7 Stimulating Scriptural Study Steps

Most professing Christians do not take the time to read, much less study their Bibles. That is a sad and sorry state. Christians are supposed to be people of the Word. The most common reason for people not studying the Bible is because they believe it is boring or it is too hard to understand. Some people get overwhelmed with different interpretations of the sacred writings that they do not take the time to read the Word of God for themselves. So as an avid Bible reader and studier here are Seven Stimulating Scripture Study Steps to drive people to study the Bible more.

1. Get Saved. If you are not drawn to want to understand the Word of God, something is wrong with you. Most likely you do not have the Spirit of God residing in you to draw you to the words of the Father and the Elder brother. Children of the Devil will seek the things of the Devil: worldly lusts, possessions, and entertainment. The child of God will seek the things of God: love for the truth found in the scriptures, the fruit of the Spirit, and love for the brothers and sisters in Christ. If you are drawn to the things of the World, repent of your sin, and trust in the sacrifice of Jesus to save you from your sin. Then you will be sealed with the Holy Spirit who will draw you to the Scriptures and understand them.
2. Start small. You cannot become a scholar overnight and you will not be able to get a routine of regular Bible reading in a day. You are going to have to figure out how much time you have in your day. I suggest reading the Bible 10 minutes a day starting with the New Testament and then going to the Old. Maybe all you can do in a chapter. But the more you read it, the more you will want to read it. The more you want to read it, the more you will do it. Eventually try to work your way up to an hour. As you grow in your Christian faith, you will replace more of your leisure time with Bible reading/study time.
3. Read a book at a time. Interpretation is best done in context. So the more you spend time reading in order the book and its context, the more you will understand it. You should be able to know what is in the book by your third reading of it. The more you know what is in the book, the better you will be able to make sense of it in its context. I read the book of Romans 100 times in 3 months before I wrote a book on the first seven verses on it.
4. Study the Biblical geography. Scripture comes alive when you start seeing where these events took place. The MacArthur Study Bible[1] has several maps that show major cities, countries, landscapes, routs that significant people took in their travels. Rose Book of Bible Charts and Maps[2] is another good resource for maps of Bible.
5. Study ancient cultures. The Bible was written in history. The more you know about the history of the cultures in ancient biblical times, the more you understand the message the Bible had to its original readers. The Bible Almanac [3] by J.I. Packer is an excellent resource to understand the ancient cultures of the time.
6. Study the original languages. The Bible was originally written in Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic. Translations are good for personal Bible reading but they are not perfect. That is why we need Bible teachers and good commentaries to help us better understand the Bible. The best way to see if the commentaries and Bible teachers are staying true to the Word of God is to know a little about the languages yourself. Todd Friel has and excellent resource on teaching the basic’s on Biblical Greek called It’s Not Greek to Me.[4] It is an excellent source for teaching the average Christian enough Greek to be dangerous to false teachers.
7. Share the Gospel. Jesus commanded the church to make disciples of all nations teaching them to do all He commanded us (Matthew 28:18). The more you share the gospel, the more questions and attacks on scripture the world and the devil will throw at you. To combat that you will need to study the Bible. The more you study the Bible, the better prepared you will be to answer those questions.

I hope that this has blessed you. Please feel free to comment in the comment section. Please no cursing for pornography. Also feel free to share this post to your friends who need it, or like it. If you want to contact me, you can contact me at josiah.rob.nichols@gmail.com with any question you want. Also please feel free to look at the resource page to look at The Using Hermeneutics Series. the book series is designed to teach you biblical interpretation through demonstration. Lord bless you.

[1] https://www.gty.org/store/bibles/44NKJ20HC/nkjv-macarthur-study-bible-twentiethanniversary-edition

[2] https://www.amazon.com/Rose-Book-Bible-Charts-Lines/dp/1596360224/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?keywords=roses+bible+charts&qid=1558323897&s=gateway&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1

[3]https://www.amazon.com/Old-Time-Gospel-Hour-Bible-Almanac/dp/B000F6P7X4/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_1?crid=2EZOGWXSCOS9O&keywords=the+bible+almanac+packer&qid=1558325293&s=gateway&sprefix=The+Bible+Almanac%2Caps%2C220&sr=8-1-fkmrnull

[4]https://wretched.givecloud.co/product/its-not-greek-to-me/its-not-greek-to-me