Too often, discipleship has become non-existent, outsourced, or overcomplicated. It doesn’t have to be, but it does need to be grounded in the Word of God. Paul reminded Timothy that “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). God’s Word rightly claims that God’s Word is the best thing to complete the Christian, equipping him or her. Therefore, discipleship should not only be informed by God’s Word, but it must also be about God’s Word. Otherwise, we labor in vain.
Reading the Bible one-on-one or in a small group is not as complicated as you think. Once you have another person or a small group to read and study the Bible with, you should decide what Scripture you’d like to read and study. Picking a book of the Bible and going through it over time is wise compared to having no plan or a plan to go through something other than the Bible.
When you gather with another person or a small group, you’ll probably want a little fellowship time, but don’t let this time get away from you or you won’t have much time to hear from the Lord. Next, pray and ask for God’s blessing and help as you open his Word. Read the selected passage together, out loud. It can be helpful to alternate readers every paragraph or every couple of verses if that’s comfortable for everyone. Then begin your study method tool.
Using a Bible study method in your one-on-one discipleship and small group settings is easy. It serves as a roadmap to keep you on course, and hopefully, out of a ditch. There are some well-tested methods worth using. However, some are better than others. The remainder of this post is a brief review and discussion of a few popular methods.
Once your discipleship group has studied the passage using your selected method, pray and give thanks to God. That’s it. Leading a discipleship group with one or more people is not difficult. And most of these methods make it easily reproducible.
If you’ve never done discipleship like this before, you may be asking about Bible study methods. There are many. Some are better than others and some are better for different circumstances, goals, or biblical knowledge. Some are not so great. You’ll have to decide for your context which is better.
Here’s a simple explanation of a few popular Bible study and reading study frameworks. They have much in common although the differences are worth nothing as you decide what is best for your situation. (Tip: The first three are listed first for a reason.)
The Swedish Method
Of the first three methods listed, the Swedish Method is the most fit for unbelievers and new believers. It is a simple approach, named after the location where it was first used. Each person quietly reads the text to themselves during the meeting or beforehand. The reader draws a lightbulb next to anything that shines in the passage or captures his or her attention. A question mark should be drawn next to anything hard to understand or something about which the reader would have loved to ask the biblical author. Finally, the reader draws an arrow next to anything that seems to apply personally or hits close to the reader's life. It may be helpful to print the passage to encourage drawing these symbols on printed sheets rather than on Bible pages.
After everyone has read through the passage and marked it up with symbols, they read the passage together out loud. They take turns discussing their lightbulbs, question marks, and then arrows. Each person shares one per turn until they’ve exhausted all their symbols, starting with lightbulbs, moving to question marks, and finishing with arrows. This should help fuel a discussion around the text.
The strength of the Swedish Method is its simplicity. It’s easy to get into the text. It’s easily reproducible. But there are some weaknesses. First, without help from a more mature, knowledgeable believer, there’s a significant risk of things drifting out of context, being directly applied without filtering through the gospel, or a lack of seeking timeless principles. It is too easy to get away from the main point. Second, it is difficult for this method to get into much depth. Third, because there is no emphasis placed on extracting the meaning from the text as a whole unit, it is easy for biblical truths to be overlooked, ignored, and avoided. And fourth, this method is not a natural reading method like OIA and COMA below. We don’t tend to use this method when we read other things, so it feels foreign to typical study.
While you may be better off with OIA or COMA, if you do use this method, consider adding a bonus symbol like an exclamation point or heart to identify the main point of the passage. That should be discussed first to help keep the rest of the discussion contained within the point and purpose of the text.
OIA
OIA stands for Observation, Interpretation, and Application. The principle of OIA is the foundational backbone of any sound Bible study method. It is the process of taking what the text meant when it was written within the author’s intended meaning, bringing it forward to today through the interpretative and hermeneutic principles without neglecting the truth of the gospel, and then bringing it to bear on faith, life, and practice today. OIA is how we naturally read anything if we read well.
When using OIA for one-on-one Bible reading and small group study, it’s typically helpful to read the text together out loud. Then work on the three steps in order. Pray before you start and pray when you are finished. It’s also wise to pray at any point if you get stuck somewhere in the middle.
