"... rightly dividing the word of truth"   2 Timothy 2:15

How to study the Bible

Much has been written on this subject, but many good, honest writers have left out some vital parts.

Types of Studies

Also, a distinction should be made between "studying the Bible" and "a Bible Study".
* "studying the Bible" usually means to study the Bible as a whole or merely reading it a passage at a time to obtain the meaning in passage context.
* "a Bible Study" usually means a Topical Study or a study on a particular Bible aspect or issue. This would involve every passage in the Bible that has to do with the topic, not just a passage context.

Topical Bible Studies will be the topic of another paper. This particular paper will be on studying the Bible. "What does the Bible have for me as I read it day by day?" Not just how all the characters and stories fit together, but also, what is the Bible really saying. Discovering the major intent, then minor intents if present and how does it apply to the reader's life.

First, God wrote the Bible for every single person on the planet ...
* brilliant and dim
* educated and ignorant
* wise and foolish
* Christian background and heathen
* young and old
* experienced and novice

Everyone must at least have the ability to read the Bible or have it read to them. It can be understood by all. This leads us to the next general statement.

Second, not every person has to understand everything. There is milk for the immature and meat for the developed. Some parts will be understood now, some later, some much later.

Third, try not to bring preconceived notions into the study, but do not question everything. For instance, if you know that you are saved, then don't continually try to prove or disprove it. Allow the scriptures to confirm the basic tenants.

Once a basic doctrine is seen in the scriptures, keep looking for it over and over and mark its presence when found. This will enable the reader to keep adding to knowledge.

Examples
Grace: once grace is understood, keep looking for it through out the Bible, to also learn how to obtain it, its results, etc.
Prayer: once prayer is defined or partially understood, begin looking for it everywhere to also learn how to use it, the different types, etc.
If a study was begun just on prayer, this would be a Topical Study or Bible Study on Prayer.

Fourth, the Bible does not contradict itself. If it appears to do so, then the reader ...
* made an incorrect assumption
* listened to a careless Bible teacher
* misdefined a doctrine
* made an incomplete study on a topic
* etc.

The Old Testament (OT) is in perfect agreement with the New Testament (NT). But they are written to different groups of people who have received different promises from God.

To name a few of the differences ...
* Those saved and living in the NT have the indwelling of the Spirit. In the OT there is temporary Spirit visitation for specific activities.
* OT people looked forward to the One that should come. NT people look back on the coming of Jesus Christ and forward to His coming again.
* OT people looked to the Bible and signs for proof. NT people know the proof from the witness of the Bible and the Spirit.
* The OT was written to the Jews (technically, this is not the correct label). The NT is written basically written to the redeemed or saved.
* etc.

Fifth, the Bible was written a book at a time. Not everyone in the OT or NT had all the books, all the time. Some, when they received a NT book, did not have any of the other NT books, but they may have had none or most or all of the OT books. This is pointed out to illustrate that each book is self contained for basic understanding. If there were no other books to reference for understanding, then the book in hand must be able to be understood without the rest.

Of course, the entire Bible confirms each individual book, because they are all in perfect agreement, but a novice is greatly encouraged in studying the Bible when he or she knows the Bible can be understood a book at a time and as progress is made, the books can be tied together with confirmation and proof.

Sixth, an understanding of the original languages (Hebrew for the OT and Greek for the NT) of the Bible is not necessary. These languages may be helpful or even enjoyable, but not necessary for understanding passages. Both would be critical for translating, but since the King James Bible is an excellent and honest translation, we just need to read it.

Also, knowledge of these ancient languages is not universal today. Very few have a working understanding of them.

Original languages may be helpful for Topical Studies, but usually only superficially. Defining original language words from a lexicon is frequently a pitfall. Defining an English or original language word can be as much as 90% and more to do with context.

This is exactly why when studying the Bible, that context must be brought out of the weeds and understood, so definitions of important words can be comprehended.

Seventh, knowledge of the ancient cultures is not necessary and may be even detrimental. The culture snapshots used today are often repeated over and over by preachers and teachers and have been misunderstood, misapplied and may not have been correctly employed or understood from the start.

If information about the culture is needed to understand a passage, the Bible will supply it.

Eighth, books outside the Bible are not necessary. There are 100's if not 1000's of ...
* Dictionaries
* Lexicons (helpful for Topical Studies)
* Concordances (helpful for Topical Studies)
* Commentaries
* Verse References (helpful for Topical Studies)
* Christian books on Bible topics (some may be helpful for Topical Studies)
* Even the marginal notes and foot notes in Bibles are usually only helpful for Topical Bible Studies or refer to other "Don't's" listed in this paper.

