Skip to main content

Questions for personal Bible study

When you get ready to do some Bible study on your own, what do you do? Buy a study guide? Pick up a blank notebook to write down questions and thoughts and make notes about what you learn?

Or are you too intimidated to do Bible study on your own? Do you think that you're not disciplined enough...not knowledgable enough...don't have enough resources to succeed at this task?

Grab a pen and some paper and your Bible. Take a seat. Here are some questions to ask yourself when you sit down to study the Bible:


  • What patterns do you observe in the passage?

  • How does this book relate to other books of the Bible? Other literary works?

  • What cultural information relates to this passage? What similar experience have you had in your life? How can you personally relate to the passage?

  • What life lessons are found in this passage?

  • What is God telling you through this passage?

  • What attributes of God do you see in the passage? How does this discovery change your relationship with Him?

Comments

Here is a question you can add to your list of questions a person should keep in mind before reading the Bible:

"Am I willing to believe what God says through His Word, the Bible, more than my personal opinions, more than my church pastor, and more than the religious traditions I was raised in?"

As I point out in my blog, we need God's help to understand the Bible, and God gives that help to those who are willing to believe Him and strive to obey Him.

God may test us on our willingness to believe Him. He may show us a point of truth in the Bible that is hard for us to accept, but if we give up what we want to believe and are willing to believe what God says, then God can help us understand more of the Bible, one point at a time. But if at any point we reject believing what God says in favor of our traditions, if we interpret the Bible to fit what we want to believe, then God's help stops and the understanding stops also.

Popular posts from this blog

Homiletics Training: Content

Homiletics .   By definition, “homiletic” is the art of preaching or writing sermons.   I think we would all agree that our pastors study the Bible thoroughly to deliver sermons every Sunday to their congregations.   The beautiful news is that every child of God can use this discipline to study the Bible for themselves. As a member of Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) Leadership, part of my required preparation each week is to prepare homiletics for the passage we are studying.   BSF offers an engaging seminar on how to use this method to study the Scriptures.   I’ve taken the seminar several times under two different leaders and I’ve learned something new every time I’ve attended.   I’ve also been doing the process of homiletics for over ten years and I can say that there is no better teacher than the Holy Spirit in this process!   So keep practicing.   Keep sharing and discussing.   I’ve been posting my homiletics on this blog for quite a while, now.   And I would like to share wit

Homiletics: John 10

Contents ( not sentence, direct verbiage from Scripture ): 1 1-2 VT ITY Phar, any1 enter shp pn by gate=thief/robbr; 1 enters by gate=shepherd 2 3-4 Gatekpr opns gate 4 hm/shp listn/he calls shp by name/leads out/shp follo bec kno voce 3 5-6 They nvr follo stranger, run away bec recog voce; J used fig o spch, Phar understd 4 7-8 Thrfr J: VT ITY I gate 4 shp; all who cm b4 me=thievs/robbrs, shp listn them 5 9-10a I gate, whoevr entr thru me savd/they cm/go/find pasture; thief cm only steal/kill/destry 6 10b-12 I gd shepd, lay dn life 4 shp; Hird hd shepd/own shp, see wolf/abandn shp/wlf attck/scattr 7 13-15a Man run bec care nthg 4 sheep; I gd shep; kno sheep/sheep kno me as Fr kno me/I kno Fr 8 15b-16 I lay dn life 4 sheep; have othr sheep of this pen

Homiletics: John 12

Contents ( not sentence, direct verbiage from Scripture, fit on one line ): 1 1-3 6d b4 Pass J2Beth dinr Marth servd, Laz@tbl; Mary $$$$ perf J ft, wipe w/hair, hs filld frag 2 4-6 Judas, l8r betray obj: why wasn’t perf sold, wrth 1y wages, didn’t care abt poor, thief 3 7-9 Lv alone, she sv perf 4my burial, u alwys hv poor; MW lg crwd came bec of J & 2C Laz 4 10-13 CP md plans kill Laz-on acct o hm mny bel; Nxt dy grt crwd: Hos! Blest=He cm in nom o L 5 14-16 J fnd dnky, sat, as writn: Dtr Zion, c ur king cming seatd on dnky colt; @ 1 st Disc undrstd 6 17-19 crwd w/Him whn Laz raisd spread wd; Mny went 2 Him; Phar: lk how wrld gone aftr Him 7 20-23 Som Gks to Phil: we like 2CJ; Phil 2 Andrw, Phil&Andrw told J: hr cm 4 SoM be glrfd 8 24 VTITY unle