Inductive Study

Welcome to our Jonah blog! This is where I'll post our Wednesday lesson in digestible segments. If you can't be with us on Wednesday mornings, this is where you can learn what we covered. Once I have the lesson all on, I may go into more depth on things that we wondered about while studying, things that we might not have time to look into during our study time.

We're going to be studying Jonah inductively. How does one do that? We start with observations, examining what the text says and the context in which it's said. We look for the obvious: people, locations, events, repeated words, words of contrast and comparison, lists, cause and effect. We ask obvious questions such as: Who? What? When? Where? Why? and How? These are often referred to as the 5 Ws and an H. Careful observation is the foundation for accurate interpretation. What does the text mean? Some questions we ask at this point are: What do the words mean? What is the main point? How do the cross-references give us additional insight? How does what is said here fit with what is said in the rest of the book? Accurate interpretation helps us to correctly apply God's Word to our lives. When we believe the truth of what God says and conform our behavior to that truth, then God transforms us into the people that He intended us to be.

So, that's what we'll be doing in our study--Observation, Interpretation, and Application. Let's get started!