None are needed to understand Bible passages. Most are not helpful. Many may be a hindrance. Some were even written by possibly Christians, but who, at the very least, have subscribed to bad doctrine. Almost none see the Bible exactly as do fundamental Baptists.

Most will not listen to these warnings, because "looking-up" the passage in another Christian Book sounds so easy. This is usually because the researcher is in a hurry to find something, rather than just reading and learning from the Bible as a way of life.

"Learn it before you need it and you may not need, but to help others." gsa

Ninth, common sense is essential and can be practiced by anyone. Some think that common sense is simply their opinion.

Opinion has no place in studying the Bible. Bible readers should learn to spot their personal opinion and the opinion of others. For some, neither is easy to discern.

Common sense should be reasonable, rational without making rationalizations, valid - is it true, consistent with the context, sound when viewed from every direction.

Tenth, when studying the Bible, it should be taken literally. Allow the Bible to say what it says. Do not presume that it is figurative or analogous. Seek the meaning of the passage in context with a literal point of view. 

There are times when it is not literal, for example when it speaks of the "four corners of the earth". This of course is figurative.

Taking it literal is to err on the safe side. Common sense usually points out the figurative, anyway.

Eleventh, many presume to have deductive strengths and have erred. When deducing, a person must not fall into certain traps.
* "If this is so, then this must be so."
* "If this is true, then this must not be true."
* "If this person said it, it must be true."
The above is not an exhaustive list, but these few culprits are often responsible for bad conclusions. It is fine to make deductions, but not bad ones.

Twelfth, do not interpret the Bible. The scriptures are not for "private interpretation". The Bible is the word of God and is capable of speaking for itself. The reader knows the wrong road has been taken whenever he or she says, "It seems to me." See number 10.

Some things to do

Therefore, because, since, as, result, thus, hence

Read through the passage, chapter or book and look for the above words. If they come to a conclusion, place a ∴ (a universal designation for "therefore") to signify that the verse comes to some kind of deduction.

Sometimes it is evident that a verse comes to an conclusion, without using one of the above words, mark it the same way.

Lists

Read through the passage, chapter or book and look for lists (in the same verse or adjacent verses), then designate each part of the list with a circle and number in it. Make certain that the parts go together and that there are not several lists.

If a list can be named, do so with a notation in the margin, or if the Bible passage actually names the list, circle the name.

The lists can be important ways to understanding verses or passages.

Repeated Words

 1.  Read the passage or chapter or book (if it is one of the epistles) through several times to begin to understand what it is about. While reading, repeated words will make themselves known and this leads to the next statement.

 2.  While reading, look for repeating words. When they are noticed, circle them. Read through again and circle synonyms of the repeated word. Read through again and circle words and phrases which seem to be very similar to the repeated word. Read through again and circle analogies or representations of the repeated word.

Now use a color pencil to  fill-in  all the circles with the same shade.

Read through again and look for opposite words, phrases, synonyms, etc., and  color  them a different shade.

Use a fine, blue, ball-point pen to circle the words.
Do not use liquid highlighters for shading that might bleed through on the reverse-side of the page.
Use color pencils which can be erased.

Now go back over the same passage looking for other repeated words, doing the same as above.

 3.  Now lean back and look at the whole passage and the shaded circles. Usually a pattern can be perceived, even sub-patterns.

If the pattern indicated, does not seem to give meaning to the passage, but just a repeated word or thought, there may be a meaning a little more subtle. Invest just a little more time to attempt to find it.

The pattern may suggest a theme or thought which has no repeated words, see below ...

Multiple readings

Having read a passage so many times, a thought will occasionally present itself that is not actually spelled out as a word or the repeated words will expose the thought. The thought might be "Humble".

Ask yourself ...
* "What is humility?"
* "Why be humble?"
* "What is the result of being humble?"
* "Who is humble"
* "How to be humble?"
* "Is there a reason for being humble?"
* etc.
What is the Bible saying about being humble and keep asking yourself questions about humble until you find the one that fits.

Each time an answer presents itself to one of the above questions or questions similar, write "Humble" in the margin and circle it, then write the discovered statement about "Humble".  Boil down the statement or answer to the least possible number of words and write this also in the margin under "Humble" and circle it. Go back over the passage and color all the instances of "Humble" the same shade. This will be helpful in understanding the passage and will be good preaching or teaching points for other venues.

Do the above with patterns and themes and thoughts that are easy to see. Once the passage or chapter or book has been done this way, the context will be simple and often very different from the outline presented by the Bible publisher and the commentaries and the etc.