Today’s post is late and not looking at scripture but how to study it. I’ve been dealing with an illness for myself and my 15 year old cat (2 different things) so I haven’t been able to focus enough on my notes and current Bible study to get a post written but I wanted to get something out today. I did some blog maintenance as well. If you’re a repeat reader, thank you so much for coming back. If you like what you’re seeing can you please share this blog with others? My homeschool portion of the blog, according to my analytics, remains to be the most popular and that is expected because it was out there a lot longer until I shifted gears and also I knew blogging about the Bible would probably not be as popular but it is something I felt I was supposed to do.

I’m not a theologian, I didn’t go to seminary, so I guess I’m not what you call an “expert”, if there is any such thing when reading scripture. However, I can read, I like to study, research, learn and truth matters to me as does getting the true gospel message out there without the confusion, mis-interpretations, and mis-handling of scripture. I may not get everything right and you may not agree, but my goal is for you to dig deeper into your own studies and focus on what the Bible says, in context, and not what people, including me, tell you it says.

It’s my opinion the Bible is not really hard to read but people make it hard by adding a whole lot of things to it that it doesn’t actually say. God is not a God of confusion and wouldn’t give us something that we need “experts” to help us understand. Be careful about the “experts” you choose to listen to. Pay attention to how they are using scripture for a specific topic or narrative. Don’t be deceived. Search the scripture for the truth in context.

It’s no secret I am a woman. As a woman I have been part of women’s Bible study groups for the past 10 years or so. I have to be honest that I’m not seeing actual study of the Bible and what it says about God. What I do see every time is study of a book written by someone else and trying to find what the Bible says about YOU. This is not how to study scripture. You don’t have to agree but I will say it all day. The Bible is not about you. Stop trying to solve your problems by comparing yourself to someone else in the Bible. The Bible was written so that we can know God, this includes the 3 persons of God.

Therefore a Bible study should focus on studying God’s word. Do you know that often times in women’s Bible study we never even open the Bible? It’s true. Sure the book we were assigned to read may have scripture highlighted in it, but we are not studying the scripture, we are studying the book author’s words. This is why I end up not attending woman’s bible study after a time of trying. It becomes clear they aren’t interested in studying the Bible at all and definitely not in context.

Women’s Bible study often becomes a place of gossip, or unloading your problems to the group; a social club. But should a Bible study group be about counseling people? Often this is not done with scripture at all. Has this been your experience as well? Maybe that’s why in the past 2 churches I’ve attended the number of women coming to these is usually few.

Here are some goals of Bible study:

• Goal 1 – Study God’s word looking for what is says about him
• Goal 2 – In a group study, build each other up and equip each other with God’s word
• Goal 3 – The primary text needs to be the Bible itself
• Goal 4 – Don’t neglect the gospel

Do you need more than the Bible?

There is big money in selling books that claim to have all the secrets of the Bible or that can tell you how to be blessed, loved, or prosperous, etc. I won’t ever charge money on this blog to read any of my thoughts. These authors are no different or better than you or I. They don’t have some better education or knowledge than you or I have. Including all the “celebrity pastors” or big names you surely know that write all these books and block information on their websites because they want to be paid in order for you to get all the knowledge they possess about how they read the scripture. Who needs that? You really don’t.

Do you really need a so-called, “study Bible”? No, you really don’t. Can they be helpful? Sometimes, but it depends on the commentary; who wrote it, is it looking at scripture in context, is it about God or about you, and is it inserting today into the Bible accounts that are not about today? Personally I like my Apologetics study Bible because it does not have long study portions and most of the time focuses on what was happening during that time in history and who the writer (if known who) was writing to and what they were writing about.

Sure sometimes I may not agree with a portion because it’s a mans opinion and not what the scripture says. For many books/chapters/verses there is just nothing written there at all but this is not usually the case with some other study Bibles I’ve seen. If it helps you with deeper thought on what the scripture is actually trying to convey to you, go for it.

The bottom line is, you don’t need this to study and understand the scriptures and they still are just a man’s view or opinion on what the scripture is saying. Sometimes it’s even worse when they are putting their own idea of something and trying to make scripture say it agrees. Be careful. If you use a commentary in your Bible or online, try looking at several viewpoints and see if that’s what the text is actually conveying. Always look at God’s word for the truth of what God’s word says.

Why don’t people study the Bible on their own? They:

• are intimidated or feel inadequate – feel like “experts” know more
• are lazy – it’s easier to have someone else do the work and tell you what they say it means
• are busy – don’t make time to do it
• are confused by so many opinions they feel overwhelmed and not sure what to believe
• don’t know how to study
• don’t fully believe in the the reliability of the Bible and/or do not have a relationship with God
• think it’s boring
• are uncomfortable with the messages conveyed

Study the Bible in the Spirit not in the flesh.

