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Bible study ideas
When studying the Bible, the most important resource that we have is...the Bible itself! Below are some Bible study ideas.
Moses said, "Set your hearts on all the words which I testify among you today...For it is not a futile thing for you, because it is your life..." Deuteronomy 32:46-48 And Jesus said, "The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life." John 6:63b Again, Jesus said, "You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me." John 5:39
Read and Organize the info
- make a list of the major events (Sample study: 1 Samuel notes)
- make a list of God's promises either given or fulfilled
- make a list of God's commands - imperative statements such as "do this!" (Sample study: Mitzvah)
- draw an idea map for the passage (Sample study: Jehoiada)
- make a sentence diagram; identify all the verbs/named people/etc
- highlight repetition
- make an outline of the passage
- make a cause and effect chart
- write a profile for the major people mentioned
- make a timeline
- overlay a timeline with books of the Bible
- overlay a timeline with major events
- overlay a timeline with Messianic prophecies
- overlay a timeline with the covenant (Noahide, Abrahamic, Mosaic, Davidic, New)
Look for links
- Get a Bible without cross-references and write cross-references in as you find them.
- Be on the look-out for places where people quote earlier Scripture (Sample study: Scripture quoted in the Old Testament and OT References in Matthew)
- Be on the look-out for places where prophecies are fullfilled (both Messianic and other prophecies)
Apply your memory
- Memorize a very short book (1-2 pages). Take a chapter at a time.
- What is the overarching message of this book? Can you summarize it? (Sample study: Thoughts on Habakkuk)
- Are there repetitive themes or events in the book? (Sample study: Salvation is of the LORD: 3 Stories)
- Take a topic that is on your mind. Does this book speak to that topic? (Sample study: What is the salvation of the LORD?)
- As you read other Scripture, do the words of this book sound familiar to anything you encounter?
Take God at His Word
- "the word of the LORD endures forever"
- Is a passage hard to believe or hard to grasp? Ask yourself why. Search the Scriptures. (Sample study: Prayer from the fish's belly)
- If a given passage is true, how does that change the way that I live?
Define concepts
- In order to better understand a word or concept, try starting with a simple word study. (Sample studies: Some OT References to Good News and The Gospel)
Take time to look at Jesus
- What do the gospels say about Jesus? (Sample study: Study of Jesus in Matthew's gospel)
- Did Jesus display the fruit of the Spirit? Which fruit? Where?
- What does Jesus say in prayer? (Sample study: Words that Jesus addressed to His Father)
- Did Jesus know the Old Testament? Did he quote it? Where? Why?
- What did Jesus talk about? to whom? (Sample study: What did Jesus Say ... and to whom?)
- What does it mean to say that Jesus is the "Christ"? (Sample study: Christ)
- What prophecies did Jesus fulfill, according to the New Testament? What is the context of these prophecies? How long before Jesus were they given? (Similar study: Prophecies)