How to study the Bible effectively

Christians are called to be students of Scripture. Dr Marvin Sanguinetti provides some guidelines on how to explore Scripture and retain what you learn

Christians will often hear the familiar mantra drawn from 2 Timothy 2:15 – ‘Study to show yourself approved’, but often won’t know exactly what the text is asking us to do, or how to go about doing so.

Of interest, the word ‘study’ here is not simply a reference to up the ante in reading or research, nor is it a casual reference to the acquisition of more religious knowledge. Rather, ‘study’ comes from the Greek word σπούδασον spoudazō, which means to ‘be diligent in a hurry’. In other words, because there is so much to learn and life is so short, the quicker we apply ourselves to the discipline of learning, the more effective we will become as Christian witnesses. What follows in this article are ways I have applied this text in my own journey of biblical and theological education, and I hope my methods will bring value to how you approach studying the Bible.

At the very onset I must offer a disclaimer: I will not focus on prayer, because it is expected that students of Scripture should always start and end Bible study with prayer. My approach here focuses on the tools and study space for making personal Bible study worthwhile.

The first decision we must make is where we are going to study the Bible, for, if our environment is not conducive to learning and retaining information, we will find ourselves going over the same ground repeatedly and wasting time. When we study the Bible, we should avoid distractions as much as possible such as turning off the TV in the background. We should also avoid studying in areas where we are most likely to fall asleep, e.g. never studying on the settee or sofa or in bed when tired – this is a recipe for disaster, including torn Bible and book pages. Study sitting upright or standing at a desk.

The second thing we need for making personal Bible study effective is a good study Bible. I suggest a Thompson Chain-Reference Bible or Scofield Study Bible. Bibles without footnotes or endnotes of a proper reference system are for devotional purposes only, not for serious students of the Word. For those desiring more advance research, with original biblical languages for Word studies, online resources like www.blueletterbible.org or www.biblehub.com are helpful, as they have many translations of the Bible, and Bible commentaries, including Bible atlases.

The third thing we need in order to make personal Bible study effective is to decide on what we are going to study, and how long for – and stick to it. We can start off with studying the lives of biblical characters, such as Joseph, Paul, Jesus, but use other historical sources in addition to the Bible. Or you may do a topical study on subjects, like ‘Where do angels come from?’ or ‘What happens after death?’ My study practice is not to move on to other subjects – no matter how tempted I am – until I have a good grasp of the current one I am studying.

This next approach I apply is unconventional for studying the Bible, and, in my experience, is more popular with American and Asian Christians than British, African or African-Caribbean ones: i.e. taking notes during sermons and doing a weekly reflection on what the preacher actually said. It might surprise you of the wealth of information we glean from many modern pulpits. Take notes. We can do the exuberant hyping and shouting after the sermon is finished, particularly if you are Pentecostal…

When I was studying New Testament Greek, I thought this was the most demanding thing to do on planet Earth and I would never learn it, but my lecturer shared an acronym that I will share with you. I found it extremely helpful and hope you will do too when studying the Bible. It is HI-SI-WI-SI-MI! Yes, HISIWISIMI! Try and say it as one-word HISIWISIMI: HI = Hear it, SI = See it, WI = Write it, SI = Say it, and MI = Memorise it! Each time we read a passage, verse or book chapter, we should write a summary of what we read and even try to share it with others. If we cannot do this, then we might not have truly learnt what the text is saying.

There is much more to effective Bible study, but this should serve as a good introduction.

DR MARVIN SANGUINETTI (PhD SFHEA) Reader in Theology & Religious Studies, Biblical Studies, and Christian Theology