Bible Study Methods

There is a difference between reading the Bible and studying it. Reading is taking in the word; study is digging into it. Both are commanded, and the second grows out of the first.

Paul told Timothy, "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth" (2 Timothy 2:15). The word "study" there means, in the first place, to be diligent, to make every effort. But the picture is plain: a workman who handles the word of truth with skill, the way a carpenter handles his tools.

R. A. Torrey, who trained Bible students in Chicago in the 1890s, put the problem in one sentence: "The Bible is much read, but comparatively little studied."¹ That is still true. Many believers read faithfully for years and never learn how to trace a word through Scripture, outline a book, or test an interpretation. This paper is meant to help.

Why methods matter

A method is simply a way of asking questions in order. Without one, study tends to drift: we read a verse, think a pious thought, and move on. With one, we notice what the text actually says, what it meant to its first readers, how it fits the rest of Scripture, and what it asks of us.

Torrey warned his readers not to be frightened by the methods he set out. They "require time and hard work," he admitted, but "the Bible contains gold, and almost any one is willing to dig for gold, especially if it is certain that he will find it."² He added an encouragement from long experience: as one practises, "he will find his ability to do the work rapidly increasing by exercise, until he can soon do more in fifteen minutes than at the outset he could do in an hour."³

Why books beside the Bible

Some believers think that a truly spiritual Christian needs nothing but the Bible. Scripture does not say so. Near the end of his life, in prison, Paul asked Timothy to bring "the cloke that I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou comest, bring with thee, and the books, but especially the parchments" (2 Timothy 4:13). C. H. Spurgeon preached on that verse in 1863 and could hardly contain himself:

He had seen the Lord and yet he wants books! He had had a wider experience than most men and yet he wants books! He had been caught up into the third heaven and had heard things which it was unlawful for a man to utter, yet he wants books! He had written the major part of the New Testament and yet he wants books!⁴

Spurgeon went on: "Brethren, what is true of ministers is true of all our people. You need to read."⁵ The tools in this paper (a concordance, a dictionary, a commentary, a history) are books in Paul's sense. They serve the Scripture. They never replace it.

How this paper works

Part 1 sets out the conditions for fruitful study, which matter more than any method. Parts 2 to 7 set out seven methods, each with a worked example from the King James Bible. The conclusion covers studying with others and gives a plan for a year.

Every verse is quoted from the King James Bible. The free 1611 Reader at kylelauriano.com/library carries the tools this paper uses: Strong's Concordance with its Hebrew and Greek dictionaries, Webster's 1828 dictionary, Easton's Bible Dictionary, Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary and cross-references. Where the 1611 and modern versions differ, the places are listed at kylelauriano.com/library/changes.

A word about me

Eventually I gave up and called myself an atheist. I decided to read the Bible for one reason: to disprove it, so I'd have an excuse to stop going to church for good. It did the opposite. I came to faith in 2022, and my wife came to faith a month later. The same book that met me rewards those who read it carefully. The full story is at kylelauriano.com/about.

This part matters because the best method in the world will not open the Bible to a heart that is closed to God. Torrey put it bluntly: "The one who meets these conditions will get more out of the Bible, while pursuing the poorest method, than the one who does not meet them will, while pursuing the best method."⁶ He named seven conditions. Each rests on Scripture.

1. A new heart

"But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned" (1 Corinthians 2:14). Torrey's first condition was that "the student must be born again." He argued that a plain man or woman who knows the Holy Spirit "will get more out of the Bible, than one, who knows all about Greek and Hebrew" but is not born again.⁷

That does not mean unbelievers should not read the Bible. Torrey himself said they should not be forbidden to study it, "for the Word of God is the instrument the Holy Spirit uses in the New Birth."⁸ My own story bears that out. But the deepest things of Scripture open to those who belong to its Author.

2. Love for the word

"Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts" (Jeremiah 15:16). Torrey compared the student to a man at a meal: "A man who eats with an appetite, will get far more good out of his meal than a man who eats from a sense of duty." How does one get the appetite? First by new life, and then by use: "Study of the Word stimulates love for the Word."⁹

3. Willingness to work

Solomon describes the student who finds:

"My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God." (Proverbs 2:1-5)

Silver is not lying on the ground. It is mined. "It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter" (Proverbs 25:2).

4. A surrendered will

Jesus said, "If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself" (John 7:17). Willingness to obey comes before understanding. A student who is privately resolved not to change will find ways not to see.

5. Obedience as soon as we see

"But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves" (James 1:22). Torrey's fifth condition was that the student "must be obedient to its teachings as soon as he sees them." Light obeyed brings more light; light refused dims. James compares the forgetful hearer to a man who looks in a mirror and walks away, and promises that the one who continues and does the work "shall be blessed in his deed" (James 1:25).

6. A teachable heart

"At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes" (Matthew 11:25). Torrey called this "a child-like mind." It is not the same as a lazy mind. It is the mind that comes to Scripture to learn rather than to judge.

