Discussion Jumpstarter
Study leader reference - not a definitive answer
Question 3
When the speaker and his wife first encountered 1 Corinthians 11 through reading whole books at once (David Pawson’s method), what did reading it that way expose that a verse-by-verse or “headings and study Bible notes” approach might have hidden?
Another way to ask: What did reading all of 1 Corinthians 11 at once help them notice that a verse-by-verse reading or study Bible notes might miss? Why does the bigger context matter here?
Discussion Jumpstarter
Direct Answer
Reading whole books at once exposed the plain force of the passage and forced immediate life-application questions, rather than filtering the text through assumed “cultural” explanations or study-note shortcuts. It also put 1 Corinthians 11 alongside the body/head themes of chapter 12 in a more connected way.
- David Pawson’s method: “read whole books in one sitting and ignore chapters and verses and heading titles.”
- Their church’s practice afterward: “we would just ask questions like, ‘How do we live this out? What do we do with this?’”
- The head covering question came straight from the reading: “after we read 1 Corinthians 11… one of the ladies… said, ‘Should we be wearing head coverings?’”
- The speaker admits prior training hadn’t prepared them: at Bible college “We never heard of the head covering.”
- He connects 1 Corinthians 11 with 12: “the very next chapter, 12, also talks about the head and the body, but in a different way.”