[  Inductive Bible Study  ] 歸納法研經
Επαγωγικός Μελέτης Αγίας Γραφής מחקר אינדוקטיבי התנ"ך

The Method : Step 1 - Observe

Lesson 5.1 : Observe - cause & effect

What to look for : Cause & Effect

The next set of things to look for are grouped here as 'cause and effect'. But it entails more than that. This group of observations to make often helps us identify and pay attention to God's reasoning. Hence it is particularly useful when we need to draw principles and apply His Word to our lives.
Borrowed from geometry, the => sign in this icon symbolizes a logical relationship.

Here you look for any of the following:

  • cause and effect relationships
  • reasons or explanations given
  • results, outcomes, goals, objectives
  • if this... then this .... relationships
  • conditional statements

Here's an example from daily lives. If a mother says this to her 6-year-old boy:

"You can play in the backyard, but don't go in the back alley because cars go through there. I don't want you to get hurt." She gives him a command, an instruction. The command itself has two basic parts:
  1. He can play in the backyard.
  2. He was not to go in the back alley.
The instruction itself contains a contrast: what he can do, and what he cannot do. Then she gives a reason for her instruction: cars go through the alley. And then she gives the underlying reason: she does not want him to get hurt.

God does that all the time.

Practice

Here are some verses for a quick practice.

  1. "Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar
    and there remember that
    your brother or sister has something against you,
    leave your gift there in front of the altar." - Matt 5:23-24a (NIV)
  2. "Therefore I tell you,
    do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink;
    or about your body, what you will wear." - Matt 6:25a (NIV)
  3. "I am the vine; you are the branches.
    If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit;
    apart from me you can do nothing. - John 15:5 (NIV)
  4. "As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard
    and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ." - Phil 1:13 (NIV)
  5. "And because of my chains,
    most of the brothers and sisters have become confident in the Lord
    and dare all the more to proclaim the gospel without fear." - Phil 1:14 (NIV)
  6. "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." - Phil 1:21 (NIV)
  7. "For this reason,
    ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus
    and your love for all God’s people,
    I have not stopped giving thanks for you,
    remembering you in my prayers." - Phil 1:15-16 (NIV)

What words and phrases in the verses above would give you a clue of cause and effect, reasons or explanations, results, outcomes, goals, objectives, and conditional statements?



Markings are shown in the verses above.

Practice

Can you think of some of the relationships listed above found in the Bible - cause and effect, reasons, results, conditional statements, etc? In fact some passages are so loaded with them that it takes some time to unpack and figure out the whole picture. Take a look at Romans 6:4-7. + -

Romans 6:4-7 (NAS)


Therefore we have been buried with Him
through baptism into death,
so that //as Christ was raised from the dead//
through the glory of the Father,
//so we too might walk in newness of life//.
For if we have become united with Him
in the likeness of His death,
certainly we shall also be
in the likeness of His resurrection,
knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him,
in order that our body of sin might be done away with,
so that we would no longer be slaves to sin;
for he who has died is freed from sin.


Do you see them?
back
next
"Come now, and let us reason together," Says the LORD,
"Though your sins are as scarlet, They will be as white as snow;
Though they are red like crimson, They will be like wool.
Isaiah 1:18 (NAS)
 
© All rights reserved 2013 - 2016. Ktizo Technologies