Articles
Bible Study Toolbox
Bible Study Toolbox
Make a Detailed Outline for Books
An outline is the structure and flow of thought between main ideas in a book. In the last article, we talked about how to make a basic outline. We described the basic outline for Ephesians this way (or some version of it):
Ephesians 1-3 = What God has done for us.
Ephesians 4-6 = What we do for God in return.
After your basic outline, it’s time to get more detailed. Track the main ideas by paragraphs instead of by chapters. For instance:
Ephesians 1:1-2 - Greeting
Ephesians 1:3-14 - Spiritual blessings in Christ
Ephesians 1:15-22 - Paul’s prayer for the Ephesian Christians.
Ephesians 2:1-10 - Saved by grace through faith, not works.
Ephesians 2:11-22 - Christ breaks down the barrier between Jew and Gentile
Ephesians 3:1-13 - Paul has been entrusted with the mystery of salvation to Gentiles.
Ephesians 3:14-19 - Paul’s prayer for the Ephesian Christians.
Ephesians 3:20-21 - Paul praises God.
Ephesians 4:1-6 - Call to maintain unity.
etc. etc.
The beauty of a detailed outline is it gives us a clearer picture of the flow of the letter’s main points, it trains our brains to rightly handle the word of truth (2 Tim. 2:15), and helps us understand context. In the next installment of Bible Study Toolbox,” we’ll talk about the role of an outline to promote “exegesis” and protect against “eisegesis.”
