Studies In Scripture » Bible Study Methods

Writing in an Expensive Bible

Randy A. Brown — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 01:38:49 +0000

Many of us don’t feel comfortable writing in our Bibles. The more expensive the Bible the harder it is to take a pen to it and start writing. Many times I write something barely legible and try to fix it only to make it worse. I used to struggle to come up with something to write, and when I did finally write something it was almost irrelevant. Sometimes I would write an observation that was so obvious that the note didn’t help me. Here are a few tips that may help you if you want to write in your Bible but don’t know where to start.

Print out a Bible page and practice before writing in your Bible. You can print a page by highlighting the text from a Bible online, download a printable Bible, or print a Bible from software on your computer. This will allow you to get more comfortable with writing with the Bible text before writing in your own Bible.

Write your notes on paper first, and then transfer the note to your Bible when you’re ready. This way you can work out what you want to say, and then decide if it needs to be written in your Bible. I’ve written many notes that I won’t transfer to my next Bible. Writing your notes out on paper first helps you to see beforehand if it really needs to be in your Bible or not.

Buy a cheaper Bible and practice. You don’t have to start with the most expensive Bible. I started with an inexpensive Bible and developed my own system. I learned what I liked and didn’t like and bought another Bible and started over. I did this several times until I was ready to write in a better quality Bible.

Get good quality pens for marking your Bible. Marks that bleed through and smear look terrible in your Bible. I recommend pens or pencils that don’t leave indentions in the paper, bleed through, fade, or smear. My favorite markers are Pigma Micron. They are archival quality and work great. My favorite pencils for coloring are PrismaColor.

It’s OK not to write in your Bible- even if it’s made for writing in (like a wide margin Bible). Don’t let others pressure you into writing in your Bible if you don’t want to. Don’t feel obligated to just because others are doing it. Use whatever system works for you. If you would rather write in a notebook than your Bible, that’s perfectly fine. The key is that you take notes as you study the Bible. Work with the text and apply what you’ve learned- even if you don’t feel comfortable writing in your Bible.

Bible Study Methods – Book Study

Randy A. Brown — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 21:53:27 +0000

Book study is the most basic and fundamental Bible study method. It can be helpful to study a little here and a little there, but studying the whole book helps keep everything in its proper context. Studying the Word of God one book at a time helps to get the big picture. It’s like looking at the Scriptures first with a telescope before looking at the Scriptures through a microscope. The telescope gives us the proper foundation to see how all the parts fit together as a whole so that when we look through the microscope we can better understand how the parts relate to each other and how they are to be applied.

Book study is the most difficult and includes many other study methods. It includes inductive study, where you write questions, answers, thoughts, lists, etc. It also includes marking, where you mark the main points, topics, etc. It includes topical study, where you identify topics throughout the book. It can also include a devotional study, where you journal what is speaking to you at this specific time in your life.

There are many ways to do a book study. This is not the only method you should try, but hopefully there will be something here that can help you grow in God’s Word. Always begin with prayer. Ask God to lead you as you dig deeper into His Word.

First, read the whole book. If it’s a small book try reading it in one sitting. If it’s a larger book, try reading as much in one sitting as possible so you can get through the book in just a few days. Don’t worry about the details yet. Just try to grasp the main points.

Next, read the book again. This time, write down the main points that speak to you.

Then, read the book again. This time try to answer who, what, when, why, and how. Write your answers to each question. Ask yourself the questions as many times as you can. Write down who the writer is and who the writer is writing to and why. What are the circumstances that caused the book to be written? What are the key thoughts, passages, and verses? What is the literary style? Does the book have a key verse? Who are the key characters? What are the key events? Were the key points applied? How?

Next, read the book again. This time, divide the book into sections. Take the major points and events in each section to create your own headings for each section.

Next, read the book again. This time, this time, take the headings you’ve written to help you form an outline of the book.

