Step 2 in my Bible study method involves finding the Big Idea.

The Big Idea is a one-sentence summary of what the paragraph we’re studying is about. For a little more detail about the Big Idea, see this post.

The paragraph we’re studying this week is the one we established yesterday: Mark 1:29-39. What’s the Big Idea?

What is the implied question in this paragraph?

What was the true purpose of Jesus’ ministry?

How does Mark 1:29-39 answer that implied question?

…to preach the good news, not merely to relieve the suffering of the sick and possessed.

To put this into a one sentence Big Idea, then, we simply put the question and answer above together. Thus, the Big Idea of Mark 1:29-39 is: Although people cam to Jesus for relief from sickness and demon possession, the true purpose of his ministry was to preach the good news (v. 38).

[This post is one of a series of Monday-Friday posts detailing the results of my own personal Bible study following the method and steps I'm teaching in a class here atCalvary Bible Church. For more information about the class, see this post right here.]

This post continues working through the exercises I have been giving my class at Calvary Bible Church. For more information on this class, click here.

For links to the class materials, including updated class notes, see these:

• Class Notes (updated today)
• Daily Bible Study Worksheet
• BibleGateway (for other translations to compare): http://biblegateway.com

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In last week’s Day 1 post, I mentioned how difficult it is to find the seams of the paragraphs here in Mark 1. This week’s passage continues to demonstrate that difficulty. In fact, the way I have divided the paragraph in this week’s study goes against a number of the factors I taught you to look for.

For instance, there are chronological changes in the passage. Verse 32 talks about that evening after sunset, but verse 35 talks about Jesus rising early the next morning. So this obvious move from one day to the next could signal a new paragraph. Likewise, Jesus changes locations going from the house of Andrew and Peter (v. 29) to a solitary place (v. 35). These factors, which I told you to look for, suggest that verses 29-34 could be one paragraph while verses 35-39 could be another.

Despite these factors, I believe Mark is telling us about these two days in Jesus’ life to demonstrate one truth about him, so these incidents can be combined. I make my paragraph division here from verse 29-39 for the following reasons:

1. Subject matter: Remember that in our class, the first thing I told you to look for was an obvious change in subject matter. I taught this principle to you first because it is frequently the most important factor in finding a unit of thought. And in this section, I see the same subject being addressed in two consecutive days. Jesus healed the mother of Andrew and Peter (vv. 29-31) and the town responds by bringing him many people who also need healing and exorcisms (vv. 32-34). The next day, Jesus seeks God in prayer alone, but the disciples find him to alert him that many are still looking for him (v. 37). Presumably they are looking for more miraculous works, but Jesus is more interested in preaching so he leaves. So I see in this section a distinction presented between the attention Jesus got and the attention he wanted.
2. Inclusio. The word “synagogue” opens the section in verse 29 and closes it in verse 39. This repetition possibly indicates an inclusio signaling a complete unit of thought.

While there is room for debate here, I am taking verses 29-39 as my paragraph for this week.

[This post is one of a series of Monday-Friday posts detailing the results of my own personal Bible study following the method and steps I'm teaching in a class here atCalvary Bible Church. For more information about the class, see this post right here.]

I’m not an Andy Stanley fan (by any means), but I just finished reading his book The Principle of the Path. It’s excellent—very well-written and thoroughly biblical. I read it because I was looking for something to give to this year’s high school graduates, but I found myself really challenged by it.

If you have a Kindle or use the Kindle app, you can buy that version of the book right now for $2.99. I think you’ll enjoy reading it very much and you’ll learn a lot, too.

Step 2 in my Bible study method involves finding the Big Idea.

The Big Idea is a one-sentence summary of what the paragraph we’re studying is about. For a little more detail about the Big Idea, see this post.

The paragraph we’re studying this week is the one we established yesterday: Mark 1:16-20. What’s the Big Idea?

What is the implied question in this paragraph?

How did Jesus begin his public ministry?

How does Mark 1:16-20 answer that implied question?

by calling Peter, Andrew, and James to be his followers.

To put this into a one sentence Big Idea, then, we simply put the question and answer above together. Thus, the Big Idea of Mark 1:16-20 is: Jesus began his earthly ministry by calling Peter, Andrew, and James to be his followers.

