The Scroll - Topical Viewer - How to Study the Bible

How to Study the Bible

Qualifications for Bible Study
There are a number of important qualifications that are needed to adequately study the scriptures. In fact you can't properly study Scripture without them. The Scriptures are spiritual and only those who are spiritually qualified can understand them.

Spiritual
New Heart

1 Corinthians 2:14
The interpreter must be regenerated by the Holy Spirit in order to understand the Bible. Now the nonchristian can understand much of it's history, people, and even some of what is being said. But the man who has not received spiritual life from God lacks an essential qualification for understanding the Scriptures. There is a need of a new heart which can only come from God.

Illuminated Mind

2 Peter 3:16 John 16:13
You must have a mind illuminated by the Holy Spirit. Even though the Scriptures are clear we still need the inward illumination of the Spirit of God for a saving knowledge of its truth. Inspiration has to do with the writing of the Bible but illumination has to do with the reading of it. We need Illumination because of man's blindness and spiritual death. 2 Corinthians 3:15. We must love His word.

Humble
Humble Mind

Psalm 25:8,9; Philippians 2:3-5
What is also required is a humble, obedient, childlike mind. The unregenerate attitude that is found everywhere is one of pride. A self sufficiency that says I know everything. We must come to the Scriptures with an attitude to learn and be taught. We all come to the Bible with our own ideas and convictions about doctrine and the meaning of many passages. We have collected them from sermons, books, our own ideas. Some may be right but they may also be wrong. But are you willing to say I may be wrong. If not then we don't have a humble teachable heart. It is not open to the instruction of the Lord and even though we study the Bible we will not learn.

Honest Spirit

2 Cor 4:2
One also needs an honest, impartial spirit in approaching the Bible. We must be honest with ourselves. James speaks of the Bible as a mirror. James 1:23-24 It reflects who and what we are before God. If we are not honest with ourselves then we deceive ourselves. If we don't read to change our lives then we are not being honest with our knowledge. Knowledge and obedience must go together. We must also be honest with the Word of God. Rightly dividing the Word of truth..

Obedient

John 7:17
God's will is revealed in his word so the more we obey God the more discerning we will be. We must be obedient to what God's word says. We should be motivated in the right direction. We should desire to become more aquainted with the Author and His will for our lives. A desire to grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord. A desire to order the details of my life to be more pleasing and honoring to Him. A desire to walk closer with God and enjoy unbroken communion with Him. A desire to be conformed to and transformed by its holy teaching.

Prayerful

Psalm 119:18
Finally, a praying heart is also important. We must pray for these important qualifications in our lives they just don't happen. It is a praying heart that God teaches.

Methods of Personal Bible Study

Now the study of the Bible needs some direction or a plan of action. You need to know where you are going and how you will get there. There are a number of different approaches to Bible study. Each one has it's own value and use. But they are all useful at some point in your study of the Bible.

Devotionally

By this is meant that during regular time spent with God each day, a few verses of Scripture are prayerfully meditated on. There are some regular plans that can be followed. During this time personal application, in a reverent spirit, is emphasised. However if this is your only diet you may become undernourished. The meat of the Word is required as well as milk.

Inductively

Inductive study attempts to find the basic principles a passage demonstrates. Such questions as, what are the main points the writer is making, how can I express them in my own words, can be asked. It is possible to study a whole book of the Bible inductively?

Inductive and deductive reasoning are complementary. Deductive reasoning says since A and B are true then the book should say X and Y. With deductive reasoning you begin with a rule, and test the material by your rule. Inductive reasoning on the other hand looks at the material to try to find what the rule is. Inductive Bible Study lays the ground work for systematic study. But our Bible Study must not stop here either or we will become ingrown.

Consecutively

You can also study entire chapters and books so you can get a birds eye view of revelation. There are many important things you will never see unless you study the Word of God in large chunks. G. Campbell Morgan once read the whole Bible through aloud and at pulpit speed in 96 hours. The only way to see the whole massive movement of biblical thought is to read frequently from Genesis to Revelation. If you get bogged down in the book of Leviticus skip over it and come back to it latter once you have finished reading the rest of the Bible.

