Yesterday I gave an introduction to my four part series on studying the Bible (read it here). Today I am going to discuss some basics about the Bible and how to study it.

To study the Bible, you have to know a little bit about  its composition. Here are the basic things to know:

• The Bible is a book made up of 66 books
• There are around 40 authors
• There is an Old Testament (before Jesus) and a New Testament (Jesus and beyond)
• The Old Testament (OT) is split into sections starting with The Law (first five books), History, Poetry, and ending with The Prophets.
• The New Testament (NT) is just 2.5 sections. The Gospels (historical accounts of Jesus), The Epistles, and Apocalyptic Literature (which is also an epistle, hence the “.5”)

“How do I get through the Bible?”

Most people try and sit down and read the entire Bible all at once. This can be done, but it would be a daunting task. The first time I tried, I got through the first two books (Genesis and Exodus) and lost all hope in Leviticus (it reads like a civil code). I do recommend reading the entire Bible, but not in order from front to back. You can find reading guides to help you through the Bible (just search Google). Some Bibles include reading plans like this one: ESV One Year Bible, Hardcover, Black Letter Text.

Reading is one thing, study is another.

We should not only read (and memorize) Scripture, but also study it. When I think of study, I think of those nights in high school and college trying to memorize facts to take a test. Bible study is a little different. We are not trying to merely memorize verses so we can appear Holy or intellectually superior to others. If we are regenerated by the Holy Spirit (meaning, “saved”), we are reading the Scriptures to help us learn about Jesus so we can be like Him and bring glory to Him. If we forget this, all we are doing is an academic exercise and wasting our time.

To start, we have to go back to first grade.

In first grade, we learned how to study the Bible. All you have to do is answer some basic “inductive” questions:

• Who
• What
• Where
• When
• Why
• How

When we look at any section of Scripture, we can ask these questions.

We can do this on any verse, but we may need more than one verse to get our answers.

For example, lets look at John 11:35.  The verse is simple; “Jesus wept.” Two words, yet we can gain tons from it by asking the questions above.

Who: Jesus

What: Weeping

Where: We do not know from this verse. We will have to read more from this section to know.

When: Once again, we have to read more to find out he wept when he heard of the death of His friend, Lazarus.

Why: Because Lazarus died.

How: With his tear ducts and emotions of sorrow. This proves the human nature of the divine Christ. He was sad because he was experiencing a tragic human emotion steaming from a tragic circumstance.

We do not always get all our questions answered.

We do not get the “Where?” answered above from one verse. We can learn more about the Bible by going through each question every time we read. Notice how much we could extract from just two words. Imagine what you can pull out of a section of verses, or a chapter, or an entire book?

Look at you, with just the 101 class you are now on your way to being a scholar

-Don-