Study The Bible As It Was Written: Book-By-Book Bible Study
Perhaps one of the most basic and fundamental ways to approach the study of the Bible is to study each of its individual books in their entirety. Book-by-book Bible study is one of the most popular approaches to the study of the Bible -- and also one of the most difficult to do properly! One of the reasons why a book-by-book study of the Bible can be so difficult is because a number of biblical books are rather long and have a very detailed structure -- studying these longer books can be quite a challenge, so here's my first recommendation to you: If you have never done a study of an entire book of the Bible before, you should begin with one of the shorter ones.
Where To Begin?
If you wish to start with the Christian Scriptures, then select one of the shorter New Testament Epistles (letters) -- several of these are about one page in length. An alternative -- if you want to study one of the four Gospels -- might be to begin your studies with the Gospel of Mark (the shortest of all the Gospel accounts). If you wish to begin with the Hebrew scriptures, you might want to begin with one of the shorter prophetic books instead.
Once you have chosen a particular book to study, what's the next step? I would recommend that you begin by sitting down to read that particular book of the Bible in its entirety -- in one sitting. If you have selected a shorter book of the Bible to study, obviously this will be no problem. If you have selected a longer book, then you will have to read it in sections or stages -- perhaps over the course of two or three days. However you break it down, I strongly urge you to begin your study of the book of the Bible by simply reading it over and over -- at least five or six times -- before you attempt to do any detailed analysis of its parts. By reading it over and over, you will get a "feel" for this writing -- and also a good familiarity with its contents.
Keep A Record of Your Findings
It would also be helpful at this stage to begin to keep a notebook -- you can make entries manually in a notebook if you wish, or you can also keep your materials organized on your computer -- this step dovetails beautifully with the use of Bible study software, if you have it. A notebook or computer file will give you a place to organize all of your thoughts, job down key facts and insights -- you can even make a note of subjects that you wish to research further. Being a good notetaker is one of those fundamental skills that you will need to master as a part of learning how to do Bible study.
Discover It's Background
Once you feel that you have a good grasp of the overall flow of thought of your chosen book of the Bible, it is time to proceed to the next step -- trying to discover some of the background for this particular Bible writing. As you read through the book, try to take some notes on each chapter -- who's involved? -- who is doing the speaking? -- where are the events taking place? You should also try to outline the various chapters, one by one -- this is usually one of the first things that I will do, once I have read through that book of the Bible several times. As I mentioned in one of our other articles, outlining is a technique that I use to force me to come to grips with what the Bible is actually saying.
Making Connections In Your Thinking
As you study a particular book of the Bible is important to try to come up with "linkages" -- after awhile, you will begin to see how various parts of that book relate together. As you read and study, make note of any recurring words and phrases -- vocabulary that is repeated throughout a particular book of the Bible may help to give you a clue as to its "theme" -- and understanding its theme will give you the key to understanding it in its entirety.
Where To Go To Get Your Questions Answered
Now, as you read and study your chosen book of the Bible, questions will naturally come to your mind -- there may be difficult to understand, even perplexing passages, that will stick out. In order to research these issues further, you can begin to consult a good Bible commentary or the notes in a good-quality study Bible. A study Bible or commentary can also provide you with helpful information about the overall purpose and theme of the biblical book -- but see how much of this information you can come up with on your own, before turning to the reference books.
A Foundation For All Future Study
Studying the Bible book by book is an extremely effective way of coming to understand the message of the Bible -- and it will provide you with a basic comprehension of its contents which will be a good foundation for any further study that you may wish to do. You can set this goal for yourself -- if you can manage to study an average of one chapter of the Bible a day, you can work your way through the entire Bible in a little over three years time.
Just one final thought: Book-by-book Bible study can take some time before it bears fruit in your understanding, and in your life -- so this approach should be combined with other types of Bible studies which will bear fruit a little quicker (such as a Bible character or Bible theme study).
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