The Berean Fellowship Bible Study Method
The Berean Fellowship Bible Study Method is a simple, straightforward process of the careful, deliberate reading of the Holy Scriptures with a goal of the discovery and implementation of truth. This process is sharpened by habitually asking questions of the text being searched such as follows:
Do I See Any ...
The Berean Fellowship Bible Study Method includes three components:
- Observation
- Interpretation
- Application
These three components include three questions:
- Observation: What does this Scripture SAY?
- Interpretation: What does this Scripture MEAN?
- Application: How should this Scripture cause me to CHANGE?
Seek, Do & Teach
For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do it and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments. - Ezra 7:10
- Like Ezra, we should be continually SEEKING God's truth and His will for our lives through His Word.
- We should, by God's gracious help through His Holy Spirit, PRACTICE what we learn as a result of seeking His Law.
- We should SHARE what we have learned with others.
Every man knows something that I do not not know, therefore "every man is my teacher."
If we have open minds and hearts, we can learn something from anyone and everyone. Do you have this attitude? This precept works both ways. God does NOT want you to be a "Dead Sea" seeker.
You will find JOY and FULFILLMENT in each step: Seek, Practice & Share. If you do not share (try to teach others), then you've got God's "living water" flowing into you and nothing flowing out - you are like the dead sea.
Come alive! Become an outlet. Share what you learn with others. Teach.
God's Word - the Greatest Treasure
1 My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee;
2 So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding;
3 Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding;
4 If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures;
5 Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.
~ Proverbs 2:1-5
For What Are You Searching?
How about you start by searching the Scriptures for the following ten things. You will never find them all in a single passage, but you will find one or more of them.
- Commands to Obey. (read more)
- Warnings to Heed. (read more)
- Promises to Claim. (read more)
- Examples to Follow. (read more)
- Vices to Avoid. (read more)
- Praises to Emulate. (read more)
- Prayers to Use as Your Own. (read more)
- Principles by which to Live. (read more)
- Questions to ASK others. (read more)
- Actions to Take. (read more)
The Berean Fellowship Worksheet
Some Suggestions
Become a "Berean Believer"
How does one Become a Berean Believer?
If you 1) search the Scriptures daily, 2) consider carefully what you read, and 3) try to make some application to your life, you ARE a Berean Believer!
Find a Local Berean Fellowship
If there is already a local group close enough for you to enable you to participate, you may choose to connect with them.
Establish Your Own Berean Fellowship
Reach out to your friends, family, neighbors and acquaintances and invite them to attend your group. A weekly meeting place and time is suggested. Select a passage to focus upon or a question that has been asked and then associate the question with a good primary passage of scripture.
Read the Passage Daily, Individually
Acquire a notepad (spiral bound is best ) and note the passage you have chosen. Read the passage once and then look through the list of questions above. You will NEVER be able to find ALL of the ten questions above, but you will usually be able to find something. Note your discoveries and discuss them with your group.
Recommended Resources
The Bible, English Dictionary, Strong’s Concordance. Note: we do NOT recommend Bible Commentaries. Use a concordance and compare the Scripture with other Scriptures instead. Come to your own conclusions and don’t “wear someone else’s glasses” when your are reading / studying the Bible.
What is the Difference between Inductive and Deductive Bible Study?
Inductive or Deductive Bible Study?
Read and understand the following definitions:
Deductive Reasoning: to assert or establish a conclusion from something previously known or assumed.
Inductive Reasoning: to assert or establish a conclusion on the basis of personal observations.
Deductive Bible Study: Starts with SOME Assumptions
Deductive Bible Study: starts with what you "KNOW" or "ASSUME" to be true (an accepted premise) to arrive at a conclusion.
Inductive Bible Study: starts with what you "OBSERVE" to arrive at a conclusion.
Inductive Bible Study: Starts with NO Assumptions
This can be difficult, but "don't read the Scriptures with someone else's glasses."
It is impossible to eliminate ALL of our presuppositions, but we need to come to the Scriptures with the understanding that our presuppositions (the premises that we believe to be true) may in fact be wrong.
If we use "deduction" and start with a wrong premise, we will not arrive at a right answer.
Which is Right? Inductive or Deductive Bible Study?
Deductive Bible study STARTS with some assumptions. As long as your assumptions are correct, this method works. As you continue to read the Bible, THE WHOLE BIBLE, you will gain an understanding of the themes of the Bible and you will then accept some things as being TRUE based upon the repeated themes that are in the Bible as a whole.
These things that you accept as TRUE will form a foundation of ASSUMPTIONS. You can BUILD your understanding of other themes or teachings upon this foundation of assumptions - this is DEDUCTIVE Bible study.
However, you really MUST be willing to DISCARD any assumptions that you have previously accepted when you discover through continued reading that they may not be true or rock-solid.
What is the Origin of Your Assumptions?
When I became a follower of Jesus Christ, I did not have any "history" of Bible teaching, so I had FEW ASSUMPTIONS. The only assumptions I had were formed that there was a GOD, contrary to what I had been taught in school (the evolution lie) and that Jesus Christ was in my heart.
When I was 16 years old, I had started secretly reading the Bible. I had first come to the conclusion that anyone who believed it had to be crazy. However, as I continued to read it and came to the history of Jesus Christ in the New Testament, I eventually called upon Him and asked Him to forgive my sins and come into my life.
Having the very real awareness of some immediate change that took place within me, one of my first prayers as a new believer in Jesus was for Him to help me find a church so I could be instructed. Within a week, a friend invited me to a youth group meeting at the home of a youth director in a local church.
Now, listening to the Bible being taught there as well as at the church, I was being taught and was, I think, nearly 100% accepting what I was being taught as true.
I was forming some ASSUMPTIONS as a result of the teaching I was receiving.
The great help of a teacher is that you can learn from them something that could take weeks or months or even years to figure out on your own.
The great hazard of a teacher is that your teacher may in fact, be wrong and thus would be "the blind leading the blind."
The great honor as a student is you search the Scriptures yourself and come to your own conclusions regarding the accuracy of what you are being taught!
