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Some Thoughts About Various Approaches to Bible Study

The following are observations on some ways in which Bible study can be done, but not from the methodological viewpoint. Instead, these thoughts concern the ways in which we may approach the activity of studying the Bible, that is, the reasons we may have for doing Bible study, and the manner in which we may do it. To my mind these different ways are connected in a progression: A can lead to B, which can lead to C—but progress is not necessarily inevitable.

At first, Bible study may be something we do because it’s interesting, like doing a puzzle, figuring out what’s going on, why the characters are doing what they’re doing, etc. We may do it because this process of discovery, of puzzle-solving is fun. Or, we may be studying the Bible for educational reasons, because we enjoy learning about history, customs, cultures, or because the methodology intrigues us (hermeneutics, exegesis etc). Studying the Bible like this (puzzle-solving, learning about history, etc.) can get very complicated, abstruse even.

Yet, as engaging and engrossing as this can be, it’s all about Bible study as a pastime. One could say all these things about many hobbies, from stamp collecting to studying great battles in history. Moving on from there, from the “externalism” that treats the Bible as an object, is Bible study as something that begins to get inside us, that can affect our lives and our selves, that is, our conduct and our character. It may be a subtle, unconscious process that grows from the external approach. Or it may be that we start studying the Bible because we think there may be something valuable about it, that it may be “good for us.” Or again, we may start studying the Bible because we’re sure there are riches to be mined, and we’re hungry.

The first stage of this is doing Bible study as a useful or instructive activity. We may focus on the application of biblical precepts to our daily lives, because we want to live more the way God wants us to—the how to. Or we may be curious about or hungry to know about what this Christian life is all about, what are God’s promises to us, what does it mean to be a child of God, to be “in Christ”, to have “Christ in [us], the hope of glory,” what’s going to happen with us when Jesus comes again, and so forth. Or again, we may be curious about or hungry to know about why; what’s the theology behind this, the reasons, the logic behind some event or episode or period in the Bible; why did God set it up this way; how does it all connect. Any or all of these—the how, the what, the why—may be our motivation for Bible study, and studying the Bible like this can, as with Bible-study-as-hobby, be fun at times, though much more than fun.

While I have experienced the above (and do still), I have also learned that although we may start out in an inquisitive mode with a deciphering/decoding attitude, often we are moved from there to a more devotional attitude. We may begin in an inquisitive mode, but we may then be gradually led to a deeper stage of consciously putting ourselves in a place where the Holy Spirit can work on/in us to correct, convict, encourage, give pleasure, delight, joy even, in the discoveries He brings to us and in the realization that God really cares about us and is actually active in our lives. It’s almost like instead of our studying the Bible, we let the Bible study us. We open the Word, we read, and we are opened by the Word, to put ourselves in a place of openness to God, of attentiveness to His presence, of listening for Him, and giving ourselves to Him.

Think of all this—-isn’t God wonderful to do this for us! “How sweet are Your words to my taste! Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” (Ps 119:103)

Submitted by John A. Velonis