Studying the Bible

Everyone who is old enough to read should study the Bible. Not everyone will understand everything they read. There are some things in the Bible, which we can read about, yet not fully understand. Even some of the greatest, most Godly scholars of today and of days past are not able to fully comprehend every aspect of the Bible. See Matthew 10:26 and Mark 4:22. The point is that we study to gain understanding. See 2 Timothy 2:15. (See also 2 Timothy 3:14-17)

All parts of the Bible should be read. Even the parts of the Bible which contain genealogies are important. Many of these are necessary to help to explain important or sometimes difficult passages of scripture. In the book of Numbers, for example, there is a spectacular blessing pronounced upon the children of Israel. (Numbers 6:24-27) This beautiful passage is probably often passed over because the book of Numbers is most often considered a boring, repetitive book. The book of Numbers and other passages in the Bible, the "begats" in Genesis, for example many people prefer to skip over. God would not have included these passages if they were not important for some reason.

It will likely be a great help to find and use a Bible reading program, which takes you through the entire Bible in a year. There are many such programs available from many different ministries. The idea behind this is that it is structured. It does require some discipline, but seeing the passages listed, which are to be read on a particular day, is a great help and reminder to most people and aids in the commitment to complete the task.

The answer to this question lies mostly with personal preference. Nobody knows you like you. If you have a spare half-hour to an hour at a given time during the day, make a commitment to read a few chapters. Many people prefer to read their Bible in the morning, or at whatever time they start their day. Some at breakfast, some over a noon lunch break, or some may read after supper. The point is to find a specific time every day in which you commit to reading your Bible. It is much easier to develop a good habit of reading the Bible daily if you can establish a pattern.

The main point is that the Bible should be read every day. You wouldn’t deny yourself food for your physical body would you? Why then would you deny yourself spiritual nourishment? Too often we feast on food for our physical needs, but fast from the Word of God which supplies food for our spiritual needs. When Satan or his minions come to tempt you, how will you resist them? An excellent example from the life of Christ can be found in the gospel of Luke. When Satan came to tempt Jesus, Jesus quoted scripture. The scripture which Jesus quoted (Deuteronomy 8:3) is one which we should take to heart. What Jesus said illustrates the point beautifully. Jesus said in Luke 4:4, "It is written, ‘That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God."

The answer to this question is similar to the last one; it depends on personal preference. Hopefully you read along with your pastor or Sunday school teacher or Bible Study leader when scripture is being read. I hope that you do read your Bible more than that, though.

The Bible can be read anywhere and often is read most everywhere. The best place to read your Bible is someplace where distraction and interruption will not be likely. Find a quiet place, free from the everyday distractions of telephone, television, computer, pager, cell phone, or anything, which will divert your attention from reading God’s word. It is possible to find smaller complete Bibles or New Testaments, which are small enough to take with you almost anywhere. Short passages may be read in a waiting room, waiting at a restaurant, or traveling by plane, train or bus.

It is best to read the Bible in a place where you know that you can read and not be distracted, and where the habit of consistent daily reading will be easily formed. On my days off, I prefer to read my Bible early in the morning, over a cup of fresh coffee at our table, before the rest of the family is up.

Hopefully, for many people, the answer to this question is an easy one. Actually, it may be considered that there are many answers, all of which are related. God is the Creator of all things. (Genesis 1:1) Since God created all things, he has the power to judge everyone who has ever been created. (Psalm 1:5, Romans 14:10-12, Hebrews 9:27). God gave us his word, and reading and knowing it will help us to live our life in the way that God wants us to live (2 Timothy 3:16-17). The Bible provides us with the "spiritual food", which we need (Luke 4:4). The Bible will help to keep us from sin (Psalm 119:11). If God created us, has the power to judge us, and will indeed judge us someday, it’s a pretty good idea to find out what He wants from us and then do it. I think that if one wants to single out a single passage of scripture to cover all of this, again 2 Timothy 3:16-17 is probably the best.

There are so many answers to this question that you can pick a method or even create your own method to studying the Bible. For simplification, we have included various methods of Bible study, but they are not as detailed as they could be. If you would like some more details or additional Bible study helps, please contact us.

Before beginning I would strongly recommend investing in a good study Bible and a good concordance. These can be the actual books or a computer program, of which many are available. Personally, I use the King James Study Bible, by Nelson and the Defenders Study Bible, by Word. I hope to soon invest in a MacArthur Study Bible, which is a New King James translation. I also use a Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance. Sometimes it is useful to find a good commentary or set of commentaries. There are many commentaries available, written by many different authors. If or when you use a commentary, remember this: Commentaries, no matter how good, are not the word of God. They were written by man, for man and may not always be correct to the Word of God.

Some of the Bible study methods listed below have been adapted or taken from the "How to Study the Bible" portion of The King James Study Bible, by Thomas Nelson Publishers (copyright 1988 by Liberty University).

Bible study can be either personal or family oriented. It would be a good idea to do your very best to do both. The best way to do a personal Bible study is to do a devotional Bible study.

Devotional Bible study may be the most important kind of Bible study for most people. Devotional Bible study means reading and studying the Word of God in order that we may hear God’s voice and that we may better know how to do His will and to live a better Christian life.

