So you want to read the Bible? Do you want to study the Bible? Do you want to know how you can get the most out of your time in God’s Word?
But you might not know where to start and you might not be sure if you’re even doing it right. Or you’re reading the Bible and you don’t quite understand what you’re reading.
In this lesson, we are going to go through a three-step process to help you read, study, and apply the Bible. Be sure to stick around to the end of this lesson where I’ll share with you a free resource that will help you get the most out of your Bible study.
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Before we get to the three-step process to help you read and study the Bible we first need to lay the foundation of dependence on the Holy Spirit. We need the help of the Holy Spirit to understand the Bible.
You Are Not Alone
We see this in 1 Timothy 2 as Paul writes to Timothy, “Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.” (1 Tim. 2:7) Timothy was to think. Thinking is hard work. Timothy had to do it. But why was he to do it? “For the Lord will give you understanding in everything.” The Lord would help Timothy understand what he was thinking over.
Likewise, as we study the Bible, we cannot do it in our own strength. We need the help of the Holy Spirit. We express our dependence on the Holy Spirit through prayer. When you study the Bible, pray before you begin, as you are studying, and when you conclude. Remember, you are responsible to study the Bible, but you can never properly do it in your own strength.
Begin With Prayer
So as you read the Bible, begin your time of studying with prayer. Always.
This doesn’t have to be elaborate, it can be very simple. I have been greatly helped by an acronym I learned from John Piper. I.O.U.S. It’s 4 verses from the book of Psalms where we pray the words of the Bible back to God.
You are responsible to study the Bible, but you can never properly do it in your own strength.
Incline my heart to you, not to prideful gain or any false motive. (Psalm 119:36)
Open my eyes to behold wonderful things in your Word. (Psalm 119:18)
Unite my heart to fear your name. (Psalm 86:11)
Satisfy me with your steadfast love. (Psalm 90:14)
I have found this to be a helpful way for me to orient my heart and express my dependence upon God as I open up to read and study His Word. And you don’t have to use all four of these every time you read or study the Bible. And to avoid repetition, make the words your own and add a deeper expression of what you mean when you pray those words.
After you’ve laid the foundation of dependence on the Holy Spirit through prayer then you can begin to read using the three-step process; observation, interpretation, and application.
Observation - “What Do I See?”
The first step is observation. This is where the majority of our study should be spent. A lot of us move on too quickly from this step and jump right into interpretation and application before we truly understand what’s in the passage we are reading. It’s absolutely crucial to first understand what a passage says before trying to determine what that passage means. If we have an incorrect understanding of what the passage says, or what is in the text, it will lead us to have an incorrect interpretation and application to our lives.
In this step of observation, a simple question to ask is “what do I see?” In order to determine what you see, ask questions and ask a lot of them. The 5 W’s and 1 H that we all learned when we were younger are great here: who, what, when, where, why, and how.
As an example let’s use the opening verses of Paul’s first letter to Timothy (1:1-2).
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope,
2 To Timothy, my true child in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
Here are some questions and answers that are the basis of observation.
- Who is mentioned in these verses (people)?
- Paul
- Christ Jesus
- God our Savior
- Timothy
- Who is mentioned in these verses (people)?
- What do we learn about them (descriptions)?
- Paul wrote the letter and is an apostle of Christ Jesus and he is a spiritual father to Timothy.
- God here refers to the Father and is described as our Savior. Referring to the Father as Savior is uncommon in the New Testament. This leads us to ask, why does Paul call God the Father our Savior?
- Christ Jesus is described as our hope and our Lord
- Timothy is described by Paul as a true child in the faith.
- How does Paul address Timothy (tone)?
- Are there any clues in these verses on how Paul might be writing to Timothy? Tone involves the author being gentle or harsh or other emotions.
- Paul is affectionate toward Timothy. He calls him his true child in the faith.
