BIBLE
STUDY
See also: Bible study and prayer; Bible study and the Holy Spirit
Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
The Bible, 2 Timothy 2:15 kjv
The treasures of the Bible can be found only by those who dig for them.
Author unknown
There are only two ways you can study the Bible:
1. Studying it with your mind made up.
2. Studying it to let it make up your mind.
Author unknown
The study of God’s Word, for the purpose of discovering God’s will, is the secret discipline that has formed the greatest characters.
J.W. Alexander
The depth of the Christian Scriptures is boundless. Even if I were attempting to study them and nothing else, from boyhood to decrepit old age, with the utmost leisure, the most unwearied zeal, and with talents greater than I possess, I would still be making progress in discovering their treasures.
Augustine of Hippo
Compare Scripture with Scripture. False doctrines, like false witnesses, agree not among themselves.
William Gurnall
The word of God will stand a thousand readings; and he who has gone over it most frequently is the surest of finding new wonders there.
James Hamilton
The Holy Scriptures have not only an elementary use, but a use of perfection, neither can they ever be exhausted.
George Herbert
We ought not to criticize, explain, or judge the Scriptures by our mere reason, but diligently, with prayer, meditate thereon, and seek their meaning.
Martin Luther
A favorite way to study the Bible with me is, first, to take up one expression, and run through the different places where they are found. Take the “I am’s” of John: “I am the bread of life”; “I am the water of life”; “I am the way, the truth and the life”; “I am the resurrection”; etc.
D.L. Moody
Some say pray and pray and don’t lean on the unspiritual human work of study. Others say, study and study because God is not going to tell you the meaning of a word in prayer. But the Bible will not have anything to do with this dichotomy. We must study and accurately handle the Word of God, and we must pray or we will not see in the Word the one thing needful, the glory of God in the face of Christ.
John Piper
Thorough knowledge of the Bible is worth more than a college education.
Theodore Roosevelt
The most learned, acute and diligent student cannot, in the longest life, obtain an entire knowledge of this one volume. The more deeply he works the mine, the richer and more abundant he finds the ore; new light continually beams from this source of heavenly knowledge, to direct the conduct, and illustrate the work of God and the ways of men; and he will at last leave the world confessing that the more he studied the Scriptures, the fuller conviction he had of his own ignorance and of their inestimable value.
Sir Walter Scott
1. READ THE BIBLE WITH AN EARNEST DESIRE TO UNDERSTAND IT.
Do not be content to just read the words of Scripture. Seek to grasp the message they contain.
2. READ THE SCRIPTURES WITH A SIMPLE, CHILDLIKE FAITH AND HUMILITY.
Believe what God reveals. Reason must bow to God’s revelation.
3. READ THE WORD WITH A SPIRIT OF OBEDIENCE AND SELF-APPLICATION.
Apply what God says to yourself and obey His will in all things.
4. READ THE HOLY SCRIPTURES EVERY DAY.
We quickly lose the nourishment and strength of yesterday’s bread. We must feed our souls daily upon the manna God has given us.
5. READ THE WHOLE BIBLE AND READ IT IN AN ORDERLY WAY.
“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable.” I know of no better way to read the Bible than to start at the beginning and read straight through to the end, a portion every day, comparing Scripture with Scripture.
6. READ THE WORD OF GOD FAIRLY AND HONESTLY.
As a general rule, any passage of Scripture means what it appears to mean.
Interpret every passage in this simple manner, in its context.
7. READ THE BIBLE WITH CHRIST CONSTANTLY IN VIEW.
The whole Book is about Him. Look for Him on every page. He is there. If you fail to see Him there, you need to read that page again.
C.H. Spurgeon
He who is but a casual reader of the Bible, does not know the height, the depth, the length and breadth of the mighty meanings contained in its pages.
There are certain times when I discover a new vein of thought, and I put my hand to my head and say in astonishment, “Oh, it is wonderful I never saw this before in the Scriptures.”
You will find the Scriptures enlarge as you enter them; the more you study them the less you will appear to know of them, for they widen out as we approach them.
Especially will you find this the case with the “typical” parts of God’s Word. Most of the historical books were intended to be types either of dispensations, or experiences, or offices of Jesus Christ.
Study the Bible with this as a key. One of the most interesting points of the Scriptures is their constant tendency to display Christ.
C.H. Spurgeon
Draw the honey out of the comb of Scripture, and live on its sweetness.
C.H. Spurgeon
Cease to meddle with matters that are concealed, and be satisfied to know the things that are clearly revealed.
C.H. Spurgeon
When you read a verse in the Bible ask yourself, What does this verse mean? Then ask: What does it mean for me? When that is answered ask yourself again: Is that all it means? And do not leave it until you are quite sure that is all it means for the present.
R.A. Torrey
A verse must be read often, and re-read and read again before the wondrous message of love and power that God has put into it begins to appear. Words must be turned over and over in the mind before their full force and beauty takes possession of us. One must look a long time at the great masterpieces of art to appreciate their beauty and understand their meaning, and so one must look a long time at the great verses of the Bible to appreciate their beauty and understand their meaning.
R.A. Torrey
The Scripture is to be its own interpreter, or rather the Spirit speaking in it; nothing can cut the diamond but the diamond; nothing can interpret Scripture but Scripture.
Thomas Watson
If the Bible is, as we devoutly believe, the very source and measure of our religious faith, it seems impossible to insist too earnestly on the supreme importance of patience, candor and truthfulness in investigating every problem which it involves. And unless all past experience is worthless, the difficulties of the Bible are the most fruitful guides to its divine depths. It was said long since that “God was pleased to leave difficulties upon the surface of Scripture, that men might be forced to look below the surface.”
Brooke Foss Westcott, 1864, written when the rise of biblical scholarship was leading to criticism of the Bible, and causing some people to discount the findings of scholarship.