INTRODUCTION

Why Inductive Bible Study

Much of today’s preaching and teaching in church and similar settings as well as theological education in general is using a topical Bible study approach (Deductive Bible Study).
In this approach I typically first select a topic (for example: “What is salvation?” “How can I pray more effectively?”, “importance of forgiveness”). Then I look for verses in the Bible addressing the topic I have chosen, usually taking a few verses from here and there. I put the verses together and combine things into a preaching.
Even though in this way I will gain valuable insights about the topic chosen, this approach has some serious flaws:

• One flaw is that it is me doing the choosing of the topic, and that happens typically on the basis of what I already know, of what I heard preached about often or what I was trained in. Yet there may well be a vast array of important topics that God speaks about in the Bible, but since I have not yet learned to see their importance, I never chose these topics nor study them. So they totally elude me.
• Another flaw is that by choosing a few verses from here or there I am not really understanding the context of these verses. I lose very important connections, insights and helps to understand these verses properly. In the best case scenario I just sorely miss out, in the worst case scenario it skews my understanding of the Word seriously, making me vulnerable to very unbalanced interpretations or downright deception.

An illustration: If you were asked whether you know John 3:16, you likely could recite the verse correctly. But if challenged, you likely couldn’t recite John 3:17 or John 3:15. If asked who spoke those famous words, many would indicate Jesus, though they will not be sure. If asked with whom Jesus spoke at that time, even fewer can answer. If Jesus said this verse, and equally the one before and after, then on what basis are we selecting and rejecting verses? Though John 3:16 is, of course, a wonderful verse.