This is a set of questions that I developed 25 years ago for inductive BIble Study with our children in our family home school.

Setting the Stage: Who, What, When, Where

• Who is involved? What do we know about them?
• What are the main events, or what is the main content of the passage?
• When does the action take place in Bible history, or in relation to the preceding passage?
• Where does the action take place? Or, if it is a letter, Psalm, Proverb, etc, where was it written, and where did the original readers live?

Topical questions

What can we learn from this passage about the following topics

• God the Father
• Jesus Christ
• The Holy Spirit
• Human beings, human nature
• Knowing God
• Christian living

Application

• What is one important lesson or insight from this passage for your life?

What does it say?

• Ask yourself the five W’s and an H: Who? What? Where? When? Why? How?

What does it mean?

Try to discover what the author is trying to communicate.

• What was the author’s intended meaning to the original audience?
• Use the context to help you understand what is going on and what is being said.

How does it apply to my life?

• How do you apply what you just learned to everyday life?
• What does this mean for your life, your priorities, the way you spend your time, your decision-making, your relationships, the challenges you are currently facing?

Six questions for inductive Bible Study

I call this method “SPECK Plus One” because the original set of five questions form an acronym (Sin, Promise, Example, Command, Knowledge) , but I added one more.

When reading any passage of Scripture, we can ask ourselves these questions:

Does this passage of Scripture contain

• S – a sin to avoid or confess?
• P – a promise to claim?
• E – an example to follow (or avoid)?
• W – a warning to heed?
• C – a command to obey?
• K – knowledge of God to acquire?