How to Study the Bible

The Bible provides answers to life’s deepest questions and practical tips for making everyday life work better. But it is a massive book written long ago, so it can be daunting for a new reader.

How can we find the answers we need and better understand God and His purpose for our lives? How can we best use this instruction manual for humanity given to us by our loving Creator?

Here are some vitally important principles about how to study the Bible.

Pray for God’s guidance of your Bible study

God is the ultimate Author of the Bible. He tells us that He inspired men to write it for our benefit:

“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

Who could better help us gain these benefits than the Author Himself? God tells us He wants to hear from us in prayer, and He wants us to grow in the knowledge, understanding and wisdom that come from studying His Holy Bible (1 Thessalonians 5:17; 2 Peter 3:18; 2 Timothy 2:15).

Pray for understanding. Ask for God’s help to search the Scriptures daily to find the answers you need, as the Bereans did (Acts 17:11). This requires a commitment to regular prayer and Bible study.

Learn from the Bible and do what it says

How does God want us to approach the Bible? It contains God’s thoughts—it allows us, in a sense, to read God’s mind! So we should approach it humbly, with a teachable attitude.

How does God want us to approach the Bible? It contains God’s thoughts—it allows us, in a sense, to read God’s mind! So we should approach it humbly, with a teachable attitude.Being teachable doesn’t just mean learning academic knowledge; it also means acting on what we learn. We must do what God says and obey His commands.

As Jesus Christ said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God” (Luke 4:4). The Holy Bible is the Word of God.

Deuteronomy 17 contains a command that illustrates the value and importance of studying the Bible and doing what it says. Moses gave orders for any future king of Israel to “write for himself a copy of this law in a book. ...

“And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes, that his heart may not be lifted above his brethren, that he may not turn aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left, and that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children in the midst of Israel” (verses 18-20).

Different ways to study the Bible

Here are a couple basic methods of Bible study from our article “Where to Start Reading the Bible” that can be useful at different times.

• Read through the Bible. Our Bible Reading and Writing Plans can help.
• Choose specific Bible study topics. See our article “Bible Study Topics” for some ideas.

Tips about how to study the Bible

• Carefully examine the context of the passage you are reading. Don’t read meanings into a passage that don’t fit the context. For more on this, see our article “Understanding the Bible.”
• Study all the passages about the subject, in both the Old Testament and the New Testament, to gain a fuller picture.
• Use clear scriptures to help you understand less clear scriptures. Recognize that the Bible interprets its own symbols.
• Remember that the Bible, as it was originally written, does not contradict itself. This can be helpful to keep in mind when studying apparent contradictions. Some can be easily cleared up by studying the context. Others can be resolved by studying relevant Bible resources that point out translation errors and ambiguities. For more on this, see the article “Contradictions in the Bible?”

Bible resources, Bible translations and Bible study helps

Your Bible can be your most important study tool. (See the article “Bible Study Tools: Where to Start” as well as our overview articles about each of the 66 “Books of the Bible.”)

Translation is not an exact science, though, so comparing different Bible translations and other Bible study aids can help modern readers better understand the original meaning.

Which English translations are best for different uses? We use the New King James Version as our standard Bible, but other translations can provide insights when used carefully. See our helpful article “What Is the Most Accurate Bible Translation?”

It’s also important to understand the difference between a translation and a paraphrase. Some Bibles (such as the Living Bible) aren’t translations from the original languages, but are attempts to reword an English translation to simplify the language. While paraphrases can be helpful when reading some sections of Scripture, they are not reliable sources for careful doctrinal study.

Using a Bible concordance, Bible dictionary or Bible commentary

There are other Bible study helps you might find useful:

• Concordances are reference books that allow you to search for a specific English word throughout the Bible. They also allow you to identify the original Hebrew or Greek words that were translated into that English word. (The search functions of electronic and online Bibles allow you to do the same things you can do with a printed concordance.)

Concordances like Strong’s can give you a basic idea of the meaning of a Hebrew or Greek word; but for more complete definitions, it is better to use a specialized resource (such as the following resources).

• Bible dictionaries, lexicons and word study reference books can help in clarifying the definitions of the original words.
• Bible commentaries can provide historical, archaeological and textual background information, as well as various perspectives on a Bible passage. Compare commentaries with each other to see the range of opinions; but most of all, compare everything with the Scriptures.

Using these basic principles of how to study the Bible can help us more clearly understand what God wants to teach us about how to live, both now and forever.

Free Bible study resources

If you are interested in doing some guided Bible studies, here are a couple of good free resources:

Journeys: These guided tours through the Bible give you daily inspiration. Current topics include “Knowing God,” “The Problem of Evil,” “The Plan of God,” “The People of God,” “The Fruit of the Spirit” and “The Armor of God.”

Bible Study Course: These in-depth and interactive lessons will take you in an organized way through some of the Bible’s most important teachings. They will not only help you discover what the Bible teaches, but will provide you the tools to help you become a better student of the Bible. The course currently consists of 11 lessons, each with a helpful quiz.

Bible questions

If you have questions about what you are studying in the Bible, we are happy to help in any way we can. You can type the subject into the search box on this website or explore all of the articles on our “All Topics” page.

If you don’t find a related article, you are welcome to ask a question for our Personal Correspondence team to answer by email. Or, if you prefer to contact a minister in your area directly, see our “Congregations” page for a list of our trained, caring, Bible-believing ministers around the world. We are here to help.

For more tips on Bible study, read the other articles in this section: “The Practical and Priceless Benefits of Bible Study.”