How to Study a Bible Passage Before You Preach It

Exegesis is not an academic ritual. It is the discipline of making sure the sermon says what the text says. Here is a repeatable process that takes about two focused hours.

Pass one: read it cold

Read the passage three times without notes or commentaries. Then write down what you noticed and what confused you. Your confusion list is often the sermon.

Pass two: context

• Read the whole chapter and skim the book's outline.
• Who wrote it, to whom, and what problem were they addressing?
• What comes immediately before and after? Why is your passage placed there?

Pass three: structure

Write the passage out by hand or retype it with line breaks. Mark repeated words, contrasts, commands, promises, and connectives (therefore, but, so that, because). The author's logic usually becomes visible on the page.

Pass four: key words

Pick two or three load-bearing words and study them properly. Check how the same author uses the word elsewhere before reaching for a lexicon gloss. Two words done well beat twelve done shallowly.

Pass five: theology

1. What does this reveal about God?
2. What does it reveal about people?
3. How does it fit the larger story of Scripture and point to Christ?
4. What does it not say? Guard the fences.

Pass six: commentaries last

Now open two commentaries, one technical and one pastoral. Reading them first outsources your thinking; reading them last sharpens and corrects it.

Then build. Sermon Outline Template turns this study into a structure, and How to Preach Practical Sermons turns it into application.