Field Tool 96

A Repeatable Study Process

Exegesis Checklist

Move from prayerful reading to faithful interpretation and obedient response.

This three-page tool summarizes the complete D.I.G.G.E.R. workflow. Not every passage requires equal work in every category, but sound interpretation must account for the text, context, structure, genre, theology, and intended response.

Core Principle

Observe before interpreting. Interpret before applying.

Application rests upon meaning, and meaning rests upon careful attention to what the author wrote within the passage's literary, historical, grammatical, and canonical context.

Prepare

Approach the Passage Carefully

1

Step 1 · Prepare

DDepend Upon God

Begin with humility, prayer, and attentive reading.

  • Pray for illumination, humility, faith, and obedience.
  • Read the passage slowly, repeatedly, and aloud.
  • Ask God to expose assumptions, resistance, and spiritual dullness.
  • Record first impressions without treating them as final conclusions.
2

Step 2 · Prepare

IIdentify the Context

Locate the passage within its literary and historical world.

  • Define the passage's beginning and end.
  • Identify its genre, author, audience, occasion, and purpose.
  • Read the surrounding paragraphs and trace the book's larger argument or story.
  • Note relevant historical, cultural, geographical, and covenant background.
  • Locate the passage within redemptive history.

Discover

Follow the Text Closely

3

Step 3 · Discover

GGrasp the Flow

Follow the author's movement from one thought, scene, or action to the next.

  • Divide the passage into natural units, scenes, or paragraphs.
  • Identify the controlling assertion, action, or main idea.
  • Mark connectives such as for, but, therefore, and so that.
  • Trace cause, purpose, result, contrast, condition, and explanation.
  • Follow subordinate clauses and supporting statements.
  • Write a brief outline and summarize each unit in one sentence.

Field Tool 96 · Continued

Exegesis Checklist

From observation to meaning, theology, and response.

Discover

Gather Observations

4

Step 4 · Discover

GGather Observations

Notice what the text emphasizes before deciding what it means.

  • Repeated words, phrases, ideas, and actions
  • Contrasts, comparisons, commands, questions, promises, and warnings
  • People, places, time references, movement, and cause-and-effect
  • Key verbs, subjects, objects, pronouns, lists, and sequences
  • Images, metaphors, symbols, figures of speech, and patterns
  • Changes in speaker, audience, tone, setting, or emphasis

Delay commentaries and study notes until your own observations are substantially complete.

Discern

Determine and Test the Meaning

5

Step 5 · Discern

EExamine the Meaning

Explain what the author intended to communicate.

  • Ask interpretive questions raised by your observations.
  • Determine key word meanings from their immediate context.
  • Examine grammar where it materially affects meaning.
  • Interpret figurative language according to literary intent.
  • Distinguish description from prescription.
  • State the author's main point in one clear sentence.
6

Step 6 · Discern

RReconcile with Scripture

Test your conclusion within the whole counsel of God.

  • Compare genuine verbal, thematic, and theological cross-references.
  • Interpret difficult statements in harmony with clearer Scripture.
  • Trace the passage within the unfolding story of redemption.
  • Relate the passage to Christ without bypassing its original meaning.
  • Compare your conclusion with sound doctrine and trusted resources.
  • Revise conclusions the text does not adequately support.

Field Tool 96 · Continued

Respond to the Word

Faithful interpretation should produce faithful worship and obedience.

7

Respond

Bring the Truth Before God

Apply the passage according to its meaning, not apart from it.

1 What should I believe?

What truth about God, Christ, salvation, humanity, sin, or the Christian life must shape my convictions?

2 How should I worship?

What should move me toward praise, thanksgiving, confession, trust, reverence, or prayer?

3 What should I obey?

What attitude, action, habit, relationship, or priority must change?

4 What should I proclaim?

What truth should I explain, teach, defend, encourage, or share with others?

Pray Again

Ask God to impress the truth upon your heart and produce the response his Word requires.

Final Verification

Can I explain the passage's main point from its words, context, structure, genre, and place in Scripture?

Textually grounded Contextually responsible Theologically coherent Clearly stated Faithfully applied