Recently I had a fruitful conversation with a bright and articulate young man. I find that so many people are reading their Bibles and are able to interact with it both intelligently and through the eyes of faith.
The conversation brought up some basic principles of Bible study. Let me suggest six key factors in learning to study your Bible well.
1. Commit to a lifetime discipline of actually reading the Bible. No method can substitute for the person who actually reads Scripture. I often recommend that one read through Scripture in chronological order every year. There are a number of guides that will assist in this endeavour. Back to the Bible Canada produces a calendar every year for this.
2. Read the Bible to discover its plain meaning.
One of the great mistakes is that we spiritualize the text or believe that the Bible has a meaning which ordinary Bible readers won’t be able to understand. While it is true that some Bible texts are poetic and others are highly symbolic, the vast majority of Bible texts can be understood by anyone with appropriate reading skills.
3. Ask the Holy Spirit to take your sinful ego out of your Bible reading.
Let’s be honest. A great many Bible passages deeply impact our sinful pride. The Bible consistently speaks about our inability to please God. It confronts us in our sins and commands us to repent. It tells us that God’s ways are just and ours are not. Finally, it repeatedly reminds us that, without redemption, we are eternally lost. These thoughts are an affront to human pride; we will always find the Bible to be unwelcome unless the Holy Spirit changes our heart so that Its message is welcome in our lives.
4. Learn to read a Bible passage within its context.
One of the tools that help in that process is learning to outline a Bible book. You will then need to understand the progression of ideas as well as the theme of the entire book. Once we get a sense of what the message of the whole book is, we are far more likely to understand a given Bible verse.
5. Pay attention to the grammar of the text.
As an easy example, know the difference between an imperative and an indicative. An imperative is a command; an indicative merely makes factual statements. For example, Jehovah’s Witnesses will often say that the apostles went door to door, and they are following the Bible’s command. But this confuses an indicative for an imperative. Nowhere does the Bible command us to go door to door.
6. Study the Bible both alone and in Bible study groups.
Also, please know the difference between a group that merely expresses personal opinions and actually studies the Bible.
Posted in Articles