7. Receiving it as the word of God

Paul thanked God that the Thessalonians, "when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe" (1 Thessalonians 2:13). Torrey's seventh condition was to study it as the word of God, which, he wrote, "involves the unquestioning acceptance of its teachings when definitely ascertained, even when they may appear unreasonable or impossible."¹⁰

Prayer

All seven conditions meet in prayer. "Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law" (Psalm 119:18). The risen Lord "opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures" (Luke 24:45). The translators of 1611 believed that God left some hard places in Scripture partly "to stir up our devotion to crave the assistance of God's spirit by prayer," and partly so "that we might be forward to seek aid of our brethren by conference."¹¹ Study begins on our knees and goes on among our brothers and sisters.

The governing rule: Scripture interprets Scripture

One rule governs every method that follows. The Westminster Confession of Faith (1647) stated it in a sentence Protestants have quoted ever since: "The infallible rule of interpretation of Scripture is the Scripture itself." It goes on to say that when there is a question about the true sense of a passage, it must be searched and known by other places that speak more clearly.¹²

Paul describes the same habit: "comparing spiritual things with spiritual" (1 Corinthians 2:13). Isaiah describes how God teaches: "precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little" (Isaiah 28:10). Read the unclear in the light of the clear, the part in the light of the whole.

This part matters because the simplest method is the one you will use most. Devotional study is the daily, slow reading of a passage for the sake of your own soul. It is the root from which the other methods grow.

Müller's way

George Müller of Bristol, who cared for thousands of orphans by prayer, described his own method in a journal entry from the spring of 1841. He had come to see, he wrote, that "the first great and primary business to which I ought to attend every day was, to have my soul happy in the Lord." Until then he had begun each morning with prayer. Now:

I saw, that the most important thing I had to do was, to give myself to the reading of the word of God and to meditation on it, that thus my heart might be comforted, encouraged, warned, reproved, instructed; and that thus, by means of the word of God, whilst meditating on it, my heart might be brought into experimental communion with the Lord.¹³

He began with the New Testament, "from the beginning, early in the morning," and after asking in a few words for the Lord's blessing he would meditate, "searching, as it were, into every verse, to get blessing out of it; not for the sake of the public ministry of the Word; not for the sake of preaching on what I had meditated upon; but for the sake of obtaining food for my own soul." The result surprised him: "after a very few minutes my soul has been led to confession, or to thanksgiving, or to intercession, or to supplication."¹⁴

That is the whole method. Read a little. Turn it over. Let it become prayer. Move to the next verse.

Biblical meditation

This is what Scripture means by meditation. "But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night" (Psalm 1:2). The longest psalm says the same: "I will meditate in thy precepts, and have respect unto thy ways" (Psalm 119:15). Mary "kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart" (Luke 2:19).

Biblical meditation is not emptying the mind or repeating a word until thought stops. It is filling the mind with what God has said and thinking about it: chewing it, as the old writers liked to say, until its taste comes out. Joshua was told to meditate "that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein" (Joshua 1:8). Meditation leads to obedience.

A simple pattern: S.O.A.P.

Many churches teach a four-step pattern under the letters S.O.A.P. It is a convenient way to write down a devotional study:

1. Scripture. Copy out the verse or verses that stood out. Writing slows you down. 2. Observation. What does it say? Who, what, where, when? What words repeat? 3. Application. What does it ask of me? A promise to believe, a command to obey, a sin to confess, an example to follow? 4. Prayer. Turn it back to God in your own words.

The pattern is not in Scripture and it is not magic. It is a notebook habit. Its value is that it makes you stop, write and pray.

Worked example: Philippians 4:6–7

"Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:6-7)

Scripture. Copy it out.

Observation.

• "Careful" here means anxious, full of care. Webster's 1828 gives that as its first sense: "full of care; anxious; solicitous."¹⁵
• There is a command (be careful for nothing), a means (prayer and supplication with thanksgiving), and a promise (the peace of God shall keep your hearts and minds).
• "In every thing" balances "for nothing": nothing is too large to give to God, and nothing too small.
• "Keep" is a guard's word; the peace of God stands sentry over the heart.
• Paul wrote this as a prisoner (Philippians 1:13). He was not writing from comfort. Torrey made the same point: "how much more meaningful it becomes" when one remembers the letter was "written by a prisoner awaiting possible sentence of death."¹⁶

Application. What am I anxious about today? Have I told God about it, specifically, with thanks for what He has already given? Write the request down.

Prayer. Father, I am anxious about this. I bring it to You now. Thank You for Your faithfulness in the past. Keep my heart and mind in Christ Jesus.

Ten minutes, one notebook page, and a passage that will now come back to you when you need it.

This part matters because the books of the Bible were written as books. Each has an author, first readers, an occasion and a purpose. Study a book as a whole and its verses come alive; pull verses out of it and they can be made to say almost anything.