While reading the book, use your outline to help you write a summary of each chapter. Once you’ve written a summary of each chapter, try writing a summary of the whole book.

Read the book again. This time, mark the text. Mark the main points, topics, and events that speak to you.

To grow even deeper, try writing your own commentary of the book. Also try teaching the book to others. Use your notes as your teaching material.

This method is a lot of work, but when you’re done you will master the book. Each time you read it you will see something that you overlooked before. This method is the most difficult, but most complete and thorough method of Bible study. I feel that it gives the greatest results. This method will help you build a foundation to build your own cross references, word studies, topical studies, character studies, etc., and it will give you what you need to teach it to others. You might even remember a verse or two along the way.

Journaling Through the Word of God

Randy A. Brown — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 19:30:11 +0000

Journaling is a great interactive Bible study method. It helps you to interact with God’s Word by recording your thoughts on what you’re reading. Going back through your journal can help you reflect on what God has shown you in His Word. Your journal can be in your Bible, in a separate notebook, or even in a digital format. Your journaling method can be as simple as recording a thought about a passage, or as complex as developing a verse-by-verse commentary. Journaling is a great way to grow deeper in God’s Word.

Advantages of Journaling

Journaling your way through the Word of God has many advantages. For one, it causes us to slow down and look deeper at the text. It can be so easy to focus on breezing through as chapters a day as you can, but it’s also easy to breeze through those chapters and miss the details. Journaling helps us to slow down and look closer at what is going on or being said. It allows us to see things we might normally gloss over and not really see.

Journaling also helps in memorizing Scripture. I have a hard time memorizing Scripture. I can repeat a verse, or even write a verse over and over and it can still be difficult to remember. When I take my time and talk about a verse, whether I’m talking or writing, I often remember a verse without even trying.

Types of Journals

There are many options to keeping a journal. One popular method is to use a Bible made just for that purpose- a journaling Bible. A journaling Bible is a Bible with writing space; usually on the outside margin and ruled. Some leave one side of the page blank. You can also use a regular wide-margin Bible. I’m partial to the wide-margins available from Cambridge and LCBP. An advantage in using your Bible for your journal is that you will have created your own devotional Bible or a study Bible complete with notes. For my journaling I will use the Take Note Bible from Nelson. It is available in both KJV and NKJV for around $20.00.

Another option is to write in a notebook. The advantage to using a notebook is you are not limited to the space in your Bible and you can use any Bible.

You could print the Bible pages and write on the pages that you’ve printed. The advantage to this is you can print what you want when you want.

Another option is to keep your journal digitally. This includes a smart-phone, tablet, PC, laptop, blog, etc. The advantage to using a digital device, especially a PC, is that you can easily publish your work. This allows you to use your journal as teaching material, study material, blog posts, newsletters, devotionals, or even a book.

I really like journaling in a Bible, but I recommend starting out with pen and paper. Most people are reluctant to write in a Bible because they are afraid of making mistakes. Notebooks can be used anywhere and feels slightly more inductive. If you want to journal in a Bible, I recommend buying an inexpensive Bible for this purpose, but practice on paper first.

The most important thing is to get a journal that you feel comfortable writing in and put it to use.

How to Journal

Whether you follow a reading plan or just read what you feel lead to, journaling is a great benefit to your daily devotional routine. Here are a few tips to get started. You can use any one or all of these tips in any way that works for you. This list is not exhaustive, but it might help get you started:

Always start with prayer
Read the whole chapter first
Reread a passage several times
Look for the main points
Summarize the main points
Pray for guidance
Write down your thoughts on those points
Write down your observations
Write down any definitions that help you to understand the passage
Write down any references to similar verses
Write questions and answers you have about the text
Make sure to keep everything in its proper context
Use more than one translation if you need to
Write down how this point applies to your life
End with prayer

What to Write With

Pigma Micron markers work the best for me. They are archival quality and do not run, smear, or fade. They have very little bleed-through and come in many colors. You can use any pencil or pen that will write well in your Bible or journal, but Pigma Micron is my choice.

