How To Study The Bible

Memory Text

“‘So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it'” (Isaiah 55:11, NKJV).

Did you know that a study conducted by the Center for Bible Engagement found that reading the Bible three times a week resulted in no measurable change in a person’s life? Through a survey of 40,000 individuals ranging from age 8 to 80, conducted from 2004 to 2009, they discovered what they called the Power of 4. What it means is this: when a person decides to read the Bible four or more times a week, drastic results begin to show in his or her life. Some of the changes reported in this study were:

Feeling Lonely – dropped 30%
Anger Issues – dropped 32%
Feeling Bitter – dropped 40%
Alcoholism – dropped 57%
Viewing Pornography – dropped 61%
Sex Outside of Marriage – dropped 68%
Feeling Spiritually Stagnant – dropped 60%
Sharing Faith with Others – increased by over 200%
Discipling Others – increased by 230%
Giving Financially – increased by 416%

Just imagine what reading the Bible at least four days a week can do for our lives! But how do you study the Bible? How can you get the most out of your time with it? Read on and discover how!

Set Time

Yes, that’s it! The big secret is to . . . ta-da! Set time. There is immense power in setting a date and time for your to-dos.

In my pastoral ministry, I find that the list is always long and always seems to keep growing. When I don’t write down and schedule my to-dos, a day—or even a week—can pass without the task ever getting done.

Our bodies work in a circadian rhythm; that is, we function best on a regular schedule. Digestion improves when we eat at regular times. Sleep improves when we go to bed at a specific and consistent hour. We could keep going, but you get the point. Our minds and bodies favor the consistent and the regular. So set a regular time for your devotions. Anything else can wait.

David Allen, in his best-selling book Getting Things Done, underscores the importance of this concept. He said:

“The big secret to efficient creative and productive thinking and action is to put the right things in your focus at the right time.”1

Find a Place

Have you ever wondered why students tend to go to libraries and cafés to study when they could just as easily study at home? It all boils down to the environment.

Mark 1:35 NKJV

“Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed.”

“Having risen a long while before daylight”—Jesus set a time.

“He went out . . . to a solitary place”—Jesus found a place to do His devotions.

It can be in your bed, at your study table, in the living room, or out in nature—wherever you feel best able to hear God, that is your place. That is where you and God meet.

I have a friend who constantly posts stories on her Instagram of her doing devotions in nature, in different spots from time to time. She would caption her stories, “Find an Altar and Pray.” That is one way of saying: find a suitable place to do your devotions.

Find your solitary place. Meet God there.

Journal

Creatives and thinkers often advise that if a certain concept is still foggy in your mind, the best thing to do is write it out. Writing forces you to think through your thoughts more critically and more structurally. Now, this does not mean your journal needs to be at PhD level. The point is simply to let your thoughts out, and as a result, you arrive at greater clarity.

In my preaching ministry, I find that the best way to fix my preaching material clearly in my mind is to write it out and to practice. I know there are people who can just write an outline and then preach straight from it. I am not one of those guys. I have to sit down, think through the material, and rehearse it in my mind—and sometimes verbally—until I am comfortable with what I have to preach.

In our daily devotions, journaling helps us reflect upon what we have read, helping us better apply it to our lives. The human mind, after all, can only remember so much, especially as the days go by. I find my journal useful in recalling what I have learned, the things I have prayed for, and the events that have transpired in my life. So journaling can help us recall what the Lord has taught us in the past. What else do you need to be persuaded? Start journaling!

Oh, and while you are here, let me promote a free resource from this website that can help you in your Bible study journaling: 40 Days in the Book of Acts Reading Plan and Journal.

Methods

The topic of how to study the Bible is a complex one in the field of theology. There are various proposed methodologies—often conflicting ones. When ordinary church members see theologians debating over something, the reaction is sometimes to back off and conclude that the Bible is too complex for them to understand. Ellen White has this to say:

“The Bible was not written for the scholar alone; on the contrary, it was designed for the common people. The great truths necessary for salvation are made as clear as noonday; and none will mistake and lose their way except those who follow their own judgment instead of the plainly revealed will of God.”2

So, practically, how do we study our Bibles? There are various methods or techniques for getting something out of the Bible.

