How To Study The BIble

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Prepare To Study. When we come to the Bible to learn about ourselves and about God, we need the Holy Spirit to teach us. 1 Corinthians 2:9-10 says that we cannot REALLY understand the Bible without the Holy Spirit’s teaching us. So we need to start by asking the Holy Spirit to teach us as we read or study the Bible. We must come with the right purpose and proper attitude. Our goal for study is to really know our Creator and to love Him. The response of our hearts should be to please Him and enjoy Him. Next, find a place where you can study. Try to give yourself at least one hour so that you get buried in the Bible and give it time to become alive within you. When you come to study the Bible, STUDY THE BIBLE. Remember you have come to learn about God first and then about yourself.

How The Saints Studied The Bible. The Old and New Testament saints show us how to study the Bible. There are two examples we want to examine. The first one is found in Nehemiah 8:2, 3, 5, 7-9. What do the following passages tell us about how to study the Bible?


	Passage		What Should We Do?
	Nehemiah 8:8
	2nd answer . . . . .
	3rd answer . . . . .
	Nehemiah 8:9

The second passage is found in 1 Timothy 4:13. Here the apostle Paul tells Timothy to give attention to “reading, exhortation and doctrine (NKJV).” So they read the Bible, gave the sense or meaning of the passage, and then they applied it or encouraged the people to respond positively to the Word of God. Let’s talk about the three steps involved in studying the Bible: The acronym SMA stands for “What does it say?” “What does it mean?” and “How does it apply?”

What Does It Say? When we study the Bible, we must first see what it says. This requires us to start by reading the part of the Bible we want to learn. It is best to read it all at once the first time in order to get the big picture or to understand what the passage is all about. In fact, we should read it several times until we can close our eyes and remember what happens step by step. We want to see the big picture - to see everything that is happening. It would be good to read the chapter that comes before the passage we are studying as well as the chapter afterward. If possible read the entire book.

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