Torrey called the study of individual books "the most thorough, the most difficult, and the one that yields the largest and most permanent results," and said it "should occupy the greater portion of our time."¹⁷ His method has six steps.

Step 1: Choose the book

For a first book study, Torrey advised a short book, a comparatively easy book, and one rich enough in teaching to make you want to do it again. He named one: "A book that meets all the conditions stated is the First Epistle of Paul to the Thessalonians. It is quite short," without great difficulties, and "exceedingly rich in its teaching."¹⁸ He also mentioned 1 John.

Step 2: Read it through, again and again

"It consists in merely reading the book through without stopping and then reading it through again, and then again, say a dozen times in all, at a single sitting."¹⁹ Torrey told of James M. Gray of Boston, who said he had long had an unsatisfactory knowledge of the English Bible until a layman told him how he had read Ephesians: in the woods one Sunday afternoon, at one sitting, "repeating the process as many as a dozen times before stopping." From then on, Torrey reports, Gray studied his Bible that way, "and it became to him a new book."²⁰

First Thessalonians takes about fifteen minutes to read aloud. You will not read it a dozen times tonight. Read it three times this week, at one sitting each time.

Step 3: Write your own introduction

Torrey gave twelve questions to write at the top of separate sheets, and to answer from the book itself as you read it again:

1. Who wrote this book? 2. To whom did he write? 3. Where did he write it? 4. When did he write it? 5. What was the occasion of his writing? 6. What was the purpose for which he wrote? 7. What were the circumstances of the author when he wrote? 8. What were the circumstances of those to whom he wrote? 9. What glimpses does the book give into the life and character of the author? 10. What are the leading ideas of the book? 11. What is the central truth of the book? 12. What are the characteristics of the book?

Only after doing your own work, he said, should you "compare your results with those reached by others."²¹ The answers to some questions will be in other books of the Bible. For Paul's letters, he noted, they are often in Acts.

Worked example: 1 Thessalonians, the introduction

Author and readers. "Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians" (1 Thessalonians 1:1).

Background, from Acts. Paul came to Thessalonica on his second missionary journey, "where was a synagogue of the Jews: And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures" (Acts 17:1-2). Some Jews believed, and "of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and of the chief women not a few" (Acts 17:4). Then opponents set the city in an uproar, dragged Jason and other believers before the rulers of the city, and accused the missionaries of having "turned the world upside down" (Acts 17:6). Luke goes on: "And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea" (Acts 17:10).

Circumstances of the readers. A young church, perhaps only weeks old when Paul was forced out, left under pressure. Paul writes that they "received the word in much affliction" (1 Thessalonians 1:6), and that they had "turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; And to wait for his Son from heaven" (1 Thessalonians 1:9-10). Many were Gentiles.

Circumstances of the author. Paul could not return and was anxious for them. He sent Timothy to see how they were (1 Thessalonians 3:1-2), and when Timothy came back with good news, Paul wrote (1 Thessalonians 3:6).

Occasion and purpose. To thank God for them, to defend his conduct among them (chapter 2), to encourage them in holiness (chapter 4), and to answer a question that troubled them: what of believers who had died before the Lord's return (1 Thessalonians 4:13)?

Glimpses of Paul. A father and a nurse to them (1 Thessalonians 2:7, 11). A working man: "labouring night and day, because we would not be chargeable unto any of you" (1 Thessalonians 2:9).

Leading ideas. Faith, love and hope: "Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Thessalonians 1:3).

Step 4: Divide the book

Go through the book and mark where the thought changes. Then give each section a short title of your own. Torrey called this step "not indispensable, but still it is valuable."²²

As you divide 1 Thessalonians, you may notice something striking: every chapter ends with the Lord's coming.

| Chapter | Theme | The coming of the Lord | | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | How they received the gospel | "And to wait for his Son from heaven" (1:10) | | 2 | How Paul lived among them | "in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming" (2:19) | | 3 | Timothy's report and Paul's prayer | "at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints" (3:13) | | 4 | Holiness, work, and the dead in Christ | "and so shall we ever be with the Lord" (4:17) | | 5 | The day of the Lord and life in the church | "preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" (5:23) |

That observation is yours, not a commentator's. It came from reading and dividing.

Step 5: Verse by verse

Now take each verse in order. Torrey gave three steps to the meaning of a verse:

• The meaning of the words. Study how the word is used elsewhere in the Bible, with a concordance (see Part 5).
• The context. Torrey called it "what goes before and what comes after," and claimed that "a very large proportion of the vexed questions of Biblical interpretation, can be settled by this very simple method."²³
• Parallel passages. Other places that treat the same subject, which will often settle a question the words and context leave open.

Take 1 Thessalonians 4:15: "For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep" (1 Thessalonians 4:15). The word "prevent" meant, in 1611, to go before; Webster's 1828 gives that first and marks it obsolete.²⁴ The context confirms it: "and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them" (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). And the parallel passage, 1 Corinthians 15:51–52, describes the same moment of resurrection and change. Words, context, parallels: three steps, one meaning.

