Bible Study
Renew Your Mind
My people are being destroyed because they don't know me. NLT Hosea 4:6a
Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. NKJV 2 Timothy 2:15
But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, NIV 1 Peter 3:15
Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. NKJV 2 Timothy 2:15
But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, NIV 1 Peter 3:15
The first warning I will give is this. What you believe about the bible will effect what you get from reading the bible. If you think it is just a grouping of different authors writtings, what you get will be different than if you believe that all of the bible was inspired by God moving on people. Our relationship with God is based on faith, your belief that what God says is true. If you don't believe then you don't have a relationship. The Holy Spirit can not reveal things to you if you are not listening for Him.
My second warning will be about what is truth. Commonly people see two types of truth. Objective truth and subjective truth. Objective truth is something that is true apart from what anyone thinks of it. This is the truth that Jesus was talking about when He said that He was the truth. It is the facts, and opinion does not change it. This is the truth of the bible. Opinions do not change the fact that what God said is the truth. Subjective truth is personal, an opinion. It is based on feelings, experiences, your personal point of view. God's word deals with us on this level also. When you read the bible parts of it will comfort you, excite you, drive you, inspire you and upset you. This is the living word experience. This is important because it is one of the ways that God talks to us. Without it, the passion we have for the things of God would grow cold.
My second warning will be about what is truth. Commonly people see two types of truth. Objective truth and subjective truth. Objective truth is something that is true apart from what anyone thinks of it. This is the truth that Jesus was talking about when He said that He was the truth. It is the facts, and opinion does not change it. This is the truth of the bible. Opinions do not change the fact that what God said is the truth. Subjective truth is personal, an opinion. It is based on feelings, experiences, your personal point of view. God's word deals with us on this level also. When you read the bible parts of it will comfort you, excite you, drive you, inspire you and upset you. This is the living word experience. This is important because it is one of the ways that God talks to us. Without it, the passion we have for the things of God would grow cold.
Sermons & Bible Commentaries
Listening to what someone else says about the word of God. I think that we all can benifit from teachers, but this should not be your only sorce for the word of God.
Bible commentaries are written to match a chapter or verse of the bible. It is the record of someone's studies of that section of the bible. Again, this should not be your only sorce for the word of God. Both of these can keep you seperated from getting revelation from God. Even a good student of the bible can be wrong.
Bible commentaries are written to match a chapter or verse of the bible. It is the record of someone's studies of that section of the bible. Again, this should not be your only sorce for the word of God. Both of these can keep you seperated from getting revelation from God. Even a good student of the bible can be wrong.
Devotional Method
Select a short portion of your bible and prayerfully meditate on it until the Holy Spirit shows you a way to apply the truth to your life. Write out a personal application.
Here is a common way to do this; S-P-A-C-E P-E-T-S
S in to confess? Do I need to make any restitution?
P romise to claim? Is it a universal promise? Have I met the conditions?
A ttitude to change? Am I willing to work on a negative attitude and begin building toward a positive one?
C ommand to obey? Am I willing to do it no matter how I feel?
E xample to follow? Is it a positive example for me to copy, or a negative on to avoid?
P rayer to pray? Is there anything I need to pray back to God?
E rror to avoid? Is there any problem that I should be alert to or beware of?
T ruth to believe? What new things can I learn about God the Father, Jesus the Son, the Holy Spirit, or other biblical
teachings?
S omething to praise God for? Is there something here I can be thankful for?
Here is a common way to do this; S-P-A-C-E P-E-T-S
S in to confess? Do I need to make any restitution?
P romise to claim? Is it a universal promise? Have I met the conditions?
A ttitude to change? Am I willing to work on a negative attitude and begin building toward a positive one?
C ommand to obey? Am I willing to do it no matter how I feel?
E xample to follow? Is it a positive example for me to copy, or a negative on to avoid?
P rayer to pray? Is there anything I need to pray back to God?
E rror to avoid? Is there any problem that I should be alert to or beware of?
T ruth to believe? What new things can I learn about God the Father, Jesus the Son, the Holy Spirit, or other biblical
teachings?
S omething to praise God for? Is there something here I can be thankful for?
Inductive Study
Inductive study means that you read a book of the bible from start to finish. This insures that you pick up the context of the book. This helps avoid false teachings that can lead to knowledge of the word without the power of the word in our lives.
Deductive Study
Deductive studies are done when you have a question about a topic and you study one book of the bible for the answer. This is a type of topical study but it is done once the reader understands the context of a book, normally by doing an inductive study of the book before doing this type of study.
Topical Studies
Topical studies are where you search the whole bible looking for an answer to a question about something. These can be good but they are also dangerous. If the context of a verse is not understood it can be understood incorrectly. Without inductive studies to keep the believer in the truth, topical studies will lead to false teachings.
Character Quality Study
Choose a character quality you would like to work on in your life and study what the bible says about it.
Biographical Study
Select a bible character and research all the verses about that person in order to study their life and characteristics. Make notes on attitudes, strengths and weaknesses. Then apply what you have learned to your own life.
Book Background Study
Study how history, geography, culture, science, and politics affected what happened in bible times. Use bible reference books to increase your understanding of the Word. Bible Handbooks are good for this.
Word Studies
For word studies we have several options. We can look up a word as it is used now. It is also helpful to look up synonyms in a Thesaurus. Names can be interesting but it is difficult to find the meaning of some names. If you have the resources; bible dictionaries, bible handbooks, concordances and atlases can all help you to understand the word but they are not necessary for you to study the word of God. You can also look up how others have interpreted the word by looking at several different bible versions. Try to find how the word was understood by the arthur of the book.