Most Christians sincerely want to study their Bibles on their own, but they just don’t know how. The Bible teaches us that we cannot be disciples of Jesus Christ if we do not have a regular intake of the Word of God. But where should you start? Is there more than one way to study the Bible? What is the best method for you to use?
These are great questions. In my book Rick Warren’s Bible Study Methods, I share 12 different ways to study the Bible. Each chapter focuses on one method, explains why that method is important, and gives you step-by-step instructions on how to do it. I also include a helpful Bible study form to use in applying each one.
Here are the 12 Bible study methods:
The Devotional Method
This method sets the
foundation for all of the others. If application is the ultimate goal of how we’re to interact with the Bible, then this method may be the most important for our spiritual lives. It involves taking a passage of Scripture and prayerfully meditating on it until the Holy Spirit provides a concrete application. It’s so important that it’s a part of every other method I teach.
The Chapter Summary Method
This may be the easiest of the Bible study methods to use, and you need very few extra biblical resources to do it effectively. Using the method, you’ll get a general overview of a chapter. You can use the method to systematically go through God’s Word or you can pick various chapters that are of interest to you.
The Character Quality Method
We’ve all got areas of our lives that need work. Using this Bible study method, you can work on positive character qualities that you need to improve (such as honesty, humility, and diligence) and negative ones you need to avoid (such as pride and greed). Unless you really understand a character quality, you’ll never be able to develop it in your life. Through this method you’ll focus on one character quality, look at how biblical characters lived it out, and look for ways to build the character trait into your own life (or avoid it).
The Thematic Method
This study method involves taking a biblical theme (like interceding for others or “the hand of the Lord”) and asking no more than five predetermined questions of the relevant biblical texts. This is another Bible study method that requires few reference tools, with a Bible and a concordance being the most important ones. It’s a great method to use when you’re preparing a Bible study or mentoring someone. It’s also a nice first step before digging into a more thorough topical study.
The Biographical Method
This one is pretty self-explanatory. It involves picking a biblical character and studying his or her life as presented by Scripture. But it isn’t just about storing information on the person. The reason you study biblical characters is to see why they were spiritual successes or failures. Once you discover that, you can either emulate what made them spiritually successful or avoid what made them fail. With more than 3000 biblical characters, this form of Bible study offers an almost endless supply of opportunities.
The Topical Method
In many ways this is like the thematic study, only more extensive. When studying the Bible topically, you typically attack a broad subject in Scripture (or in a specific book of the Bible)—like prayer or sin. Also, unlike a thematic study, you ask every question you can muster. What you get at the end is a broad idea of what the Bible (or a book in the Bible) says about the topic.
Illustration: Neil Webb
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