5 Types of Bible Study you need

How many of us were really taught how to study the Bible? Majority of us probably joined some sort of Bible class after accepting Christ as our saviour and told to do our devotion daily. We are all familiar with daily devotion. However, there are other types of Bible Study which can go a long way to compliment what we learn in our daily devotions.

types of Bible studyBefore learning about the 5 types of Bible study, it is important to note that the kind of Bible study I refer to here is different from academic study. The Bible is a sacred book and the study I refer to here is based on faith in the written Word of God. It is not merely for information or historical research to gain knowledge. It based on a desire to know God better and commune with Him more intimately.

Here are five types of Bible Study:

1. Topical Bible Study

This type of study starts with a topic of interest. For example, if you want to study about “Wealth”, you would start by gathering all relevant verses on Wealth and either expand or narrow it down as you wish. You would take verses like Matthew 6: 21, Malachi 3: 10, Proverbs 13:11, 1 Timothy 6: 10. These verses can be gotten from a concordance or a simple search online. You can then organize the information from these verses into a form that addresses your central theme for the study.

2. Character Study

A character study is usually a study of a person in Scripture. This type of study will look at the birth, circumstances surrounding the birth, the parents, how a person grew up, their profession, what they are most known for, attitude, personality, how they died, their spouse, children and friends, and the lessons we can learn from the experiences of such a person. For example, you can conduct these types of Bible study on a character like Samson. In this case you study his life story by reading chapters like Judges 13 – 16 and learn from it.

 

3. Chronological Bible study

This type of Bible study looks at the order in which certain events took place in the Bible. The trend, precedence and events that happen before another event is studied to identify any causes and effects. This is one of the very important types of Bible study. It allows you to uncover new insights and establish connections between passages and books that otherwise could not have been spotted by reading from chapter to chapter. A good reference for conducting chronological Bible study is at BibleGateway.com.

  1. Book Study

A book study is conducted by reading through a book in the Bible systematically to understand its context. This is usually looking at the content from the perspective of the author of that book. A good place to start your book Study of the Bible is the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John). Whiles Mark tells about what Jesus did, John reports what Jesus said and who Jesus was in the simplest and clearest form. Passages. Reading the Gospels will familiarize you with Christ’s life and ministry. After this you can move on to other interesting books in the Bible.

Another effective way for conducting a book study is to listen to audio books from the Bible.

5. Word Study

As you study the Bible with any of the 4 types of Bible study described above, you may come across a particular word that needs greater clarity or insight. In this case, you look up the various meanings of the word in different dictionaries and look up the word in its original Hebrew or Greek language. You can then gain a better understanding of the meaning of the word and not only depend on the translated meaning.

Bible verse memorization:

Apart from the 5 types of Bible study described above, you are encouraged to memorize some scripture. Here is why. This website has great tools to help you study and memorize scripture. You can revise what you study and also download some tools to help in your study. Happy studies !!!