Note: In the previous post I talked about the possibility that verses 14 & 15 belong with this paragraph, making the full paragraph Mark 1:14-20. If you believe that to be the paragraph, then the Big Idea would be: Jesus began his earthly ministry by preaching the good news (vv. 14-15) and by calling Peter, Andrew, and James to be his followers. This shows that it is possible to have a Big Idea that has one implied question with multiple answers.

[This post is one of a series of Monday-Friday posts detailing the results of my own personal Bible study following the method and steps I'm teaching in a class here at Calvary Bible Church. For more information about the class, see this post right here.]

This post continues working through the exercises I have been giving my class at Calvary Bible Church. For more information on this class, click here.

For links to the class materials, including updated class notes, see these:

• Class Notes (updated weekly; Note that I do not discuss the NIV2011 in my section on translations).
• Daily Bible Study Worksheet
• BibleGateway (for other translations to compare): http://biblegateway.com

[Note: We have a planned break in our class schedule this Sunday due to the Memorial Day weekend, so there will be no class this Sunday. I will give you another assignment to work on next week.]

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Mark 1:14-15 describes the beginning of Jesus’ public teaching ministry. I had you skip this section because it would be too brief for us to spend a week studying and because it is not entirely clear that this should be a separate paragraph. It bears many marks of a new paragraph, including the fact that it contains a time marker (John’s imprisonment, v. 14) and a geographic change (Jesus leaves the wilderness in verse 13 and goes into Galilee in verse 14). It also starts a new topic so there is an obvious change of subject. But scholars see Mark 1:14-20 as a summary description of what Jesus did in Galilee, a section that goes to Mark 3:6. Mark summarized Jesus message in verses 14-15, and this summary is possibly an introduction to the whole section (Mark 1:14-3:6). See page 624 of The Expositor’s Bible Commentary for more explanation. The bottom line is that you could include Mark 1:14-15 in this week’s study, but I want us to study more than just those two verses this week, so I had you begin with verse 16.

Given that we are starting our study this week with verse 16, the question is where does this week’s paragraph end? Several factors indicate that it ends with verse 20. These factors are:

1. A clear change in subject matter. Verses 16-20 talk about Jesus calling his disciples. After verse 21, none of the disciples mentioned in this section are mentioned again until verses 29-30 and the focus of verses 21-27 is Jesus’ authority to teach and cast out demons. So, there is a clear change of subject after verse 20.
2. Two key changes of physical location. In our class time I told you both that geographic changes and indoor/outdoor movements of Jesus frequently suggest a new subject. Both are present in this part of Mark 1. Mark 1:14-20 occurs in “Galilee,” a large geographic region around the Sea of Galilee. Mark 1:21 puts Jesus and the disciples in Capernaum. While this town is in Galilee, the fact that it is specified suggests that Mark is focusing in on this story in order to develop a new subject about Jeuss. Likewise, verses 16-20 happen outside along the Sea of Galilee. In verse 21, Jesus and the disciples move indoors to the synagogue. Mark records these movements of Jesus in part to signal a change in subject.
3. There is also a chronological change. While verses 14-20 are vaguely described as being “after John was put into prison” (verse 14), verse 21 tells us that the events that follow it happen “when the Sabbath came.” So, this timestamp indicates that a new subject is beginning.

For these reasons, the paragraph we will study this week ends at verse 20. You may, if you choose, study verses 14-20 or just verses 16-20 as I said in class.

This is a continuation of yesterday’s post. In that post, I began the process of moving from analyzing the text to interpreting it. We began with a series of questions contained on the worksheet.

I answered the first four questions yesterday:

1. What kind of literature is this paragraph?
2. Is the author recording what Jesus said or what he did?
3. Why did the author include this paragraph in his Gospel?
4. Why did the author put this paragraph at this point in his Gospel?
5. What differences do you notice in the translations you’ve read?

