How To Understand A Bible Passage

In response to option one, I will be addressing the many ways that translations, commentaries, and tools can help someone understand a Bible passage. I would like to address, first, how having a good Bible handbook and two to three different translations of scripture could be a great help to someone who is looking to have a good understanding, and know the true meaning of the Bible. It is important to note that a Bible handbook “works through the bible book-by-book to highlight key information. It will typically address issues such as author, audience, date of writing, and purpose for each biblical book.” (Cartwright & Hulshof, p. 62, 2016). In this way, having a Bible handbook delivers an outline of the Bible that is much more transparent, and most times will provide a discussion of a specific book of the Bible’s background history and

These key observation questions include: Who? What? Where? When? Why? and How? Asking these questions helps you to determine exactly what type of information you are looking for throughout your study of scripture. Asking “who” is the way to search for the main people within a passage of scripture, whether they are implied or mentioned by name. Trying to understand exactly what is occurring within a passage, or the substance of it, is asking the question of “what”. Asking “where” is basically looking to find the geographical location of a passage, which can be easy to overlook. “The ‘why’ question can aid in both observation and interpretation. Asking ‘why’ as a part of observation helps you to identify explicit statements that reveal “why” something was said, done, or written.” (Cartwright & Hulshof, p. 89, 2016). Now we come to the question of “how”, which, at times, can one of the more trying answers to find, because they are more so open to interpretation rather than observation. Considering the passage structure or the rational thought development in the passage is one of many ways the “how”