BEGINNER LEVEL
THE SOAP METHOD
The SOAP Method is a great place to start when studying Scripture.
Follow the steps below to analyze a verse of passage!
The SOAP Method is a great place to start when studying Scripture.
Follow the steps below to analyze a verse of passage!
S - Scripture
Start by choosing a passage or verse found in Scripture (the Bible). Write out the passage or verse in a journal or on a piece of paper.
O - Observation
After you've written out your passage or verse, write what stands out to you in the passage. Consider asking the following questions as you observe:
- Who is the writer of this passage/verse?
- Who is the audience for this passage/verse?
- What is going on in this passage/verse?
- Do any words repeat?
- Is there a request or action?
- What stood out to me?
A - Application
Once you've written out your observations, it's time to create an application! Find a way to apply in your life what you learned. Write out one action step you can take to live out this passage or verse today.
P - Prayer
Lastly, write or say a quick prayer asking God to help you accomplish the task you wrote on the application step. It could sound something like this:
God, please help live out what I learned today in this verse. Help me to listen to you in all that I do. Rule me, God. In Jesus' Name, amen.
Start by choosing a passage or verse found in Scripture (the Bible). Write out the passage or verse in a journal or on a piece of paper.
O - Observation
After you've written out your passage or verse, write what stands out to you in the passage. Consider asking the following questions as you observe:
- Who is the writer of this passage/verse?
- Who is the audience for this passage/verse?
- What is going on in this passage/verse?
- Do any words repeat?
- Is there a request or action?
- What stood out to me?
A - Application
Once you've written out your observations, it's time to create an application! Find a way to apply in your life what you learned. Write out one action step you can take to live out this passage or verse today.
P - Prayer
Lastly, write or say a quick prayer asking God to help you accomplish the task you wrote on the application step. It could sound something like this:
God, please help live out what I learned today in this verse. Help me to listen to you in all that I do. Rule me, God. In Jesus' Name, amen.
INTERMEDIATE LEVEL
BIBLE JOURNALING
After reading a passage from the Bible, answer the following questions in your journal.
After reading a passage from the Bible, answer the following questions in your journal.
1. Is God saying something specific to me about this passage?
2. Is there a lesson to learn in this passage?
3. Is there a promise from God?
4. Is there a command to keep?
5. Is there a timeless principle in the text?
6. Is there a sin to avoid?
7. How can I actively apply this to my life throughout my day?
8. Is there someone I should share this with?
9. Is there something I feel prompted to review from prior studies?
2. Is there a lesson to learn in this passage?
3. Is there a promise from God?
4. Is there a command to keep?
5. Is there a timeless principle in the text?
6. Is there a sin to avoid?
7. How can I actively apply this to my life throughout my day?
8. Is there someone I should share this with?
9. Is there something I feel prompted to review from prior studies?
ADVANCED LEVEL
GRASPING GOD'S WORD
Adapted from Grasping God's Word by J. Daniel Hays & J. Scott Duvall
This level of study will take you through various levels of analysis, including sentences, paragraphs, and discourses.
Choose a passage of Scripture, and begin!
Adapted from Grasping God's Word by J. Daniel Hays & J. Scott Duvall
This level of study will take you through various levels of analysis, including sentences, paragraphs, and discourses.
Choose a passage of Scripture, and begin!
SENTENCES
Start by studying the sentences individually. Think through the following (journaling is encouraged):
- Repetition of Words: Look for words and phrases that repeat.
- Contrasts: Look for ideas, individuals, and/or items that are contrasted with each other. Look for differences.
- Comparisons: Look for ideas, individuals, and/or items that are compared with each other. Look for similarities.
- Lists: Anytime the text mentions more than two items, identify them as a list.
- Cause and Effect: Look for cause-and-effect relationships.
- Figures of Speech: Identify expressions that convey an image, using word in a sense other than the normal literal sense.
- Conjunctions: Notice terms that join units, like "and," "but," and "for." Note what they are connecting.
- Verbs: Note whether a verb is past, present, or future; active or passive; and the like.
- Pronouns: Identify the antecedent for each pronoun.
PARAGRAPHS
After you've analyzed the sentences, look at the paragraphs as a whole. Think through the following (journaling is encouraged):
- Questions and Answers: Note if the text is built on a question-and-answer format.