Step 6: Classify the results

When you have worked through the book, gather what you found under subjects: what the book teaches about God, about Christ, about the Holy Spirit, about the believer, about the church, about the future. Torrey worked through 1 Peter this way and filled pages with headings such as "The Believer's Trial and Sufferings," "The Believer's Dangers" and "The Believer's Warfare."²⁵ The result is a doctrine of the book drawn from the book.

Do not be discouraged if your first book study takes a month. That is a month well spent.

This part matters because it trains the eye. "Inductive" simply means reasoning from the details to the conclusion, rather than starting with a conclusion and looking for verses to support it. The habit has three questions, asked in order: What does it say? What does it mean? What do I do?

Observation: What does it say?

Most mistakes in interpretation come from not looking closely enough. Before you ask what a passage means, slow down and see what is there.

• Who is speaking, and to whom?
• What happens, or what is said?
• Where and when?
• Repeated words. A word used again and again is usually the key.
• Connecting words. "Therefore," "for," "but," "if," "that," "so." They show the logic.
• Contrasts and comparisons. Light and darkness; flesh and Spirit; "not ... but."
• Commands, promises and warnings.
• Pictures. Vine, branch, bread, door, shepherd.

Write your observations down, even the obvious ones. The obvious ones are often the most important.

Interpretation: What does it mean?

Now ask what the author meant to his first readers. The rules are those already given:

1. Context. The sentence, the paragraph, the book. 2. Words. What do the key words mean in this writer and in Scripture generally? 3. Kind of writing. History, poetry, prophecy, parable, letter. 4. Scripture interprets Scripture. The clear passages govern the unclear. 5. Plain sense. Take words in their ordinary meaning unless the text itself shows a figure.

Two cautions. First, a passage has one sense, though it may have many applications. Second, do not explain away a hard command because it is unwelcome. If a passage says something uncomfortable, let it say it, and then ask how the rest of Scripture helps you obey it.

Application: What do I do?

James is clear: "But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed" (James 1:25). Study that does not end in obedience has missed its purpose. Jesus ended the Sermon on the Mount with the same point: "Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock" (Matthew 7:24).

Good application is specific. Not "I should pray more," but "I will pray for my brother by name every morning this week."

Worked example: John 15:1–8

"I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit." (John 15:1-2)

Read John 15:1–8 three times before going on.

Observation.

• Speaker and setting. Jesus, to the eleven, on the night before the cross (John 14:31 ends with "Arise, let us go hence").
• The picture. A vine, branches, a husbandman (farmer), fruit, pruning, fire.
• Repeated word. "Abide" occurs again and again in verses 4–7. Count the times in your own Bible.
• Contrast. Branches that bear fruit are purged (pruned); branches that do not are taken away, withered, gathered and burned (verses 2, 6).
• Connecting words. "for without me ye can do nothing" (verse 5); "If ye abide in me" (verse 7); "Herein is my Father glorified" (verse 8).
• Promises. Much fruit (verse 5); answered prayer: "If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you" (John 15:7).
• Purpose. "Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples" (John 15:8).

Interpretation.

• Old Testament background. Israel was pictured as God's vine (Psalm 80:8; Isaiah 5:1–7). Jesus calls Himself "the true vine." Follow the cross-references in the 1611 Reader and read Isaiah 5.
• The key word. "Abide" is to remain, to stay. Look it up in Strong's and you will find the same Greek word in John 6:56 and 1 John 2:28.
• Fruit. What fruit does the chapter itself name? Answered prayer (verse 7), keeping His commandments and abiding in His love (verse 10), joy (verse 11), love for one another (verse 12).
• The warning. Verse 6 is a solemn warning, and it should be read as written. It sits beside promises of being kept elsewhere in John (John 10:27–29). Scripture holds both; let both do their work in you.

Application.

• What practices keep me near Christ: His word abiding in me (verse 7), prayer, obedience?
• Where is the Father pruning me now? Is something painful in my life His work to make me more fruitful?
• What one act of love for another believer will I do this week (verse 12)?

Dealing with a hard text

The inductive habit is especially useful when a passage is hard or disputed. Observe first; interpret in context; compare Scripture with Scripture; and be honest where sincere believers differ.

Take Paul's instructions about women in the church. The King James says: "Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law" (1 Corinthians 14:34). And to Timothy: "Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence" (1 Timothy 2:11-12). In 1 Corinthians 11 Paul speaks of women praying or prophesying with the head covered, and grounds his teaching not in local custom but in creation and the order of man and woman (1 Corinthians 11:3–16).

An honest student does not wave these texts away as "merely cultural." He reads them as written, notes what Paul gives as his reasons, and compares them with other passages (Titus 2:3–4, for example, where the aged women are to be "teachers of good things" to the young women, and Acts 18:26, where Priscilla and Aquila together expounded the way of God to Apollos). Churches that hold to Scripture apply these texts in different ways, and this paper does not rule for you. But it urges you to take them seriously, to study them whole, and to obey what you become convinced they teach.

