My Go-To Bible Study Method
In your daily Bible study, what is one thing that has helped you the most? Are there any special skills you’ve learned along the way? If you’re like me, you’ve experienced dry periods along your Bible study journey and have relied upon a few go-to methods to get back on track. I thought it would be helpful to share my favorite method with you.
CPA – Content / Principle / Application
During my formative years as a follower of Christ, Pastor Tom Gautier taught me a study method that has been my go-to for over thirty years. He called it “CPA”, which stands for Content, Principle, Application.
Content
As Tom prepared his sermons each week, he’d spend a couple days reading a passage simply for content. What is the story? Who are the characters? Let the passage, as a whole, bounce around in your head for two or three days. Try to build an outline of the content of the passage. Bonus points for alliteration.
For example, Mark 11:1-11 tells the Palm Sunday story. A simple outline might be Colt, Cloaks, Court. This helps you remember key moments in the story, so you can continue to meditate on the passage throughout the day, even when you’re away from your Bible.
Principle
After two or three days of reading the passage and letting the outline stick in your brain, start listing principles to be learned from the passage. What truths does the passage tell you about God? What instructions does it give? This is a brainstorming activity, so what you come up with might not be the main point, but once you see a whole list, you’ll naturally whittle it down to the key points of the passage.
As you practice this, you’ll want to verify your list contains actual biblical truths. Do this by finding other passages in the Bible that confirm you’re on the right track. You may even discover that something from your original list is wrong! That’s okay, just cross that one off the list and move on.
Back to the Mark 11 passage, here is a brief list of possible principles:
Jesus has a clear plan and executes it
Jesus knows the future
It’s okay to steal (This contradicts other passages in scripture)
Jesus is Lord
Jesus is humble
His followers obey his commands
God works through life’s little details
Jesus is the promised Messiah
Jesus’s timing is perfect
Application
Once you’ve nailed down a list of biblical principles, it’s important to take the next step, letting those truths affect your daily life. How can you apply at least one of the principles to your life today? This is the step that separates the casual Bible reader from the true follower of Christ. Anyone can read and study, but will your life actually be changed from your encounter with God’s word?
Taking the first principle from my bulleted list above, how should your life change, knowing Jesus has a clear plan? This requires some prayer and deep reflection to find out what God wants from you individually. Can you associate something in your life with God’s certainty and plan?
As I pray through this, I reflect on how planned out my daily work life is and how often I am pulled in directions I don’t intend to go. Just the other day, I spent the first hour of my work day fixing a co-worker’s phone. That wasn’t on my to-do list! I was irritated that I got behind and was playing catch-up the rest of the day. Now, after thinking about how Jesus handled his “to-do list”, I am compelled to repent. His plan is what really matters—I should follow him, not my own plans. His plans reflect a clear goal of establishing his reign over heaven and earth. What, in contrast, do my plans reflect?
Teaching Others
There you go, a Bible study method that can literally change your life on a weekly basis. Not only can you use the CPA method for your own personal growth, but it works swimmingly for teaching others the Bible. Following Jesus is a team sport, and it’s okay to read to help others grow in their faith. Just be careful to remove the plank in your eye before you go pointing out splinters in others’.
Conclusion
Using the CPA method since I was a teenager has given me the ability to recall most of the content of the Bible, fine-tune my ability to capture important principles, and habitually apply those principles to my life. I’ve also developed the skill of recalling parallel passages pretty easily. For example, I know I’ve read the Palm Sunday passage in all four gospels. Knowing it fulfills a prophecy from Zechariah. Proverbs 16:9 comes to mind, too. I’m sure there are lots more parallels that I’ll discover after future study.
Effective Bible study requires patience and commitment. When I first started, I was fumbling over names and places. Although I don’t recommend too many shortcuts, a good study Bible really helps the novice reader overcome initial hurdles.
I hope this is helpful, and I hope you’ll share your favorite Bible study methods with me. By no means is Pastor Tom’s approach the only way! Don’t forget Elissa’s HEAR method from this blog back in 2022. Please send your thoughts to blog@foundrybend.org.
