Hey Cameron,
Remember we spoke about the two levels of structure being surface and sub-surface, meaning some are indicated by the terms being used in the text and others are more implied – that some structure will be obvious and some will be underneath? Do you remember how we spoke about the two types of structure?
This will probably benefit you in your study.
There are basically two types of Structure to be aware of in your Bible Study. Now this is a very simplistic explanation, yet the most fruitful.
- Grammatical Structure– Basically, this is structure within a paragraph
- All your structural laws as they work together to point out what the author is saying within the paragraph,
- This is where you will camp out when you are going through epistles and Psalms.
- Literary Structure – And this would be structure between paragraphs.
- This is what you will find at work in large narratives, or other forms.
- The book of Romans utilizes this where the Idea is presented in the first segment of thought and then it is substantiated(FOR) by the second segment of thought, and then contrasted(BUT) by the third. In that case you have to discern whether it is the first segment being substantiated by the second and then contrasted or the first segment is actually substantiated by a contrast.
I should probably explain that the reason these two degrees of structure are important is because of one of the most exciting part of Inductive Study – SEGMENTS! I know that you are well aware of the fact that Chapter and verse divisions were laid out in the middle ages by the Roman Catholic Church. You know that those divisions weren’t there in the original manuscripts. However, the authors of Scripture(Inspired by the Holy Spirit) did make divisions in their writings.Think of a train. A single train has different cars in it, and those different cars hold different contents. It is the same basic idea with scripture. The book follows a train of thought and within that train there are different segments of thought. On a train, when you see a car with lots of coal you know it’s the coal car, and the car carrying all the people is the people car. You know you are looking at a different segment of the train because there is different stuff in it. The same goes for Scripture. Finding the segments f thought is one of the most exciting parts of Inductive study.We will have to go through some studies together so you can see how it works.
Blessings, Leep