When learning how to study the Bible, you’ve probably heard the expression “context is king”, meaning context is the arbitrator that rules a particular interpretation valid or not. But how do you use context to decide between possible interpretations?
Archives for 2017
Bible Study 101: Learn to Study the Bible
Now is a great time to improve your Bible study skills. Follow this series to learn how to study the Bible, where to find the tools you need to study and how to use them.
How to do a word study
Word studies are one of the basic tools of Bible study. With today’s tools, you don’t have to know Greek and Hebrew to do a good word study. Here’s how.
Bible Study Procedure
Wondering how to put all the tools and pieces of Bible study together so that you can tackle a specific passage of Scripture? Here’s the overall procedure.
Observation
The first step in Bible study is observation. The goal is to slow down your reading and generate a list of questions that must be answered to understand the passage. I tend to break observation into the following 4 steps which generally correspond to my first few readings through the passage.
Colossians: Principal People List
Principal People in Colossians and where else they are mentioned in Scripture.
16 Jeremiah 50:1-20 Will the bad guys get what’s coming to them?
In Jeremiah 38, we talked about how doing the right thing sometimes leads to punishment. But what about the people doing the punishing? When Babylon destroys our city or we get thrown into a cistern of mud, what happens to the guys doing the destroying or throwing? Will the bad guys get what’s coming to them? And, is it okay to want that to happen?
Psalm 98 Make a Joyful Noise
Psalm 98 is a victory or coronation psalm. It has 3 stanzas: 1-3: praise the Lord as savior; 4-6: praise the Lord as King; 7-9: praise the Lord as judge.
Psalm 19 Divine Revelation
The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.
Online Bible Encyclopedias
Multi-volume encyclopedias used to be too expensive for home use and were confined to those with access to a large library system. However, they are becoming more widely available on computer software and online.
15 Jeremiah 38:1-13 Why do I get punished for doing the right thing?
Sometimes we despair over our sinfulness and turn the Lord for mercy (Psalm 130). But other times, we do the right thing and are punished for it. That’s the situation we find in Jeremiah 38:1-13. Jeremiah has spoken the message that the Lord asked him to speak and others are seeking to kill him for it.
Psalm 130 Hope in the Lord
Psalm 130 is an individual lament and a repentance psalm.