HOW TO STUDY THE BIBLE – 1
(This blog is a word-for-word transcript of what I teach to the pastors in India about “How to Study and Preach/Teach the Bible”)
Suppose when you went home today you had an official letter at your house. The letter said you received a great inheritance. Many material riches were yours. The letter told you how to go about getting those riches. What would you do with that letter? Would you throw it away? Would you put it on a shelf and forget it? Or would you read it and study it so that you knew exactly what it said and do what it said to get those riches?
We have a letter from God. It tells us how to get spiritual riches that last forever. We need to read and study this book so we know how to get God’s blessings. We know God expects pastors to know their Bibles. We are to study it and learn what God has to say to us. Then we are to teach the Bible to our people. I want to talk now about how we do that.
The first thing you must do when you study the Bible is to pray. The Holy Spirit who wrote the Bible is with you when you study. Ask God to help you understand what you read. Then when you study He will put His thoughts into your mind.
STEP 1. OBSERVATION The first thing we do when we study the Bible is to observe what it says. That is what a doctor does when you go to see a doctor. Suppose you were sick and went to see a doctor. He called you into his office because you said you weren’t feeling so good. The first thing he did was say lay on the table; I am going to operate on you. Would that be good? You wouldn’t want a doctor to do that. What does he have to do first? Examine you. Yes He asks you questions. He touches the part that hurts. Maybe he takes tests or x-rays. He would have to thoroughly examine you before he did anything else’
That is what we must do when we study the Bible. The doctor looks for things that you don’t see right away. You must look for new things that you haven’t seen before. When you read a passage, you say, “what does that mean?” Don’t just think of what you already knew or what somebody else says it means or you won’t see anything new. .We must look very carefully.
Suppose someone showed you a picture and then covered it up and asked you questions about what you saw. Would you be able to answer them? If you knew you were going to be asked questions you would look closely to make sure you noticed and remembered every detail. The same could be said about listening to a piece of music. You would listen over and over, not just quickly play it one time.
That’s what you must do with Bible study, too. You are carefully examining the Bible passage you are studying. You don’t just see the obvious things; you look to see new things. That is the key to good Bible study. It takes time and work to study the Bible but that is where refreshing water is found. God’s blessings are in His Word but we need to dig deep to find them.
One way we do this is by reading the passage many times. Open your Bible now to 1 Peter 5 and read the first 4 verses. Take a moment to do that now as you read this blog or you won’t really learn from it. When you read it the first time it is like looking at a picture for the first time or hearing a song for the first time. You have an idea what it is about but you don’t notice everything that is there. You must read it many times. Each time you look carefully to see new things. Look at the Bible like you look at a new picture. Then you read the passage again and again. You should use different translations. Each time you read it you see new things and understand things better.
Another thing to help you observe is to write down questions about the passage. You will look at a picture or listen to a song more carefully if you know someone will be asking you questions about it. As you read the Bible think of questions you would like to have answered about the passage. Suppose the man who wrote the verses was sitting beside you. What questions would you ask him? Who wrote this in First Peter? Yes, Peter. Suppose Peter was sitting beside you and you could ask him questions. Read those four verses again and think of what questions you would like to ask Peter.
If Peter were here and you asked him questions you might ask why he wrote this passage. You would ask WHO, WHEN, WHERE, WHAT, WHY & HOW. WHO: Who did you write to? WHEN: When did you write this, when you were with Jesus or later in life? WHERE: Where were the ones you wrote to? You might ask him questions about WHAT he wrote: What does he mean by “pastor” and ”elder”? What did shepherds do then? What is the Main Idea of the letter? WHY: Why did you write? HOW: How are we to apply what is written? (that will be covered in step 3).
There are many questions we could ask Peter to understand what he is writing. Start your Bible study by observing & writing down as many questions as you can. Some questions may be so simple that you already know the answer but write it down anyway. Some questions are very hard and we will never know the answer until we get to Heaven, but also write them down. The more questions you ask the better you will understand the passage.
Carefully write all your questions just as you want your doctor to do for you. If he doesn’t do a thorough job of that – nothing else will be right. So ask many questions. Don’t just do it one day, think about it and come back another day and another day. Each time you do it you will see new things which you didn’t see before. The better you do this step the better your final result will be. (To be continued in the next blog.) (October 28, 2024 Doylestown, PA)
2 Timothy 2:15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.
Apply what you have learned about observation to a passage in the Bible you are studying. Write down lots of questions but don’t answer them yet.
cto Rev. Dr. JERRY SCHMOYER
Christian Training Organization
Jerry@ChristianTrainingOrganization.org
(India Outreach, Spiritual Warfare, Family Ministries, Counseling, World View)
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