Systematically

This is also called Doctrinal Bible Study. You can study a specific idea or doctrine or word through the whole Bible. You may even want to compare what you find with what scholars down the ages have written by using a commentary. This is the method that demands diligent study and work but is well worth the effort.

Combined Method

Thereis a common method called SQ3R which stands for Survey, Question, Read, Recall, Review. An adaptation of this method is as follows:

Pray
2 Cor 3:15
Pray for the illumination of the Holy Spirit. Even though the Scriptures are clear we still need the inward illumination of the Spirit of God for a saving knowledge of its truth. Prayer should undergird the whole of your study, from beginning to end.

Read
Rev. 1:3
Read the passage over quickly, then slowly and then read it in different versions of the Bible. The more times you read, the more benefit you will get. Become thourghly familiar with what the passage says.

Study
Acts 17:11
Underline the main thoughts and ideas. Study the passage using reference works. Look up cross references. Look up prominent words in a bible dictionary and concordance. Ask yourself six questions. What? When? Where? Who? How? Why?

Memorize
Ps.119:9-11
The use of the memory is one of the most powerful tools for hiding the Word of God in the heart. A right use of the memory can be of great help to the Christian. To memorise verses of Scripture so that they can be recalled at any time of the day is an excellent practice. Committing to memory catechism answers, or hymns is also a means of great blessing. It seems it is universally acknowledged that memorisation gets more difficult as you become older so use it while you are young.

Meditate
Psalm 1:2,3; 63:5-7
Meditation is something which has received much attention in Scripture but which has been neglected by modern Christians. Now we are not talking about a method similar to transcendental meditation. That is nothing more than a subtle form of Hinduism where the mind is conditioned to reach a state of emptiness. Rather we are talking about Biblical meditation. Meditation on the Scriptures can be defined as prayerful reflection with a view to understanding and application. It is filling the mind with Biblical content. It is generally better to meditate on one verse than rush through a whole chapter. Joshua 1:8

What should be the source of your meditation?
What is the relationship between meditation and application?
What are the results of mediation?
See Edmund P Clowney's Christian Mediation Craig Press 1978

Apply
The goal is to conform your life to God's will by prayerfully thinking how to relate God's word to yourself.

Devotional Questions
Is there a warning for me here?
Is there a promise I can claim?
Is there an example for me to follow?
Are there commands I must obey?
Is there a sin I must avoid or confess?
Is there some encouragement I can take to heart?
Is there some new lesson about God I can thank him for?
Are there words of praise I can echo?
Is there an experience described that has been true to me?

Use of the Right Tools

Now that you have determined to read and study the Bible you need to have the right tools. A man uses tools to help him work more effectively, but he must do the work. The tools don't do the work for him. It is the same with Bible tools. They help the interpreter do the work, they do not do his work for him. So what should you have in your `Tool Box'.

Study Bibles
Translations will be considered under the heading - 'How to choose a translation'. For now let us confine ourselves to Study Bibles.

Marginal notes and footnotes have been added to many editions of the the Bible. In most cases, these notations are very helpful. They define archaic words, customs,or articles saving the reader a trip to a Bible dictionary. Some Bibles use italics to note words added to the text by the translators. Some notes even indicate textual variants in ancient texts.

Cross referencing is a common and useful feature in many Bibles. You can trace a theme throughout the Bible without looking the word up in a Concordance. The Thompson Chain Reference Bible is a good example. Get a Bible with marginal cross references, and one with margins wide enough and paper thick enough for writing notes.

Study Bibles with study notes by the author should be used with caution because it becomes too easy to regard the notes as inspired and some of the notes may even be misleading. An example of this kind of thing is in the headings of some publications of the King James Version where the translators have inserted that Paul wrote the Book of Hebrews and in the Old Testament have put the statement 'Genesis, The Book of Beginnings, 4004 B.C.' Study helps should only be used after you have studied the passage.

