Helping ordinary people learn to study the Bible
Matthew Boffey has some important things worth considering as you seek to reinforce consistent Bible study habits.
I especially appreciate that last point, as even the best-laid plans need constant revision. As boxer Mike Tyson famously said, “Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” I’m grateful for Boffey’s reflections.
The force of gravity that one object exerts on another depends on a few factors: the mass of each object, a gravitational constant, and the distance between the two objects. But in the calculation, distance is in the denominator of the fraction, meaning that, all other things being equal, gravitational force and distance have an inverse relationship. The closer the two objects are, the greater the gravitational pull.
If you have trouble with formulas and forces, picture a whirlpool. A feather caught in the outside of the spinning water starts to move slowly in a circle. But the longer it stays in the whirlpool, the faster it moves, pulled steadily inward and down until it disappears.
The Bible is a book like no other. We do not read it like a biography, a novel, or a textbook. We can return to it again and again with much profit. It is deeper and greater and more wonderful than anything else we could ever read.
Why do Christians read the Bible? If you are a Christian, why do you read the Bible?
We read the Bible to know God. About the Bible, the Westminster Confession of Faith states that “it pleased the Lord, at sundry times, and in divers manners, to reveal himself, and to declare that his will unto his Church” (my emphasis).
God reveals himself! This means that reading or studying the Bible is no ordinary endeavor. We are not reading just for information or even inspiration. We are studying the Scriptures to learn from God, to know and love him. And as we learn from him and love him, this should kindle a desire to draw even closer.
When we read the Bible, God teaches us about himself. He also shines light into our hearts and convicts us of sin. God shows us his Son and removes the blindness from our eyes. And like many in first-century Galilee, we are eager to follow the Rabbi-King, Jesus.
By his Spirit, God works on our hearts as we read the Bible. He meets with us and entices us to return and meet with him again.
Reading the Bible creates a longing within us for what is to come. When the world seems to be crumbling around us, we have a sure promise that all will be put right (Rev 21:4). And we will enjoy fellowship with God face to face (Rev 21:3).
Additionally, as we read, we see more of what we will become. In all the ways we offend God and our neighbors, we can cultivate hope that these stubborn sins will not last forever. God’s commands are for our good, and one day we will embrace and obey them fully.
If you’ve talked to any older saint recently, you’ve probably noticed they are still eager for the Scriptures. Even after a lifetime of reading and hearing and studying, they are not tired of those familiar words.
The Bible may be bound like other books. It may sit on our tables, support coffee mugs, and sport dog-eared pages and pencil scribbles like other volumes. But what the Bible offers we can find nowhere else.
God reveals himself to us in the pages of this holy book. To the novice and the expert, to the young and the old, God offers himself to those who would take up and read. And as we taste and see how good the Lord is, we’ll joyfully take another lap around the whirlpool, drawing closer and closer to the God who made and redeemed us.
Though family discipleship is hard work, Todd Hains has some great suggestions.
In family discipleship, we regularly sow God’s Word into our children’s hearts and into our own. It doesn’t take long to drop a seed in the soil, nor does it take long to read, pray, and sing God’s Word. In his grace, God takes our planting and watering and produces a harvest full of the fruits of his word—a harvest of faith and forgiveness and life everlasting.
His five suggestions are:
He offers many practical tools and resources to help you in this crucial task.
Cindy Matson has some great advice “To the New and Nervous Scripture Reader.” She wants you to:
Here is a taste of her great advice:
Hi Friend,
I heard you set a goal for the new year to read Scripture more faithfully. That’s great! But I was also told that now you’re feeling a bit overwhelmed. You want to be in the Word, but you’re just not quite sure how that’s going to work. I get it; and if I could, I’d like to offer you a couple of pieces of advice. I’m sure I won’t answer every question, and I’m not even going to try to tell you what or how much to read. Instead, let me try to anticipate some problems, assuage some worries, and add a word of caution.
Do you ever wonder if it’s worth it to keep going?
Let’s say you’re driving at twilight, to a place you’ve never been. You’ve gotten most of the way there without a GPS, but you’re not so sure about the road you now travel. Is it worth it to keep going, or should you stop to get better directions?
Your college experience hasn’t resulted in the grades or the friendships you expected. And the exorbitant costs only increase. Is it worth it to keep going?
Your career—or perhaps your marriage—has plateaued, and you find yourself doing more of the same, day in and day out. Is it worth it to keep going?
When it comes to the Christian life: This question is a crucial one.
Following Jesus comes with not only great blessing but also quite a high cost. Life is hard, and you have to give up a lot of time and stuff. Is it worth it to keep going?
