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

The Word Study Method
Many of the great doctrines of Scripture revolve around a single word, such as grace, atonement, or faith. This study method allows you to focus on what some of these words mean in the original language. The method requires more reference books than the other studies, because you’ll need sources to be able to uncover the meaning of the biblical words in the original languages. The method is based on two things. First, the meaning you find from a word must be based on the original languages. Second, context must give you the ultimate meaning of the word you’re studying, not the English translation.

The Book Background Method
This method helps you get a good feel for the background of the biblical passage or book you are studying. You do it by focusing on understanding the history, culture, geography, and political events surrounding the passage. Of course, this method is highly dependent upon collecting quality Bible study reference tools.

The Book Survey Method
In chapters 9, 10, and 11 of Rick Warren’s Bible Study Methods, I explain three methods that are best understood as a whole. In the book survey method, you get a telescopic view of a book of the Bible. By doing this step first, you understand how the pieces of the book fit together. It helps you ensure that you won’t mistake the forest for the trees when you study the book further through the next few methods.

The Chapter Analysis Method
Next, you focus your study on a particular chapter from the book you just surveyed. Through this method you’ll look carefully at each paragraph, sentence, and word in the passage you are studying. As you study the chapters of the Bible in this way, you’ll limit outside help and ensure that you’re getting your won insights on Scripture.

The Book Synthesis Method
This is the natural conclusion of this set of methods. After you’ve looked at the book as a whole and then analyze the different chapters within it, you’ll conclude by putting the book and all of the insights you’ve gained back together again. It’s a particularly important step after you’ve torn the book apart in the chapter analysis method.

The Verse-by-Verse Method
In the 12th method you take a particular verse of Scripture and study it in detail by asking particular questions, looking at cross-references and paraphrasing each verse. You can either use this study to work systematically through a passage or combine it with the topical method to look at all of the Scripture related to a topic.

Getting Started
For step-by-step instructions on how to use these methods, see Rick Warren’s Bible Study Methods (Zondervan, 2006). And no matter which method you choose, make sure you stick with it and devote sufficient time to it. On a typical evening, the average Christian may sit and watch TV for three hours, but only read the Bible for three minutes before bedtime. What would happen if we committed ourselves with equal vigor to reading our Bibles each day before work, school or shopping? It would change our lives, and the lives of those around us. Many Christians find the practice of reading completely through the Bible in the course of a year valuable and enlightening. One way of doing that is to start with the Bible Calendar.The Word Study Method
Many of the great doctrines of Scripture revolve around a single word, such as grace, atonement, or faith. This study method allows you to focus on what some of these words mean in the original language. The method requires more reference books than the other studies, because you’ll need sources to be able to uncover the meaning of the biblical words in the original languages. The method is based on two things. First, the meaning you find from a word must be based on the original languages. Second, context must give you the ultimate meaning of the word you’re studying, not the English translation.

The Book Background Method
This method helps you get a good feel for the background of the biblical passage or book you are studying. You do it by focusing on understanding the history, culture, geography, and political events surrounding the passage. Of course, this method is highly dependent upon collecting quality Bible study reference tools.

The Book Survey Method
In chapters 9, 10, and 11 of Rick Warren’s Bible Study Methods, I explain three methods that are best understood as a whole. In the book survey method, you get a telescopic view of a book of the Bible. By doing this step first, you understand how the pieces of the book fit together. It helps you ensure that you won’t mistake the forest for the trees when you study the book further through the next few methods.

The Chapter Analysis Method
Next, you focus your study on a particular chapter from the book you just surveyed. Through this method you’ll look carefully at each paragraph, sentence, and word in the passage you are studying. As you study the chapters of the Bible in this way, you’ll limit outside help and ensure that you’re getting your won insights on Scripture.

The Book Synthesis Method
This is the natural conclusion of this set of methods. After you’ve looked at the book as a whole and then analyze the different chapters within it, you’ll conclude by putting the book and all of the insights you’ve gained back together again. It’s a particularly important step after you’ve torn the book apart in the chapter analysis method.

The Verse-by-Verse Method
In the 12th method you take a particular verse of Scripture and study it in detail by asking particular questions, looking at cross-references and paraphrasing each verse. You can either use this study to work systematically through a passage or combine it with the topical method to look at all of the Scripture related to a topic.

For step-by-step instructions on how to use these methods, see Rick Warren's Bible Study Methods(Zondervan, 2006).