Treasures New and Old

Bible Study

I was asked about personal Bible study. Let me briefly share some things to remember:

1. Start with Prayer. No study will be profitable without first going to the Father in prayer and asking Him to guide your study through His Holy Spirit. Start each session, whether alone or in a group, with prayer. God promises us wisdom when we ask, and we are admonished to study, to show ourselves approved, “. . . a workman that needeth not to be ashamed . . .” (2 Timothy 2:15). We must first ask for His help.

2. Ask a question. Nearly all serious Bible studies start with a question. In the defense industry, we call that a need to know. At best, we just flounder if we attack the Word without purpose, and we often get discouraged and quit. Some of my best studies and times in the Word were based upon a deep need to know something, often as answer to some problem, prayer, or doctrinal issue. Some sample questions include:

• What does the word love mean?
• What kind of fools are there, and how are we to minister or deal with them?
• What is dangerous about being an angry man?
• What does the Bible say about baptism?
• What is the secret to Daniel’s success?
• What does the letter to the Romans have for us today?

3. Compare Scripture to Scripture. Always. Too narrow a focus can cause us to take a verse or phrase out of context or draw the wrong conclusion. The world is full of cults today who have taken a word or phrase and, ignoring all of the Scripture around it, have developed false doctrine or religions.

4. Get the Context. Always read the passage or passages in context. Get the historical or background information as you conduct your study. Verses like don’t muzzle the ox (1 Timothy 5:18) make more sense when compared against the background of the law in respect to allowing the working animal to eat while he works. Paul then took this principle and applied it to paying a pastor his due. On the surface, it looks like a mismatch, but as we investigate the law, it is perfect application.

5. Seek One Interpretation. Remember that when it comes to Scripture, there is only one correct interpretation, but many applications. I remember years ago being in a situation where I stood to lose a lot of money. I sought a word from the Lord, and in prayer He gave me, “take cheerfully the spoiling of your goods.” I knew it must be from Satan, so I sought to prove that that verse didn’t exist. What I found was, “. . . and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods . . .” (Hebrews 10:34). The interpretation is a reference to those in Thessalonica who gave liberally of their material wealth to help poorer believers in Jerusalem. The application is also clear. My money is not mine. It is God’s, and He can do what He wants with it, even give it away.

6. Take Written Notes. You will either quit, lose what you’ve learned, or confuse the facts if you don’t. A well-worn log will mean volumes to you and your children in later years.

7. Follow Chains When Found. The Bible is full of chains. Follow them. Subjects and words become richer as we add additional verses to the study of specific words or subjects. All that the Word says about marriage, or clothing, or baptism are best answered by following the entire chain of references.

8. Scripture is Always Right. Something confusing? Found a contradiction? An error? Some translations may have introduced what appear to be errors as they attempt to follow copyright laws and move to more modern English. However, a deeper study will reveal that the Word is not in error, and that we have simply missed something somewhere. Dig deeper. God will show you if you seek Him diligently.

9. Take it Literally. The Bible has poems, anagrams, parables, allegories, symbolism, and stories. However, the overwhelming majority of the Bible is simply literal truth. When John says he saw 144,000 Jews, 12,000 from each tribe, then that is what he saw, not some symbolic special group of Jehovah Witnesses. Unless it is blatantly obvious, take it literally.

10. Law of First Mention. Trace a chain down to the first mention of a subject, doctrine, or truth. God has His core reasons for establishing a law or precept at the location. Why do we wear clothes? Why do we marry? Why do we tithe? Seek the first mention of a topic and allow the context to establish a root cause.

Let me continue with some techniques I use to do my personal Bible study.

Journals or Insight Logging

One of the simplest and easiest forms of Bible study is the journal entry, or daily insight log, that you can keep in your own notebook, perhaps kept by date. It starts with a consistent daily Bible reading program. Some folks read a chapter a day. Some read a certain number of pages, others read based on a schedule so that they can read the entire Bible in a year. If you do not have a consistent Bible reading program, may I suggest a chapter a day. By doing at least a chapter a day, you can read through the entire Bible in three years, three months, and three days (starting on January 1st).

Go expecting to find something new every day. Pray before and after you read. As you read, quietly ask yourself, “Is there anything here for me today?”. I suggest that you have a series of questions or topics, perhaps as a written list, in front of your notebook. Items might include:

• How do I worship?
• How do I respond to my wife/husband/kids?
• How do I witness?
• How do I handle a bad request from my boss?
• How do I discipline my kids?
• How do I pray?

As you read, you will begin to find that God will cause some of the verses that you read to JUMP OUT at you. As you record the insight or verse, select a key word that is associated with it and write it in bold in the margin.

As you can see by the sample page above, over time, a person can accumulate a lot of special personal insights into Scripture as you diligently read and expect God to open His Word to you on a daily basis. At a later time, you may want to organize these insights into categories, or you may make them the subject or springboard for additional studies or talks.

Doctrinal Searches or Subject Studies

A doctrinal search is very much like a word search, except it is expanded from a word to a doctrinal issue or subject which often requires several words. For example, if we wanted to search out the subject of marriage, we might look up several words like husband, wife, marriage, home, single, children, Christ as our head, divorce, etc.

Although a doctrinal search can take longer than a word search, it can be carried out just as easily using our six questions: who, what, where, when, why, and how. Once again, the only tool absolutely required is the concordance. Dictionaries and lexicons may help us find words references quicker, but only careful study of each verse will ultimately reveal the whole truth about a subject.

An example of a doctrinal search is examining the various names of the Lord and their meaning. We begin to learn the names of God, and therefore, His character and ways He interacts with His people.

Other important subjects to build doctrinal studies around are: the Trinity, salvation, personal holiness, creation, witnessing, and a lot of other topics.

Outlining

The outline can be another simple, yet very useful, method of studying Scripture. An outline can be of a small section of Scripture, of an entire chapter, or of an entire book. Let’s look at outlining a small section of Scripture which just happens to be a whole chapter as well.

Psalms 1:

1: Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

2: But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

3: And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

4: The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.

5: Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

6: For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

We start with separation of the phrases, concentrating on verbs and nouns.

The ungodly are not so

but are like the chaff

which the wind driveth away.

Therefore the ungodly

shall not stand in the judgment,

nor sinners in the

congregation of the righteous

For the LORD knoweth

the way of the righteous

but the way of the ungodly shall

perish.

We can reduce this passage to a simple outline, and by doing so, capture the essence of the themes or major thoughts that are in the passage. Try doing this yourself.

May God bless you all!

Bro. Joe

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