One of the most fundamental, perhaps the most fundamental teaching skill, is expounding scripture.
Expounding scripture is, simply put, the ability to explain a passage of scripture. Great gospel teachers do this regularly and powerfully. The good news is that anyone can learn how to do it. The great news is that it will pay dividends in your life and in your teaching.
The first step to expounding scriptures is to learn how to study the scriptures. Here are three tips to help you study:
- Ask questions of the scriptures. In any given verse, you should be able to construct several questions that start with what, when, why, who, where or how.
- Look for “If… then” phrases. These are like mullets– after you see one, you see a million. These statements are low hanging fruit for gospel principles. Another way to view it is that these are all sub-covenants, or components of the New and Everlasting Covenant.
- Cross-reference. “Let scripture interpret scripture.” If you are new to the whole scripture study thing, use the cross references provided in the scriptures. As your gospel knowledge increases, you will make connections with other passages that you have studied.
The second step to expounding scriptures is to plan to expound the scriptures. In your preparation of the lesson, pick a passage that illustrates the doctrine you are trying to teach. If you are unsure where to start, give the topical guide a try. After you study the passage, prayerfully design questions that will cause your students to ponder the passage. A good generic question to ask is “what principle can we learn from this passage?” Another part of the plan is to decide which other passages you can use to cross-reference. Also, plan what method you will use to cross-reference. There are many ways to do this. You can write them out on the board and have the class take turns reading. You can hand out little papers with the reference written on them. You can go through each cross-reference as a whole class together.
The third step to expounding scriptures is to do it. Now that you have extracted the doctrine through your personal study, and have taken the time to plan it out, you are ready to expound the scriptures in your lesson. Instead of just asking someone to read and comment on the passage, set the class up to extract principles. Let’s look at an example. Let’s say you are teaching from Mosiah 3:4: “For the Lord hath heard thy prayers, and hath judged of thy righteousness, and hath sent me to declare unto thee that thou mayest rejoice; and that thou mayest declare unto thy people, that they may also be filled with joy.” One way to set it up is to prime the class with the question before having someone read it. You could ask, “As Brother Smith reads this verse, look for the purpose of the message that the angel delivered to King Benjamin.” After Brother Smith reads it, ask, “What is the purpose of the angelic message?” Answers would probably include something about joy. There are a handful of cross-references you could use that illustrate the joy of the gospel. Another question you could ask about this verse is, “What do you think ‘judging of our righteousness’ looks like?” A possible cross-reference is 2 Ne 9:18: “But, behold, the righteous, the saints of the Holy One of Israel, they who have believed in the Holy One of Israel, they who have endured the crosses of the world, and despised the shame of it, they shall inherit the kingdom of God, which was prepared for them from the foundation of the world, and their joy shall be full forever.” You could also ask the class if they can think of any “if… then” statements in this verse, like “if we pray for it, and are righteous, the Lord will send messages that will cause us to rejoice.”
Hopefully, you can see that the gospel truly is inexhaustible. There is an endless supply of questions and cross-references at your disposal to expound scriptures in your lessons. By following these simple steps, you can develop this priceless skill and use it to the benefit of those you teach.