How to study your Bible (Part 4 of 5)- Determining the meaning of the text.

If you are still working through these posts on how to study your Bible that excites me!  Learning how to study the Bible will have life long benefits for your growth in Christlikeness.  Hopefully, you got some practice doing Observation yesterday.  My notes from observing the text are found below.  Today, we are looking at meaning.  How do you determine the meaning of the text.  A lot of the work you have already done in determining the context and doing observation will help you in this step.  Here are a few questions to ask to help determine the meaning, again taken from One to One Bible reading plan. 

1.)  How does this text relate to other parts of the book? 

2.)  How does the passage relate to Jesus?  

3.)  What does this teach us about God?  

4.)  How could we sum up the meaning of the passage in our own words?  

For the last question I would encourage you to try to sum up the passage in one sentence.  After you sum up the passage look closely to decide if your summary sentence address all the main points/parts of the text.  

Now go ahead and spend time practicing finding the meaning of the text on our passage 1 Peter 1:1-12.  Feel free to comment below with your answers to these questions.  Make sure you are always starting with prayer.  Remember, these are the words of God, so going to him in prayer to grant wisdom in understanding the Bible is the most logical place to start.  

Observing the text:  My notes from 1 Peter 1:1-12

1.)  Are there any major subsections or breaks in the text? 
      There is the initial greeting in verses 1-2 and than moves into a section on praising God for the
      salvation that we have been given.  

2.)  What is the main point or points? 
      -God is to be blessed for the salvation that he has given us (3-5).  
      -Trials and test confirm the salvation that has been given and when that happens it brings 
       praise and honor to Jesus.  (6-9)
      -This salvation was prophesied by the prophets (10-13).  

3.)  What surprises are there? 
        I was surprised by the quick jump from praising God for the blessings that we have been 
        given to talking about trials.  

4.)  What are the key words?  What words or ideas are repeated?
       -Salvation (3 times in the text) 
       -Faith/Believe (3 times in this text) 
       -Bless/worship/praise (3 times in this text)
       
5.)  What stuck out to you? 
        1.)  Was struck by how many words Peter used to describe the permanence of the inheritance 
              they have received- Imperishable, undefiled, unfading, kept in heaven, guarded by God's 
              power.  

        2.)  It was striking to note the various things that have been given to us by God:  A living hope, 
             to an inheritance that is secure, inexpressible joy, salvation.