I was blessed to have been allowed to participate in a class this past weekend that introduced a method of Bible study known as arcing. Living Water Church was unbelievably generous in making such an opportunity available, and Tom Stellar and Jason Abell were incredibly gracious and kind to devote a weekend to teaching the small group of about 60 people.

It is frustrating that there is not more time and effort in our churches to devoted to teaching Christians how to study the Bible, whether the method is arcing, word study, inductive study, or any other method. We have strayed far from the “striving” and “treasuring” attitudes that we should have toward Scripture — It is God’s chosen method of revealing His mind and will to us!! As Piper says in the study book we used, “…if God humbled himself to take on human flesh and to speak human language, woe to us if we arrogantly presume to ignore the humanity of Christ and the grammar of Scripture.”

As is commonly the case with John Piper’s material, the booklet that very (very!) briefly explains the basic mechanical aspects of arcing is available at no charge.