Concluding Thoughts

My time for journaling at least a few times per week. Don’t get in a hurry. Don’t feel like you have to journal through the Scriptures by a set time (like once per year). Journaling is different from reading. You might read the Bible through in a year (or more), but you might spend a week journaling just one chapter or passage. That’s OK. The purpose of journaling is to dig deeper into God’s Word, and that takes time.

Pray at each point. Start with prayer. Observes the Scriptures, and then pray about your observations. Pray about the application, and then apply the Scriptures. Finish with prayer, and then share with someone else what God has shown you in His Word.

What do you do with your journal when you’re done? I like using my journal to reflect on what God has shown me in the Scriptures. I also like using my journal as a teaching tool- both for developing lessons and for teaching from. If I’ve journaled in my Bible, then my Bible could be a good study Bible or carry Bible.

There’s no better time to start than now.

Applying the Word of God

Add Your Own Headings to Your Bible

Randy A. Brown — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 23:57:42 +0000

Many Bibles, especially study Bibles, have headings within the text. Headings usually do a great job of summarizing the text in just a sentence. The headings can be very informative and can make the text easier to read by breaking the text into sections. Headings are especially helpful for scanning the page for a certain event or topic. If you have a Bible with wide enough margins, you can add your own custom headings.

There are many types of headings: some more theological, others more informative, some include references, some have many headings, and others have very few. Some are distracting when reading, while others are barely even noticeable.

Some may laugh at the idea of writing headings in the margins of a wide-margin Bible, feeling that we’re just making our Bibles the same as other study Bibles, or that the headings are not helpful. I suggest that making your own headings is a great way to delve into the text- pulling out the main points of each passage. It helps in study because you are thinking deeply about a passage to determine how best to describe it in just one sentence. Headings are also a great searching tool. If I’m looking for a certain miracle that Jesus performed, I can read down the margins (at the blue writing in my Concord) until I find the passage I’m looking for.

One of my favorite heading-systems is from the Thompson Chain Reference. Its headings are in the margins with the chain references. This works great for me because it keeps my text clear. I can read the text without interruption, and if I want to use the headings they are there in the margin. For this reason, I recommend a wide-margin Bible.

What you will need:

Wide-margin Bible. Any good wide-margin Bible will do. One of my favorites for this project is the Note-takers from Local Church Bible Publishers. It is single column and has a 2.5 inch margin on the outside of each page. LCBP also has a regular wide-margin. LCBP is also releasing a wide-margin in large print. It will have the same print as their large print hand size, but will have around 1.5 inch margins all around. Another favorite is the Cambridge wide-margin series. And of course RL Allan has a new wide-margin in KJV.

Pens. My favorite for this project is the Bible Marking Kit from Pigma-micron. You could use just a single color for the headings (I’m using blue in my Concord), or you could use different colors for different Scripture types. For example, you could use one color for history, another for doctrine, another for parables, and another for poetry, etc.

There are several ways to come up with your own headings. You could open up several Bibles and compare what they have, and then make your own based on your specific tastes (using your own theological view, or focusing on specific topics such as Creation, history, archaeology, etc.).

My recommendation:

Study each chapter and write down the main points. From those points, write a short sentence that describes each point. At first you might want to look at other Bibles for examples and reference. This will help you to write the headings the best you possibly can before writing them in your Bible. Once you feel comfortable with each heading, transfer them to your Bible. Don’t get in a hurry. If you’re not sure, don’t write it. You can always come back to it later. If nothing else, it can open up an area for deeper study. Even if you decide not to write the headings in your Bible, you’ve dug a little deeper in God’s Word- and that’s always a good thing. If you do decide to write the headings in your Bible, you have a study Bible that is made from your own study instead of someone else’s. You will have a unique study Bible that is completely your own.

