STUDYING A WHOLE BOOK OF THE BIBLE A Bible Study Method For Providing an Overview of Any Book of the Bible By Gustavo Karakey
This report is free and can be shared under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License 2012 Gustavo Karakey Note: This report does contain a few affiliate links. Proceeds from purchases will be used to further the ministry of theological education in Latin America. www.free-bible-study-lessons.net - 2
INTRODUCTION Welcome to this guide on Studying a Whole Book of the Bible. Studying a whole book of the Bible is very different than a traditional Bible study. In a traditional study, the goal is to break down a whole book into several smaller pieces. These smaller chunks of text then become the focus of a weekly study, which can be digested and applied depending on the principles covered in each section. In a whole book study, the goal is not to break a work down into individual parts, but to see the book as a complete unit, seeking to understand its contents, purpose and main themes. BENEFITS OF A WHOLE BOOK STUDY Understanding the book as a whole provides you with two tremendous benefits in your understanding of Scripture: 1. Individual passages within a book will make so much more sense when you understand the context of the whole book (i.e. Who is the author? What is the purpose? What are the main themes?) This prevents you from taking passages out of context and misrepresenting their meaning. 2. You will have a better sense for the larger story in the Bible and the grand themes in Scripture across a wide variety of biblical literature. www.free-bible-study-lessons.net - 3
This helps to avoid a piece-meal, individual passage approach that we might have toward the Bible. Instead, we learn to see individual passages as part of books as part of testaments as part of the entire Bible. HOW TO STUDY A WHOLE BOOK OF THE BIBLE The following procedure provides a step-by-step outline for studying a whole book of the Bible. For starters you should acquire or purchase a good study Bible and one of the following two Bible resources: 1) a one-volume commentary on the whole Bible or 2) a good Bible dictionary. I can recommend the following resources for these categories; however, any quality evangelical reference for study Bible, onevolume Bible commentary or Bible dictionary will do: For a study Bible: NIV Study Bible (Note: The above study Bible is neutral in its theological orientation. If you prefer, you can choose a study Bible that is closer to your theological persuasion, for example: Dispensational, Pentecostal, Reformed or Mainline Protestant) For a one-volume commentary: New Bible Commentary For a Bible Dictionary: Zondervan Illustrated Bible Dictionary If you plan on doing more Bible studies in the future or you want to learn more about the Bible yourself, having all three resources in your library will be a big plus. I should mention right at the outset that you want to do as much of this work up front and on your own, without the help of a study Bible, commentary or Bible dictionary. www.free-bible-study-lessons.net - 4
These will be useful at a later point in time. For now, you want to reflect on the text yourself. This will greatly enhance what you learn from this whole book study. Are you ready to begin? Let s do it then! STEP #1: Read the book through in its entirety, several times. This is extremely important! And yet, few people doing a Bible study have ever done this. As I ve mentioned already, we tend to read the Bible in mini-chunks, whether it be a verse on a postcard that stirs us or a favorite passage or portion of a book. But reading an entire book in one sitting (the way many epistles would have been read when they were first written and delivered to the churches) can be a stimulating adventure. You see a lot more at 30,000 feet than you do at 30 feet. When you read the whole book at once you will begin to have a sense for the author s style, purpose, arguments and main themes. For Large Books If you ve chosen a large book to study (Gen, 1 Kings, Isaiah, etc.) you will need to split it up into natural sections (unless you feel like tackling all 50 chapters of Genesis. In which case, more power to you!) Here you can cheat a bit and check out an outline in a study Bible to see where the natural divisions in a book might be located. www.free-bible-study-lessons.net - 5
Helpful Advice for Step #1 Reading the Entire Book On your first reading, just read. Don t take notes. Just read for understanding and for the flow of the narrative. On your second reading, begin to slow down a bit. Try to answer the following questions as you are reading: What themes, ideas or words are being emphasized or repeated? Is there a problem being addressed? Who is the audience of this book and what is the relationship of the author to the audience? What is the author saying? How is he saying it? Notice the tone, the words and even the rhetorical stance (O you foolish Galatians!) STEP #2 Prepare Answers to Key Questions Now, before you read for the third time, take your study Bible, onevolume commentary or Bible dictionary and read the introductory article for the book in question. Read critically, and read based on the two prior readings you have already done. Next, prepare the answers to the following questions using your Bible resources as well as your Bible: Who is the author? What do we know about the author from the rest of the Bible? www.free-bible-study-lessons.net - 6