I did the first four verses yesterday. Here’s verses 5-11:

v. 5: Most of the differences here are in word order; the ESV calls it “the river Jordan” instead of the “Jordan River.” The major difference among the translations has to do with where the phrase “confessing their sins” is placed. The ESV places that phrase at the end of the verse just as the original Greek does. The NIV (both 1984 and 2011) places the phrase “confessing their sins” before “they were baptized,” suggesting to the reader that confession preceded baptism. The NLT makes more than a suggestion here: “And when they confessed their sins he baptized them.”

v. 6: No significant differences.

v. 7: Only minor differences here. Each translation handles the opening phrase a little differently (NIV ’84 & ’11: “And this was his message; NLT: “John announced,” ESV: “he preached saying.” The NLT adds a little interpretive juice to the idea of John’s not being worthy to fasten Jesus’ sandal straps: “so much greater that I’m not even worthy to stoop down like a slave….”

v. 8: The only difference here is that the ESV translates the verb baptize as a perfect (“I have baptized”) while the others keep it in the present tense: “I baptize” (NIV ’84, ’11, NLT).

v. 9: Very minor differences.

v. 10: Again, very minor differences. The ESV retains the word “immediately,” which is omitted by the other translations.

v. 11: Again, the differences are small: “beloved” (ESV) is “whom I love” (NIV ’84, ’11) and “my dearly loved” (NLT). The NLT also translates “well pleased” as “bring me great joy.”

6. What interrogation questions have you written down in your previous readings of this passage?

Who wrote this?
To whom was it written?
What does “the beginning of the gospel” mean exactly?
How can you baptize in a desert region?
Did they confess their sins to John (v. 5)?
What does John mean that ‘he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit?’
What are “straight paths” (v. 3)?
What is the context for the quote that John attributes to Isaiah in verses 2-3?
What does the word “for” mean in relationship to “the forgiveness of sins?”
Why on earth does Mark tell us what John wore and ate?

7. What do you need to investigate to understand what this passage means?

Beside the questions above, I would do a little background research on John the Baptist, as this passage reveals very little about him except his diet and dress (vv. 6-7).

8. Are any of the answers to your questions revealed in the passage itself or in the passages that precede or follow it?

The only question above I see answered in the text is the question, “How do you baptize in a desert region?” The answer to that is supplied in verse 5b: “the Jordan river,” so the river supplied the water necessary for baptism.

Although I have many, many commentaries at my disposal, I am limiting myself in this example to the two I recommend for every Christian to get. They are:

• The Bible Knowledge Commentary
• The Expositor’s Bible Commentary

I’ll supply some of the things I learned in studying these commentaries in my next post.

[This post is one of a series of Monday-Friday posts detailing the results of my own personal Bible study following the method and steps I'm teaching in a class here at Calvary Bible Church. For more information about the class, see this post right here.]

Step 3 in my Bible study method involves interrogating the passage like Donald Trump in the boardroom of the Apprentice.

In the worksheet I suggested a list of questions for you to start with, but you will recall from class that I have encouraged you to keep a running list of things you don’t understand or questions you have from the passage. In this post I will give you my answers to the suggested questions. Tomorrow (remember, this is a two-day assignment) I will tell you the questions I have from the text and what I learned using the Bible study tools available.

Here are the questions I put on the worksheet and my answers to them. Remember that these are my answers based on no commentary work yet, so they are subject to correction when I apply the tools of interpretation to the passage tomorrow.

1. What kind of literature is this paragraph?

This is a story (narrative).

2. Is the author recording what Jesus said or what he did?

Mark is recording what Jesus did. First he tells us the preparations God made for Jesus’ coming, then he tells us of the miraculous revelation of Jesus’ identity at his baptism.

3. Why did the author include this paragraph in his Gospel?

Unlike Matthew and John who begin their account of Jesus’ life and work with the stories of his miraculous conception and birth, as well as his genealogical line, Mark simply begins the account of Jesus’ life with the introduction to his public ministry. This part is important because it demonstrates that Jesus’ was identified as God’s son from the beginning. In other words, Mark wants us to know that Jesus didn’t just start teaching, get popular, and then suddenly assume for himself messianic ambitions; rather, from the opening of his public ministry God identified Jesus for who he really is.

4. Why did the author put this paragraph at this point in his Gospel?

You have to start somewhere, either with the events of Jesus’ birth or with the beginning of his public ministry. Mark begins with his public ministry. This is consistent with Mark’s style throughout the Gospel of Mark, which is briefer and more direct than the other three gospels in the New Testament.