Creating Your Own Chain Reference System

Randy A. Brown — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 21:16:30 +0000

Chain references provide a great way to perform a topical study. Most Bibles that have references do not have chain references. Instead, they have cross references. Cross references are great, but it can get very confusing when you have to flip back and forth over the same verses over and over. Some Bibles do not have the verses linked to the reference, so there’s no easy way to know which reference will go with which portion of the verse. If your Bible has any room for writing at all, you can greatly expand the study quality of your Bible by adding your own chain reference system.

Chain references do not work like cross references. With cross references, the reference might refer you back to an earlier verse, forward to a later verse, or both. If you have five verses, each referring back to the other, it can take you a lot of time and frustration to flip back and forth until you’ve found the verses you need. If your Bible has lots of references (some have 100,000), this process gets even more confusing and time consuming- especially if you want to study a specific topic.

Chain references are topical based and provide a link to the next verse in the topic. Instead of five verses that connect back to all five verses and leaving you not knowing which to choose, the first verse provides a link to the second verse. The second verse provides a link to the third verse, and so on.

Creating your own chain references is a great way to perform a topic Bible study. When studying a topic, write down every major verse within that topic. You will use this list to create your chain reference system. Do not try to find every verse. Instead, find the major and most verses. These will come from sermons, class-room teaching, coursework, books, tracts, other chain reference systems (such as Thompson Chain Reference Study Bible), and even cross references. Here’s where you have to decide how detailed you want to break up the topics. You can keep them general, for example “The Armor of God”, or you can get more specific within the major topic, for example “The Helmet of Salvation”.

Next, place the verses in Biblical order. This helps keep the order and flow logical and you can move through the Bible in one direction.

Once you’ve decided what verses go under what topics, it’s time to write them in your Bible. I recommend using Pigma Micron markers to write in your Bible. You can write them in the margin if there’s room. There are a few Bibles that have a blank center column for writing in. I recommend a wide margin Bible if possible. With a wide margin Bible you have enough room to write the name of the topic with the next reference. If you don’t have enough room to write the name of the topic, you might want to write a number for the topic, an abbreviation, or even a symbol to represent the topic. You could even use different colors to represent the topics. You could have the last verse to reference back to the first verse.

Last, write an index in the front of your Bible that contains the topic names and the first verse in each chain.

The chains are a great tool for Bible study, Scripture memory, and witnessing. They can be expanded to as many topics as you want. I recommend making your chain reference system even if your Bible already has chain references or cross references because it will make your Bible a better tool for you.

Creating Your Own Study Bible

Randy A. Brown — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 03:30:53 +0000

Ryan Gustason of Pentecostal Blogger has written an article on creating your own study Bible. He is using a red-letter Word document, created his own layout, and downloaded a unique font set to create his own symbol system. Ryan provides links to all the downloads you need to create your own study Bible and symbol system. You can see his article here:

Creating a Study Bible

Making Your Own Loose Leaf Bible

Randy A. Brown — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 23:04:06 +0000

Loose-leaf Bibles provide a great way to add your own notes and pages to your Bible. There are several available from Hendrickson, so at first printing your own hardly seems worth it. It comes down to what features you want in your Bible. Printing your own give you even more advantages and options. For one, if you don’t like something you’ve written or highlighted, simply print the page out again and start over. Loose-leaf Bibles are a nice way to make your own Study Bible- you can type your own notes and then print it out without having to write anything by hand.

Printing your own also allows you to choose your own features such as the font you want, including size and style, paragraph format, and you can print the words of Christ in red. You could even print topics in specific colors, highlight the text, underline, bold, add symbols, references, definitions, images, or anything else you can think of. A Bible printed on copy paper has far less bleed-through and the text can be much bolder, making it easier to read and mark. You might not want to carry it, but it will make an excellent study Bible.