- He is reminding Timothy of God’s sovereignty which would comfort Timothy as he seeks to be faithful in ministry. He says Jesus is Lord in verse two. Nothing Timothy faces is outside God’s control.
- Paul comforts Timothy by writing grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. Whatever Timothy is facing he needs God’s grace, God’s mercy, and God’s peace and he has it in Christ.
- Are there any clues in these verses on how Paul might be writing to Timothy? Tone involves the author being gentle or harsh or other emotions.
- Why did Paul write to Timothy (purpose)?
- To answer this question we need to have read the whole book multiple times. There is a clue in 3:14-15. Paul wrote to Timothy, “I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these things to you so that, if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth.”
- Paul wants Timothy, and the church at Ephesus (1:3) to know how to conduct themselves in the house of God. Paul’s reason for writing the letter is so the church will know how church should be done.
Observation is the key here. If you do not observe well it will be harder to interpret the passage and to obey it. We observe by asking “what do I see?” and we get a better understanding of what we see by asking the 5 W’s and 1 H; who, what, when, where, why, and how.
Interpretation- “What Does It Mean?”
The second step is interpretation. Observation tells us what we see in the text. Interpretation tells us what the text means.
In interpretation, we are determining meaning. We’re asking, “What does it mean?” To understand the meaning, ask, what is God trying to communicate through the author?
We often discuss the meaning of Scripture as if it were subjective as if each reader gets to decide what the passage is about. But Howard Hendricks helpfully states,
“If we’re to have any hope of interpreting God’s Word accurately, we’ve got to start with a fundamental premise: ‘Meaning’ is not subjective thoughts read into the text but God’s objective truth read out of the text.” (Living by the Book, 201).
We do not get to subjectively decide what any given passage is about. There is already an objective truth that the author was intending to communicate. Our job is to determine what that objective truth is. What is God trying to communicate through the author?
The biggest key for interpretation is context. You will have done some of this work already in observation. Context is simply what is around the passage you are studying, both before and after the text. From our example, in 1 Tim. 1:1-2 we need to look at the verses that follow, as well as the whole book.
As I already mentioned during our observation, later on in 1 Timothy 3 Paul explains that he was writing to encourage Timothy and to outline how the church ought to behave (3:14-16). Since Paul is going to lay down commands he declares his authority as an Apostle from the beginning. Again, 1 Timothy 1:1, “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope,” Paul is an Apostle because God commanded it. God our Savior and Christ Jesus our hope commanded this.
So Paul’s meaning (the interpretation) in verse one is that he has the authority to lay down the following commands not because of who he is in and of himself, but because of the command of God.
He calls God our Savior because salvation is a big theme in 1 Timothy. He calls Jesus our hope because Timothy was in a difficult situation and he needed hope.
So we see that context is important for our interpretation because we are better able to understand the meaning of one passage in context with the rest of the passage or book. In other words, scripture interprets scripture. One passage or verse helps make sense of another passage or verse.
In interpretation, we are determining meaning by asking “what does it mean?” To understand the meaning, ask, “what is God trying to communicate through the author?”
Application - “What Should I Do Now?”
Observation answers “what do I see?” and interpretation answers “what does it mean?” The third step is application which answers the “so what” question. “What should I do now?” How is God inviting you to respond to what you’ve read?
This is where the rubber meets the road; where faith is put into action (Jam. 2). Our pastor says that unapplied truth is wasted truth. If you spend all of your Bible study time and effort in the first two steps and you never make it to the application you’ve wasted your time. It is good to know what the text means but It is best to know what it means and to live it out, to be transformed (Rom. 12:1-2).
Transformation is the goal of Bible study. If you do not walk away changed from your time of study then try again.
Two notes here. By way of reminder, the text can only mean one thing. There is one meaning not multiple. But when it comes to application, how the text is lived out, there could be multiple legitimate applications. This is why correctly interpreting a passage is important. If the interpretation is wrong then the applications will be wrong as well. The reason the applications can be different is that we are all coming from different life circumstances. For example, in certain scenarios, a young college student will apply a text differently than someone who is retired.
