ksva
04-19-2008, 12:23 PM
From the 19yod of KSVA—Bible study
Here is a method of Bible study derived from the recommendations of several pastors and Bible study books.
Read and study the Bible for about an hour each morning. I use Moulton’s Reader’s Bible because he has removed the artificial divisions. The result is a smooth reading without the speed bumps of verse and chapter numbers.
The process is as follows:
1. Write out a list of the books of the Bible in some order. This order can be according to date, author, subject, or the like. The most reasonable seems to be according to date, since books written earlier often influenced books written later.
2. Read the first book over and over until you have a cinch on it. (The harder the book, the more often it will have to be read.)
3. Once repeated reading has made the book familiar, delve into the study. Do first the background research for the book—the author, his readers, the historical setting of the author and of his readers, the original Greek and Hebrew words. After that tackle the book as a book: find the author’s purpose in writing, the book’s structure, the course of thought, and so on. (Refer to Milton Terry’s Biblical Hermeneutics for both steps of study, and Adler’s How to Read a Book for the second step of the study.)
4. Write up the results of your study (scribble explanatory notes in the margins, paraphrase the book, write a thorough commentary, write a summary, or whatever )
5. Repeat the second, third, and forth steps for every book that follows.
These are some variations on the method given above. Since you may be stranded in the Old Testament for nearly a year before reaching the first New Testament book, you could take the books two at a time, one from the Old and another from the New Testament. Besides the obvious solution of alternating New and Old, you could read through Genesis over and over (given the conventional order of the books), and then, while studying Genesis, begin reading Matthew. Once you have finished studying Genesis, then study Matthew; and while studying Matthew, begin reading Exodus, and so on, taking a book from the New and Old and studying one while reading the other. Because the Old Testament books far outnumber the New, make several groups of three or four Old books to be read and studied alongside one NT book per group.
Another variation on the method is to write the book’s context page before reading the book. (As it is in the method given above, the context page, or research for historical background, is included in the study, which follows the reading.) The advantage of writing it beforehand is that it will make sense of some Bible books on the first reading.
Note that emphasis is laid on the historical standpoint. The reason is that in studying and interpreting a book of the Bible, the chief consideration is “ What did this mean to the original readers?” Discovering what the passage meant to the original readers is your goal in researching the historical background, in looking up the words in the original languages, and in most of the other steps of study.
As a relief from the repetitious order of this method of study, read the Bible in another—any other—language. Reading the familiar passages of Scripture in a foreign language not only entertains the mind, and keeps it alert, but often illuminates the passage from an entirely different angle.
Remember that no method of study, however good, will yield results without exertion. Whatever method you adopt, you’ll have to sit down and do some hard mental work.
Sincerely,
KSVA’s 19yod
Here is a method of Bible study derived from the recommendations of several pastors and Bible study books.
Read and study the Bible for about an hour each morning. I use Moulton’s Reader’s Bible because he has removed the artificial divisions. The result is a smooth reading without the speed bumps of verse and chapter numbers.
The process is as follows:
1. Write out a list of the books of the Bible in some order. This order can be according to date, author, subject, or the like. The most reasonable seems to be according to date, since books written earlier often influenced books written later.
2. Read the first book over and over until you have a cinch on it. (The harder the book, the more often it will have to be read.)
3. Once repeated reading has made the book familiar, delve into the study. Do first the background research for the book—the author, his readers, the historical setting of the author and of his readers, the original Greek and Hebrew words. After that tackle the book as a book: find the author’s purpose in writing, the book’s structure, the course of thought, and so on. (Refer to Milton Terry’s Biblical Hermeneutics for both steps of study, and Adler’s How to Read a Book for the second step of the study.)
4. Write up the results of your study (scribble explanatory notes in the margins, paraphrase the book, write a thorough commentary, write a summary, or whatever )
5. Repeat the second, third, and forth steps for every book that follows.
These are some variations on the method given above. Since you may be stranded in the Old Testament for nearly a year before reaching the first New Testament book, you could take the books two at a time, one from the Old and another from the New Testament. Besides the obvious solution of alternating New and Old, you could read through Genesis over and over (given the conventional order of the books), and then, while studying Genesis, begin reading Matthew. Once you have finished studying Genesis, then study Matthew; and while studying Matthew, begin reading Exodus, and so on, taking a book from the New and Old and studying one while reading the other. Because the Old Testament books far outnumber the New, make several groups of three or four Old books to be read and studied alongside one NT book per group.
Another variation on the method is to write the book’s context page before reading the book. (As it is in the method given above, the context page, or research for historical background, is included in the study, which follows the reading.) The advantage of writing it beforehand is that it will make sense of some Bible books on the first reading.
Note that emphasis is laid on the historical standpoint. The reason is that in studying and interpreting a book of the Bible, the chief consideration is “ What did this mean to the original readers?” Discovering what the passage meant to the original readers is your goal in researching the historical background, in looking up the words in the original languages, and in most of the other steps of study.
As a relief from the repetitious order of this method of study, read the Bible in another—any other—language. Reading the familiar passages of Scripture in a foreign language not only entertains the mind, and keeps it alert, but often illuminates the passage from an entirely different angle.
Remember that no method of study, however good, will yield results without exertion. Whatever method you adopt, you’ll have to sit down and do some hard mental work.
Sincerely,
KSVA’s 19yod