Heart of Wisdom Summer 2010
Week Two Study Guide Ephesians Four
Welcome! For those of us who are just being introduced to Inductive Bible Study, it can be overwhelming to keep up with or even understand the homework each week. Take heart! Inductive Bible Study is a wonderful, rewarding, and life-changing way to study the Bible, and it just takes time and practice. Each of us can master this skill -- it just takes small steps to lead up to walking as wise women in the Word.
Here are the small steps, broken down for you. Start with the first ones and as you become more comfortable, work your way up to completing more and more each week. Our goal is to be able to work through each of these steps as we study a passage of God’s Word, because then we will have a full and broad, yet deep and intimate understanding of it. DO NOT GIVE UP! What a great reward it will be to come to a commentary and read things that we have already discovered through the Holy Spirit’s work in our own study!
STEP 1 “The secret things belong to the Lord but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever that we may do all the words of this law.” Deuteronomy 29:29
Now that we have an overview of the entire book of Ephesians, we will OBSERVE CHAPTER FOUR. READ THROUGH THE PASSAGE IN ITS ENTIRETY. Remember you are not behind, jump in where you are. Our plan is to be in God’s word every day for the rest of our lives on earth! It’s not a sprint, it’s a long distance race.
STEP 2
Find and mark all the places GOD THE FATHER, GOD THE SON, and GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT are mentioned in this chapter. You can mark your text however you like. I use a red colored pencil for God the Son, yellow for God the Father, and blue for God the Holy Spirit. As you mark these places, make a list of what you learn about the God-head from this passage. Try to use the actual words in Scripture for your list.
STEP 3 Use the CHAPTER STUDY CHART ATTACHED TO:
Begin to “OBSERVE THE TEXT” of chapter four by marking the 5 W’s and H
WHO -- make note of people who are mentioned in this passage
WHAT -- write what is happening in this passage in relation to the people
WHEN -- make note of time references
WHERE -- write the places that are mentioned
WHY -- write out the reason for the above W’s as mentioned in this passage
HOW -- make note of how what is happening takes place
This can be one of the most complicated and overwhelming parts of Inductive Bible Study if you don’t tackle this with the big picture in mind. The point of observing the text is to get a good general understanding of what is taking place.
There are two main ways to make notes -- in a graph form, or by making lists. We have included an Observation Worksheet form to fill in the boxes for each of these W’s and H where you can write as much or as little in the boxes as you like for each verse. Many people enjoy seeing their observations laid out in this way. For others, it is confusing and confining to fill in the boxes. You can also make observations in a list form on your own paper where you simply write a “Who” and then list what you learn in relation to that person from the passage, including the what, where, when, why, and how. You can also make separate lists for the “When” and “Where” observations. This might go along nicely with what you have already observed in list form about the God-head from the passage. Find what works for your own personal style of observing the text. Again, try to use phrases straight from Scripture to fill in the box or make a list. Don’t reword what God’s Word says.
PLEASE do not get caught up in trying to find and mark every W and H. Many passages do not make mention of a certain place or time. That’s okay, you won’t have anything to write for those. Don’t get confused as to whether a particular phrase of Scripture is a “Why” or a “How” or a “What”. The point is not to get your Observation Worksheet just perfect. The point is to understand what is being said and taking place in God’s Word. Do as much or as little as you need to gain this big picture understanding.
Next note COMPARISONS, CONTRASTS, and CONCLUSIONS in this chapter.
Also, if you have any questions about the text, write them down at the bottom of your Observation Worksheet.
STEP 4
Find KEY WORDS in the passage. These are words that are often repeated and are central to the understanding and application of the passage. Mark these key words in the text however you like, possibly with different symbols or colors. By finding and marking these key words, you are beginning to see what the author’s main point of the passage.
STEP 5
Try to SUMMARIZE THE PASSAGE by using 5-7 words from Scripture to convey the main point of what you have read. Keep in mind what you have already observed and the key words you have found. There is no right or wrong summary title for the passage, so no pressure here! Just see if you can concisely put in to words the main idea of this passage from what you have already observed.
STEP 7
Now that we have thoroughly observed the text and looked deeper at the key words, we are ready to start learning how to apply this to our lives. When you have a good grasp as to the meaning of the passage, begin to ask yourself “HOW SHOULD MY LIFE CHANGE AS A RESULT OF THIS STUDY?” Take the time to write out a paragraph or prayer putting in to words what the Holy Spirit is showing you. This is intensely personal and will differ for each of us. This last step takes us full-circle to where God can rightly deal with our hearts. We cannot come to His Word in a deep way like this and leave unchanged. How does God want to change you through His Word and His Spirit’s work in your heart?
OBSERVATION WORKSHEET
FOR EPHESIANS CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER TITLE:
KEY VERSE:
4:1 I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, entreat you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing forbearance to one another in love, 3 being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
4 [There is] one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. 7 But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift.
8 Therefore it says, "When He ascended on high, He led captive a host of captives, And He gave gifts to men." 9 (Now this [expression,] "He ascended," what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth? 10 He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.)
11 And He gave some [as] apostles, and some [as] prophets, and some [as] evangelists, and some [as] pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fulness of Christ.
14 As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; 15 but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all [aspects] into Him, who is the head, [even] Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.
17 This I say therefore, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, 18 being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; 19 and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality, for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.
20 But you did not learn Christ in this way, 21 if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus,
22 that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, 23 and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24 and put on the new self, which in [the likeness of] God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.
25 Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth, each one [of you,] with his neighbor, for we are members of one another.
26 Be angry, and [yet] do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and do not give the devil an opportunity.
28 Let him who steals steal no longer; but rather let him labor, performing with his own hands what is good, in order that he may have [something] to share with him who has need.
29 Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such [a word] as is good for edification according to the need [of the moment,] that it may give grace to those who hear.
30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.
32 And be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.
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