Mark WardI’m not opposed to using the scenic route down the coast from work to home; I’ve taken it multiple times. But never on a workday, always on a Saturday. I’m not opposed to using the scenic route in Bible study, either. I’ve taken it multiple times...
Michael S. HeiserCuneiform tablets changed my life. I’m not kidding. As I look back on my 15 years of graduate school in biblical studies, the turning point in how I view the Bible was my course in Ugaritic, a cuneiform language very similar to biblical Hebrew. This...
Logos StaffWhen you’re studying Scripture—whether for sermon prep, research, or even just personal devotions—the distractions aren’t just out there. Often, it’s the stuff we’re doing as part of the study itself that threaten to distract us. For instance...
Jake MailhotImagine you’re sitting in a coffee shop with your Bible in front of you. You’ve been reading and re-reading a particularly challenging passage and have a number of unanswered questions bouncing around in your mind. Then imagine a friend sits across...
Bible Study Magazine“I was a musician before I was a theologian,” says N. T. Wright. “When I look at a piece of music, my mind is making connections between harmonic shifts. I’m seeing the patterns in song. When I’m reading passages, I’m asking, ‘How do the themes...
Does widespread human disagreement over Bible interpretation reveal some flaw or weakness in God or his word—or some flaw or weakness in us? Or neither, or both? This is the third of three articles on the clarity of Scripture. I’ve clarified the...
[wpsocialite] Jen Hatmaker recently launched a kerfuffle in the evangelical blogosphere (meteorologists have started to assign these kerfuffles their own names, like hurricanes) by reconsidering her stance on a hotly contested biblical doctrine. I...
Leaders of the Protestant Reformation, particularly Luther but also Calvin, affirmed the doctrine of the clarity of Scripture. Basically, the doctrine (as it has developed) teaches that all Christians can and should read the Bible with spiritual...
My wife regularly works domestic miracles. Case in point: she actually reads her Bible first thing in the morning. She’s a mother with young children and a lot of responsibility. We never know how much sleep Mommy will get on any given night, and...
Crossway recently released the English Standard Version in a 2016 “Permanent Text” edition (the updated text will be free for Logos users who own the ESV). The ESV, it was announced, would remain “unchanged forever, in perpetuity.” As Christianity...
Grant OsborneI have the greatest job in the world. No, I actually have one of the greatest, if not the greatest, jobs in all of human history (apart from Christ’s, that is). My point is this: there is a God, and he raised Jesus from the dead, brought salvation...
Ryan NelsonWhen someone asks, “How can I trust the Bible?”, there are numerous passages in Scripture that we can turn to which affirm God’s sovereignty and the truth of his Word (2 Timothy 3:16–17, Matthew 5:18, Proverbs 30:5–6, 2 Peter...
I want to know the Bible. Do you? There are many methods for Bible study out there, and every one I’ve ever seen has something of value to contribute. Let me add one, however, that I’ve never seen anyone else explain: borrow an open secret from...
Commentaries are a beloved and vital resource for modern students of the Bible. They give us expert insight into each verse of each chapter of each book of the Bible, and are often a great starting point for deeper research. But one thing the...
I was recently writing something about biblical archaeology, and it happened again, that thing that’s always happening to me in Bible study—does it happen to you? I was trying to find the location of a verse whose exact wording I was pretty sure I...
Recently I got to play my favorite sport—ultimate Frisbee—twice in one week. The first game was just about the best I’ve had in my 14 years as an ultimate player. Pretty much every time I threw the disc toward the end zone, it snuck just past the...
Ryan BurnsI read a book called Out of Context by Richard Schultz last semester for a seminary class. The author goes through common exegetical and interpretive mistakes in teaching the Bible, including those that famous preachers or authors have made, and...
Dig and dig and dig, and you’ll never reach the full depths of the Bible. Your lifetime will be a journey to the center of its worth. That doesn’t mean the Bible-gold you’ve discovered so far is iron pyrite; it simply means you should never stop...
You and I live in a modern city, but imagine that across the river is another town very different from ours: an ancient one. We drive cars, they ride animals. We chat over coffee at a cafe; they chat over water at the community well. We suffer from...
Many Christians are faithful Bible readers, but they feel stuck when it comes to Bible study. After you’ve read a Bible passage once, and then read it again, what do you do to study it? Um, read it again? And then what? Looking at a commentary or...
Guest AuthorReading the Bible regularly can be hard. Sometimes it can feel like it takes too much work to understand what Scripture is really saying. And the last thing you want is for your Bible reading to become stale, or to feel forced. If Bible study...
My most influential mentor always told his charges that Bible teachers come to the text with one of two questions: either 1) “What can I say about this?” Or 2) “What does this say?” He saw these questions as a continental divide, and he urged us to...
John D. BarryNutritionists everywhere tell us that a well-balanced diet fuels our bodies, yet many of us continue to ignore their advice. The same is true for our Bible study habits. We know that nourishment for our souls lies in the pages of the Bible, but we...
In honor of National Read a Book Minute—which, sadly, is dwarfed in popularity by the annual celebration of International Watch TV Year—I want to teach you how to highlight a book. I went through more years of formal education than is really proper...
I love the Jesus Storybook Bible, because it thrills me to think that my kids might grasp the central storyline of Scripture long before the age at which I did. And the colors and textures are cool. And I like a little whimsy in text and...
I’m bad at reading the Bible quickly or in big chunks. I’m always getting stopped by interesting little questions (and interesting big ones). Here’s a representative example: Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people...
You’ve seen it plastered on tee shirts, coffee mugs, bookmarks and Bible covers; it’s cross-stitched on throw pillows and wall art. Its words have comforted thousands of Christians in their darkest moments. But do you really understand the...
This is a guest post by Peter Krol. A reader of my blog recently emailed to say, “I was never intentionally taught how to lead a Bible study, and, when the time came for me to teach others how to do it, I had no idea even where to begin.” Do you...
For several weeks I’ve been trying to End Bible Translation Tribalism. I’m urging Christians not to make our good Bible translations into rallying points or battle flags for internecine warfare. Instead, we members of Christ’s body should recognize...
I remember the first time my personal devotions finally started to click. After growing up in the church, earning a Bible degree, and working in ministry, I developed the habit of separating my “study time”—which I spent preparing sermons, lessons...