The Pen Is the Scalpel of the Mind

In order to study the Bible you need a set of tools to take it apart and analyze it. Here's another great tool: your pen.

A great way to begin observing a text is to write it out. Take a sheet of paper and write the scriptures out on one half of the page. You pick the side depending on if you are right- or left-handed. Since I'm a lefty I use the right side. I write each verse as a paragraph. Then I use the left side of the page to make observations.

Sounds like a lot of work? Maybe so. What I find is that I notice things as I write that I wouldn't if I merely printed out the text.

For example, as I write I'll notice if I write the same word over and over. Repetition is one way to emphasize an idea. You want to notice emphasis because that's what's important to conveying the message. You don't emphasize unimportant things. If a word is repeated seven times in eleven verses, you would be justified in thinking it indicates a major concept. Try writing out Romans 4 and see if you can find which word is repeated most (apart from words like "the", "and", and so on). Do it with Romans 7. Hint: the word emphasized there is a pronoun. Find the emphasized words and you find the major ideas.

Another discovery you will make is unfamiliar words. If you are writing and don't know what a word means, you can mark it to look up later. You now have a list of words to quickly investigate in your dictionary (you did get a dictionary, didn't you?).

Questions will occur to you as you write. Write them down to answer later. Questions are valuable. If you ask the right question, you will get the right answer. Sometimes I get the answer as I write the question. That will spark a line of inquiry that will prove valuable in understanding a scripture.

As you get insights, write them down. You are clarifying your thoughts. You can be objective with them. You can evaluate them. You might have a moving experience as you think, but you might look at those thoughts on paper and think, "That's ridiculous!" Then you can eliminate the flaws and refine your good ideas.

Commit everything to writing. If you get into trouble for time, you can still grab your preparation sheets and use them to teach. It ain't pretty, but it gets the job done.

Run out of space? Get another sheet of paper. Waste a whole forest if that's what it takes. Nine to twelve pages is not unusual for my preparation. I use waste paper from the photocopier so I don't feel bad about using lots of paper. That's why God made trees: so I could study the Bible.

I used to use a mechanical pencil (so I wouldn't have to sharpen it so often) but now I use a pen just because it won't smear, it's more legible, and I can write even longer.

Can you do this with a computer? I study with one, but I wouldn't make observations with it. That's partly the fault of my typing limitations. But I really like making notes in the margins and circling words and generally freely dissecting a text.

Over the years I've read men who suggest there is no substitute for the action of writing with one's own hand. One writer worried that keyboardists are losing touch with the text, that they suffer by not physically grappling with it. I've also beheld the spectacle of men bringing their laptops into the pulpit. I understand the demands of a teaching ministry and certainly have compassion on my brethren, but a laptop in the pulpit generally advertises that something is wrong. Does it help your case to broadcast that you are in trouble? No finger pointing here. I just want everyone to think about their methods and ways.

Charles Spurgeon, in his Lectures To My Students, ch. 10, quotes M. Bautain: "The pen is the scalpel which dissects the thoughts, and never, except when you write down what you behold internally, can you succeed in clearly discerning all that is contained in a conception, or in obtaining its well-marked scope. You then understand yourself, and make others understand you."

To make others understand you, you must think. The hardest thing is to begin thinking. The second hardest is to think clearly. When you write you almost jump-start the process. You do have to keep your eyes open, but it's a great tool to make your brain get involved.