Task 1A. Determine the key words to research in more detail
Essence of the Task
Having a better understanding of the structure of the passage along with its relationship to the context and its role in the development of the argument of the book, you will be in a good position to know which concepts or words require additional research. Develop a list of these words along with a brief note of why they seem to be important to examine further.
Detailed Description
Perhaps through your repeated reading of the passage you already have a good idea of the concepts and words that deserve special attention. If so, you can write them down now if you have not already done so.
Clearly one could make such a list at any time, but the good thing about doing it now, once the contextual and structural work is done, is that you will have a better idea of what is really worth investigating.
If you have not already developed a list, there are several ways to determine which words or phrases to include. We will detail them below. As you write down the words to study, make sure you not only write them down so that you can easily find and work on them later, but also write down the reason why you included each one. Why do you think it is important to research that particular word? In addition to orienting and delimiting your research (it would be possible to research any word for hours!), that same question could be asked by members of your congregation, and commenting on it in your sermon could be a perfect way to trigger a discussion about its meaning.
To Do
Several kinds of words or expressions may be of special interest to add to your study list. For the moment, just write them down. Don’t do research. The time for research will come. If you start researching before you finish your list, you run the risk of not picking up all the important words, which could lead to an unbalanced emphasis in your preaching.
- Write down words or expressions that have special theological meaning and may be good to understand better so that you can explain them clearly to the congregation.
- Include words that different versions understand in different ways. Keep in mind that in some cases the different versions will simply offer what may be nothing more than an English synonym. These may be interesting for explaining the concept to the congregation, but they do not represent a true difference. What is more important are those differences in translation that really represent different understandings – words and expressions that are NOT synonyms.
- Write down words or expressions that may be complicated or infrequent in the Bible. Idioms and idiomatic expressions may be of this type.
- Note repeated words. Repetition is often a way of knowing that the word has special weight in the passage.
- Take note of proper names. Whether of people, places or objects. It is not always the case, but many times, the occurrence of such a word highlights a detail that requires further investigation.
To Keep in Mind
Remember that it is the message as a whole that compels you to examine certain words. Of course, as you study them further you will discover new things about them. But that new information must be held in healthy tension with the overall message. That is, there is always a certain danger (especially for those who are not very experienced) of discovering something very interesting about some word in the text and then “reframing” the message of the whole passage in terms of that word. Generally, letting a novel discovery about a word reconstruct a normal understanding of the passage is an indication that enthusiasm has led one astray. Remember that although a word (in isolation) may have many possible meanings and all of those meanings appear in the dictionary, it can only have one of those meanings in a given context (provided it is not a pun). This is where translations can be of considerable help, since if all of the translators have chosen the same or similar words (using equivalent words), you will have a good idea of what the most likely contextual value is. Always remember that the stature of the expositor is seen not in how novel he or she can be, but in how faithful he or she manages to be.
To get started, write down all the words that might be interesting to study. Then evaluate whether all of those words really require research. Maybe some of them, while interesting, can be clarified in a simple reading of one or two sentences in a commentary, rather than having to spend too much time on the subject. You want to work with integrity and completeness, yet balance and efficiency in the use of time are also good virtues.