“Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.” –Acts 17:11 (NIV)
Were the Bereans of Acts 17 one of the earliest examples of an in-depth Christian Bible study group? Probably not in the sense of what we consider in-depth Bible study today, but they did indeed dig into God’s Word deeply, examining it and making sure that what they read corresponded to the message Paul shared with them. Today, of course, we have a lot more in the way of resources to help us study the Bible in great depth. Not only do we have access to sophisticated Bible software, we also have the Internet and its many resources, not to mention almost 2,000 years of Christian history and wisdom we can incorporate into our studies.
While personal, devotionally-oriented Bible study is very important, as is family Bible study, in-depth Bible study by definition digs deeper into God’s Word in order to gain a better understanding of the truths contained in it. This article will offer some tips for in-depth Bible study and also look at some of the tools available to the Bible student eager to gain a deeper understanding of the Bible.
How and Why?
why we should study the Bible. Some of the reasons include cultural literacy, to learn what it says firsthand, personal edification, to help others, to gain a better understanding of Jesus and His mission, because the Bible is God’s Word to us, to know God better and to help us avoid theological error. All of these are excellent reasons to pursue in-depth Bible study that will help us grow spiritually.
Translations and Study Bibles
Broadly speaking, there are two usual approaches to Bible translation. The New International Version, for instance, takes a dynamic equivalency approach, while the New American Standard Bible follows more of a formal equivalency approach. This means that the NIV is often more readable and flowing in English, while the NASB is more of a literal, word-for-word approach (though given the limitations of English even translations that take the formal equivalency approach cannot literally offer a word-for-word translation because the resulting translation wouldn’t make a whole lot of sense in English). Keep in mind that using multiple Bible translations will sometimes help you understand passages better, but other resources such as Bible commentaries, addressed below, will help you even more.
NIV Study Bible and, more recently, the ESV Study Bible
Commentaries
Commentaries are also quite useful to in-depth Bible study. While commentaries used to be largely available to academic biblical scholars, they are now fairly common in Bible study software. Also, if you happen to live near a Christian seminary, you might look into accessing their library for more in-depth research, as they tend to have numerous commentaries available. A commentary is fairly simple to use. If you have a question about a particular Bible passage, you consult the relevant Bible commentary and look up the passage and what the commentator has said about it. Sometimes you will find a great answer to a puzzling question you’ve had, while other times you will find a blank space in the commentary. If you don’t find what you are looking for, you can consult other commentaries or resources.
Word Studies
Bible Study Software
With the advent of Bible study software, in-depth Bible study is even more accessible to the layperson or budding scholar. Keep in mind that even if you do not have Bible software, you can utilize free online resources such as Bible Gateway (http://www.biblegateway.com/) to search and read a number of Bible translations.
There are far too many Bible study software packages available for us to go into any detail about them here. Logos Bible Software (http://www.logos.com) is quite popular on Windows-based operating systems, while one option for Macintosh systems is Accordance Bible Software (http://www.accordancebible.com). You may wish to consult with your pastor to find out what software they recommend.
Also, be aware of some of the dangers of Bible study software. While properly used Bible study software is a great tool for in-depth Bible study, it’s easy to get lost in the many features and options the software offers.