Observation is the step when you examine the text at whatever level you are capable of. If you can read it in the original language, you should. If you can hardly read, go slow and give it your best effort in a good translation. You might think about reading in two or three different translations. Employ the tools you know and don’t be afraid to learn other helpful tools. Notice the context, author, purpose for the writing, genre, structure, grammar, key points and movements, and anything else in the writing. Ask questions and seek answers. Who, what, where, when, why, and how? Why was the author communicating this text at the point in time when it was written? How did the original readers likely understand it? How does what was written relate to what had been written in the Bible before? Are there any parallel words or ideas? Is there anything contrasting or shocking? Is anything out of place or unexpected? Are there commands or questions? Why is it structured and organized the way it is? Is there an argument and what is the flow of the argument? What is the emphasis and main point of the passage? Is anything curiously missing that you’d expect to see? It’s good to seek definitions of words you don’t know or items from the culture you don’t understand. Did anything stand out to you? It’s fine if you can’t answer all the questions because you’ll never plumb the depths. Do what you can and what you have time for. The point is that you are in the text, looking and learning, observing what you can see. Also, a good Study Bible can be a huge help when working on these questions.
The wonderful thing about the OIA method is its scalability. Use the time you have, and you’ll get something from God’s Word. If you have more time, you’ll get more. If you have more tools, use them. The Scriptures are inexhaustible. OIA is the same principle good preachers use to prepare sermons, good curriculum writers write study materials, and good commentary writers study and write commentaries. The more you do it, the better you’ll get at it.
Interpretation is the step when you seek meaning. You are asking What does this mean? But never should you ask What does this mean to me? We extract the meaning from the text rather than insert our own meaning into it. While you will see what the text meant to the original audience in the Observation step, in the Interpretation step you are looking for the timeless principles that apply to all people of all generations and all places. You’re seeking God’s truth. You take the point the author was making, look at it through the gospel, compare it to the rest of Scripture, and find God’s message for us today. This can be more challenging than the Observation step, but good questions help. Where can we see Christ in this text? How does the gospel inform and shape this text? Why is the text necessary for faith, life, and practice? What in the text applies to the Christian and the Church today? What does this text mean for our future? What else does the Bible say about this principle? While time or the gospel may render something obsolete, what can be learned and applied from the text? Why? How? These are the types of questions that help us find God’s meaning in the text.
Then comes the Application step. At this point, and only after walking the other two steps, we seek application. How does the timeless principle speak to my life? How should the meaning alter my thoughts, beliefs, and actions? Do I need to change my mind or actions? Am I willing to do what this text teaches? Is there an example I should follow, a sin to avoid, a promise to hold on to, a command to obey, or a truth I need to embrace? Is there a verse I should memorize and bury deep in my heart? What should change in my life after reading this text? How should I pray? How should I respond? Am I willing?
A Bible study or one-to-one reading using the OIA may not always see instant change or shocking results (although it could). Instead, studying the Bible with this kind of grounding will produce results over the long haul. It trains us to read with a keen eye and open heart to hear from the Lord. It protects us from inserting our own desires into God’s Word and instead allows God’s Word to come forward to inform and shape us. And the application comes directly from the Bible rather than anywhere else.
When your one-on-one or small group study has finished the Application step, pray together or for each other. When you next meet, it may be helpful to briefly talk about how the application went between the times you met. Then start with another text. Repeat the process for a lifetime and be transformed.
COMA
COMA is as popular and sound as OIA because it basically is OIA. O is Observation, M stands for meaning, which is the Interpretation in OIA, and A is for Application, just the same as the Application in OIA. The only difference is COMA adds the C or Context. OIA assumes Context within Observation while COMA wants to be sure it’s the starting point and not missed.
Context asks questions like, What sort of writing is this?, Are there any clues about the circumstances that caused the writing?, What has happened so far?, What comes before and what comes after?, Where was this written?, To whom was this written?, and When was this written? Sometimes this information is not obvious in the text, which is why COMA makes it a separate step. This is where a good Study Bible is helpful.
Following the Context step, the COMA method is just like the OIA method. If you didn’t read the OIA section, look back up at OIA to get a good understanding of the OMA part of the COMA method.
6Ps
Jen Wilkin developed “The 6 Ps of Sound Bible Study,” which is extremely helpful. Notice that step 4 is a repackaged OIA and the rest of the steps are additional help, study, or encouragement. In short, this is an expanded OIA method, which is why it’s so helpful to understand the OIA method.
The six Ps are Purpose, Perspective, Patience, Process, Prayer, and People. Purpose opens the study by asking where the text sits within the salvation narrative of the Bible. What’s the purpose of the text in light of the whole story? Perspective looks to understand who authored the book, when it was written, the occasion for the writing, to whom it was written, in what style and genre the writing resides, and other background information. Patience is a warning and encouragement because it reminds us not to race to the commentaries for answers. Wilkin encourages us to sit in the text. Meditate on it. Ask questions about it. Explore the cross references. Let the Bible explain the Bible. Trust that doing the work will yield good fruit. Process, step 4, is doing OIA. This step asks, What does it say? What does it mean? and How should it change me? Then comes Prayer. Speak with God about what we’ve heard from God. Finally, the last P is People. At this concluding point of the method, consider with whom you might share what you’ve learned.