So how do you go about studying the Bible? It’s pretty easy. The first thing is to have a Bible to read, open it, and start reading. You could start from the beginning and read all the way through to the end like a novel, keep in mind our English Bibles are not in chronological historical order. I don’t know why.

You could decide you want to read it in chronological order. Have a notebook of some kind and take notes. Note whenever you have a question that needs further investigation or when you’ve realized something you never saw before. Write down what the passage you read has revealed to you about God. Note what the context is, who wrote the book, if known, and who was it written to and why. What message was the author conveying to the people it was written to or about?

You could start in the New Testament and than go back to the Old Testament and see how they connect to each other. Note taking is going to be your friend here because when you’re reading and you don’t understand something you’re going to want to dig deeper. Digging deeper could be finding other passages in scripture that are related or connected to the one you’re reading and this can be found hopefully with a good study Bible or app or carefully look online. Remember, use multiple sources and re-read your passage to see which one aligns more with the context. The more you study, the easier it will be and the more confident you will feel. Like anything else it needs “practice”. You have to keep doing it. Even reading the genealogies have a purpose. Yes it’s long and seemingly tedious reading but God is showing you something.

An Example:

Very quickly and briefly I’ll point out something (this is going to cut out a lot of information because it’s far too long to add here.) I once decided I wanted to now the full lineage of Christ. So, I did the study myself. Maybe it’s not profound but I just wanted to know. You can continue the study about the 12 sons of Jacob. In SHORT, this is it:

• Abraham and Sara
  • Isaac
• Isaac and Rebekah
  • Jacob and Esau
• Jacob and Leah (+handmaids) [12 sons = 12 tribes]
  • Reuban
  • Simeon
  • Levi – set apart for the priesthood
  • Judah – leader among them
  • Dan , Naphtali, Gad, Asher – these were born by handmaids
  • Issacher
  • Zebulun
  • Dinah – only daughter
  • Joseph and Benjamin – these were born by Rachel
• Judah and Bathshua
  • Er, Onan, Shelah
  • Perez and Zerah born by Tamar
• Eventually we get to Jesse who was David’s father (as in King David) via the line of Judah’s descendants. Then we eventually get to Joseph, who is the step-father of Yeshua (Jesus). Why is this important? Because it fulfills prophecy about the coming Messiah. This lineage affords Jesus with the legal path to the throne. (This lineage can be read in 1 Chronicles 2 and  Matthew 1:1-17) Now Mary’s lineage is less obvious in scripture, but is thought to also connect her to King David’s lineage fulfilling prophecy again making Jesus heir not just by law but by blood. I would encourage you to do the study yourself. (I did not use this link myself but when trying to help find something to point you into a direction, I found this and it might be helpful. LINK HERE)

In Conclusion:

These are some things you might consider when you go about studying the scripture with your Bible and your notebook.

• 1) What is the simple reading of this passage? Is there something I don’t understand? What is being emphasized in this passage?
• 2) Did the author of the passage write who they were speaking to? (Paul often does this)
• 3) What is the context of the passage? (who, what, why, when)
• 4) How could different interpretations change the meaning of the text?
• 5) What does this passage show us about God (or the 3 persons of God)?
• 6) What is the message the author is conveying? And why?
• 7) What are or were my preconceptions with this passage that I might have brought into reading it? (traditions, what I’ve always been told) Are they correct? (be honest) Try reading the passage without them.
• 8) What does the passage reveal about Christ? Or the need for him?

I think my #7 there is probably the hardest thing to do. Read the Bible with fresh eyes and be honest with yourself if something you thought it said even for all of your Christian life is not actually revealed there, change your mind. Write it down. You grow by continuing to see God in his word, to want to know the truth. The scripture is God’s story of redemption. Can you see it?

Open your Bibles and pray for the Spirit to guide your study to know the truth. You’ll never know unless you read it. You are not going to understand everything and maybe you won’t get everything “right”. We weren’t there when it was written. We didn’t live in those times. The translations from Hebrew and Greek are not 100% correct either. Meanings of words could be different or words we see didn’t exist in those languages or at those times.

I’ve said it before, Jesus would not have been called Jesus. His name is Yeshua. The word “Easter” would not have been in the original text, yet we see it in the King James translation. (it would have said Pascha which means Passover) Don’t get hung up on Bible translations either. Choose one that you’re able to read and understand. For most people that’s not the King James. If you’ve been here before you know I choose to read the Christian Standard translation. The New Living translation is very readable also. It is never a bad idea to reference more than one in your study (I often do).

Read the Bible.