For my loose-leaf project I will be using KJV. This has to do with copyright issues (the KJV is public domain) and it is the main translation I use. I will add my own headings in the text, make it red-letter, choose the specific font that I want, add my own references and translation notes, add Hebrew and Greek definitions, make it wide margin, have OT quotes in the NT to be in a different font-style, and possibly use blue-letter for the words of God in the OT. Some of these features will require more work than others. Since I can make more than one I’ve decided that I want my first one to fit in one binder, so I will be making trade-offs with font-size and margin-width, and I won’t add references. Also, I will be printing on both sides of the page.

First, get a KJV text. Since the KJV is public domain it is freely available online in many places. I recommend downloading several and choose the format you like the best. If you plan to add features such as notes, references, headings, etc., and change the font style and size, the page layout of the KJV you download won’t really matter because it won’t look the same anyway. Here are a few choices:

http://printkjv.ifbweb.com/
http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Bible/KJB/pce.htm
http://bibledatabase.org/bibles.html
http://www.biblicalscholarship.net/AV.htm
http://www.bibleprotector.com/
http://www.basicchristian.org/

Here’s one in red-letter with some headings in the text:

http://home.comcast.net/~classichauslimited/htmlpgs/kjvbibles.html

It’s easy enough to change the font and page layout using a word processor. If you choose a PDF file, simply save it as text or copy and paste into your word-processor. None of these texts come with references or notes. There are other places to get the text- especially if you don’t mind copying one book or chapter at a time.

Next, format the text the way I want it. I want a large font and wide-margin. I will have to decide which is more important and make adjustments as necessary. I recommend experimenting with one book before printing the entire Bible. For my first attempt I will print only a few chapters. It might take me several tries before I like what I have. Since I’m experimenting, I ended up printing several variations. I decided on a 12-point Times Roman font. I don’t like the shade of red, so I’ll keep experimenting until I get something that works for me. I might even go with black-letter.

The last step will be choosing a binder and punching the holes. You can use one large binder or several smaller binders. You can even use a spiral binding if you want. I’ve decided to use my pages loose rather than place them in a binder- at least until I get the text exactly the way I want it.

Printing your own loose-leaf Bible is a great way to study and write in your Bible. You have much thicker paper than what you can get in any Bible, you can have any size and style font you want, and the text is bold and crisp. You won’t be straining to see the text and you can’t read three pages deep. You can have any size margin you want, and you can interleave as many pages as you want any time you want. If you don’t like what you’ve written or marked, print that page again and start over. You can spread out the cost by only printing a book at a time. If nothing else it can be used to help you in your Bible study by allowing you to interact with and mark your text without writing in your primary Bible.

Things to Mark in Your Bible

Randy A. Brown — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 01:06:14 +0000

Bible marking is a form of inductive study and can be a great way to interact with the scriptures. Once you’ve marked in your Bible it starts to become a reflection of your study of God’s Word. It becomes personal. Over time, it becomes a companion. It becomes a valuable study Bible. No two marked Bibles are alike. Marking in your Bible is well worth the effort, but the really hard part is knowing what to mark and how.

I love getting a new Bible and marking it all up. Well… I don’t mark in every Bible. Actually, I don’t recommend writing in just any Bible. I choose a Bible just for marking and a Bible just for reading. I prefer a Bible with thick paper and bold text for marking and I prefer wide margins for writing notes. Some of my favorite marking Bibles are:

Cambridge wide-margin. These are available in hard-cover, bonded leather, French Morocco, calf-split, and goatskin. They are available in KJV, NKJV, NASB, and ESV. Cambridge has the best paper, font, and features (paper to write on, etc.).

Local Church Bible Publishers Note-takers and wide-margins. These are available in genuine leather and calfskin at amazing prices (they sell at cost). They are available in KJV and are the best Bible for the money. They even have a Cameo in red-letter.

There are other great Bibles for writing in, but these are the Bibles I use the most often. I recommend printing out pages of Bible text to experiment with or try an inexpensive Bible (like the Church Publishers vinyl series) before you write in an expensive Bible.