This part matters because the Bible was written in words, and many doctrines turn on the meaning of one word. Torrey wrote: "Many an important Bible doctrine turns upon the meaning of a word."²⁶

The method

Torrey was firm that the meaning of a Bible word is not best found in an English dictionary. "That is an easy but dangerous method," he wrote. "The only safe and sure method is to study the usage of the word in the Bible itself, and especially in that particular Bible-writer."²⁷ The steps:

1. Choose a word that matters in the passage. 2. Find the original word behind it, with Strong's number. 3. Read the definition in Strong's Hebrew or Greek dictionary. 4. Find every use of that number, and read them in context. 5. Notice other English words that translate the same original word, and other original words translated by the same English word. 6. Summarise what Scripture's usage shows.

All of this can be done in the 1611 Reader without knowing a letter of Greek or Hebrew. James Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (1890) numbers every Hebrew and Greek word, and Torrey called it "Altogether, the best Concordance."²⁸

Worked example: "justify"

Torrey's own example was the word "justify." "The critical question is," he wrote, "does the word 'justify' mean 'to make righteous,' or does it mean 'to count or declare righteous'?"²⁹ He sent his students to the passages.

Start in the Old Testament, in the law court:

"If there be a controversy between men, and they come unto judgment, that the judges may judge them; then they shall justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked." (Deuteronomy 25:1)

A judge does not make a man righteous. He declares him so. The opposite of "justify" is "condemn," another verdict. Proverbs agrees: "He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are abomination to the LORD" (Proverbs 17:15). To declare a guilty man innocent is an abomination in a human judge.

Now the New Testament. The Greek verb is Strong's G1344, which his dictionary defines as "to render (i.e. show or regard as) just or innocent."³⁰ Read where it occurs. The publican "went down to his house justified rather than the other" (Luke 18:14). Believers are "justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" (Romans 3:24). And Paul quotes Genesis: "Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness" (Romans 4:3).

Here is the wonder the word study uncovers. In Proverbs, to justify the wicked is an abomination. In Romans, God "justifieth the ungodly" (Romans 4:5). How can He be just? The answer is the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: God set Him forth "to declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus" (Romans 3:26). A word study has led you to the heart of the gospel.

Worked example: "charity"

The King James uses "charity" in 1 Corinthians 13: "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal" (1 Corinthians 13:1). Readers today hear "charity" as giving to the poor. Webster's 1828 shows that in older English it meant "love, benevolence, good will," and "in a theological sense, it includes supreme love to God, and universal good will to men."³¹

Now the original. The word is Strong's G26, which his dictionary defines as "love, i.e. affection or benevolence." Search the Strong's data in the 1611 Reader and you will find that the King James translates this one Greek word as "love" most of the time, and as "charity" in a little over two dozen places, including every occurrence in 1 Corinthians 13. The translators said in their preface that they had not bound themselves to "an identity of words," translating one Greek word always by one English word, because they judged that to "savour more of curiosity than wisdom."³² A word study lets you see beneath that variety. The love of 1 Corinthians 13 is the same love as "God so loved the world" (John 3:16), where the verb is G25.

Worked example: "repent"

Sometimes one English word stands for two different Greek words. The usual New Testament verb for "repent" is Strong's G3340, which he defines as "to think differently or afterwards, i.e. reconsider (morally, feel compunction)," and the noun "repentance" is G3341. That is the word in Peter's call at Pentecost: "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost" (Acts 2:38), and in Jesus' warning: "except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish" (Luke 13:3).

But when Judas, after betraying the Lord, "repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver" (Matthew 27:3), the Greek is a different word, G3338, which Strong defines as "to care afterwards, i.e. regret." The English is the same; the original is not. Paul draws the same line in plain words: "For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death" (2 Corinthians 7:10). Regret is not yet repentance. A concordance shows you the difference that the English alone would hide.

Cautions

• Usage decides meaning, not roots. A word's origin can be interesting, but what a word means is shown by how it is used.
• Context still rules. The same word can carry different senses in different places; the translators noted that "there be some words that be not of the same sense everywhere."³³
• Do not build a doctrine on one word alone. In John 21, Jesus' questions to Peter use G25 twice and then G5368, the word Peter used in his answers. Strong's dictionary describes G5368 as "personal attachment, as a matter of sentiment or feeling," and G25 as "wider." Christians have long differed on how much to make of the change. A sound student notes it, considers it, and does not hang more on it than the passage itself carries.

This part matters because some questions can only be answered by gathering what the whole Bible says. What does Scripture teach about prayer? About money? About the Holy Ghost? And some lessons are best learned through lives: Abraham, Ruth, David, Peter.