Over the next few weeks, I plan to do a deep dive into Hebrews 10:19-39. And the main idea of this passage is that you better believe it’s worth it to keep going.
In order to keep going as a Christian, there are three things in particular that you’d better believe, because without these beliefs, you just might end up throwing everything away. You better believe you have a confident entrance (Heb 10:19-25). You better believe there will be certain vengeance (Heb 10:26-31). And you better believe you’ll need constant reliance (Heb 10:32-39).
Why don’t you take a look at the text for yourself in the coming week? See how much you can observe about the commands, the conclusions, and the train of thought. Write down any questions you have, and we’ll see what answers we can get from the text over the next few weeks.
Matthew Boffey has 5 important suggestions for those who wish to set new habits in their Bible reading and devotional times.
Along the way, he offers specific tips for busy church leaders. Perhaps you’ve decided to join our annual 90-day Bible reading challenge. Perhaps you’d simply like to improve your overall time in the Word. These simple suggestions will make a big difference to help you reinforce good habits.
I am asked with some regularity how I schedule time (and find time) to be in the Scriptures. As a full-time missionary with DiscipleMakers, I am thrilled to get paid, in part, to study the Bible. But I also seek to develop practices for Bible intake when I’m “off the clock.” I write this post not to suggest that anyone must operate the same way I do, but in hopes that some may be stimulated and encouraged to try new opportunities for increasing their own intake of God’s word. Regardless of how you do it, the fact of Bible intake is a tremendous privilege for followers of the Lord Jesus.
I start every morning with an audio lectionary in the Dwell listening app. I’m just about to complete the 1979 Book of Common Prayer’s morning daily office, which takes about 5 minutes per day. I listen to it on my phone while I brush my teeth. As I continue getting ready for the day (getting dressed, greeting my children, moving toward my treadmill for exercise), I listen to a Bible-in-a-year daily plan (also with Dwell). This year, I’m following a “genre” plan, which gives about 3 chapters per day, each day in a different genre of the Scriptures (Yesterday’s text was from a prophet; today’s from a gospel). This takes anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes each day (I listen on 2x speed), and usually finishes up while I’m on the treadmill.
On weekdays, while showering after exercise, I review Scripture memory. I review Proverbs 1-9 over the course of 5 days, and I currently also recite Psalm 145 all 5 days. On weekends, I take a break from Bible memory to give my brain a rest.
So on most days, I’ve taken in about 6-8 chapters of Scripture audio (or memory review) before I’m even able to sit down to read.
Once I can sit down to read, I spend about 30 minutes reading the Bible before moving on with my day. I prefer to follow Joe Carter’s reading plan for how to change your mind (Summary: Read a book of the Bible 20 times. Then read another book 20 times. Continue until finished with all books.) I began doing this in earnest in 2016, and have completed 23 books so far. I select books based on what I’m expecting to study in the coming year. So I recently completed Luke and Acts because we were preaching them at church. I’m now working on 1 & 2 Samuel (treating them as a single book), because I’m teaching a Sunday school class on it to our middle and high schoolers. Later this year, I’ll move on to Revelation to prepare for a preaching workshop I plan to attend.
I end each day with a little more Dwell listening. I’m currently about to complete the 1979 Book of Common Prayer’s evening daily office, which takes about 5 minutes while I brush my teeth and get changed for bed.
You may have noticed my daily routine contains quite a bit of Bible reading and very little detailed study. That’s because I prefer to work on careful study in fits and starts. Though I trumpet the OIA method for Bible study, I just don’t have the energy to delve the depths of it every day. And I do enough teaching that my detailed study centers around whatever I’m teaching. I don’t feel the need to separate my teaching from my learning.
Currently, I preach about 3 in every 10 weeks at my church. Two weeks before each sermon, I study the text, with the end goal being the completion of this worksheet, which all our church’s preachers complete for every sermon. I spend up to 5 hours those weeks, scattered Monday through Wednesday, studying the passage enough to credibly complete the worksheet.
On weeks where I don’t have my own worksheet to complete, I am receiving another preacher’s completed worksheet. I spend up to 30 minutes studying the text enough to comment on his worksheet, to celebrate his work and help him improve it (as the others do with my worksheets). We also meet for an hour each Wednesday afternoon to rehearse the sermon for the upcoming Sunday and give feedback on its presentation. In this way, our team of preachers co-labors to preach expositionally through books of the Bible.
For the middle/high school Sunday school class I teach, I spend up to 30 minutes on Saturdays preparing the next lesson in 1 Samuel.
Finally, on Sunday nights, I recently restarted our family Bible reading time, where I read the Scripture out loud for 30-60 minutes while the children play quietly. We’re only a few weeks in and will soon complete Genesis.