Attempting to put all of these into practice at one time will likely be overwhelming. You may not wish to use all of them. The main thing is to take time for consistent daily Bible study and prayer.

You may wish to study the Bible by chapter. There are 1,189 chapters contained in the Old and New Testaments. Usually, but not always, a passage or thought may be contained within a particular chapter. The Bible was not written by chapter and verse, so there are times when a passage is not contained completely in one chapter. There are also times when more than one passage or concept is contained within a chapter.

It is a good idea to read through each chapter completely first. Then go back and break the chapter into smaller parts. The smaller parts may be specifics, which can be isolated as certain concepts, all of, which are necessary to communicate the entire meaning of a passage or chapter. Try to understand what the author is saying. Sometimes it may be necessary to use a concordance to look up a particular word and find its meaning in the original language. You may also find other places in scripture where the word may be found. Compare or cross-reference verses to try to discern the proper meaning. Compare scripture with scripture. Pray about what you have just read and studied and ask God to show you what He wants you to know from what you have read.

Bible study by paragraph can be another very effective method. Read the paragraph carefully. It may be helpful when studying the Bible in this manner to rewrite the paragraphs. Break the passage down into thoughts or simple subjects of emphasis. Use a notebook to outline the thoughts or subjects in your study. Again, you may wish to use a concordance to search for other words and where they might appear elsewhere in the Bible.

Bible study by book can be accomplished in several different ways. It is a good idea to read the particular book completely through once, just to read what it says. After reading the book through once, decide what will be the focus of the study. Determine the key theme. The author is usually easy to determine in the first few verses or first chapter. How does what the book contains apply to the author. Why did he write it? What was the time and culture in which he wrote it? What does the book say to you and how can you apply that to your life or the world today? How is the book divided? Organize the book into sections and form an outline. There may be many other ways to work through a study by book.

Many people wish to do a topical Bible study. The possibilities for a topical Bible study are nearly endless. The first thing to do when studying the Bible by topic is to chose a specific topic to study. For example you may wish to do a study on the topic of prayer, or love, or service, or most any topic. There are several ways to do such a study and many of these will combine a topical Bible study with another type of study. For example you may wish to study the topic of prayer in only the Gospels. You may wish to study the topic of service in the life of Joseph or Paul. The possible combinations will be able to fill a lifetime of study.

A concordance is essential to completing a good topical Bible study. After choosing a topic to study, look up the word and any related words. If you are confining your study in any way to a book, time period, person or so on, you need not find every verse in the Bible on that topic. It will be very helpful to keep a notebook to write down references, organize your thoughts and be able to compare them.

A biographical Bible study will take you through the life of someone mentioned in the Bible. The lives of Noah, Moses, Ruth, Esther, Peter, Jesus, Paul or Timothy can be very exciting and fulfilling. There may be many other persons mentioned within the Bible who are not so prominent, who may interest you. Perhaps a less considered type of biographical study would be to study some of the "villains" who may be found in the Bible. A biographical Bible study will cover the time in which the person lived, where the person lived, what the culture was like, who that person associated with and why. There may be many themes covered within this type of study.

There may be many other ways to conduct a personal Bible study. Some of these may include a geographical Bible study. Examples of this may be to study what the Bible has to say about the land of Egypt or Canaan, the city of Nazareth, or the Kingdom of Babylon. A cultural Bible study would cover the way a particular group of people lived in a particular place at a specific time. An example of this might be the fishing culture around the Sea of Galilee during the life of Peter. A time or age Bible study would cover a particular time of Biblical history. An example of this might include the time in which Abraham lived.

Most Bible studies will combine several different types of these, however it is important to focus on one specific theme at a time. It is a good idea to vary the type of study that you do so that you don’t grow accustomed to one way of studying and miss some very valuable insights.

All of the various studies listed above are primarily for personal Bible studies. It is very important to take the time to do family Bible studies also. Hopefully the family Bible studies do not take the place of any personal Bible study of any family member.

The family Bible studies should take place at a time convenient for all family members to be in one place at one time. In today’s society, you may think that this is nearly impossible. In the Old Testament, God required the first fruits of all of the increase of the children of Israel. While the old covenant and its system of sacrifices has been fulfilled in the life, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, I believe that we can still honor God by giving Him our first and our best. Our time is one of the valuable resources given as a blessing from God. Are we honoring God by giving him priority with our time, or do we begrudgingly toss Him the leftover moments at the end of the day, or just before we rush through a meal?

Any time during the day when all of the family can come together is a great time for the "Family Altar," as some call it. It really depends on the family as far as what this includes, but however this time may be conducted, the focus needs to be on God. Praises, hymns, or choruses may be sung, prayer requests heard, prayers offered, and a Bible passage read and discussed are only a few suggested ways to constructively spend this time. Again, physical nourishment is vital to the health and well-being of any family’s physical life. Even more so, spiritual nourishment from the word of God is vital to a family’s spiritual health.

I hope that this encourages you to begin or strengthens your resolve to continue a personal time and a family time of receiving spiritual nourishment. I certainly have strengthened my resolve to do better at giving God the first fruits of my time and life in writing this.

1 Corinthians 10:13 ~ "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above what you are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it."