“Why was there another team?” Ethan Hunt asked.

“What?” replied Kittridge.

“Of IMF agents, at the Embassy, why was there another team?” queried Hunt.

“I don’t follow,” Kittridge answered.

“Let's see if you can follow me around this room,” he said with his eyes moving from right to left. “The drunk Russians on the embankment at seven and eight o’clock; the couple waltzing around me at the embassy at nine and eleven; the waiter behind Hannah at the top of the staircase—bowtie, twelve o’clock. The other IMF team.”

It’s one of my favorite scenes from the movie Mission Impossible. And it’s one that’s carried out in spy novels, action adventure movies, and little boys’ imaginations throughout the ages. The idea that someone has such awareness and recall that he can put together seemingly disconnected observations into a reasoned understanding of circumstances. This thoughtful habit of observation is not just necessary for spies and undercover agents it’s necessary for successfully relating to the world around us.

Think about it, you make observations all the time. Take for instance all the things you consider when driving a car. You observe whether or not the door is locked. You observe whether or not the seat is in a position where you can reach the pedals or whether or not you are comfortable while sitting there. You observe whether or not the car starts. You observe, by looking in your mirrors, whether or not you are clear to back up or move forward. You observe oncoming traffic and whether or not you can pull from the parking lot onto the roadway. You observe the time of day or weather, to determine whether you need lights, wipers, defroster, etc. You observe things like speed limit, gas gauge, dashboard lights, radio stations, proximity of cars around you, temperature in the car, just to name a few. A failure to observe any of these things can lead to an unpleasant driving experience, an uncomfortable ride, a ticket or accident, or even loss of life. Observation is important.

Why then, when it comes to reading our Bible, do we so often fail to engage in the process of observation? Why do we “turn off” what comes so naturally in other areas? There is a “universal study process” in all we do and it contains three basic components: observation (or the gathering of facts), interpretation (or the understanding of facts), and application (or the things learned and put into practice).

Observation, interpretation, and application (OIA) is a description of how we successfully relate to life around us and it is the foundational process of studying the Bible.

When studying the Bible, one of the first things we need to observe or take note of is the genre of the book we are studying. When you study literature, different authors take different approaches in trying to convey a message. A sonnet by William Shakespeare doesn’t read like a short story by John Steinbeck. They are two different authors with two different mediums.

Consider for a moment the difficulty in trying to understand the meaning of the following statement without first observing its genre.

John wants to make a cake. His recipe says bake for twenty-five minutes at 300º. But John’s oven only bakes at 100º. What should he do?

At first glance it may seem straightforward, but under what condition could it be:

• A math problem?
• A scene from a short story?
• An advertisement for an oven company?
• A complaint about a family’s old appliances?
• A cruel joke about a country’s genocide?1

It wasn’t until I went to seminary that I learned, “Language gives you the options, but context gives you the answer.” In the example above, the “language” gives you many options, but until one knows the context, the meaning remains unclear. When you’re studying your Bible, the kind of book you’re studying goes a long way in helping you figure out context.

There are three general kinds of biblical books with distinct structures and emphasis. Before you can get a handle on a text’s meaning one needs to know if it is a narrative, where events are the main structural elements (i.e. Genesis through Deuteronomy, historical books like Kings, Chronicles, the gospels, etc.) It may be a discourse, like I Corinthians or Proverbs, where a writer is addressing specific questions or incidents, or giving instructions. Or perhaps it is more poetic like the Psalms, Prophets, or Revelation where imagery takes center stage. Generally, the books of the Bible break down as follows:

Narrative	Discourse	Poetry
Genesis - Job	Proverbs	Psalms
Matthew - Acts	Ecclesiastes	Song of Solomon - Malachi
	Romans - Jude	Revelation

Once the genre of the book is known, then the student of the Bible can begin asking general observation questions, which will help determine the meaning of the text.

For instance when one begins to study narratives:2

1. Focus on the events.
2. Look for the facts.
3. Look for the details: who, what, when, where, how?
4. Notice the sequence of events.
5. Notice the stated purpose or reason behind events.
6. Notice the manner and method by which events occur.

Discourse books are different:

1. Focus on the propositions/statements.
2. Look for repetition of words or concepts: i.e., Paul’s use of the word “flesh.”
3. Look for contrast of words and concepts.
4. Note cause and effect: if “x”, then “y.”
5. Note the particular words chosen.
6. Note the structure of sentences and how they fit in the whole passage.

And poetry:

1. What images are used?
2. Look for things that parallel.
3. Notice repetition.
4. Notice contrast.
5. Notice comparison.
6. Notice the use of metaphors, similes, and personification.
7. Look for other places in the Bible where these same images are used.
8. Notice how the images are arranged to create the whole picture.

Exercise:

Get a Bible and look up the following passages:

Psalm 133; John 2:1–12; Philippians 3:1–11

1. What differences do you see in the passages?
2. What style or genre would you say each author is using?
3. Use the questions above to begin observing what is going on in the passage.
4. Now that you’ve placed each passage in its proper category, go back and ask the diagnostic questions from a wrong category, and notice how difficult it is to understand the passage.

*Remember that observation is a first step in beginning to understand a biblical passage; it’s not the final step.

In the months to come we’ll look at interpretation and application, but until then if you want to talk about it, I’m on Facebook: Robert O. Browning in the Memphis network.

Robert Browning is the Senior Pastor at Christ Presbyterian Church in Olive Branch, MS