How to Study the Bible

Many Christians have a keen interest in knowing the will of God for their lives. They seek out new experiences and are quick to interpret situations and observations in their life as signs and miracles of God. But what is often overlooked is the very fact that God has revealed so much of Himself to us through the Word of God.

Why study the Bible?

The reason why we need to be filled with God’s Word is because God has revealed himself to us through it for the purpose of getting to know Him and to walk with Him.

In every other religion, man tries to appease God or do religious things that they think will gain favor with God. Christians believe that we do not deserve any favor with God but that in God’s mercy, that favor came in the person of Jesus Christ who has taken our place and paid the penalty of our sins through his death on the cross. And three days later, Jesus rose again from the dead, thereby securing salvation for all who repent and believe in Jesus Christ.

God hasn’t left it up to us to figure him out and figure out what we need to do to walk by faith and in His righteousness. God spells it out for us through the Bible. That’s why we should rely on the Bible to find what God has said in terms of how to worship Him and live for God as He wants, not by what we think.

As Christians, we believe the Bible was written by men who were divinely inspired by God, and that the Bible is God’s revelation of Himself to us. And being inspired by God, we believe the Bible in its entirety is inerrant, which means unable to be with error.

God’s will for our lives is contained in this Holy book and it affects everything in our lives. It affects our values, worldviews and perspective in life. It affects how we respond to different situations and it affects what we choose to do and how we do it. God guides us to know Him and to know His will through his Word.

  • 3 And he (God) humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word[a] that comes from the mouth of the Lord.

  • 28 But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”

  • 10 For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the Lord, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel.

  • 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

  • 18 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, 19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart,

  • 1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

  • 12 While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. 13 But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. 14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.

  • 14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it 15 and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

  • 17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.

Metaphors for the Word of God

  • Light

    Psalm 119:105

  • Fire

    Jeremiah 23:29

  • Sword

    Hebrews 4:12

  • Food

    Matthew 4:4

  • Mirror

    James 1:23

  • Life

    1 Peter 1:23

The Inductive Bible Study Method

“Inductive” refers to simply taking specific information from a passage of the Bible to make broader generalizations that are consistent and not contradictory to Scripture that can be applied to our lives specifically, while allowing for the fact that the conclusion may not always be 100% accurate.

When we apply this approach to our study of the Bible, we’re looking at what we see in the text in order to learn what its saying. Inductive Bible Study is about coming to the Bible without our own agenda, and reading the passage in order to study God’s agenda to apply into our lives.

  • The goal of observation is to interrogate the text. Answer questions of “who, what, when, where and why.” Who is speaking to whom? What are they saying? When are they saying it? Why do they say they are saying it? What is the context, etc.?

    Mark key persons, words and phrases. Make lists. Watch for contrasts and comparisons. Note expressions of time, and geographic locations. All of these things help us to interrogate the text so that we have a rich understanding of what the text contains.

    Good observation is what makes for good Bible study. Aim to spend more time in observation than in interpretation or application.

  • If observation tells us what the text says, interpretation tells us what the text means. And mainly, what it meant to its original audience.

    Your interpretation should be consistent with the theme, purpose, and structure of the book in which it is found. If your interpretation runs contrary to the clear, established doctrines of the faith then you need to reconsider your interpretation.

    No part of the Bible will ever undermine another part of the bible. Sometimes sorting out what initially seems like a contradiction takes work, but this is the point of studying the Bible.

  • We may think that if we observe and interpret a biblical text well, then we’ve necessarily studied well. But unless we apply what we see to our lives, we’re not actually accomplishing anything of value.

    Here are some questions you can ask yourself as you study a passage in the Bible to help apply it to your life.

    - Does it point out sin in my life?
    - What assumptions does it have that I don’t share?
    - Is there a command to obey in the passage?
    - Is there an encouragement in this text?
    - Is there a promise for me?
    - Does it teach me something about God?
    - Does it teach me something about myself?
    - What evidence for my faith does it give me?
    - What will I do differently today because of this text?
    - How can I model/share/teach this truth to encourage others?
    - How could my family or church apply this text?

Many Genres, One Story

The Bible is comprised 66 books, 39 in the Old Testament and 27 in the New Testament, written in a span of some 1,500 years by about 3 dozen different human authors ranging from royalty to commoners.

But even in the midst of such diversity, there is a single storyline from Genesis to Revelation that points to the person and work of Jesus Christ, the son of God.

Understanding genres is important because they impact our study of Scripture. 

Before we ever get into the actual text of a biblical passage, we need to understand what literary genre the text is in so that we can properly observe, interpret, and apply that text.

  • A substantial part of the Bible is history. One would think that a religious text would be all about dogma and rules but Christianity isn’t simply a philosophy. It is a faith based on history.

    Includes: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Numbers, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, I and II Samuel, I and II Kings, I and II Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Jonah, Acts

  • Wisdom literature is essentially instructions for successful living; or reflections upon the reality of human existence.

    The wisdom literature contains both the moral substance of true wisdom (e.g. Proverbs) and the intellectual explorations of wise men seeking to understand the fundamental problems of human existence (e.g. Job, Ecclesiastes).

    Includes: Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes

  • Poetry allows for conveying greater meaning beyond simple facts.

    The Hebrew language was an ideal instrument for expressing poetic speech. Its simplicity of form allowed for a combined intensity of feeling and pictorial power, and allowed great play of imagination through the use of figures, metaphors, hyperboles and rhythm.

    Includes: Psalms, Song of Solomon, Lamentations

  • When people think of “prophecy,” they tend to think of foretelling the future. But that’s actually not the bulk of prophecy in the Bible. Instead, prophecy begins with forthtelling, being forthright with God’s people.

    Prophets function to shine a light on Israel’s disobedience, and highlight how their sins are against God’s law, and in some cases tell how their sins were predicted by previous prophecies. In other words, the prophets are the prosecutors of God’s covenant.

    Includes: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi

  • Apocalypse is Greek for “to unveil.” Revelation was not written to confuse, but to serve as a clear unveiling of God’s plan to bring judgment on the wicked and to bring the faithful in Christ into His eternal kingdom.

    Includes: Daniel, Revelation of John

  • All four Gospels together provides a comprehensive understanding of Jesus, His life, and the early church. Yet each of these books were originally written to stand on its own as independent and sufficient accounts of Jesus and his followers.

    The Gospels mirror a genre from the ancient world called bios, an ancient biography. Unlike modern biographies that trace physical, psychological, and personal development, ancient biographies focused on key events in a person’s life and his teaching.

    Includes: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John

  • Epistle is another word for “letter.” The Epistles were letters written to specific churches, regions, and people to deal with established churches and their issues. Understanding how to study these letters is significant since they constitute 21 out of the 27 NT books.

    The key thing about the epistles is that they were all written after Jesus died, rose, and ascended into heaven. As a result, they’ve played a major role in the formation of Christian Theology throughout Church History.

    They’re also crucial to our understanding of the Old Testament. By studying Old Testament allusions/citations in the Epistles, we come to see how God fulfills his Old Testament promises in Christ.

    Includes: Romans, I and II Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, I and II Thessalonians, I and II Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews, James, I and II Peter, I, II and III John, Jude

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