Book Review - How To Study Your Bible

  • Tim Challies
  • 07/16/03
  • 4

Just a few months ago I came to the sudden and perhaps not-so-startling realization that although I have been reading the Bible for more than twenty years I had never really been taught how to study it. I have been told of the importance of spending time each day reading God's Word, meditating on it and even memorizing it, but I do not ever recall being taught how to systematically study it.

After explaining this predicament to a friend of mine, she recommended the inductive Bible study approach, which she had only just discovered through buying the New Inductive Study Bible. Kay Arthur edited that version of the Bible and knowing she was a proponent of the inductive method, I decided to read How To Study Your Bible by Arthur.

I do not intend to go into detail about the Inductive method of Bible study. There is any number of resources available in bookstores and online that can outline the method in detail. Essentially, though, it begins with understanding the context of the big picture (the Bible) then works to the smaller picture (a specific book of the Bible) and so on until the study leads to specific words. The method relies heavily on note-taking and Bible marking. There is a whole system of Bible marking that Arthur recommends which helps in identifying themes and patterns. The appendices are filled with useful information about how to best use concordances and expository dictionaries. They even go into some detail about the tenses, moods and voices of Greek verbs!

Although the book sometimes appears as an advertisement for the New Inductive Study Bible, it does a fantastic job of outlining the method and rationale for the inductive approach to Bible study. This book is a valuable resource and I highly recommend it.

Title: How To Study Your Bible
Author: Kay Arthur
Published: 1994

Key Words:

  • Bible Study
  • Inductive Method

Comments (4)

1
Anonymous's picture
a comment from Mike Hughes • 12/21 @ 12:12am
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Hi I am Mike Hughes a minister for the Church of Christ in Wilmington, IL. I was doing a web search on Inductive Bible Study and ran across your site. I am interested in learning more about this method. I would like to see how you incorporate this method of teaching in your classes. Any help or ideas appreciated. I am scheduled to teach Gal., Philippians, Philemon, 1&2 Timothy and Titus over a 26 lesson time frame. The lessons are usually 1 hour each. Presently I think that puts me at roughly 2 chapters a session. I am trying to see how I can adapt an Inductive method to that time frame. Any ideas appreciated.

Mike Hughes, D.Min., Th.D. 303 N. 1st StreetWilmington, IL 60481

2
Anonymous's picture
a comment from Tim • 12/22 @ 1:11pm
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I have not yet had opportunity to actually teach the inductive method. I continue to do some research on it, and more importantly, practice it during my own devotional and study time. I am hoping to begin teaching it sometime in the next few months in a discipleship setting.

As to your question, I think 2 chapters per session would be attainable. I think you could devote an entire session to the basics of the inductive method and then spend the rest of them actually putting that into action. To do it properly is quite time-consuming, but very rewarding, so you will have to get commitment from the people you will be teaching.

3
Anonymous's picture
a comment from Cheri • 04/11 @ 12:56am

HEY TIm... I believe Anita has this down pat (is that what we say when someone has it right?!). Her Bible would be one that I would be in complete awe to own. She has shared with me the method and it looks so incredible to watch the words pop out at you when you open her Bible. MOI

4
Anonymous's picture
a comment from Darren Chow • 09/16 @ 4:21pm

Hi Tim, I was wondering if after all these years, do u look back now and still have the same view of this book? I have bought this because I too was curious bout the inductive method. I think it's useful and a good complement to systematic and biblical theology but i think it does have it's own drawbacks. What are your thoughts?