DDT Review of
Message & Bible Study Preparation Guide
by Jonathan Koehn
FAST FACTS
Pages: No page numbers; it is on the shorter side
Author Theology: conservative, evangelical, dispensational, textual
Favored Bible Text: NASB (but unimportant in this setting)
INTRODUCTION
Koehn uses the word “Guide” in his title. Good choice! As I was preparing the review, I kept thinking “field manual,” like a bird watcher might use; perhaps lacking in some detail, but quickly pointing out “what it is” and “what it isn’t.” The text is less academic, and more practical, than a typical “hermeneutics” or “homiletics” book.
REVIEW
Koehn is an expositor; more than once, and in a variety of ways, he makes clear that when interpreting the Bible, context is king. Good for Koehn! The key to unlocking any specific passage of the Bible is understanding it in its context.
His stated purpose is to “take you through building a message or Bible study from the Bible using English & Strong’s Numbers, Greek or Hebrew.” While that may overwhelm some English readers, fear not! He starts with the English text. This section (on the English text) will be quite valuable to those with no Greek or Hebrew knowledge. It is only after the English text has been contextually understood that he moves into Greek and Hebrew. In fact, if Greek/Hebrew overwhelms the reader, these sections can be skipped without losing the thrust of the overall work.
The particular method that Koehn uses is outlining and indenting scripture by using phrases. For those who have never done this before, there may be a learning curve. I can tell you this: once you grasp this type of literary understanding, it truly makes the Bible come alive contextually. Logic, relationships, and flow of idea can all be easily seen once any particular section of scripture has been processed using this method.
Following his textual examination, he then moves through the process of crafting a sermon/lesson, including application, outlining, and finalizing the message. Each section includes helpful detail.
WHAT I LIKE
We live in a digital world. The internet didn’t exist when I started studying the bible. Now? How does one study the Bible without it?! And Koehn knows that. Included in this digital text are clickable links to several videos that have been made to integrate with this work. I don’t know why this is rare in 2023. It should not be rare; but it is, and I applaud Koehn for embracing the web in this fashion. (Want to see one for yourself? Click here!)
Koehn writes about an academic topic (hermeneutics and homiletics), but he does not write in an erudite fashion (did you see what I did there?). He writes as he speaks. This may bother some, but if the reader will consider it a mentor-like friendship, this quirk becomes endearing.
While his favored English text is NASB, this book can easily be used with any English version of the Bible (KJV, etc.).
GENERALLY SPEAKING
This work, while brief, will be helpful to those without a formal Bible education but want to sharpen their skills at exposition. It will also be helpful for older “pros” who learned to study the Bible with books, paper and pen. Why, you ask? Because it brings “old world” study habits into the digital world.
PROCESSING THE WORK IN THEWORD BIBLE SOFTWARE
The format for this work is a general book module. Each chapter has several layers of topic tree indenting. Using the topic tree to move to a specific place is simple.
Bible verses have been correctly hyperlinked, and there are plenty of other shortcut links throughout the work (just hover over the blue text to see the shortcut). Don’t forget the video links! They are there, too. Click the link, and off into the internet you go (with theWord still open and running, of course).
DDT CONCLUSION
Mr. Koehn has become an “efriend” through the ministry of theWord Bible software. This work of his is a good resource that most TW users will find helpful.
Dave Thomason – “DoctorDaveT” of www.DoctorDaveT.com
Table of Contents
- Title
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 – Interpretation
- What is the intended meaning of the author
- Context, context, context
- English Section – Interpretation
- English Text
- English Translations
- English/Strong’s Word Studies
- Hebrew Section – Interpretation
- Hebrew Text
- Hebrew Word Studies
- Greek Section – Interpretation
- Greek Text
- Greek Word Studies
- Finalizing Interpretation
- Chapter 2 – Application
- How did this passage affect the original hearers (readers)?
- Apply Personally
- Apply to Audience
- Application Objective
- Chapter 3 – Outline
- Points
- Application
- Title
- Introduction
- Conclusion
- Transitions
- Illustrations
- All together
- English Section – All together
- Hebrew Section – All together
- Greek Section – All together
- Chapter 4 – Finalizing
- Handout
- Practice
- Data and Name
- Chapter 5 – Appendix
- Abbreviations of Resources
- Studying a passage: by phrasing it
- “Correctly Interpreting the Bible”
- Training Videos for this Study
- Authors of this resource
About Jonathan Koehn:
Jonathan Koehn is a husband to Bethany (who also helped considerably with this book), dad to four wonderful children and missionary pastor serving the Lord in Parachute, Colorado at the Spanish church plant Casa de la Biblia. He graduated from Frontier School of the Bible with a Bachelors. He has taken some classes through the seminary Tyndale.edu for his MDIV which he has not completed as of yet. He works as part of the team of theWordBooks LLC and counts it a unique privilege to work alongside the various dear brothers who are involved in theWord Bible Software.