Verse by Verse

This means choosing a particular book of the Bible and studying it section by section. In theology, we call these divisions pericopes. You probably have Bibles with subsection headings within each chapter. Those are your sections for study. Read the section. Ask what the author was trying to say to his audience at that time, then ask what that means to you personally today. Follow the story and/or the arguments of that particular book. It is recommended that you finish the entire book (not in one sitting, BTW), so that you can see the bigger picture into which the sections you have read day by day fit.

How?

Choose a book of the Bible.
Read it section by section.
Ask: What was the author trying to say to his audience?
Ask: What is God trying to say to me today?
Write down the things you have learned. Note the section and the verse from which those lessons were gleaned.

Topical

The next method is particularly useful when you want to understand a specific topic or if you have a specific question in mind. For example—what day is the Sabbath? You answer this question by looking up what the entire Bible has to say about the Sabbath. This is what theologians call systematic theology—what the entire Bible has to say about a particular topic.

Back in the (not-so-old) days, the way to do this was by getting a very thick book called a concordance. This basically recorded every entry in which a particular word appeared in the Bible. In those days, you would open the concordance, look for the letter S, find the entry for the Sabbath, then locate the verses in your Bible. From there, you would synthesize your findings to answer your question.

Now, it is much easier to look up what the Bible has to say on a given topic. We have Bible software with semantic search. Just type in the word, and it will give you an exhaustive list to read and study. More recently, AI has also been useful in this. AI can help us surface verses on a particular theme, making it easier to see what the Bible has to say on a topic. Just make sure you use it as a tool to give you the verses, not the interpretation.

Word Study

This is where it gets cool. You can study certain words and phrases in the Bible and discover their deeper meaning in the original languages in which they were written. You need tools for this. I personally use paid tools, since I am a pastor and also interested in research—I use Logos Bible Software to read the Bible in the original languages, see the parsing of a given word or passage, and access lexicons to determine what a word means in its original tongue. I know, I know—most of you are not interested in a paid tool like Logos. I have good news for you! There are plenty of resources out there that can help you delve into the original languages. One free resource is https://www.blueletterbible.org. It gives you free access to multiple versions and lexicons. I highly recommend it!

Share with Other People

A foundational study published in the journal Memory & Cognition in 2014 discovered what came to be known as the “Protégé Effect,” or “learning by teaching.”³ The researchers basically say that memory retention and mental clarity are gained when you try to teach concepts you are struggling with to another person.

Apply that to the Bible. If you want to retain what you read and gain crystal clarity on what the Bible teaches, the best way is to share it with other people. That is the goal of discipleship—to become a disciple-maker yourself. Do you want to be a better student? Don’t just read—share!

Conclusion

The Bible is our daily bread. It is a source of nourishment for the Christian. Read it daily and be nourished by God. We now have all the resources we could ever need. The only thing left to do is to spend time with Him in His Word. Will you do it?

Discussion Questions

What is the biggest enemy of your devotional time, and how do you fight it?
What is one topic you wish you understood better from a biblical perspective?
Ellen White says the Bible was written for common people, not just scholars. Why, then, do so many feel intimidated by it?
What holds you back from sharing what you learn from the Bible with others?
After reading this lesson, what is one specific change you want to make in your devotional life this week?

Endnotes

1 David Allen, Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity, rev. ed. (New York: Penguin Books, 2015), [page number].

2 Ellen G. White, Steps to Christ (Mountain View, CA: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 1892), 89.

3 John F. Nestojko et al., “Expecting to Teach Enhances Learning and Organization of Knowledge in Free Recall of Text Passages,” Memory & Cognition 42, no. 7 (2014): 1038–48, https://doi.org/10.3758/s13421-014-0416-z.