My Personal Bible Study Methods

I've been a part of Bible Study Fellowship for a few years now.  I love it for so many reasons.  One of the reasons is because of how it saturates me with God's Word.  During one week's lesson, I look at the same verses in four different ways: personal study, group discussion, the teaching and notes.  But this blog isn't about BSF's ways.  It's about mine.

I've taken that same idea of layering my Scripture reading. Just so you know, I do my bible study at night.  First I'll pick a book or chapter and read a few verses that day.  If there's anything that sticks out, I'll write it down.  If I write something down, I'm much more likely to remember it.  The next day I'm hopefully thinking about what I read the night before.  The next night, I might read the same passage again, just to remind myself of what it said.  After that, there are a few things I can do.  I can read a commentary.  My favorite one is Bible Believer's Commentary because it gives a concise overview of the passage.  Or I can look up some words that stuck out to me in the Greek or Hebrew, to get a better understanding of the definition.  There are also Bible Dictionaries and Handbooks.  I might also look up other verses that relate to the ones I'm reading.  There's an almost infinite number of things we can do to fully understand what the Bible says. As I post from my own personal studies, I'll try to label where I'm pulling things from and give other options.

I don't do all of these things the same night.  I'll pick a commentary one night.  Then maybe a Bible Dictionary the next.  I might get caught up in a really cool Greek word and do a separate study on that one word (eilikrines is a good one!).  Eventually I'll come back to the original passage and move on to the verses following.

Oh and just so you know, by no means am I consistent in my own bible studies.  That's part of why I'm posting them, so I'll have a little more accountability.  But there is one great thing I've learned over the years:  if I ever do leave off my study for a while, I don't beat myself up about.  I just jump right back in where I left off.

- Erika