When I was a child, my elders often scolded me because of my curiosity. I was always asking questions and trying to know things I had no business knowing. I cannot count the number of times my mother told me curiosity killed the cat. My younger rebellious self would retort curiosity saved the cat, and ignore their caution. As a result, I learned and discovered many things I wished I had not. Some of which has scarred me for life.
Unbridled curiosity can be dangerous, especially in the hands of a reckless child. But when handled with care, it can be a blessing. I have found it particularly advantageous when studying Scripture.
Asking questions is one of my favorite ways to discover gems in God’s Word. Questions help us dive into the text and deepen our understanding. It makes us more intentional during our study, motivates us to comb Scripture for answers, makes us think critically about God’s Word, and renders Bible study more fun (at least for me).
Furthermore, questioning the text also helps challenge our preconceived notions. Unless we were born yesterday, we have all heard a saying or teaching from the Bible and formed an opinion on it. When we ask many questions about a text and answer them from Scripture, it helps us overcome any bias or previous thoughts that may have been wrong.
For instance, I recently studied the epistle of Paul to the Philippians for the first time and came across many familiar verses like Phil 2:10, 3:13, 4:13, etc. I thought I knew what these verses meant, having heard them so many times before. But when I treated the text like it was the first time reading it, asked “easy” questions (e.g., who is He in Phil 4:13?), and relied on Scripture for answers, I realized I had a weak or wrong understanding of some of these verses. I had even used some out of context.
Therefore, whenever I sit at my desk with my oversized cup of honey-lemon tea to study God’s Word, I begin with questions. I let my curiosity run wild and ask questions upon questions, even dumb ones. The more I ask, the more I learn.
The questions I ask are usually pertinent to the text I am studying. But while studying Philippians these past few months, I realized these six essential questions I should always ask when reading any portion of Scripture.
1. What is the meaning of the text?
This is the most critical question we must ask when studying Scripture. All the previous specific questions lead to this question, and how we answer will affect our responses to the following five questions. As our understanding of Scripture shapes our theology and application, it is crucial to get the answer correctly. Every text has one interpretation, and our task as students of the Bible is to rightly divide God’s Word to find it. You can find a few tips to interpret Scripture using principles of biblical hermeneutics here.
2. How does the text fit with the storyline of the Bible?
Though the Bible is a collection of 66 individual books, it tells a unifying story of God’s kingdom. Even though we can understand parts of the Bible independently, we might miss its significance if we do not connect it to other parts of Scripture and the big picture. So it is important to examine each text in light of the metanarrative of the Bible. Bible scholars divide the Bible’s storyline into four main arcs or themes: creation, fall, redemption, and restoration/consummation. When studying a text, ask how it fits in the meta-narrative, and see how it features or reenact one or more of the four dominant themes.
3. What does the text teach about God?
Knowing God is the most important and rewarding pursuit of our lives. Though we can learn about God through Christian books and songs, we can only know Him—that is, experientially, through His Word. As the late J. I. Packer said in his classic Knowing God, “Knowing God is more than knowing about him; it is a matter of dealing with him as he opens up to you and being dealt with by him as he takes knowledge of you.” God has revealed His name, will, character, nature, attribute, law, and more through the Holy Scriptures. This knowledge belongs to us forever, and we must seize it every time we study Scripture.
4. What does the text teach about Christ
God’s ultimate revelation is in the person of Jesus Christ. He is the image of the invisible God, the radiance of God’s glory, and the exact imprint of His nature (Col 1:15, Heb 1:3). Hence, knowing God involves growing in our knowledge of Jesus Christ. Scripture reveals the Son more than any other person of the trinity. We can find Jesus on every page of the Bible, including the Old Testament, if we look for Him (See my series Jesus in the Old Testament). As Sally Lloyd-Jones said, every story whispers His name. Always ask what a text says about Christ’s life, teaching, death, burial, and resurrection. It may help to examine the text considering the overarching storyline of Jesus Christ in Scripture: Jesus prophesied (OT), Jesus present (The gospels), Jesus preached (the epistles), and Jesus’s return (Revelation).
5. What does it teach about man or self
After knowing God and Christ in particular, the most important pursuit we can do is know ourselves. As John Calvin said, “True wisdom consists in two things: Knowledge of God and Knowledge of Self.” We do not learn about ourselves using the enneagram or the Myer Brigs test but through God’s Word. It is a mirror that reflects our true selves, a sharp-edged sword that pierces our hearts and exposes our thoughts and desires (Heb 4:12). We should always let the Bible read us and teach us about ourselves. Only be careful not to read yourself in every text; the Bible is not about us. It is about God. And the more we learn about Him, the more we learn about ourselves.
6. How can I apply the text
Finally, ask how to apply the text. One purpose of Scripture is to instruct, reproof, correct, and train us in righteousness. So we must always look for practical ways to apply what we learned. Ask yourself how you can use the text for your pursuit of holiness, the benefit of others, and the glory of God. As James says, we must be doers of the Word, not hearers only; if we are only hearers, we deceive ourselves (James 1:22).
Bible study is a skill, and as with any other skill, it is learned through practice and discipline. Therefore, we must continue gaining tools to help us mine God’s Word and bring forth the treasures within. And the more we know God through His Word, the more delightful studying it will be. And like the Psalmist, we will sincerely declare, “Oh, how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day!” (Psalm 119:97)
