We have our structural diagram in hand (see? I told you there are a lot of names for it. AKA sentence diagram), printed or handwritten on a regular sheet of paper. What now? Glad you asked!
The very first thing I do whenever I have a new structural diagram is PRAY! Because we need to always consider that while the Bible is a book like every other book with human authors who used words, it is also a spiritual book in that the words the authors wrote down in their original languages were the words God gave them to say. Therefore it follows that we will need God’s help to be able to understand. He loves us and loves it when we ask him for help, so let’s pray for help.
The next step after praying whenever I have a new sentence diagram in hand is to remember I need to anchor the passage in the context of the book. In our particular case, we don’t have a “before” context because we are at the beginning of Ephesians. But we do have an “after”, so I write on my paper at the bottom, “AFTER”. And then I go back to the scripture, which is usually open in front of me, and read what comes after and write down a brief summary. We must remain anchored in the context as we zero in on a particular passage.
Here’s what mine looks like:
I would encourage you to write small, because we are going to observe and interpret all over this piece of paper. And at the end of our time with the passage, we will also make applications as well as a summary. We won’t get DONE with the passage, because I honestly think we don’t ever FINISH God’s word. I don’t believe I will ever get every last scrap of truth out because I believe God can always teach me something else. However, we will move on from a passage in order to prevent us from getting bogged down. We can always come back and study a book again. Like I am right now! I’ve studied Ephesians in depth at least four times. I think this is my fifth time. That I can remember. Always something new to learn!
Now we are grounded in context: what comes after is Paul recounting that God has blessed the recipients and he praises the triune God. Anchored in context, we will now begin to make….
…LISTS! Now we get to make lists of what we see in our passage. No matter how seemingly insignificant the items in the list are, we will write them down. There have been so many times I think, “I already know this, why would I write it down again?” But I also inevitably will gain fresh insight or perspective or comforting reminder of some well-worn truth whenever I resist the urge to follow the “I already know this” mentality. Why would I pass that up?
So what am I talking about with lists? As we look at our observation worksheet (yes, another name I use for the sentence diagram), we are going to begin to ask the questions every worthwhile detective asks, the 5 W’s and an H:
- Who?
- What?
- Where?
- When?
- Why?
- How?
What is the first answer you see if you ask those questions of the passage?
Paul. Paul answers the Who (wrote the book)? question, doesn’t he? Let’s write his name down off to one side. And then whatever we can observe about Paul as we read through the passage, we will write that tidbit down. Whatever pertains to Paul, even if it also pertains to some other folks.
This is how I did it.
Side note: See the triangle there? I use symbols for words frequently used to take up less space. △ is the symbol I use for God the Father. I will point out other symbols as they come up. When I study a passage, this page gets FULL of my chicken scratches. Consequently, I try to write small and use symbols when it makes sense to me.
So from these first few phrases, we’ve been able to observe Paul is an apostle (v1), he’s commissioned by God (v1), and he shares God as Father with the recipients (v2).
At this point, I don’t know if any of that is useful to my study or not, but we are going to write the information down because it is in the Bible. We’re only observing at this point; we are not making decisions about those observations because we don’t know anything about it yet. It’s coming, I promise!
As we continue to ask our 5 W’s and an H, we can see another group of folks. They answer the Who (got the letter)? question. Let’s write “Recipients” under our list for Paul and see what we learn from this passage about them. This can become important to our process of applying since this sheds light on whose mail we’re reading.
As you can see, my list about the recipients is a little longer than it is about Paul. I will rewrite my list here so you are able to read it more easily:
Recipients
- Saints (v1)
- In Ephesus (v1)
- Faithful (v1)
- Believers (v1)
- Receive grace/peace (v2)
- Share God as Father (v2)
Next, when I have a passage I’m observing, I always make sure I notice what the author says about God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit because scripture is all about our triune God and how he relates to us.
In this passage, we have both God and Jesus mentioned so I made lists here:
To make sure you can see what I did, I will reiterate what I have written on my lists.
God
- Has will
- Gives grace
- Gives peace
- Is Father
Jesus
- Gives grace
- Gives peace
- Is Lord
- Is Christ
As we make these lists, I hope you were able to notice that there are sometimes things to write on different lists that are only included because of an “our” that is tucked in, for example. If you look in verse 2, Paul says that God is OUR Father, right? So that means the recipients share God as Father with Paul. See how that works?
That is how I start my observation worksheets; I make lists. I find that it helps me to slow down and engage with the passage. Slowing down allows me to make more detailed observations and sometimes even causes me to see that I have questions about aspects because I slowed down long enough to wonder.
I realize these lists may seem basic, but there are some days that I feel pretty puny in my soul. Do you ever feel like that? Having the opportunity to refresh and renew my mind with the reading and writing of the truth that God has a plan, he gives grace and peace, and is Father can sometimes change a day from the feeling that I’m lost and alone to a day bathed in the reality of who God is; that he has a plan, has grace and peace for his people, and he’s our DAD. This is theology proper meeting my heart right where it is in day-to-day living. And we got to see it and work with that truth in our own Bible study without someone else just telling us and us just believing them. We own this truth because we found it together!
Our Bible Study Bite for today is to make lists when beginning the observation of a passage in order to help us both slow down to comprehend and to allow us opportunity to engage with the text in a different way that simply reading and nodding ascent that we “got it”.