Topical study: the delight and the danger

Torrey thought topical study "perhaps the most fascinating method of Bible study," one that "yields the largest immediate results, though not the largest ultimate results." He told a story he had heard about D. L. Moody: that he once studied the word "grace" day after day through the whole Bible, until, full of it, he ran into the street and asked the first man he met, "Do you know grace?"³⁴

He also named the danger. A man with a favourite subject, studying topically, "is more than likely to go over certain topics, again and again, and be very strong in this line of truth, but other topics of equal importance he neglects, and thus becomes a one-sided man." He mentioned, as an extreme case, a man who had spent years studying the number seven.³⁵ The remedy is to balance topical study with book study and reading straight through.

Torrey's rules for topical study

1. Be systematic. Do not follow your fancy. Make a list of the great subjects of Scripture (God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, man, sin, salvation, the church, the last things) and work through them in order. 2. Be thorough. Find every passage. Use the concordance for the word and its synonyms: for prayer, look up "pray," but also "cry," "call," "ask," "supplication" and "intercession." Use a topical Bible as well, since many verses on prayer do not use the word. 3. Be exact. Study each passage in its context. Torrey warned against passages "torn from their connection" and "strung or huddled together because of some superficial connection." 4. Classify and write down your results.³⁶

Two older tools help. Orville J. Nave, an army chaplain, spent fourteen years compiling Nave's Topical Bible (first copyrighted 1896–97), which gathers Scripture under more than twenty thousand topics.³⁷ Torrey himself compiled a topical textbook, available free as Torrey's New Topical Textbook through the Christian Classics Ethereal Library.³⁸

Worked example: prayer

Here is the start of a topical study on prayer, classified under headings.

Jesus prayed. "And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed" (Mark 1:35). His disciples asked, "Lord, teach us to pray" (Luke 11:1).

How to pray. In secret: "But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret" (Matthew 6:6). To the Father: "After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name" (Matthew 6:9). With thanksgiving (Philippians 4:6). Without ceasing: "Pray without ceasing" (1 Thessalonians 5:17).

Why prayers go unanswered. Not asking: "ye have not, because ye ask not" (James 4:2). Asking wrongly: "Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts" (James 4:3).

Confidence in prayer. "And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us" (1 John 5:14). Notice the condition: according to His will. A topical study keeps a single verse from being pressed beyond what the whole of Scripture teaches.

Perseverance. "And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint" (Luke 18:1).

The church praying. "Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him" (Acts 12:5).

Praying for others. Paul's prayer for the Colossians: "that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing" (Colossians 1:9-10).

Already the shape of the Bible's teaching appears: prayer is commanded, modelled by Christ, offered to the Father, persistent, according to God's will, and both private and shared. Keep going and the page will fill.

Character study

Torrey called biographical study "really a special form of Topical Study," profitable for all Christians. His fourteen steps are worth copying into the front of a notebook.³⁹ In short:

1. Collect every passage that mentions the person (Strong's lists them all under the name). 2. Analyse the character, reading with pencil in hand. 3. Note the elements of power and success. 4. Note the elements of weakness and failure. 5. Note the difficulties overcome. 6. Note the helps to success. 7. Note the privileges abused. 8. Note the opportunities neglected. 9. Note the opportunities improved. 10. Note the mistakes made. 11. Note the perils avoided. 12. Make a sketch of the life, as vivid as possible, with places and times. 13. Summarise the lessons. 14. Note the person "in his relations to Jesus": as a type of Christ, a forerunner, a believer, an enemy, a servant or a friend.

Worked example: Simon Peter

The call. Andrew brought his brother to Jesus, "And when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, A stone" (John 1:42). At the lake: "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men" (Matthew 4:19). After the great catch of fish Peter fell at Jesus' knees: "Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord" (Luke 5:8).

Power and weakness, side by side. He walked on the water and then sank: "But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me" (Matthew 14:30). He confessed, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matthew 16:16), and soon after rebuked the Lord for speaking of the cross (Matthew 16:22–23).

The confession at Caesarea Philippi. Jesus answered Peter's confession:

"And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." (Matthew 16:18)

Here a character study meets one of the most debated verses in the Bible. A word study shows that "Peter" is Strong's G4074 (Petros), defined as "a (piece of) rock," and "rock" is G4073 (petra), "a (mass of) rock." Christians have read the verse in more than one way: that the rock is Peter himself; that it is the confession Peter had just made, that Jesus is the Christ; or that it is Christ Himself, the one foundation. Readers weigh other texts alongside it, such as "For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 3:11) and the church "built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone" (Ephesians 2:20), and Peter's own picture of believers as "lively stones" built on Christ (1 Peter 2:5–6). My own reading is none of the three. I believe the rock is the earth itself, where Christ reigned for the thousand years of Revelation 20, when "they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years" (Revelation 20:4), and the gates of hell did not prevail against His church. This is my conviction; weigh it for yourself. A good study sets out the texts, notes the views, and does not claim more certainty than the evidence gives.

