Bible Study Methods
Posted By Aaron Marcelli on November 3, 2009
There are so many books, sermons, and other types of resources out there on how to read/study/gain from (whatever term you use) your Bible. As someone who has preached a lot, written Bible study materials, and led Bible study groups, I have had to find what systems work for me.
One thing I learned I must do is not let my personal Bible reading become sermon preparation time. If I’m always thinking in outlines and developing messages, I will never be able to just sit and enjoy hearing from the Scriptures. So it is important to figure out what system of reading works for your personal, devotional reading as well. When I found a few ways that worked well for me, I wrote the systems down. Here they are:
- Meditation method
This is a system where you read the Bible without any agenda or restraints. You are not looking for a certain subject or reading while following a certain system. You are not reading to just get through a chapter or making any plans of only reading for a certain amount of time.
This is where you read the Scriptures slowly, perhaps with many pauses to think and reflect. You allow the words to determine your thinking and you move along slowly to take it all in, allowing yourself time to comprehend it. You may go back and read a section over and over. The goal is to ‘get it’, not get through it. This system works best with teaching passages or those with deep content rather than just story or listings.
- Three chapter system
This system works for almost any type of writing but is more effective with story or letters rather than poetry or doctrine listing. In this system you read three chapters for one. What that means is that if you start a new book of the Bible today you would read chapters one, two, and three. Tomorrow you would read chapters two, three, and four. The following day you then read chapters three, four, and five. And so on.
You read three chapters a day, but only one of them being new reading. This allows for better comprehension of the reading because you are reviewing each day before reading the new information. This also causes for some great insight in seeing how each chapter relates to the big story. By using this system you do not see verses and passages as isolated teaching but read it three times and each day read it in a different position in relation to what comes before it and what comes after it.
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