Some tips on studying the Bible:

1. Always start with a word of prayer before studying scripture: "Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law" (Psalm 119:18)
2. Read the context - many times.  Look at the big picture - don´t get lost in the detail.  Familarise yourself with the whole book.
3. Try writing out the passage word for word.  Remember this was the way in which the Kings of Israel learnt the law (Deuteronomy 17:18-19).  Alternatively try carefully reading the passage out aloud
4. Précis is a powerful tool - try to summarise the passage in your own words.  This involves identifying the key points to the passage
5. Ask questions - this is vital and probably the most powerful key to Bible study outside of prayer.  "Do I understand?", "Do I really get the point?", "Does it make sense?", "What does this really mean?" - these are basic questions. Try to get to the underlying meaning or assumption in the text - for example Hebrews 1 - "What is the difference between being a son and an angel, and why is it important?"
6. Look for references to other parts of scripture.  Look at them in context.  When scripture is making a direct quotation to another scripture, check the original quote carefully.  Why is the writer quoting this?  What point is being made?
7. When encountering passages that are difficult, which challenge our understanding, step back and consider the extreme positions.  Be honest - what is the passage really saying?  Not being able to "understand" a passage means that there are assumptions in the passage that we don´t appreciate.
8. The best commentary on scripture is scripture itself!  Use the references to supply the meanings of words and concepts.  For example have you ever contemplated the attributes of God in Exodus 34:6-7? David writes a wonderful commentary on those attributes in Psalm 103.  We can understand biblical ideas with reference to scripture itself!
9. The use of word definitions is useful for checking how a particular word is used in a variety of passages.  However, just looking for a definition that suits us can be precarious and is not really rigorous or honest study
10. Don´t lose the plot!  Remember that Jesus Christ is the positive word - the living Word of God - the true light - we can check off our findings against him!

Additionally this site has the Christadelphian Daily Reading plan built in to it.  By following this plan and reading three portions of scripture a day, one reads the Old Testament once and the New Testament twice a year

This site is power by The Sword Project and uses modules from the project to provide the texts and word definitions used on this site.  If there are any additional Sword bible texts you would like to see on this site you are welcome to make a suggestion on our feedback page.  You can download the Christadelphian Daily Reading plan Sword module and the cross-references module from our download page.

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