The failure. He boasted, "I will lay down my life for thy sake" (John 13:37), and before morning denied the Lord three times. "And he went out, and wept bitterly" (Matthew 26:75). Yet Jesus had prayed for him beforehand: "But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren" (Luke 22:32).

The restoration. By the Sea of Tiberias, three questions for three denials, and a charge: "Feed my sheep" (John 21:17).

The change. At Pentecost "Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice" (Acts 2:14) and preached Christ crucified and risen. Before the council, "Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus" (Acts 4:13). He told the same council, "We ought to obey God rather than men" (Acts 5:29). At Cornelius's house he learned "that God is no respecter of persons" (Acts 10:34).

Still a man. At Antioch Paul "withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed" (Galatians 2:11), for drawing back from eating with Gentile believers. Restoration did not make Peter sinless.

The old man. He wrote to elders as "also an elder" (1 Peter 5:1), and told them to "Feed the flock of God which is among you" (1 Peter 5:2), the charge he had received by the lake. He knew his death was near (2 Peter 1:14), as Jesus had told him (John 21:18–19).

Lessons. Christ calls weak men and makes them strong; failure is not the end for one who repents; boldness comes from having "been with Jesus"; and leaders remain men who need correction. And Peter's own summary of his hope: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead" (1 Peter 1:3).

This part matters because Scripture interprets Scripture, and because the Bible's events happened in real places to real people. Cross-references take you across the Bible; history takes you into its world.

Cross-references

A cross-reference is simply a note that another passage speaks of the same thing. The 1611 Reader shows cross-references beside each verse. Use them in three ways:

1. To find the source of a quotation. When Jesus says, "It is written," look up where. 2. To find parallels. The same event in another Gospel; the same teaching in another letter. 3. To find themes. Follow a word or an image (the lamb, the vine, the rock) through Scripture.

Jesus Himself taught this way on the road to Emmaus: "And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself" (Luke 24:27). Torrey's third "final suggestion" was to look for Christ in every passage. He confessed, "I remember in my early reading of the Bible what a stupid book Leviticus seemed, but it all became different when I learned to see Jesus in the various offerings and sacrifices."⁴⁰

Worked example: the Lamb

Start with John 1:29: "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). Follow the cross-references back:

• Abraham on Moriah: "My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering" (Genesis 22:8).
• The Passover lamb, whose blood marked the houses of Israel (Exodus 12).
• The suffering Servant: "he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter" (Isaiah 53:7).

And forward:

• Philip and the Ethiopian, reading Isaiah 53, "began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus" (Acts 8:35).
• "For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us" (1 Corinthians 5:7).
• "the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot" (1 Peter 1:19).
• In heaven, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain" (Revelation 5:12).

One phrase in John has opened a thread that runs from Genesis to Revelation.

Historical background

The Bible's events are history, set in a real world. Knowing that world often makes a passage vivid. Luke anchors the ministry of John the Baptist in a list of rulers: "Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judaea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee" (Luke 3:1). Those men are known from other sources.

Sources to use.

• The Bible itself first. Acts is the background to Paul's letters; Kings and Chronicles to the prophets.
• Josephus, the first-century Jewish historian, whose Antiquities of the Jews and Jewish War describe the world of the New Testament. He mentions, among others, the high priest Joseph Caiaphas and the death of James, "the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ."⁴¹
• Alfred Edersheim (1825–1889), born to a Jewish family in Vienna, who came to faith in Christ and wrote The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah (London: Longmans, Green, 1883) and The Temple: Its Ministry and Services (1874), which explain Jewish life and worship in Jesus' day from the Mishnah and other sources.⁴²
• Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897), for places, peoples and customs.
• Archaeology, used carefully. The Pilate inscription found at Caesarea in 1961, the Pool of Siloam uncovered in Jerusalem in 2004, and the Caiaphas family tomb found in 1990 are examples of finds that sit squarely in the Gospel world.

Worked example: John 7:37–39

"In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." (John 7:37-38)

The text. The feast is Tabernacles (John 7:2). Jesus stands and cries aloud; in the next chapter He sits to teach (John 8:2).

The background. Edersheim describes, from the Mishnah, the ceremony of water at that feast: each morning a priest went down to the Pool of Siloam, drew water "into a golden pitcher," and brought it up in procession to the altar, where it was poured out amid music and rejoicing.⁴³

The meaning. Against that background, Jesus' cry is bold. The water poured out each morning of the feast pointed beyond itself; He says the true water is Himself. John explains: "(But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)" (John 7:39).

The cross-references. Isaiah promised, "with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation" (Isaiah 12:3). Compare the invitation of Isaiah 55:1, and John 4:14, where Jesus offers the Samaritan woman living water.

The caution. Background serves the text; it does not replace it. The meaning of John 7:37–39 is given by John in verse 39. Edersheim helps us feel the moment; Scripture tells us what it means.

