Hands-free narration of this study — good for the car.
Synopsis
Earl Palmer proposes that the preacher become a commentator on the text by working through five great questions, moving from the technical to the discipleship level. Technical questions establish the text itself — what the words mean, the syntax, what is actually said — and Palmer cites C. S. Lewis's preference for 'dry as dust' lexicographers and textual critics over evaluative critics, urging preachers to compare at least five translations. Historical questions come in two forms: curiosity about names and details within the material (illustrated by Felix and Drusilla in Acts), and 'form criticism' questions behind the material about why a passage was written as it was (illustrated by John's repeated asides that John the Baptist is not the Messiah). Content-theological questions ask what the text means, not merely what it says. Contemporary questions ask how the text collided with its own world and how it collides with worldviews down through history. Finally, discipleship questions ask what the text means to the preacher personally and to the hearers. Working this whole journey produces so much material that the preacher's chief problem becomes narrowing, not finding, content.
Key points
- Bible study is a journey from technical questions to discipleship questions.
- Technical questions establish the text: what the words mean, individually and syntactically.
- Historical questions occur both within the material (names, details) and behind it (why it was written this way — form criticism).
- Content-theological questions move from 'what does it say' to 'what does it mean.'
- Contemporary and discipleship questions bring the text into collision with other worldviews and with the preacher and hearers today.
Key texts
- John 1:1-18
- Luke 3
- Luke 7
From the course book
Appendix F — Five Bird-dogging Questions for Biblical Exposition · pp. 113-116 (reader pages 113-116) · Open the reader
- “The five great questions that make up a commentary are the technical questions, the historical questions, the content-theological questions, the contemporary questions, and the discipleship questions.” (p. 113)
- “Find out what the author actually wrote and what the hard words meant and what the allusions were to, and you have done far more for me than a hundred new interpretations or assessments could ever do.” (p. 113)
- “If you do this journey for its own sake, when you're finished you're going to have far too many things to say, and your job is going to be narrowing.” (p. 115)
Put it into practice
- Stretch out at least five current translations of your text before writing a word of the sermon.
- Ask both kinds of historical question: what is happening within the text, and why the text was shaped the way it was.
- End your study by asking the discipleship question: what does this text mean to me, and to those who will hear me preach?
- Comprehension
1. Name the five questions Palmer says make up a commentary.
- Comprehension
2. What do the technical questions try to establish?
- Scripture
3. What does Palmer quote C. S. Lewis as valuing most in literary help?
- Comprehension
4. Describe the two types of historical questions Palmer identifies.
- Scripture
5. Read John 1:1-18 in light of Palmer's example. What form-critical question does he ask about it?
- Doctrinal Clarity
6. How does the content-theological question differ from the technical question?
- Contrast
7. Contrast 'contemporary within its own setting' with 'contemporary down through the centuries.'
- Doctrinal Clarity
8. What is the discipleship question, and why does Palmer place it last?
- Application
9. Which of Palmer's five questions do you tend to skip in your own preparation, and what would change if you slowed down there?
- Application
10. Take a text you plan to preach and write one question at each of Palmer's five levels.