There are several tools to mark with. I prefer color-coding according to topic. For this I use Prismacolor color pencils. They don’t make indentions in the paper and they look great. Also, I like to write notes in the margins. For this I use Pigma Micron markers. They do not smear or fade and they don’t have much bleed-through.

OK, I have a good marking Bible and stuff to mark with… what do I mark?

Use color to mark topics. Keep the topics general (love) or specific (God is love), but be consistent.
Make your own chain references. These are helpful for witnessing and study.
Definitions. I write Greek and Hebrew definitions in my margins.
Translation notes. These include variant readings and notes on definitions.
Explanations. Keep them brief.
Underline the key points. You can use colors for various elements or just use one color.
Marginal notes on who the context is referring to, how the passage is to be obeyed or applied, etc.
Simple outlines for teaching or preaching. This works best for blank pages in the back or wide margins.
Chain studies. These can be any type of study that you like from other resources. For example, if you did a study on the family, you could do a separate study for fathers, mothers, children, husbands, wives, etc. Each study would be numbered and chain-referenced throughout the Scriptures. For example, Fathers could be study 1. So in your margin of the first verse, write a 1, place a mark to indicate where the study starts and ends, and then write the reference for the next verse to go to. Do this for each study. Be sure to write the key information in the front of your Bible with the verse to go to first for each study. This is similar to chain-references, but chain studies are more specific and focused on specific topics and include larger passages (sometimes several chapters).
Grammatical notes. You can mark pronouns that tie together, etc.
References to outside sources.
Symbols. These are useful to indicate specific topics in very little space. For example, you could write ‘2^nd’ to indicate the topic of the second coming of Christ. Symbols are easy to develop and the symbol system can be expanded further than color-codes.
Verses to memorize. I like to circle the number of the verse with a green (my color for the Scriptures) Pigma Micron marker.
Notes from books, seminars, etc.

This list is just the tip of the iceberg, but I feel that it’s a good place to start.

In Church, seminars, class, etc., I take notes into a notebook or journal. If there are any points that I want to place in my Bible I will transfer them later.

Don’t mark everything. Marking too much will lessen the usefulness of the markings.

Be consistent. Don’t use one color to mean something in one chapter and something else in another. Don’t interchange your colors. I find it’s best to use the same color for the same meaning throughout the Bible.

A Bible that you’ve marked in will become a journal of your walk with God, and can become a nice study Bible.

Experiment and develop a system that works best for you. Marking in your Bible will give you the pleasure of owning your very own personal study Bible.

Marking Your Bible without Marking the Text

Randy A. Brown — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 01:28:27 +0000

Sometimes I like to read a Bible that I haven’t marked in, just so I can see a clean text. Sometimes I find the markings to be distracting. In fact, I find the headings and notes in study Bibles distracting. Sometimes I want to just read. There is a way to mark your Bible and still be able to read it without being distracted by the markings.

Instead of marking the text, I’ve been experimenting with marking the margins. Some Bibles have more room in the margins than others, but this method will work in most Bibles. The two best Bibles for this method are a wide-margin and a Thompson Chain reference.

If you mark according to topics like I do, you would greatly benefit from a wide-margin or a Thompson with this method. I will cover both Bibles separately since I am working with them differently. I will cover the Thompson first.

