What Bible Study Method do you use?

Many tiimes I will find a good Bible study book like a series by Beth Moore and do that for awhile. I will also take a daily devotional and study the verse it talks about.

 

One Method I use is tho choose a chapter. 1. Read something on the book (to whom it is written author and so on). 2. Read the chapter a few times in Swedish (my mother tounge) without any helps. 3. Open the NKJV Thompson chain Reference and see differenses in differenses in translation, if the translation differs I check a few other translations and perhaps Mounces Expositionary dictionary. 4. Check the Thompson chains in the margin to see if the chain topics is the same that I discovered when reading, and then I follow interesting chains in the through the Bible. 5. Check a simple commentary, often Matthew Henry and Expositor's Bible Commentary Abridged Edition. 6. Read the swedish text a few times praying for light on the scripture. 7. Read my wide margin NIV and then make notes in the wide margins.

An other method I use is to follow a subject through the Bible with help of the Thompson and/or the Nave's Topical Bible. I then often choose a verse in the chain and makes a summary in the margin in the wide margin NIV.

Best is to get the possibilty to discuss afterwards in a bible study group.

 

I often do a verse by verse exegesis of a passage.

Also, I haven't done it lately, but for years when I got interested in a subject I would skim the entire Bible, marking anything (verses or whole passages) about that subject with a colored pen--prayer, evangelism, wisdom, etc., etc. This would give a wonderful overview of what the Bible taught about a certain subject. Of course, any passages would then have to be exegeted. :jesus:

 

Once I have a passage that I will be preaching on, this is the method I use to study it:

First, I read the passage and attempt to break it down into paragraphs. In this process, I will consider the genre of the passage and the context, answering any literary questions that come to mind.

Next, I do a verse by verse review of various commentaries. Aside from making notes regarding the different commentaries, I also note any cross-references that I need to study as well as words that need a careful word study. At this time I compare the verses in about 4 translations: NKJV (what I preach from), NASB (what I prefer to study from), NIV (popular in my congregation), KJV (also popular in my congregation). I try to reseach the source of any differences I find.

Next, I make a list of important words and do a word study of each. Sometimes, I will then write my own paraphrase of the passage based on my word-study.

Next, I consider the theme or themes of the passage and study them. A Bible dictionary like Mercer or Ungers or one of elwell's theological dictionaries/encyclopedias is very handy here.

I review my notes and make a textual outline of the passage. From there, I take the textual outline and turn it into a basic Homiletic outline and consider the desired response to the passage. Then I flesh out the outline taking a "Explain-Illustrate-Apply" approach. By that time, I'm pretty much ready to go for Sunday.

 

inductive, not deductive

I use the INDUCTIVE bible study method.....

 

I usually lift my hand in the air, pray in tongues for guidance of the Holy Spirit, and then place my finger somewhere on the page, and wherever my finger lands, that is where I read.

 

How often do you preach at 17? :godisgood:

 

In real bible study, this will get you no where. You are reading a brief passage, and maybe not even the whole thing, it will tell you nothing about surrounding verese, and certainly will not leead you to take scripture in context, becasue you've lost the context in your method.

 

I read my passage or chapter a couple of times, with prayer, note who is talking to whom, and what he said and why he said it if it's in my chapter, look up the meaning of key words and look to see how they were used and other ways the word is translated in scripture. Usually I'll look up the related scripture listed in the margin and see if it helps me understand my passages. Sometimes you ahve to go over a passage many times, and slowly to read each word, even those you assume you the exact meaning, becasue they are so familiar you tend to over look soemthing small that might help you get the whole meaning.

 

I once heard a joke about this. A man tried this method and landed on "Judas went and hung himself." Feeling he had not percieved the Spirit correctly, he tried again and landed on "go and do likewise."

I am joking, of course, and I hope you are too. God's word is worth our prudent study of it.

 

And still feeling he had not perceived the Spirit correctly, he tried again and found, "What thou doest, do quickly."

 

RE: How do you study scriptures?

I just open my bible and pray, "Father, if it be Your will, please give me a little knowledge of what I am about to read." I may not do this everytime, but a majority of the time I do. God bless!!

 

Tongues, U R A Baptist?

What type of Baptist church do you go to?

Do they also believe in speaking in tongues?

 

I only know you through your posts to the Board, so not well enough to know if your answer was tongue-in-cheek, or serious.

If it was serious, I would say that your method is likely to lead to misunderstanding by taking verses out of their context. Suppose your finger landed on James 5.18, and you read from that verse to the end of the chapter:

18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.
19 Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back,
20 let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.​

Who prayed again? How does verse 18 link with 19 & 20? But if the verses are read in their context, it becomes evident that the subject is prayer, and Elijah is used as an example of effectual prayer.

 

"Life-Journaling" - as some call it, is what i like to do.

first pray of course.

take any portion of scripture - whether it be a few verses or a chapter or two - and write down on paper what stands out when i first read it. then i read it over again more thoroughly - and write anything else that may stand out if i missed anything. then i go over what i wrote down and ask myself questions: why did that stand out? what does it mean? what is it saying when read in context? are there any other scriptures relating to it? those kind of questions.

then i go a little deeper in study. how does it apply to my life? the other scriptures that relate to the passage - how do those relate? how can i apply it to my life?

do some more thorough reading.

then prayer.

that's usually how i study.

 

I do, too. I use my Bible for a pillow, and pray that some of it migrates into my brain by induction.

Oh yeah! May I add?

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

Ed

 

Seriously, start any study by simply reading the text, first, and probably two or three times at that. See what is apparent merely from surface reading. Ask the Holy Spirit to enlighten you on what may not be clear. If that seems to be somewhat contradictory, with what you first read, repeat the first two parts, then go further. Scripture does not normally cloak all that is written in deep hidden mysteries, although there are many very deep truths contained in God's Word.

Hope that helps a bit.

Ed

 

Heard it; loved it! And actually have used it!

But it is unfortunately too symptomatic of the desire for 'instant spirituality', and 'knowledge' and 'understanding' without real growth, prayer, meditation, and/or study.

Ed