Examples:

Geneva Study Bible

NIV Study Bible

Thompson Chain Reference

Commentaries
A commentary gives the author's opinion about the meaning of the actual text of Scripture, book by book, chapter by chapter, sometimes even verse by verse. Some are thorough some are brief. They usually give helpful background material such as date, author, place of writing, and outline.

Commentaries are an indispensable tool for the student of the Bible. Without the use of competent commentaries you abuse the principle of `private interpretation' by relying on your own judgment alone for understanding the Scriptures. Commentaries provide a check and balance to your own prejudices.

There are a wide variety of commentaries available ranging from simple comments in a devotional style to more technical works of higher critical analysis.

A. Single Volume Commentaries on the Whole Bible: They are cheaper but their comment is shorter. Commentaries put together by a team of scholars is better than just one man because no one man knows everything about the whole Bible.
EXAMPLES
Matthew Henry
The New Bible Commentary IVP

B. Commentary Sets: Usually these consist of a single book for each of the books of the Bible. They are usually written by different man who specialise in the area of the books he writes or written by one man.
EXAMPLES
Tyndale
New International Commentary
Anchor Bible
Interpreters Bible
New Testament Commentary
Barclay
Keil and Delitzsch
Calvin

C. Individual Commentaries: These are commentaries written by individuals but are usually in a set. This is by far the best way to build your library for commentaries because the sets all have strong and weak volumes. You can select the best commentaries on a book without buying a complete set with weak areas.
EXAMPLES
Proverbs by Charles Bridges
A good devotional commentary, lots of scripture.
Romans by John Murray
A more technical commentary but one of the best on Romans.
Hebrews by Philip Hughs
A good contemporary commentary.

Dictionaries

A Bible dictionary lists and explains words and subjects found in the Bible gives their biblical meaning. It tells how many people in the Bible were named John and who they were. It gives the historical and cultural background. It treats subjects like archaeology, and the Trinity. But it usually does not explain the meaning of individual verses. However like a commentary it gives the opinion of the author.
EXAMPLES
The New Bible Dictionary, J.D. Douglas, ed.
The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopaedia of the Bible, Merrill Tenney, ed.

Concordances

A concordance lists all or some of the verses in which a particular word is used. Some Bibles have a partial concordances in the back listing some of the more common occurrences. Strongs and Youngs list all of the words even "the, at, and a". A concordance is great for doing word studies or finding a verse for which you only know a few words and don't know where it's found.
EXAMPLES
Youngs Concordance
Strongs Concordance
NIV Complete Concordance

Atlases

This is a book of maps which shows the Holy Land and some atlases also display them over a period of time. They are good for understanding the geography of the land and the movements of God's people across the Near East.
EXAMPLES
Westminster Historical Atlas to the Bible
Baker's Bible Atlas
Oxford Bible Atlas

Other Helps

Popular Helps:
These are commonly used by people who do not understand Greek and Hebrew but want to do some serious Bible study.

Nave's Topical Bible :
This work groups verses of scripture together in topics.

Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words:
This is for people who do not read Greek. It takes the English word and gives you the English rendering of the Greek words then all the shades of meaning for that word. Then there are many

Bible Handbooks :
The most famous is Halleys. It includes maps, commentaries, introduction, church history, and archaeology.

Then of course there is THE SCROLL, Multimedia Study Bible!

Technical Helps:
There are also many technical language helps that you can use if you are using the Greek and Hebrew.

The Englishmans Greek Concordance:
This lists every place that the greek word is found and part of the verse it is found in.

Wilson's Old Testament Word Studies:
The English word is listed in alphabetical order and then all the Hebrew words that have been translated into the English are listed and their meanings given.

Analytical Greek Lexicons:
These study the meaning of the Greek words.

Mezger's Textual commentary of the Greek:
Gives the reasons for the different readings and changes in words in different texts of the Greek.

Good tools or many tools do not of themselves produce good study. They depend on the work of one who is using them. The knowledge and blessing you get from your study will not come because you have three Bibles and a Concordance. They will come because you whole heartedly and prayerfully gave yourself to learning the Bible and because you obediently followed God as He lead you step by step by His Spirit.