Seven steps on how to study the Bible effectively
PRAY AND ASK GOD TO OPEN YOUR MIND AND HEART:
The first step to effective Bible study is to pray and ask God to help you open your mind and heart to what the passenge says.
The Bible contains spiritual insights that come from the mind of the living God. God is infinite and we are finite. This means that God has no limits and we do. In order to understand God's ways we need His Holy Spirit to help us. God is directly interested in you and your life. He wants you to live the best life possible.
Accordingly, he want you to understand the words of the Bible which he gave to us that we might know him and his ways. So if you want to get the most out of your Bible study, it is imperative to pray and ask God to help you.
READ THE CHOSEN PASSAGE THIRTY TIMES:
The second step to effectively study the Bible is to read through your chosen passage thirty times. Whether you plan to study one chapter at a time or a whole book of the Bible, it is important to read through your chosen passage numerous times in order to get a strong overview of that section. After you have a good overview of the entire passage, you are ready to break it down into bite-size chunks.
OBSERVE THE PASSAGE:
The next step in an effective Bible study is to observe the passage by asking basic questions about the verses. Such basic questions include: who? What? When? Where? and how?
INTERPRET THE PASSAGE:
invariably, when you read and study the Bible, you will come to some personalities or concepts that you will not understand without further research and explanation. In this fourth step, a person who wants to study the Bible effectively will do further research on the related subjects. Some effective tools for further research are Bible commentaries, (like the people's commentaries or J. Vernon McGee's verse by verse commentaries), Bible handbooks, and Bible dictionaries.
APPLY THE PASSAGE:
The fifth step to effective Bible study is to discover all the possible application or action points related to the passage. Any one set of verses may contain multiple application points. A well-executed Bible study will lead the person to list out all the possible action points.
PRAY AND ASK GOD TO HELP YOU APPLY THE LESSON:
the sixth step in effective Bible study is to pray once more to ask God to help you apply the lesson to your life. This means that you need to ask God to clarify which of the discovered application points is most important to put into practice. As discussed above, any one passage might have numerous application points. In this section, you will discover which one or two of those points best addresses your current life situation.
TRACK YOUR PROGRESS IN A JOURNAL:
Lastly, step of an effective Bible study is to track your progress in a. Journal. After you have discovered which action point relates to you most, write it down in a journal and from time to time evaluate how you are doing in that area.
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https://carm.org/how-interpret-bible
I offer the following principles as guidelines for examining a passage. They are not exhaustive nor are they set in concrete.
1 Who wrote/spoke the passage and to whom was it addressed?
2 What does the passage say?
3 Are there any words or phrases in the passage that need to be
examined?
4 What is the immediate context?
5 What is the broader context in the chapter and book?
6 What are the related verses to the passage’s subject and how do they
affect the understanding of this passage?
7 What is the historical and cultural background?
8 What do I conclude about the passage?
9 Do my conclusions agree or disagree with related areas of Scripture and
others who have studied the passage?
10 What have I learned and what must I apply to my life?
http://pastorrick.com/devotional/english/six-principles-for-interpreting-scripture
Have you ever heard someone say, “Well, that’s just your interpretation of the Bible”? It’s as if that little phrase disproves everything that’s been said. But it really doesn’t disprove anything.
There are right ways and wrong ways to interpret Scripture. There are some methods for interpreting the Bible that’ll always give you the wrong interpretation every time. Here are six principles of interpretation that are accepted just about everywhere.
You need faith and the Holy Spirit to interpret Scripture. The Bible doesn’t make sense to non-believers. It is God’s love letter to believers. When an unbeliever reads the Word, he is reading someone else’s mail. The Bible is a spiritual book that must be understood by spiritual people. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 2:11, “No one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God” (NIV).
The Bible is its own best commentary. Scripture interprets Scripture. Practice this principle by getting a Bible with cross-references in the margin. By looking up other cross references, you’ll get a much bigger and clearer picture of what God has said in all of his Word, not just that one context.
Read the Old Testament with the New Testament in mind, and read the New Testament with the Old Testament in mind. The New Testament is hidden in the Old Testament. The Old Testament is revealed in the New Testament.
Always interpret unclear passages in the light of clear passages. Look at the full counsel of God in Scripture to get a clear understanding when you find a passage that seems contradictory or confusing. For example, 1 Corinthians 15:29 has a very obscure reference to baptism for the dead. It's the only time the idea is mentioned in Scripture. Paul isn’t condoning this. Nothing in Scripture condones it. Let clear passages about salvation and baptism interpret this unclear one, not visa versa.
Don't form a doctrine based solely on an historical event. Take historical passages of the Bible for what they’re meant to be: good lessons. Don’t build your doctrine upon them. For example, in Mark 1:35, the Bible says Jesus got up very early, went into a place of solitude, and prayed. Does that mean you must get up every morning at 4 a.m., leave your house, and go somewhere and pray? Of course not! God may convince you that’s a good idea, but it’s not a command. Use doctrinal passages to base doctrine on. Use narratives to teach lessons.
Never interpret Scripture based on your own experiences. The point of Bible study is not to shape Scripture to agree with your subjective opinions or your experiences. Feelings lie. Emotions lie. Instead, discover God's timeless truth and let it shape your life. Study the Bible with an open heart and invite God to conform you to his will.
God doesn’t want to leave you in the dark when you study Scripture. Following these basic rules of Bible study can help to ensure you read the Word from God’s perspective.
Talk About It
With these points in mind, re-read a passage from one of your quiet times this past week. What new insight does God reveal to you?
Are you open to letting the Holy Spirit work in your life? Do you have an open mind when interpreting Scripture so that the Holy Spirit can direct your thoughts?
Learn how to be a DOER of God’s Word.
Rick Warren is the founding pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., one of America's largest and most influential churches. Rick is author of the New York Times bestseller The Purpose Driven Life. His book, The Purpose Driven Church, was named one of the 100 Christian books that changed the 20th century. He is also founder of Pastors.com, a global Internet community for pastors.
This devotional © 2012 by Rick Warren. All rights reserved. Used by permission.