The Markup Bible Study Method

Break Out Of The Rut -- Try The "Markup" Bible Study Approach

 

One of the deadliest enemies of effective Bible study is what is routine and predictable -- and if your Bible study has lost its creative edge, and you have access to a computer with Bible study software, I heartily recommend what I like to call the "markup" approach to Bible study.  The only thing you will need your computer for when you use this approach is to do some hard copy printouts, so this approach should work well for nearly everyone.

 

Prepare Your Learning Tool

 

To use the markup Bible study method, you will first need to put together what I call a "learning tool" -- something that you will use throughout this entire process. This type of Bible study works well when you need to analyze and think about a larger section of Scripture -- several chapters or even an entire book of the Bible.

 

To begin, using your computer and its installed Bible study software, select a passage or book of the Bible that you will be studying.  You will need to print out that portion of Scripture -- but you want to do it in a very special way --

 

• First of all, you will want to change your page layout from portrait (up and down) to landscape (across) orientation -- in other words you want to print your pages going across the length of the page, rather than down in the usual fashion.

 

• Secondly, you should change your page settings to allow for wider margins on at least one side of your document -- I typically will print my document using a 3 or 4 inch margin, which will leave you plenty of room to write.

 

• Thirdly, you want to make sure that you print your document using double-spaced lines -- this will allow you to write in between the printed lines of your Bible passage.

 

• Fourth, change the settings in your Bible software program so that your passage will print without any paragraphs or verse numbers -- the paragraph grouping is something that was added by the editors of your Bible translation -- and the verse numbers were also added long after the Bible was originally written.  You will be surprised at the number of new insights that you will gain when you ignore verse indications -- we subconsciously think of each verse of the Bible as containing a separate thought, when in reality verse numbers may actually divide up a single thought and keep us from seeing the whole meaning of the entire sentence.

 

To make sure that your page looks right, print just one page and check it, before printing the entire group of pages.  Make sure you use good quality paper that can stand up under a lot of handling, because you are going to be using the sheets a lot.

 

Using Your Learning Tool to Maximum Advantage

 

Once you have printed out all of the sheets, you are going to need to staple them together or punch them and keep them in a binder -- I find it more convenient to staple them together, as that will allow me to put my pages in a clipboard that will provide support when I mark them up.  Now that your learning tool has been prepared, you are ready to use it --

 

As you are studying your passage, you are going to use this printed sheet set to record ALL of your thoughts and research -- consider it your own personal Bible study notebook.  Many of us will study a passage for awhile, and then pause for a few days or weeks, and then return to reconsider what we had previously learned.  If you have kept this record you will find it very easy to review what you have previously learned, and you will be able to easily add any new insights or findings when you study that Bible passage again in the future.

 

As your study of this passage progresses, you will find that you will have "marked up" the sheets a lot -- they will contain outlines, notes from commentaries, important cross-references, Biblical facts, personal reflections, reminders to yourself -- perhaps even prayers. That's why this method is called markup Bible study.

 

Simply follow the basic steps of Bible study that we have outlined for you elsewhere -- and since your pages do not have paragraph or verse dividers, you may find it helpful to make your own divisions -- where you think they should be.  Whenever you come across key ideas or themes, you can underline them or highlight them. Remember: everything you discover will be written down on those sheets!

 

In time, your "learning tool" -- this set of pages which you have specially formatted and printed -- will become a very valuable record to you.  You will probably want to keep it for future reference, or perhaps transcribe your notes into a word processing file or notes within your Bible study software application.