Cautions about background

• Prefer primary sources and careful scholars to sermon illustrations repeated without a source.
• Be wary of "background" that overturns the plain sense of the text.
• Archaeology confirms and illuminates; it does not sit in judgment on Scripture. Absence of evidence for a thing is not evidence of its absence. Excavation in Jerusalem at the site long identified as the Pool of Bethesda (John 5:2) has uncovered two large pools, though scholars still debate their history.⁴⁴

This last chapter matters because study was never meant to be solitary. "Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend" (Proverbs 27:17). And a method that is not used is only a description.

Why study together

The translators of 1611 said God left some things hard partly so "that we might be forward to seek aid of our brethren by conference."⁴⁵ Others see what you miss. Others correct what you get wrong. And the Lord promised His presence where His people gather: "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them" (Matthew 18:20).

Hebrews puts it in practical terms: "And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is" (Hebrews 10:24-25).

A simple group pattern

For a small group of believers studying a book together:

1. Read the passage aloud. One person, slowly, from the King James. 2. Observe together. Everyone names one thing they see in the text. No interpreting yet. 3. Ask the hard question. What here is puzzling? Look up words and cross-references together. 4. Interpret. What did it mean to the first readers? What does the rest of Scripture say? 5. Apply. Each person names one specific response. 6. Pray. Turn the passage into prayer for one another.

Good questions keep a group honest. Ask "What does the text say?" before "What do you think?" Ask "Where do you see that?" when someone makes a claim. Let the passage, not the most confident voice, have the last word.

Who leads

Scripture gives instruction about teaching and authority in the church, quoted in Part 4 (1 Corinthians 14:34–35; 1 Timothy 2:11–12), and it also commends older women teaching younger women (Titus 2:3–4) and believers teaching and admonishing one another in song (Colossians 3:16). Churches apply these texts differently in their own meetings and studies. Follow the teaching of your own church as it seeks to obey the word, and study these passages for yourself.

Choosing a method

| If you want to… | Use | Time | | --- | --- | --- | | Meet God in His word today | Devotional study (Part 2) | 15–30 minutes | | Understand a whole book | Book study (Part 3) | Weeks | | Understand one passage deeply | Inductive study (Part 4) | An hour or more | | Know what a word means | Word study (Part 5) | 30–60 minutes | | Know what the Bible says on a subject | Topical study (Part 6) | Hours, over weeks | | Learn from a life | Character study (Part 6) | Hours, over weeks | | See a passage in its world | Cross-reference and background (Part 7) | 30–60 minutes |

No single method is enough. Torrey insisted that "No one method of study will answer, if one desires to be a well-rounded and well-balanced Bible student."⁴⁶

A year of study

Here is one way to use the methods over a year, alongside daily reading.

| Months | Main study | Method | | --- | --- | --- | | 1–2 | 1 Thessalonians | Book study (Torrey's six steps) | | 3 | Key words of 1 Thessalonians: faith, hope, love, holiness, coming | Word study | | 4–5 | John 13–17, the upper room | Inductive study | | 6 | Prayer | Topical study | | 7–8 | Simon Peter, then Abraham | Character study | | 9–10 | Philippians | Book study | | 11 | The Lamb, from Genesis to Revelation | Cross-reference study | | 12 | The Psalms of ascent (Psalms 120–134) | Devotional study, with background |

Keep everything in one notebook, dated. In a year you will have a small commentary of your own, and you will have learned more than any book could hand you.

Use the spare minutes

Torrey's final suggestion was to use spare moments, the time lost "in traveling on the street cars" and "in waiting for persons with whom they have engagements." He told of a man he had heard of, a junk dealer in a Canadian city, who kept a Bible open on his shelves and "in intervals of business he was pondering the Book of God."⁴⁷ Few of us lack minutes. Most of us lack the habit of giving them to the word.

The goal

Study is not for scholars only. It is for any believer who wants to handle the word of truth as a workman handles his tools. The conditions come first: a new heart, love for the word, willingness to work, a surrendered will, quick obedience, a teachable spirit, and the conviction that this is the word of God. Then come the methods, each a way of asking questions in order: devotional study for the daily meeting with God; book study for the whole; inductive study for the passage; word study for the meaning; topical and character study for the breadth of Scripture and the lives of its people; cross-reference and historical study for the connections and the setting.

Spurgeon once said of John Bunyan that he had read the Bible "till his very soul was saturated with Scripture," and then: "Prick him anywhere; his blood is Bibline, the very essence of the Bible flows from him."⁴⁸ That is the goal. Not to know about the Bible, but to be so soaked in it that it shapes how we think, speak and live.

Your next step

Choose one method from this paper and use it this week. If you are not sure which, take Torrey's advice: read 1 Thessalonians straight through, three times, at one sitting each, and write your own introduction to it.

An invitation

If you have read this far and you are not yet a follower of Christ, the first condition of Part 1 is the only one that matters today. Jesus said, "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John 3:3). Scripture calls you to "repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ" (Acts 20:21), and promises, "him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out" (John 6:37). Come to Him first. Then come to His book, and you will find it opens.