New to the Faith: How do I Study the Bible?

Part 2: Bible Study

One of my favorite memories of my mom is of her studying the Bible. She would sit at the kitchen table with at least two different versions of the Bible, a Bible dictionary, a concordance, a couple of commentaries, plus other various materials. She would sit there for hours studying the Word of God. She taught me how important it was to have a deep understanding of the Bible.

Many people believe the Bible is an ancient book, and therefore it no longer applies to us today, but that is simply not true. The God we serve is the same yesterday, today, and forever, which means His Word stands the test of time. The Bible is the inerrant Word of God. Though it may have been written out by man, it was inspired by the Holy Spirit. It is important for us to read the Bible because this is how God speaks to us. Through His Word, we learn of His love for us and how to live a life that is holy and pleasing to Him.

Before you begin studying your Bible though, let’s talk about selecting a Bible as there are many different versions. Some versions are word-for-word translations of the original text. These include the English Standard Version (ESV), Amplified (AMP), King James and New King James Versions (KJV and NKJV), plus many more. Then, you have versions that are more thought-for-thought, meaning, they keep with the premise of the Scriptures, but it may not be a word-for-word translation. These versions include the Contemporary English Version (CEV), the New Living Translation (NLT), and the Message (MSG). Check out this Bible Translation Guide for more information.

Once you have selected a Bible, it’s important to understand its parts. The Bible is a collection of books divided into two sections: Old Testament (OT) and New Testament (NT). The OT begins with the creation of the world and ends around 400 years before the birth of Christ. The NT begins with the birth of Christ and ends with a prophetic revelation of end times. Each book is divided into chapters, and each chapter is divided into verses. If you hear someone say “Turn to Hebrews 4:12,” then you would flip to the book of Hebrews, which is found in the NT (you can always search the Table of Contents to find the book or purchase either a tabbed Bible or tabs for your Bible. The more you study your Bible, the more familiar you will become with it). Once you find the book of Hebrews, you would turn to chapter 4 and then find verse 12.

Now that you have an understanding of the parts of the Bible, let’s discuss Bible study. I’ll explain some of the ways I study the Bible, but this is what works for me. There are many ways to study, so pick what works best for you.

General Read Through: Just read through the Bible. You can find an app or program that will take you through the entire Bible in a year (or less). This helped me because, ashamed as I am to admit it, it wasn’t until recently that I read through the entire Bible. My previous Bible studies had taken me through certain books or topics of the Bible, but I hadn’t read through every single book until I used an app to help me go through it book-by-book. I use Through the Word and YouVersion, but you can also search biblegateway.com or any other Bible program to help you read through the Bible. Some Bibles even have a Bible reading plan located in the back of the book.

Bible Study: You can either study the Bible book-by-book or topically, depending on where you feel God leading you. It helps to have a couple of tools such as a concordance and a commentary.

A concordance is a guide giving you the Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek translation of a word found in the Bible. For example, let’s say you are studying the verse John 3:16 (“God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son…”) and you wanted to define the word “loved.” You would search for the term “loved” in the concordance and then match it with the verse reference. To the side of the term is a key, letting you know where to turn to find the Greek definition of the word “loved.” In the example below, I’ve highlighted the verse reference I’m searching for. The little G1 following the word “LOVE” tells me that I need to find the first definition (1) of the word “love” in the Greek Glossary (G) found in the back of the book. Depending on the concordance, you may see a number listed rather than the reference below. In that case, the number represents the Hebrew or Greek number found in the glossaries. If the word is found in the OT, then you will search for the number in Hebrew Glossary. If it is found in the NT, then you will find the word in the Greek or Aramaic Glossary.

A commentary is exactly what it sounds like – it contains comments explaining the Scriptures. It is important to find a commentary that is well respected, so do your research. I also encourage you to use more than one commentary.

Expository Bible Study: An expository Bible study includes reading the verses before and after the verse, looking into the history, learning about the cultures of the time, and how it applies to your life today. Some resources you may want to use include books that discuss the ancient Jewish culture, symbolism in the Bible, a Bible dictionary, ancient times, and so on.

Bible Study Apps: One other way to study the Bible is through the use of apps. As mentioned above, I use Through the Word, YouVersion and biblegateway.com. I also have a subscription to Right Now Media (made available through my church. Check with your church to see if they offer a subscription). These apps contain different types of Bible studies and devotionals that help me study the Bible. Currently, I’m using Through the Word as it takes me through each book of the Bible, chapter by chapter, explaining the text.

I hope this helps you as you prepare to purchase a Bible and begin studying it. I believe Paul sums it up best as to why we should study the Bible in 2 Timothy 3:16: “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for corrections, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” (ESV)

*Concordance pictured is the ESV Exhaustive Concordance published by Crossway in 2018