5. What differences do you notice in the translations you’ve read?

v. 1: The NIV calls it “the gospel about Jesus Christ,” while the NIV2011 use the more contemporary “good news about Jesus.” NIV2011 and NLT also omit the word “Christ.” The ESV calls it “the gospel of Jesus Christ,” which is more formally equivalent but less precise than interpreting that genitive as the NIV, NIV2011 and NLT do.

v.2: NIV and ESV begin a new sentence with verse 2, but the NIV2011 and ESV continue the sentence from verse 1 with the words, “just as….” The ESV uses the phrase “behold” which is archaic and also uses the phrase “before your face” which would be idiomatic in the original language but does not make very clear English at all.

v.3: NIV calls it the “desert” while the NIV2011, ESV, and NLT use “wilderness.” Also, there is some diversity of translation about what John is doing with the NIV and NIV2011 saying he was “calling,” NLT saying he was “shouting,” and the ESV saying he was “crying.” The phrase “straight paths” (ESV “paths straight”) is interpreted only in the NLT’s translation which says, “Clear the road for him.”

v. 4: NIV, NIV2011, and NLT all include some sort of connector that shows John in verse 4 to be the one prophesied in verse 3. The NIV and NIV2011 use the phrase “And so,” while the NLT is even clearer saying, “This messenger was John….” The ESV, by contrast, simply tells us that “John appeared” leaving it up to the reader to connect the prophecy quoted in verse 3 to John as the fulfillment in verse 4. Also, the NLT is alone in adding the qualifier “the Baptist” to John’s name in order to distinguish him from the Apostle John. Finally, the NIV, NIV2011, and ESV leave the meaning of the phrase “baptism of repentance” ambiguous; the NLT interprets this phrase as “that people should be baptized to show that they had repented of their sins and turned to God to be forgiven.”

Tomorrow I will finish comparing the passage in these translations, as well as answer the remaining questions (below). I will also share with you what I learned using various Bible study tools (such as commentaries).

6. What interrogation questions have you written down in your previous readings of this passage?
7. What do you need to investigate to understand what this passage means?
8. Are any of the answers to your questions revealed in the passage itself or in the passages that precede or follow it?

[This post is one of a series of Monday-Friday posts detailing the results of my own personal Bible study following the method and steps I'm teaching in a class here at Calvary Bible Church. For more information about the class, see this post right here.]

Step 2 in my Bible study method involves finding the Big Idea.

The Big Idea is a one-sentence summary of what the paragraph we’re studying is about. This is a big reason why finding the paragraph and knowing your reasons for dividing the paragraph where you did is important. If you don’t have a complete paragraph or have two paragraphs incorrectly identified as one, then finding the Big Idea will be more difficult.

[As an aside, the Big Idea concept comes from Dr. Haddon Robinson and his book Biblical Preaching. Haddon was my teacher and mentor in my Doctor of Ministry studies at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.

Haddon's book tells you to find the Big Idea by asking two questions: (1) What is this passage talking about? and (2) What is it saying about what it is talking about? After teaching the method that way for years, I found that a lot of people were struggling and I myself struggled with these two questions for years. So, recently I changed the two questions. To find the Big Idea of any paragraph of scripture, ask these two questions: (1) What is the implied question answered in this paragraph? and (2) How does the paragraph answer that question?

I will explain these questions in detail when we get to that section of our study. For now, do the best that you can and know that practicing this, even if you don't exactly "get it," will help you understand better when I explain it. To quote Tony Horton, "Just do your best and forget the rest."]

So, here it goes: The paragraph we’re studying this week is the one we established yesterday: Mark 1:1-11. What’s the Big Idea?

What is the implied question in this paragraph?
How did the gospel of Jesus Christ begin (Mark 1:1)?

How does Mark 1:1-11 answer that implied question?
It began with John, a messenger of God whose ministry both prepared the people of Israel for Jesus (Mark 1:2-8) and identified Jesus publicly as the Messiah (Mark 1:9-11).

To put this into a one sentence Big Idea, then, we simply put the question and answer above together. Thus, the Big Idea of Mark 1:1-11 is, “The gospel of Jesus began with John, a messenger of God whose ministry both prepared the people of Israel for Jesus and identified Jesus publicly as the Messiah.”

[This post is one of a series of Monday-Friday posts detailing the results of my own personal Bible study following the method and steps I'm teaching in a class here at Calvary Bible Church. For more information about the class, see this post right here.]