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A Massive Weakness in the SOAP Method Bible Study


Soap method Bible study

In this guide, I’ll show you one crucial weakness of the SOAP method bible study that you should know about.


I’ll also give you a SOAP Bible study PDF free of charge with one NEW acronym you can add to the formula for an even more effective Bible-learning process.


As an avid student of God’s Word for many years, I can tell you that if your goal is to feel closer to God, the SOAP method alone will not cut it.


Let’s figure out what works and dive right in.


What Is SOAP Method Bible Study?


SOAP is an acronym that stands for:


S - Scripture: Get a scripture, write it down, and focus on it.

O - Observation: Observe the verse. What stands out? What do you feel God is showing you?

A - Application: How can you apply this verse and its truths to your life?

P - Prayer: End your session with prayer.


SOAP is a straightforward Bible study method that helps you apply scripture to your life.


It is trendy, at least online. People just starting on their Bible study journey usually use SOAP in some fashion.


Believers seem to have something ingrained in them that says to do Bible Study the SOAP way— read and just apply it however you feel.


As we’ll find out, there are some good things about SOAP.


However, only doing SOAP can cause you to lack your relationship with God.


But why and how is SOAP so popular?


Bible Study Methods, History, and SOAP Method Example


The history of interpreting the Bible is intriguing. Many early church fathers believed Scripture had at least two “meanings” or “senses.”


The two senses were literal and spiritual.


The literal meaning of scripture was whatever the original author intended it to mean.


For example, when Moses wrote that Abraham had two children from two different women (Sarah and Hagar), he was more than likely simply recording the events in a narrative style to tell the story of how his people started.


This is the literal, plain meaning. In Hebrew, this is called the peshat.


The spiritual meaning is the sense that could be derived from the text to demonstrate a broader, more spiritual truth.


Paul wrote later in Galatians that the story of the two women (Sarah and Hagar) was an “allegory” that represented two covenants—the old and the new.


This was a more profound, spiritual truth that God had in mind when he orchestrated the narrative.


Moses was probably not even aware that his story also had a prophetic meaning regarding the Old and New Covenants.


In this way, scripture had two “meanings” or “senses.”


However, the lines were blurry as to what precisely the “spiritual” sense could contain.


Very early on, “spiritual sense” meant “Christological sense.”


This meant that many Old Testament verses pointed to or revealed Christ in a figurative, spiritual way.


However, this spiritual sense also began to refer to any “theological or moral truth.”


There’s evidence that early church fathers believed that the exodus was a spiritual picture of us, and we are the Israelites fleeing sin and bondage represented by the Egyptians.


This is also an example of what they called the “spiritual sense.”


As the years progressed, scholars began to say there were three or even four senses to scripture.


But to keep it simple, we can simply say that it’s always been understood that there are at least two senses to scripture:


Literal - the author’s original intended meaning and purpose of a scripture


Spiritual - the sense of scripture that could reveal Christ, theological truths, or modern moral applications.


Now, the SOAP method focuses only on the spiritual sense of scripture, more specifically, the modern-moral application.


Modern-moral applications are principles or truths we extract from scriptures to apply to our lives in a particular way.


If we wanted to break this modern-moral application subcategory into even more subcategories, we could do so like this:


Literal and Spiritual Sense

Universal applications are principles or truths we believe the Bible is teaching to all people at all times.


An excellent example of this would be most of the church’s stance on tithing.


Most believe that Abraham's narrative of paying a tithe to Melchizedek contains another meaning—the universal application, which teaches the principle that all people, at all times, should give 10% of their increase to God.


A personal application is when we apply scripture to our personal life in a way that helps us with a current situation.


I could give you many SOAP method of Bible study examples, but here’s a good one.


For example, I might face a significant, bad situation at work. So, I come home and read Psalm 23:5: “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.”


I take comfort in this scripture, believing that God has used it to speak to me about my situation.


As time passes, my mind changes about this situation, and I become victorious. It worked.


The Results of Using the SOAP Method


Most believers who study the Bible may use the SOAP method, which aims to retrieve the personal application.


I know this because it is clearly laid out in its acronym:


  • Start with a scripture

  • Observe important words

  • Apply it to your life

  • Pray


We have intentionally pre-set out to discover a creative way to make scripture only about us.


The end result is that we don’t learn the Bible's overall message or know God more deeply.


We know He can help us escape that bad work situation, but that’s it.


Getting the personal application of a scripture is not bad by itself. God may use His Word this way in your life.


But to go deeper in your relationship with God, you must expand your understanding of His Word by exploring its literal, Christological, and theological meaning.


What did it mean to them, and what does that sense mean for us today?


What did God really do by sending Christ to the earth?


In other words:


Isaiah 54:2

Enlarge the place of your tent, and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out; do not hold back; lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes.


FYI, I just used that scripture in a “Theological Truth/Univeral Application” way.


I am unsure if there is a Christological or theological “hidden truth” behind every scripture, but I do know two things:


  1. Every scripture has a literal sense, which is just as important (if not more so).


  1. The SOAP method doesn’t really reveal the literal, Christological, or theological meanings as much.


SOAP Method of Bible Study PDF and New Acronym


Knowing everything you know now, I’d like to offer a slightly new take on SOAP.


Now, I know this new acronym isn’t very creative. But it doesn’t have to be.


It is simply to help you grasp the literal sense of scripture since the original SOAP method doesn’t include it.


Here it is:





As you can see, the “L” stands for “literal.”


Allow it to remind you to simply look at the author’s intent. Ask questions like:


  • What’s the “literal” sense of scripture?

  • What would the original audience have thought of this statement?

  • What did the author intend to do?

  • What was going on in the culture of their day?

  • How does this play into the bigger picture of the Bible’s message?


Conclusion


SOAP method Bible study is outdated! Try something new to get different results in your life.


Click the PDF button above and download your sheet!

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