for my Ministry Essentials Class
Tools of the Trade
I would suggest starting any serious Bible study with some basic tools. The most important tool of course, would be a good Bible – or set of Bibles. In general, a word for word translation, a thought for thought translation and a paraphrase bible for the most difficult text. While few Bibles fit neatly into any of these categories, here are a few I have found to be most useful. The King James Version should be central to any Bible study. While its text structure is difficult for many passages, its doctrinal foundation is virtually unquestioned. Additionally, it will be invaluable since most Greek/Hebrew lexicons and dictionaries as well as most concordances are based on the King James Bible. You will also need a Bible that is easier to read with a more modern text structure. My favorite in this category is the Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB). It maintains the doctrinal integrity of the King James Version while restructuring some passages to make them easier to read. The third bible in my personal set is the New Living Translation. It is written in an easy to read modern English which makes it easier to read long passages and helpful in understanding difficult texts. (For exceptionally difficult passages like Daniel and Revelation, I have used the Message, a strict paraphrase version to point me in the right direction, but I find it’s doctrine to be unreliable.) The Amplified Bible is also a great tool as it expounds upon the text with extra words and phrases to make the meaning of a particular text more clear.
Once you have chosen your Bible (or better yet, set of Bibles) you will need a good set of highlighters (hopefully ones that won’t bleed through the thin pages), a set of colored pens, a notebook and a large cup of coffee or your favorite beverage.
Getting Started
Any good Bible study will start with prayer. While some of us are more confident in our academic abilities and others not so much, it is important to understand that Bible Study is NOT an academic pursuit. Without spiritual illumination from the Holy Spirit, we can understand all of the words and phrases and still miss the more important greater meaning. Likewise, we can be confounded by some of the complexities of language and doctrine and still have life-changing Biblical truths revealed to us by the Holy Spirit.
You can begin by studying a topic, a particular book, a specific story or a particular verse. The important thing is that you take good notes, white down any questions about things that may be unclear and record any revelations the Spirit gives you during your reading. When you are finished reading your chosen selection, you can go back and further investigate what you have written.
Life Application
Your time spend investigating the Word will be completely useless if you do not complete the third and final step in our journey - life application. The Word is meant to provide a personal encounter with God almighty and change our hearts and our ultimately our lives. It is meant to impact the way we think, the way we live, and the way we interact with our fellow human beings. You should seek to implement the truths that you encounter in the Word into your daily life. You should also keep a record of these changes. If what you learn in the Bible is not challenging every aspect of your personal worldview, you should seriously question the quality of your Bible study.