In times past, I’ve had weekly small group studies to either lead or participate in (both of which required preparation). But at this time I’m taking a break from our church small group.
Every November, and sometimes in February, I enjoy attending preaching workshops run by the Charles Simeon Trust to sharpen my craft. These workshops require significant Bible study preparation (perhaps 5-7 hours) in the weeks leading up to the workshop.
In my work with DiscipleMakers, I have numerous other events throughout the year where I may be giving a talk, leading a small group, or teaching an online course that requires me to get into the guts of OIA study.
And every Jan 1, I set aside everything else I listed above (at least as much as possible) to give myself to reading the entire Bible straight through as fast as possible. With the combination of listening to audio and reading a physical book, I squeeze such reading into every nook and cranny of my schedule to finish in 25 or fewer days. After that is complete, I return to the regular routines I’ve listed above.
I’ll reiterate: I’m not deluded to the point of believing that anyone on the planet ought to do things quite as quirkily as I do. But with enough interest, anyone can find corners in their schedule where they could increase their Bible intake just a bit further. May you be encouraged and astonished at your Lord, and at the opportunity you have, perhaps unique in human history, to commune with him through his word, for hours on end, through a wide variety of formats.
When I was in college, I attended a conference where the speaker taught the book of Proverbs. He explained the basics of Hebrew poetry. He had us comparing verses, considering metaphors, and thinking hard. He stimulated us and challenged us to pursue the Lord of wisdom, for life, from this book.
I was so inspired by the teaching on this book that I spent the following summer memorizing the first nine chapters. I have sought to rehearse those chapters once per week ever since (almost 25 years!), in hopes of keeping the wisdom of God before my eyes and the fear of the Lord within my heart.
And in addition to motivating me to memorize Proverbs, the speaker offered one of the best, most practical pieces of advice I’ve ever heard for studying this book. He encouraged us to get a cheap spiral-bound notebook and read the entire book of Proverbs once per month (only a chapter a day). Each time through the book, pick one topic, write the topic at the top of the page, and write down all of verses from Proverbs that address that topic. Each month gets a separate page for a separate topic.
That’s it. It doesn’t require a huge investment of time or brain power. It requires only an intent to notice things. And the result is that you get your own usable, topical index of Proverbs for future reference.
I followed this advice for about 4 years, developing my own index of almost 50 topics addressed in the book of Proverbs. And I have returned to that notebook countless times since. It is a common occurrence for me to speak with a friend or child about something or other, when I remember some proverbs that speak to the matter. Only, who can ever remember all the references for the scattershot text of Proverbs? Sure, maybe I can remember “Proverbs 22:6” or “18:24” or “somewhere in chapter 30.” But, with the exception of the first 9 chapters, I will never be able to locate a particular proverb from memory, even if I could quote the words.
So I keep my notebook handy. Being homemade, it had much deeper effect on me than a concordance or search engine ever will. Perhaps at some point I will digitize it for ease of use. But don’t ask me to share it with you; I won’t. You’ll be better off if you create your own.
Thank you, Dr. Putnam. “You can dress Miss Piggy up, but you can’t take her out” (Prov 11:22).
In response to a common appeal for Christians to search their Bibles and “be like Bereans,” Griffin Gulledge has a provocative piece entitled “The Bereans Had No Bibles.” In it, he makes some important points worth your consideration:
Gulledge concludes:
Being a Berean is a lost label for Christians. These days, most of the people who appeal to the term are bloggers on the internet, mostly engaged in heated polemics at best or vicious attacks on those they disagree with at worst. What we see here instead is that Bereans are those who receive the truth in the context of the church, and thereby together prove Christ is both Savior and Lord from the Scriptures. What is the end of all of this? It’s not to win debates or to fill our heads with knowledge for its own sake. The passage tells us: many believe.
The goal of emulating the Bereans is to bring about and strengthen faith. It is Christ’s work and who he is, preached from the Scriptures, that saves and sanctifies. The Bereans had no Bibles. But they did have Christ. We have the Bible. And together, we should seek to find Christ there, and thereby be transformed into his image (2 Cor 3:17-18)
Here is a helpful devotional showcasing the difference between meaning and application. The author looks at Elisha’s “death in the pot” story in 2 Kings 4:38-41 to show how to both interpret (arriving at the author’s main point) and apply (connecting that truth to our own lives).
How many meanings does a passage of Scripture have? Sometimes we read a text and our minds race all over the Scripture with seemingly related texts and many possible meanings. Two of the challenges we can sometimes bring to our reading, interpretation, and subsequent understanding of Scripture are: 1) forgetting what Scripture principally teaches; and 2) confusing a text’s meaning with its application.
