Washed in the Word Part 6 – How to Survey a Book of the Bible

The first goal of the Washed in the Word R.INS.E study method is to Read the book of the bible you are studying chapter by chapter trying to grasp the big picture so that you have a high-level idea of the topics of each chapter. This forms the context that you need to have before you can read any passage in that book of the Bible more deeply. In the survey worksheet the heading of the first page for each book has a form for recording the book name, genre, author, audience, date and location of writing. This is followed by a block section where after reading the book you record its theme and purpose and any other notes or thoughts.

Some of this basic information you may be able to find in each book as you read it otherwise a good study bible or commentary will have this information. To make it easier, at the end of this section there will be two tables, one for the Old Testament and one for the New with this information.

Surveying the Text

Identify

To do a survey you will be concentrating on the setting and keywords which you will mark in brown and God marked in purple. Start by looking for repeated words and their synonyms and circle them. If they match one of the categories depicted in the earlier section, then circle them in that categories color. As you identify key repeated words make note of the genre if it differs from the book’s general genre. Books of law may also have history and poetry. Identify people, places and things that make up the setting and key events or commands and mark these following the symbols guide below. These might be obvious, but they might not stand out. At this point you can start using inquiry or some simple questions to help identify elements of the setting and circumstances. 

Inquire

In English classes you should have run into the five Ws and a H. While surveying and later when you inspect the text you will need to start asking who, what, when, where, why, and how. While surveying the level of questioning doesn’t need to be as probing as when you are rereading the text during the Inspection phase and you will limit yourself to specific questions focusing on the setting and keywords to just gain a basic understanding of the topic that is being addressed in the chapter. 

Start by asking who are the main characters or groups of characters and are they a protagonist or antagonist? What does God do or what does He command or promise? Marking what he does with a purple double underline and God’s promises with a purple arch and His commands with a green exclamation point and underline. What are the main events? Mark antagonists and protagonists with a brown underline ending in an A or P respectively. If it is a king or kingdom draw a blue crown at the beginning. Mark references to God with a purple triangle or angel of the Lord with a red cross. But only mark these when God is actively at work or responding. If the chapter is just talking about God such as saying “we have sinned against God” then these references do not need to be marked. You only want to call attention to God, Jesus or the Holy Spirit when they are an active character in the chapter so you can see when God is responding. The goal here and and more so during the Inspection phase is to grasp what His feelings are about the circumstances recorded.

Then ask where is this happening or where is the author seeing what he is writing? When is this happening? Underline and mark the location with a blue at sign @ and times with a blue circle with clock hands (/). If the author is writing from a particular vantage point rather than use an at sign start with a semi-encircled v into an (V underline. For example when Moses is describing the creation of the world in Genesis 1 where is he? He is with “(V the Spirit hovering over the waters“. 

The vantage point and use of phenomenal language can be key to understanding what the bible is saying. Phenomenal language is the use of words to describe what you see or feel happening from the perspective of your senses and from your vantage point. We use this every day when we say “the sun rose” or “the sun set”. The sun doesn’t really go up or rise nor does it go down or set. When Moses describes the sky as a firmament he isn’t saying it is a solid dome, he is saying it looks like a dome. If you accept that it must be a dome then you run into the problem of a clash with reality that is not necessary at all. While the bible is not a science text book it does describe things that actually happened and that exist. Whatever may be described more precisely or scientifically should be able to match what the author describes if he were to experience it, the bible does not make mistakes. 

Digest / Summarize

Since this is a survey you don’t want to spend much time asking how and why. If an explanation of how or why is apparent take note of it but we will spend time on this during the inspection phase. After you have read the chapter and marked the obvious keywords and setting record the keywords in the keyword’s column in the survey form and in the margin of your bible. Then write a short one or two sentence summary in the middle summary section of the form. If the genre is different from that of the book record that in parenthesis. 

These summaries and the worksheets will become a reference in the future as you inspect and re-examine a passage in the Bible. It will form the context that limits or qualifies what may be understood. Finally, they will help you better remember what you have read and will develop Biblical Intelligence.

“Perhaps the best test of a man’s intelligence is the capacity for making a summary.” – Lyton Stachey
Then the best exercise to develop biblical intelligence is to practice making summaries.

Roll Up into a Breakdown

In the Bible survey worksheet you have been recording the keywords and summaries. Now it’s time to pull it all together. Consider the keywords column from each chapter and the categories they might fall into. Can you group the keywords in any way? Use the breakdown columns to group the chapters and their keywords into categories. You are rolling up the chapters’ settings and key words into main points of an outline which becomes the breakdown of the book. 

You are looking for relationships between chapters and you will need to do this as part of an end of book review but if you notice a change or turning point or transition while reading don’t hesitate to make note of it using a pencil in the breakdown column so you don’t forget it. To use the breakdown columns you will want to turn the page horizontal and draw lines between these changes you see in categories and then write a short title for that break or segment. Some categories or ways of grouping keywords and circumstances of the setting include:

• Composition or Literary Devices
  • Pivotal Points / Turning Points
  • Progression and Climax
  • Radiation
• Others
  • Time / Place / Vantage Point
  • Reigns
  • Topics
  • Doctrines
  • Events / Tasks
  • Signs
  • Goals / Objectives

Finally, in the heading block of the worksheet write a theme and purpose for the entire book. The theme can be thought of as if someone were to ask you “write me a title for that book”. Next write down why you think the book was written and any other notes you feel may be helpful. Now you have completed your survey of the book. You will want to keep these surveys for future reference whenever you come back to study a passage in that particular book of the Bible.

Old Testament Books – Author, Date, Location and Genre

New Testament Books – Author, Date, Location and Genre