What Is An Inductive Bible Study?

What exactly is an inductive Bible study? Is this something that could give us better understanding of the Scriptures?

The Command to Study

Paul told Timothy, who he was mentoring, to “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth” (2nd Tim 2:15). We know that the apostles taught out of the Old Testament and they used the Scriptures for this. Paul told Timothy, “devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching” (1st Tim 4:13) even though Paul told Timothy that he knew “how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (2nd Tim 3:15). Even so, Timothy was to “Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage–with great patience and careful instruction” (2nd Tim 4:2). To Titus Paul wrote “These, then, are the things you should teach. Encourage and rebuke with all authority. Do not let anyone despise you” (Titus 2:15). Scripture is clear; we are to study so that we can “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2nd Pet 3:18) and what better way to do this than to have an inductive Bible study, but what does that mean?

What does “inductive” Mean?

Before we dive into the topic of what an inductive Bible study is, I think we need to know what the word inductive means. A deductive study or deductive reasoning involves the process of reasoning from one or more statements (premises) to reach a logically certain conclusion like “all men are mortal, I am a man, therefore I am mortal.” This is a top-down study of logic or reason. On the other hand, an inductive study is seeking to supply strong evidence for the truth of the conclusion like 100% of biological life forms that we know of depend on liquid water to exist. We can seek strong evidence of this premise by studying all lifeforms that we know of and depriving them of water to see whether they can continue to live without it. We may not reach absolute, conclusive proof because we cannot possibly study all life on this planet but we can know, we reasonable certainty, that life requires water to survive; at least as far as we can come to know. I know that’s a very simple definition but that is a beginning point for how to find out what an inductive Bible study is.

An Inductive Bible Study

An inductive Bible study involves deductive reasoning (see above paragraph) and typically takes three steps in the process. Here is typically what is involved.

We can begin with a Bible verse or verses and read it and come up with a hypothesis and if we prove to be wrong about that or those verses, we can move onto another possible hypothesis. We might find out that this is absolutely not what this passage or passages are saying and that our hypothesis is not true. If we use as an example the verse that the love of money is the root of evil (1st Tim 6:10) but we study the better translations that say the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, we have just deduced that it isn’t the money that is evil by and of itself…it is the love of money that is at the root of all kinds of evil.

Secondly, we can better understand the passage or passages by reading the context in which the verse or verses are given or any verse references about this passage that are found elsewhere in Scripture and in the case of 1st Timothy 6:10a the context of this chapter is talking about being content with what we have (1st Tim 6:6) and that it is those who have a passionate desire to be rich that “fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction” (1st Tim 6:9) and “It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs” (1st Tim 6:10b) which is why Paul told Timothy to “flee these things” and “Pursue righteousness” (1st Tim 6:11).

The third and final step is “what does this passage or passages mean to me?” What are the practical implications of this verse and what is the application to my life as a believer in Jesus Christ. It appears that we are to seek righteousness first and the kingdom first and then God will add all the things that we’ll need (Matt 6:33). I must ask myself; “Am I willing to obey this? How can I apply this to my Christian walk with Christ? Where do I go from here?” I need to implement these truths into my life by applying them in practical ways…that is I must practice them once I have learned them. Truth is useless unless it is obeyed.

My conclusion then is that it is the pursuit of money that produces all sorts of evil in me. That is what the context of 1st Timothy chapter six is talking about. I need to follow the directives of Paul’s admonition to Timothy and “flee these things” and “pursue righteousness” (1st Tim 6:11) by seeking first the kingdom and that means seeking the King of the kingdom first (Matt 6:33).

Conclusion

We know that we must study the Bible and then learn the meaning for us and then live out that meaning in practical ways that allow us to grow in the grace and knowledge of God. This is an imperative command given throughout Scripture and an inductive Bible study will help us to achieve such a good and godly goal.

Article by Jack Wellman

Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book Blind Chance or Intelligent Design available on Amazon.