- Dialogue: Note it the text includes dialogue. Identify who is speaking and to whom.
- Means: Note if a sentence indicates that something was done by means of someone/something (answers "How?"). Usually you can insert the phrase "by means of" into the sentence.
- Purpose/Result Statements: These are more specific types of "means," often telling why. Purpose and result are similar and sometimes indistinguishable. In a purpose statement, you usually can insert the phrase "in order that." In a result clause, you usually can insert the phrase "so that."
- General to Specific & Specific to General: Find the general statements that are followed by specific examples or applications of the general. Also find specific statements that are summarized by a general one.
- Conditional Clauses: A clause can present the condition by which some action or consequences will result. Often, such statements use an "if...then" framework (although in English the "then" is often left out).
- Actions/Roles of God: Identify the actions or roles that the text ascribes to God.
- Actions/Roles of People: Identify actions or roles that the text ascribes to people or encourages people to do.
- Emotional Terms: Does the passage use terms that have emotional energy, like kinship words (father, son) or words like "pleading"?
- Tone of the Passage: What is the overall tone of the passage (happy, sad, encouraging, etc.)?
DISCOURSES
Finally, analyze the sentences and paragraphs to see how they relate to the rest of the chapter or the Bible as a whole. Think through the following (journaling is encouraged):
- Connections to Other Passages & Episodes: How does the passage connect to the one that precedes it and the one that follows it?
- Shifts in the Story/Pivots: Is the passage being used as a key to understanding a dramatic shift in the story?
- Interchange: Does the passage shift back and forth between two scenes or characters?
- Chiasm: Does the passage have any chiastic arrangements, such as a-b-c-d-c-b-a?
Start by studying the sentences individually. Think through the following (journaling is encouraged):
- Repetition of Words: Look for words and phrases that repeat.
- Contrasts: Look for ideas, individuals, and/or items that are contrasted with each other. Look for differences.
- Comparisons: Look for ideas, individuals, and/or items that are compared with each other. Look for similarities.
- Lists: Anytime the text mentions more than two items, identify them as a list.
- Cause and Effect: Look for cause-and-effect relationships.
- Figures of Speech: Identify expressions that convey an image, using word in a sense other than the normal literal sense.
- Conjunctions: Notice terms that join units, like "and," "but," and "for." Note what they are connecting.
- Verbs: Note whether a verb is past, present, or future; active or passive; and the like.
- Pronouns: Identify the antecedent for each pronoun.
PARAGRAPHS
After you've analyzed the sentences, look at the paragraphs as a whole. Think through the following (journaling is encouraged):
- Questions and Answers: Note if the text is built on a question-and-answer format.
- Dialogue: Note it the text includes dialogue. Identify who is speaking and to whom.
- Means: Note if a sentence indicates that something was done by means of someone/something (answers "How?"). Usually you can insert the phrase "by means of" into the sentence.
- Purpose/Result Statements: These are more specific types of "means," often telling why. Purpose and result are similar and sometimes indistinguishable. In a purpose statement, you usually can insert the phrase "in order that." In a result clause, you usually can insert the phrase "so that."
- General to Specific & Specific to General: Find the general statements that are followed by specific examples or applications of the general. Also find specific statements that are summarized by a general one.
- Conditional Clauses: A clause can present the condition by which some action or consequences will result. Often, such statements use an "if...then" framework (although in English the "then" is often left out).
- Actions/Roles of God: Identify the actions or roles that the text ascribes to God.
- Actions/Roles of People: Identify actions or roles that the text ascribes to people or encourages people to do.
- Emotional Terms: Does the passage use terms that have emotional energy, like kinship words (father, son) or words like "pleading"?
- Tone of the Passage: What is the overall tone of the passage (happy, sad, encouraging, etc.)?
DISCOURSES
Finally, analyze the sentences and paragraphs to see how they relate to the rest of the chapter or the Bible as a whole. Think through the following (journaling is encouraged):
- Connections to Other Passages & Episodes: How does the passage connect to the one that precedes it and the one that follows it?
- Shifts in the Story/Pivots: Is the passage being used as a key to understanding a dramatic shift in the story?
- Interchange: Does the passage shift back and forth between two scenes or characters?
- Chiasm: Does the passage have any chiastic arrangements, such as a-b-c-d-c-b-a?
Have questions? Our team is available to help!