How to Make an Argument from Your Bible

I love getting to be an occasional instructor at Simeon Trust Women’s Workshops for three reasons in particular. One, I always come away with the sense that I learned more than I taught. Two, I get a better handle on foundational aspects of teaching the Bible rightly by teaching others to do it. I love to sit around the table with six women who have all been working in the text, who are all committed to helping each other get better in our Word work. Three, I get to work with Colleen McFadden, director of women’s workshops for The Charles Simeon Trust. I appreciate her passion for God’s Word and her skill in helping others learn how to handle it.

In this episode of Help Me Teach the Bible, McFadden and I talked about a diagram she often uses that demonstrates something important about teaching the Bible—the need to work from the text to understand what the original author intended the original audience to know, and to travel from there through the cross before we apply the text to our audience. We also discussed the need to develop a clear argument so that our Bible teaching will not merely be a loose collection of ideas.

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Nancy Guthrie (MATS, Reformed Theological Seminary) teaches the Bible at her home church, Cornerstone Presbyterian Church, in Franklin, Tennessee, as well as at conferences around the country and internationally, including through her Biblical Theology Workshop for Women. She is the author of numerous books and the host of the Help Me Teach the Bible podcast from The Gospel Coalition. She and her husband founded Respite Retreats for couples who have faced the death of a child, and they’re cohosts of the GriefShare video series.

Colleen McFadden trains women Bible teachers with the Charles Simeon Trust. She also serves as the director of Women’s Ministry at her local church, Trinity Community Church, just outside Philadelphia. Colleen earned an MDiv from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and she serves on the board of Matthias Media, a ministry dedicated to raising up and resourcing disciple-makers. You can find her on Instagram or Twitter.