One thing I like about the Thompson Chain Reference Bible is that most of the time when I want to write a topic in the margin it is already there. Not every topic is there, but many of them are and there is enough room left that you can write in the few that are not there. Another thing I like about the Thompson is that the text is clear of distractions. I used to complain that it didn’t have headings within the text itself- instead, they are in the margins, and you have to look for them. Now I see that as a strength rather than a weakness. So now instead of marking my text, I mark the margins. If I want to color every verse on faith or prayer, I simply color the words in the margin and leave my text alone. This has the advantage of using the 7000-8000 topics in the Thompson and you get to highlight the topics that mean the most to you. The topics can be combined, like in my other color-coding methods, or kept separate, making the markings even more valuable. For example, if you wanted to mark Scriptures that pertain to salvation, such as faith, repentance, etc., you could mark each topic with your salvation color (mine is red), or you could mark each topic with its own color. This greatly enhances your marking. You are only limited by the amount of colors you can use. This is the method I am going to use in my next Thompson Chain Reference (this one is from Word Aflame Press). For years I’ve marked the references in the margin and the verse. Now I’m just going to mark the topic and most likely the reference. Of course there are some disadvantages with the Thompson. Thompson has a LOT of stuff written in the margins and to be honest, I don’t use most of it. Coloring the Thompson’s margins helps me to differentiate what I’m looking from what I don’t need. Don’t get me wrong, I like having all of that stuff in the margins, but some of those topics and chains I will never use. I do recommend using a Thompson though, because it is a good topical Bible. You can use a hard-cover or even paperback Thompson if you just want to try this but don’t really need it to be your primary Bible.

You don’t have to have a Thompson Chain Reference to use this method, but you will have to do a little more work if the topics are not already printed in your margins. My favorite type of Bible is a wide-margin, but almost any Bible will work as long as you have some writing room. With a wide-margin Bible, I write the topic myself and color it according to my color-code. This works in much the same way as using a Thompson, but it has its own advantages. For one, I can have just the topics I want. For another, I can be even more thorough with my topics by breaking the verses down ever further, or I can be as simple as I want and just write ‘salvation’ instead of writing all of the individual elements of salvation. There are still at least two more things you can do by writing in your wide-margin- you can use different color markers (a color could mean anything you want it to), and you can color-code your topics any way you want. For example, you can write ‘salvation’ and still use a color to mean something specific (tan for faith, red for repentance, etc.). This works because there’s nothing written in the margin that you didn’t write, so you don’t have to decide what in the margin matters to you. It all matters to you because you put it there.

If you have a Bible with references you can color the references according to their topics. This has the added advantage of showing you quickly what topic the reference is before you go to the verse. This can help you to decide if the reference is what you’re looking for at a glance, since many references do not really give you any information. If the references is not keyed to the text in any way (like my Cambridge Concord), they just become a blind link.

If you don’t have enough room to write words in your margin, you can use symbols. Symbols can be pictures or letters used to represent your topics. For example, you could use a shield for faith (guess where I got that idea…), or you could write an F. Symbols can even be color-coded if you wish. Symbols have the advantage of being virtually unlimited. Of course, symbols can be combined with any other marking system to enhance your Bible study.

I you still want to mark your text but you want it to be easy to read, I would consider just underlining. This is a little bit of both styles: you can color-code you text, but the text would be easy to read because the color is under the text rather than on the text.

I recommend using more than one marking system. For my next Bible with wide-margins, I will mark in my margin and leave my text alone. For my next Bible that doesn’t have writing space, I will underline. Try different things and see what you like; and keep it simple. A system that gets too complex won’t get used for long and it might even deter you from studying the Bible. The key is to use the method that helps you get the most out of God’s Word.

Tools for Bible Study

Randy A. Brown — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 19:21:06 +0000

Bible study tools are resources that are designed to help in studying God’s Word. The Bible itself is of course the most important tool we can use for inductive study, by allowing Scripture to interpret Scripture, but sometimes it is helpful to get a deeper understanding by knowing words, culture, the context, history, people, places, etc. Bible study tools help us to understand these concepts.

There are certain tools that should be in every Bible student’s library. Here is a simple list of the most important tools.

The Bible

I know, it’s a no-brainer, but I wanted to cover the basics. For inductive study, I recommend getting a Bible that is free from distractions and commentary. I also recommend a literal translation, such as KJV, NKJV, ESV, etc. I prefer a wide-margin Bible with references.

Wide-margin
Reference
Journaling

Study Bibles

Study Bibles are like multi-tools- they have lots of tools, but in order to get everything to fit, they are usually simplified versions of better tools. Study Bibles usually include lots of commentary and theological bias. They are good to have around, but I don’t recommend using them for your primary Bible.

