You have received a Scholarship!
You can be a Bible scholar. Now, before you say, “I hate reading,” and quit before you begin, give me a chance to change your mind.
Why should you even want to be a Bible scholar? Well, I named my site after a Bible verse that speaks directly to this:
Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 2 Timothy 2:15 NKJV
If we want to be people who represent Christ well to the rest of the world, we need to know what we’re talking about. We need our message to actually match the heart of God. Sadly, there are a lot of opinionated Christians who hold beliefs that are simply unbiblical, maybe even anti-biblical. Personally, I want to be someone who doesn’t muck up the name of Jesus and His church. I want to be someone that offers hope to the lost. I want to be a reason people are willing to attend church rather than the reason they leave and never return.
Another reason I am a fan of studying God’s Word is because it will change your heart. When I started reading the Bible, it converted me. I grew up in church, and I will gladly share my story with anyone, but I believe my heart was converted and changed when I began to study God’s Word. Because the lessons I was taught and the “laws” I was supposed to abide by didn’t make sense until I spent time in God’s Word, allowing Him to reveal His heart to me and for me. I was 17 years old when I truly started to do this, not in my own strength or out of obligation, but because I was hungry for truth and something real. I was young and dumb and simple, but God made me wise and educated and able to teach others.
The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. Psalm 19:7 KJV
That being said, I am not a Bible scholar. At least not in the way that my brain defines scholar as an old man or woman with glasses, sitting in the Oxford library, poring over volumes of ancient texts. Maybe that’s a bit dramatic, but still, I think of scholars as seminarians, theologians, famous Bible teachers, and wonderful Bible-study writers. What do they all have in common? They probably read. A lot. And often. And I’m not much of a reader. I have made a point to intentionally read more and more often, but still, reading is not my favorite pastime.
However, a true scholar is just someone who advances his or her studies under a teacher or one who receives a scholarship, or grant, to aid in further study. I am both. You can be both.
First, you have to want to know the Word of God and have a heart after God. I cannot give you that desire. When you want something bad enough, you will pay whatever the price is. I have gladly given over hundreds of dollars for vacations I wanted. I’ve heard that men will sacrifice quite a bit of money on a diamond when he truly wants to marry the woman. My point? You have to be willing to give a little time and a little reading to truly study and know God’s Word if you want to be someone described by the verse above.
Secondly, you have received a scholarship. Huh? What? That doesn’t make any sense! Sure it does. A college scholarship is money given to you that gives you the power to attend school and learn. Well, your Bible scholarship does not come in the form of money because money is not needed. Your scholarship comes in power - Holy Spirit power. The Holy Spirit will be your teacher as you open and study the Word of God. He will grant you the ability to understand and learn well.
So, while there are many ways to study, and I am certain there are better ways than mine, I want to give some helpful tips to those who are trying it out for the first time and are unsure where to begin.
Put away the Bible reading plan. I don’t mean to stop reading the Bible, but reading the Bible is not the same as studying the Bible. Don’t get tied to a calendar. The goal is to grow and learn, not to check off a box so you can tell your Facebook friends that you read the whole Bible in a year. You may read and study multiple chapters a day sometimes, and other days you may only make it through one verse. There’s no rule for this. Which leads me to my next tip.
Give yourself grace. You will miss days. You will fall asleep reading sometimes. You will get confused. You will miss things. It’s okay. Trust me. Your Father in heaven is not disappointed in you. He loves your heart to study His Word, and when we fail at it, He’s not angry. If you have kids in sports, maybe you understand this. You don’t get upset when your kid gives it all he has on the field but strikes out every at bat, never scores a goal, or never catches a pass. You cheer him on and encourage him to keep it up. His day will come if he keeps trying. In fact, I bet the only time you are slightly disappointed is when he gives up or quits on himself. Don’t quit on yourself. You can start right now, whatever age you are.
Pray. Ask the Holy Spirit to teach you and give you understanding. That’s simple. He inspired the Word, so He is best qualified to teach it.
Read different versions of the Bible. We all have a favorite or preferred version of the Bible. However, use other translations to help you understand the meaning of the text. This is an easy thing to do, and you don’t have to purchase multiple Bibles. The internet can be a beautiful thing. Biblehub.com is one of my favorites. You can read a verse within context, see parallel translations of that verse, cross-references, and more!
Do a word study. This was one of the first ways I learned to dig in deeper into scripture. I would carry around an old-fashioned Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance - this thing was massive. You can get this online as well these days. A concordance links you to the original language, Hebrew or Greek. It will show you the word, tell you it’s meaning, and give you other scriptures that use that same word. This is valuable because the English language doesn’t have great translations always for the richness of the Hebrew and Greek language. The best example of this is the word love. What we read as love is actually four different Greek words in the new testament, and they each have vastly different meanings. When you find out which word is being used, you learn more about what the verse and passage is really about. My favorite example of this is in John 21 when Jesus is talking with Peter. Jesus is asking about one type of love, but Peter is responding with a different type. There is a lot to unpack there, but I encourage you to read and study it. A good online tool for word study is Blueletterbible.org.
Read a commentary. There are men and women who have read more and studied longer than you. That’s a good thing. Sometimes it takes someone else explaining it before it makes sense and clicks. I love David Guzik’s Enduring Word commentary online. He breaks things down verse by verse in an easy-to-digest way that helps Scripture, especially the Old Testament, come alive to me.
Write in your Bible. I’m sure some of you think this is crazy or maybe downright sinful, but it’s not. I checked. Also, take notes in church, listening to a sermon, or reading a book. A study by Princeton University suggests that writing by hand helps retention and understanding. This is because our hands do not write as quickly as our brains think or our hands type. We are less likely to write verbatim and more likely to synthesize by writing what we understand and how to apply it. As for writing in the Bible, I’m a fan. Sometimes, I will hear something, read something, or understand something, and if I write it in the margins, it sticks with me. But even better, when I go back to that passage later, it’s there for me, and I can go even deeper next time (hopefully). There are plenty of Bibles out there with wide margins for journaling, doodling, and writing. There is no wrong way to take notes. Pour your journey out on the pages. I don’t have children yet, but I also really love the idea of my Bible (or Bibles) being handed down to my children and their children to read the thoughts, notes, and prayers I scribbled in the margins, to help them in their journey to know God and His Word.
There are plenty of other tools and techniques for studying. I just wanted to offer you a place to get started. If you are looking for some other tools, let me know, and I will gladly share some others with you! Remember, you don’t need higher education, a seminary degree, or be a bookworm in order to love God’s Word and learn it. If you are a believer, you have the Holy Spirit in you!
Add your own tips or favorite ways to study in the comments!
