of the story use tradition? Does the author use
other biblical traditions?
- What problems or issues does the text deal with?
- What is the aim or purpose of the author? What is the writer trying
to say in addressing the issue?
- Choose some of the key words; with the help of a concordance trace the
use of the word elsewhere in the scriptures. This often helps us better
understand where the author comes from.
- If you have not already done so, look up all places, people, and words
you do not understand. Sometimes the names of people or places have a
meaning that relates to the text. (Use a Bible dictionary.)
- Locate on a map in a study Bible or in a Bible atlas any place or
geographical area that is mentioned.
- Be aware of your own contact with the text. What are your likes and
dislikes? Who are your favorite characters in the passage? Be aware that
this might influence the way you interpret the text.
- Pull all your research together. Ask yourself what the text is saying
and doing—doing in the sense of how it is affecting you. In other words, how
are faith and action interrelated?
*These resources include:
- Various translations of the Bible
- Commentaries (one-volume and multivolume)
- Concordances
- Bible dictionaries (one-volume and multivolume)
- Parallel studies (usually used with the Gospel—the same text from each
Gospel is placed in parallel columns)
- Bible Atlas
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