Page 54 - Homiletics I Student Textbook

The Importance of Illustrations in Sermons

PRINCIPLES AND METHODS OF APPLICATION

We cannot apply the Bible without knowing what it means, but we can know the Bible without
applying it. We can investigate context, analyze words, and even memorize chapters, but unless
we act on what we know, we do not truly grasp that Word. Knowledge by itself is not enough; it
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should lead to action.

In Step 1 of the three-step process for studying the Bible, the task of the student is to practice good skills
of observation. This step answers the question, “What do I see?” Once he has carefully listed everything
he sees in the text, his next task is to better understand that which he has seen. This is Step 2 of the
three-step process for studying the Bible – that of interpretation. This step answers the question, “What
does this mean?” The final step of the three-step process for studying the Bible is application. This step
answers the question, “How does this work?” This final step is the subject of this session.

The Interpretative Journey Revisited

Grasping the Text in Their Town

This is the end result of the Steps 1 and 2 of the three-step process for studying the Bible. By
working through the six steps of the exegetical method in particular, the student should
have an accurate understanding of the text and be able to state the meaning that was
placed there by the original author in summary form, even as a single statement with both a
subject and a complement.

59 J. Scott Duvall & J. Daniel Hays, Grasping God’s Word, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2005), 213.
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