One of the most important skills in doing Bible study is learning to trace the author’s arguments. This is especially important in books that are written in a discourse style, such as the New Testament epistles, or Ecclesiastes, but it is also a helpful tip for other books, such as the gospels, the prophets, Revelation, etc.

A good place to start is by reading through an entire book in one sitting (with most books of the Bible this can be done in well under an hour). When you finish reading the book, ask “What’s the author’s point, the overall point, of the whole book?” Try to write out a succinct one or two sentence answer.

After asking this question, try to trace the author’s argument. What approach did the author use to arrive at this overall point? What are the natural divisions of the book, and how do they fit into the overall argument?

Once you’ve gained a general feel for the overall flow of the book, zoom in a little closer, and begin asking “What’s the point?” over and over again, paragraph by paragraph. What is the point of each paragraph, and how does it fit into the particular part of the book you are studying?

I can’t stress this enough. If you want to gain a good understanding of a particular passage, you must be able to summarize what the author says, why the author says it at that particular point, and how the passage contributes to the overall argument.

If you will develop this habit of thinking contextually all the time, you will notice a few important changes in how you study the Bible.

1. You will begin to realize that the meaning of a passage is self-contained. That means you will almost never have to look up cross-references or parallel passages from other parts of the Bible. You will become less reliant on things like commentaries, ready references, or Google searches to understand what a passage means. Learning to let the text explain itself is not only good Bible study, but in some ways it is easier than flipping back and forth to a handful of other verses, and trying to figure out how they all relate to each other.
2. Certain passages will begin to stand out to you as far more important than you ever realized before. When you start thinking contextually, you will learn that there is nothing in a paragraph that does not fit into the author’s overall point. Every line of Scripture is important.
3. The Bible will begin to make a lot more sense. This is what doing good Bible study is all about. You may still come across difficult passages now and then. When you do, there’s nothing wrong with consulting a commentary or looking up cross-references to help you figure it out. But when you do, your careful examination of the surrounding context will prepare you to evaluate those outside resources much more responsibly.

It doesn’t require a Bible degree or specialized training to simply ask “What’s the point?” That’s something anybody can do. It may take practice and it may take a little extra time and effort to think through the text in that way. But you can do it, and the rewards are worth it.