Wilkin’s 6Ps is a sound way to study the Bible. It builds on the foundation of the OIA method and builds a few more layers. The weakness of 6Ps is that the method is heavy for a new believer, even overwhelming. However, this approach is great for the growing Christian.
SOAP
SOAP is a simplified variation of OIA and COMA. S stands for Scripture. This is the step when the passage is read out loud, carefully, and slowly. Some users of this framework will read through the passage twice or read it once and then have someone summarize what was just read in his or her own words. O is for Observation, just like in OIA and COMA. A stands for Application, also like OIA and COMA. Finally, the P is a reminder to Pray. SOAP is easy for the most basic one-on-one or small group where even reading the passage and praying might not be naturally assumed. SOAP is simple.
The greatest weakness of SOAP is that it leaves no obvious step for interpretation or meaning like OIA and COMA. While SOAP doesn’t assume reading the Scripture or praying, it does assume the critical practice of bringing the message from what it meant then to what it means today. It suggests that finding the timeless principle, filtered through the gospel is optional. The good facilitator might bring this process into the Observation step or even the Application step, but it’s not clearly stated as a step, relying on the facilitator to know. In the end, SOAP indirectly promotes taking a reading from anywhere in the Bible and applying it directly to today regardless of context or the gospel.
Seven Arrows
Matt Rogers developed the Seven Arrow Bible study method. Using arrows, students of the Bible go through seven steps. Marked by a circular arrow that ends where it began, the first step asks, What does the passage say? Next comes an arrow pointing to the left, which asks, What did this passage mean to its original audience? The third arrow points up and asks, What does this passage tell us about God? Next comes an arrow pointing down to bring the question, What does this passage tell us about man? The fifth arrow points to the right and asks, What does this passage demand of me? The sixth arrow points both left and right, asking, How does this passage change the way I relate to people? Finally, the seventh arrow is a curving upward arrow asking, How does this passage prompt me to pray?
These are seven outstanding questions for any Bible study. The strength of the Seven Arrows method is its directed depth. A path with seven steps gives special attention to detailed questions so they don’t slip through the cracks. Questions 1-4 may (and should) easily be among the questions used during the Observation points of OIA, COMA, and SOAP. Questions 5-7 should be among the Application portions of other study methods. Without clearly identifying these questions in other methods, it’s easy to forget them. The Seven Arrows method keeps the group from missing good questions.
The obvious weakness of the Seven Arrow system is its complexity. Without a chart or cheat sheet, it’s more difficult to navigate through all the steps. The arrows make sense when put next to the question, but this is not an intuitive way to understand the arrows. Also, leading a small group through seven question points rather than setting the questions in a subset may lengthen the discussion time or overstretch a new believer’s attention span. Finally, the complexity reduces the ease of reproducibility.
The Sword
The Sword method of Bible study imagines a sword pointing upward. The tip of the sword, which is pointing toward God, reminds us to ask what the passage teaches us about God. The butt or handle reminds us to ask what the text teaches us about humanity. On the left blade, we think S.P. and on the right blade we think E.C. (To remember these letters, remember that we must take the plank from our own eye before we try to take the spec from the eye of another.) The S reminds us to ask if the text teaches about a Sin to avoid. The P reminds us to ask if there is a Promise we should claim. The E serves to remind us to ask if there is an Example to be followed. And the C reminds us to ask if there is a Command we should obey. There’s not a particular order to all the questions but be sure to answer them all.
The strengths of this method are few and the weaknesses are many. The best thing about the Sword method is the attention to ask what the passage specifically teaches about God or man or both. However, while the Sword reminds us of Ephesians 6:17 and looks appealing to an elementary-aged boy, it’s unclear how else a sword itself is a helpful memory device for this study method. A bit more troubling is what to do with the vast amount of Scripture that isn’t answered by one of the SPEC questions. Is there nothing to learn from those passages? The Sword method is a limited approach to the Bible.
HEAR
The HEAR method for Bible study stands for Highlight, Explain, Apply, and Respond. The Highlight step means that as you and the group are reading the passage, each person highlights the verses or phrases that stand out for some reason. The Explain step is when you ask the who, what, when, where, why, and how questions of the passage to better understand what’s being communicated. Before moving to the last step, you apply what the passage says to your life. Finally, Respond means that you pray to God in response to what you have learned and applied to your life.
