Okay, so you are ready to take a closer look at what you are reading in the Bible. But what exactly are you supposed to look for? I’m so glad you asked. I’ve got some suggestions to get you started. This is by no means an exhaustive list of all the things that you can look for as you read the Bible. In fact, you’ll probably come up with some of your own as you go but these are some of the more common things you’ll notice as you read. I suggest memorizing the list or at least having a little cheat sheet tucked into your Bible so that you can remember to look for them as you read.
So here you go.
Twenty Things to Notice as you Read the Bible
People
Locations
Events
Time References
Repeated Words/Ideas
Themes
Contrasts
Comparisons
Conditional Statements
Connectives
Commands
Promises
Warnings
Predictions
Questions and Answers
Illustrations
Quotes/Allusions
Emphatic Statements
Lists
Emotion/Mood
To be honest, it will probably feel a bit awkward at first. It will take some time to work through a passage and notice these things but the more you do it the easier it will get. Don’t look for everything on the list all at once. Pick a couple of them and read through a passage looking for those things. Then pick a couple more and look again. Each time you read through a passage you’ll notice new things and understand it more. Questions might come to mind. Jot them down somewhere so that you can come back to them later. If you can find the answer in the passage write down the answer too. If not, come back to it later when you are doing interpretation.
Just don’t give up. Keep going. It gets easier and will become a natural reflex in time.
Try it out. Try it out on the letter to Philemon. I promise you’ll be surprised by what you will discover!