The study Bible that I recommend the most is:

Archaeological Study Bible.

With reservations, I could recommend:

Thompson Chain Reference
Life in the Spirit Study Bible
ESV Study Bible
Hebrew Greek Key Word Study Bible

There are many equally good study Bibles, but these are some of the Bibles that I’ve gotten the most out of. Study Bibles have many useful tools in one volume. Just be careful of theological bias and you should be OK.

Topical Bible

There are some Bibles that print the Scriptures under specific topics rather than in Biblical order.

Nave’s Topical Bible
Torrey’s New Topical Textbook
Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Parallel Bible

A Parallel Bible is a Bible that contains more than one translation, often placed side-by-side for comparison. Parallel Bibles usually come with two or four translations in a variety of versions, but some have more. There are many parallel Bibles available. Popular publishers of Parallel Bibles include:

Zondervan
Hendrickson
Oxford
Thomas Nelson
Tyndale

Interlinear Bible

An interlinear Bible is a Bible that shows the Hebrew and/or Greek text with a literal word-for-word translation between the lines of the text. Most interlinear Bibles also include an English translation in the margin. An interlinear Bible is one of the most important and useful tools for serious Bible study.

The Interlinear Bible: Hebrew/Greek/English
The New Greek-English Interlinear NT

Lexicon

I love reading God’s Word in English, but nothing can replace the original languages. In order to study the original languages without taking extensive classes in Greek or Hebrew, I recommend using a lexicon. Lexicons are linguistic tools that define word meanings and vocabulary. They are more than just dictionaries. They give word meanings, grammatical structure, and morphological information.

Thayer’s Greek/English Lexicon
Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon

Concordance

A concordance is the Bible’s searching tool. It contains many words with references to verses where you can find those words. Searching for key words will help you find phrases and passages. Most Bibles come with concordances. Most concordances have so few words that they are not that useful. For serious study you will want an exhaustive concordance.

Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance
Cruden’s Concordance

Commentaries

Commentaries are the most dangerous study tools because they are completely someone else’s opinion about a text or passage. It is difficult for me to recommend commentaries, especially on theological points. However, using commentaries is not something you should be afraid of and the can be very helpful. Some popular commentaries are:

Matthew Henry
Robertson’s Word Pictures of the New Testament
Jamieson, Fausset, Brown Commentary on the Whole Bible

Bible Dictionary/Encyclopedia

Bible dictionaries and encyclopedias are just like regular dictionaries and encyclopedias except they are focused on the Bible. They are very useful tools because they include information you will not find in regular dictionaries and encyclopedias.

Harper Colins
Holmans
Vines
Ungers
Easton’s Bible Dictionary

Maps

Most Bibles have maps, but for serious study I recommend getting a really good set of maps that are more complete and up to date.

Baker Publishing

All of these tools are available in book-form and I recommend having them in your library. However, there are other ways to get many of these same tools in software:

Software Packages

Bible software packages often have all of these tools (at least one of each and sometimes many more) for much less than the cost of the same volumes in book-form.

Free software includes:

Bible Explorer
E-Sword
the Word
Theophilos
YouVersion

Premium software includes:

Bibleworks
Logos
Quickverse
Accordance

Mobile

Laridian
OliveTree

Web-sites

Many of these tools are available on the web. I haven’t mentioned any of those sites here because there are so many and the web changes constantly. Simply search for them in your favorite search engine.

E-Readers

Most of these tools are also available on e-readers. E-reader software can even be used on devices such as phones and computers. E-books are often much cheaper than the same volumes in book-form. Popular e-readers and e-book tools include:

Kindle
nook
Kobo
Sony E-Reader
iPad
Android Tablet
Smart-phones

Of course you can study the Bible without these tools, but Bible study tools will help you to grow much deeper in God’s Word. I recommend having and using at least one of each of the tools in this list.