Much like the weakness of SOAP, this method bypasses the meaning/interpretation step, opening the door to poor interpretation. Furthermore, neither SOAP nor this method teaches the participants how to rightly interpret a passage, keeping him or her dependent on the facilitator for guidance and correction when they get too far away from the correct interpretation (assuming the facilitator is capable of helping).
Word Hand
The Word Hand method of Bible study really isn’t a Bible study method at all. Historically, it was used as a method for years, but it’s more about attitudes and practices for broader discipleship. Using a hand as an illustration, each finger and the palm stand for different things based on the size of each finger and the retention values of each practice. The pinky finger stands for hearing, the ring finger is for reading, the middle finger is for meditation, and the pointer finger is for study. The thumb stands for memorization and the palm is for application. Each of these things are aspects of discipleship. For example, because faith comes by hearing (Romans 10:17), the disciple should grow accustomed to hearing the Word of God read, preached, and taught through the public reading of the Word, preaching, and what the facilitator teaches. The disciple should also be reading the Word of God, ready to meditate on it and study it closely. Finally, the disciple should memorize related Scripture, burying the Word in his or her heart and then applying it personally. This goes far beyond a one-on-one or group session.
While all the aspects of the Word Hand method of discipleship are good, the weakness of using this as a method for a single session of Bible reading and discipleship are obvious. It’s not a roadmap. It’s not a clear path to guide a discussion around Bible reading. That’s not the purpose of the Word Hand illustration despite many trying to cram a Bible study method into it for decades.
AVOID DANGEROUS METHODS LIKE THESE:
5Ps
Popular in certain circles, the 5Ps method (not to be confused with the 6Ps method above), is an attempt at low bar for Bible study. That’s commendable, but the bar is too low.
Each P in this method is a full phrase: Position yourself to hear from God. Pour over the Passage and paraphrase the major points. Pull out the spiritual principles. Pose the question. Plan obedience and pin down a date.
Positioning is about removing distractions and finding a quiet place to study so you can hear from the Lord. This is commendable, but might not always be possible. Pouring over the passage is about slow, deep reading, and thinking about it carefully. This is good. The reading is followed by paraphrasing each verse in your own words. This shouldn’t take too long because the creator of the 5Ps study encourages people to look at only one or two verses per day. Next, Pulling out the spiritual principles suggests that every individual verse has its own principle and you should be able to write each principle. Then, when you Pose the question, you turn each principle into a personally directed question to ask yourself. The fifth P is to Plan to obey and pin down the date you plan to obey.
The 5Ps study method has good intentions but falls short. Attempting to include personal accountability an unintentional door for continued disobedience opens. Trying to remain simple, the study of the actual text is tossed aside in favor of personal paraphrasing, which might not be correct because little to no effort was made to study. But the biggest weakness is that in the Bible, nearly no sentence in a paragraph or clause in a poem stands alone with its own complete meaning and principle. Sentences form paragraphs and the paragraph holds the unit of thought. Often, paragraphs have neighbors, and that neighborhood is a connected idea and principle. Extracting one sentence without consideration of what’s around it leads to a loss of context and a gross misinterpretation of the verse. The outcome is disastrous.
4Rs
It is a tremendous stretch to call the 4Rs method a Bible study method at all. Postmodern spiritualism is much closer to the mark.
The first R stands for Read, but only one person reads. The other person or people listen with their eyes closed. After the reading, the person listening is asked to speak the word or phrase that grabbed his or her attention the most. The second R is for Reflection. At this point, still with eyes closed, the reader reads the passage out loud again. The listeners are invited to see how the passage connects to him or her personally. Then each listener is instructed to say what the passage means to him or her. (Danger! The passage’s meaning is contained within the Text, not in the person hearing the text.) The third R stands for Respond. The passage is read out loud again and the listener is encouraged to say a prayer. Finally, the fourth R is for Resting. The passage is read out loud yet another time. Then the reader says, “Receive the words and rest in Jesus’ truth.” This concludes the process, although all the participants are welcome to discuss their experiences.
Surprisingly, a large para-church ministry with a rich, faithful history uses the 4Rs method for discipleship around the world, mostly with young people on college campuses and in the military. The only positive thing here is that the passage of Scripture is read out loud multiple times. That might be helpful for those who can’t or don’t know how to read. Otherwise, this is not an attempt to read and glean the intended meaning of the Bible. This method proves no desire to bring God’s Word to bear on life and practice. Instead, this is a process to manipulate God’s Word through an experience. There is no study or submission to God’s Word. This is nothing more than a prayer practice called lectio divina, which seeks to find a voice from behind the Text, which is not the intention of the Text itself.