From 1 Timothy 1:1-2, we can make two applications. First, Jesus is our hope therefore every other place we might place our hope will fail us. We need to look to Him for hope. Second, God is our Savior. He helps us in our times of trouble. He is the one who saved us from the punishment for our sin. He is the one who is saving us from the power of sin. And He is the one who will one day save us from the presence of sin. Therefore, when we face difficulties in life we need to go to the one who saves us.
Application answers the “so what” question. “What should I do now?” How is God inviting you to respond to what you’ve read?
Warm Yourself with the Fires of Meditation
One of the best ways that we can apply the scriptures to our lives is meditation. As our pastor said, one of the keys of spiritual growth is Biblical meditation.
We’re not going to go too deep on Biblical meditation, we’ll save that for another time. But, one small way that you can practice Biblical meditation is to find one key phrase or verse from your reading and begin to think deeply about all that verse means and what effect it has on your life. As Don Whitney said, “read wide, meditate small.” Meaning, you may read several chapters in one sitting, especially if you’re using a bible reading plan which we highly recommend, but just take one verse or even just a key phrase that you can bring with you for the day. Begin to think and apply that verse to your life.
For example, from 1 Timothy 1 one phrase you could meditate on is “Christ Jesus our hope.” As you go throughout your day you may face situations that may cause you to lose hope but remember “Christ Jesus is our hope,” you have no reason to lose hope. Or you may face a situation that may try and replace Jesus as your hope such as you may be tempted to hope in money, a job, or a relationship, but remember “Christ Jesus is our hope.”
In meditation ask yourself, “what’s one phrase I can take with me for the day?”
End With Prayer
So far we’ve observed, we’ve interpreted, and applied but that doesn’t mean we’re finished just yet. Just as we started our time of studying the Bible with prayer, we should also conclude our reading and studying the Bible with prayer. Not only do we need the help of the Holy Spirit to understand Scripture but we need the Holy Spirit to apply the Bible to our lives leading to transformation.
One way that you can pray at the conclusion of studying your Bible is by using another acronym known as the ACTS prayer model which stands for Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication. Taking what you have just read you can then pray according to these 4 categories.
Adoration. What did you just learn about God that is worthy of praise? What did you learn about God that you love and respect?
Confession. What do you need to confess in light of what you have just read? Is there anything else you should confess?
Thanksgiving. What can you thank God for?
Supplication. What are some areas that you have needs? Ask God to help you apply what you just read.
In summary, begin your study with prayer, using the acronym I.O.U.S. if you’d like. Then as you begin to read, spend the majority of your time in observation asking “what do I see?” using the 5 W’s and 1 H; who, what, when, where, why, and how. Then after you have fully observed what is in the text, move on to interpretation, and determine the meaning by asking “what does it mean?” and specifically “what is God trying to communicate through the author?” Then you can move on to application and answer the “so what” question, “What should I do now?” How is God inviting you to respond to what you’ve read? Then, find one key phrase or verse that you can meditate on throughout the day. Finally conclude in prayer, using the ACTS prayer model if you’d like, and ask God to help you apply what you have just read.
All of this may seem like a lot but as you begin to put these things into practice it will get easier to read and study the Bible. To help you get the most out of your Bible study we’ve created a free Bible Study guide just for you that covers everything that we talked about today and more. You can download the guide to your phone so that it’s with you wherever you go or you can print it off and put it in your Bible. If you’d like this free guide click this link.
Now that we’ve laid the foundation of studying the Bible we can move on to discuss 5 keys for Bible study. These 5 keys will help us understand more fully the message of scripture. If you want to become a better reader of the Bible and want to know what to look for when you read be sure to check out our next lesson the 5 keys for Bible study. And be sure to subscribe for future videos helping you to grow in your faith and your understanding of the Bible!
May God open our eyes to behold wondrous things from His Word.