{Off Grid Bible Study} Summary and Narration
In my last post on how to study the Bible without having to use a video, book, or the internet I shared five journaling prompts you could use through any chapter. Today I’ll share two additional methods of Bible study that I also enjoy. Method one is summarizing a chapter, and the other is narrating a chapter. I like these options because both are easy to remember how to do if you are on vacation or away from home, or maybe tucked away in a quiet cabin, but want to do more than just read a chapter in the Bible.
Summary method
To summarize is to distill a passage down to its main points. There is much value in this as it can help you think through “what is this saying?” and then boil it down to bullet points. You have to sort through the sentences and pull out important or emphasized words and ideas. To do this, pray first, then read the passage in full (I mean read the passage in context, make sure you know what is being talked about) then go back through the passage and pull out what you think the main points are. For example, I summarize Galatians chapter three this way.
Paul is showing the Galatians that they cannot be following the rules of Jewish law AND follow Christ.
- He points to them having the Spirit through faith
- He points to Abraham, who received the promise before the Law
- He points to day-to-day human covenants as an example
- He points to the reason for the Law
- And what the Law did before Christ
(If you’re interested, I’ve also done the “extreme summary” method through every page of my Bible. I have more on that here.)
Narration method
This method is different from summary because we are not trying to distill a passage down to its main points, but instead we’re trying to retell the passage in our own words. Here’s how I narrated Galatians chapter three, again, pray first, read the whole section in context, then narrate:
Paul is telling the Galatian believers about righteousness through Christ vs. obeying (or doing) the things of the Law. At the end of chapter two, Paul stated his main point of this letter to the Galatians: “if righteousness comes through the Law then Christ died needlessly.” So then Paul asks them questions: Having begun by the Spirit are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer all this in vain? Did you get the Spirit by the Law? Did you see miracles among you done by the Law? Paul then goes on to explain the law. Living under the law is living under a curse: “Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the Law, to perform them.” But Christ redeemed us from the Law! Not even in day-to-day human life, do we set aside a covenant that has been ratified or add conditions to it. These promises of “a righteous man shall live by faith”, were spoken to Abraham, who lived 430 years before the Law was given. The Law was given to restrain sin. “Scripture has shut up all men under sin.” The Law did not nullify the promises of God, instead it taught us, kept us under custody, tutored us, until Christ came.
Currently I’m narrating one chapter a day at the bottom of my daily planner page. I’m still not super good at it, summarizing comes more natural to me, so I’m going to keep narrating until it becomes easier. It has been such a challenge and a blessing to think through Scripture this way!
