5 Tips for Bible Study

What follows is drawn directly from The ESV Search the Scriptures Bible - and so some of the specifics echo that - but the five tips will work for Bible study regardless of whether or not you are following the Search the Scriptures reading plan.

Here is a suggestion of where to start. After a while, you will find a pace and rhythm that suits you, but try this to begin with and go from there.

1. Begin with prayer. However you approach it,the Bible is God's Word, and the Holy Spirit illimunates it too us. Prayer, then, is vital for Bible Study, asking for the Lord’s help as you open his Word.

2. Read the Bible passage. It is best not to read the questions before reading the passage itself. Knowing what the questions are may mean that you limit your focus to those particular points too soon.

3. Consider: Why not read the passage again? Read the questions and any notes on the passage. These are there to help you concentrate on specific aspects of the passage, so think about the passage in the light of the questions, then spend time trying to work out the answers.

4. Write your answers in the notebook. It is good to be disciplined in this, taking time to write your thoughts down rather than just looking over the questions with a vague idea that they have been answered. Putting pen to paper will help clarify your thoughts and will aid your memory. But don’t allow the questions to constrain you. Especially in the larger Old Testament sections the questions obviously do not exhaust the meaning of the passage. You may even feel that at times they miss what seems to be the main point of the passage or jump to application too quickly. One of the aims of Search the Scriptures is to cultivate a hunger to dig deeper into God’s Word, so if you find yourself wanting to pursue your own lines of enquiry instead of being tied to the pre-written questions, go ahead! Sometimes you might find yourself wondering whether your answer to a question is in fact the one you are meant to arrive at. Don’t worry too much about this, the main thing is working at understanding what Scripture teaches for yourself. Other Scripture references are sometimes provided for comparison, and these will often help steer you in the right direction. But resist the temptation to study the cross references rather than the passage in front of you. Start with the passage you are studying and leave the other references until you have got an answer. It can also be helpful to have a weekly review of the ground you have covered, where you can reflect on the truths you have learnt or grasped more fully. You might find that all this gives you too much to do in the time you set aside for Bible study. In that case you could try taking one question each day, concentrating on the one that seems likely to be the most rewarding. Then move on to the next study. If you only occasionally find that you run out of time, you may want to finish the study later in the day or at the weekend, while the reading is still fairly fresh in your mind. Where there are more than two questions for the same study, you can treat the third (or fourth) question as an optional extra or an alternative to the first two, or even as something to use if you study the same passage in future.

5. Use the passage as a basis for worship and praise. Pray over the lessons learnt. There will be some particular thought (or thoughts) that is God’s word to you for the day. Search for it, and then relate it to your own life in prayer. Remember that God’s inspired Word has been given to us for an essentially practical purpose: to teach us, to rebuke us, to correct us, to train us in righteousness, and to make us spiritually mature and thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Tim. 3:16, 17).

So, whether you are using the Search the Scriptures Bible reading plan, or engaging in Bible Study in other ways, we think that there is always value in these five simple tips:

Pray - Begin with prayer, this is a time for relationship not rigidity.
Read - actually read the Bible, don't just read questions or comments!
Consider - take your time with the text, perhaps using a devotional or reading plan.
Write - the practice of writing helps us to focus and think through what we are reading.
Use - take this bread and eat it! Use the text to fuel your prayer. Ask God to show you what's next.