(For example: Paul wrote 1 Thessalonians; however, Timothy and Silvanus (Silas) are also mentioned in the authorial greeting. Why are they important to this letter? And to this church?) What is the date of composition What is the date of the events in the book? (Sometimes, the different between composition and the historical events narrated can be centuries) What was the occasion for writing? Why did the author write this particular book, to this particular audience at this particular time? What are the main themes of the book? What are some unique features of the book For example, Matthew s gospel contains more Old Testament quotations than any other gospel. It has a genealogy and birth narratives. Finally, Matthew s gospel groups large chunks of Jesus teaching together into distinct sections. All of these unique features are important for communicating Matthew s message to a Jewish audience, which is, Jesus is the long-anticipated Jewish Messiah of the Old Testament. STEP #3 - Re-create an outline of the book If I were really trying to make you work, I would ask you to create your own outline for the book in question. (I personally have www.free-bible-study-lessons.net - 7
created all of the outlines for every Bible study in our Free-Bible- Study-Lessons.net site). But, so as not to discourage you before you even start, I am simply asking that you re-create an outline for your book. The following process will be helpful: Take your study Bible, Bible dictionary or one-volume Bible commentary and open it up to the introductory section for that book. Locate the outline. Make sure it is detailed. Find the main headings within the outline and copy these down on a sheet of paper or word processing document. You can see my example for 1 Thessalonians I - Greetings (1:1) II - Thanksgiving for the Thessalonians faith (1:2-10) III - Paul s anxiety over the state of the Thessalonian church (2:17-3:13) IV- God s will is that we live a holy life (4:1-12) V- Lord s Second Coming (consolation and warning) (4:13-5:11) VI - Final exhortations (5:12-20) VII - Blessings (5:23-28) Next, add the second level descriptions and verse numbers under each main heading. I have done this for Section II Thanksgiving for the Thessalonians Faith: www.free-bible-study-lessons.net - 8
II - Thanksgiving for the Thessalonians faith (1:2-10) A. Faith produced works and perseverance (1:3) B. Gospel came with power and conviction (1:5) C. Faith was accepted despite persecution (1:6) D. Thessalonians became an example for all believers (1:7-9) E. Faith saves us from coming wrath (1:10) Now go back to your Bible and read each main section as well as each sub-section given in your outline. Do you agree with the headings and divisions given by the particular resource you are reading? In other words, when you read 1:3-10, does that entire section deal with Paul s thanksgiving for the Thessalonian church, and is each of the sections underneath that heading accurately represented? This may seem like a long process for you, but you must trust me on this. If you complete this analysis, your understanding and knowledge of a particular book will be outstanding. Once you have gone through each section in your Bible and compared it to your outline, give the outline a good stare. Notice where the breaks and natural divisions occur, where the author changes themes, which sections are longer or take more time to elaborate. www.free-bible-study-lessons.net - 9
Notice if there are any repetitions in the outline. (James for example covers the topic of speech or the rich / poor a few times in his book.) Now, lay aside your outline, and see if you can trace the contours of the book in your mind without the aid of the Bible or your outline. Step #4 - Describe the book and your reaction in your own words Now, take a blank sheet of paper or a blank word processing document and write down in your own words what this book is about. Write as much as you can about its purpose, main themes, figures, narratives, events, unique aspects, etc. Finish With An Application Finally, what aspects of the book as a whole or in its parts can you clearly see an application for your life? What caught your attention about this book? What challenged you, inspired you, motivated you? What parts need further study or clarification? What changes can you make in your life as a result of having done this type of overview? www.free-bible-study-lessons.net - 10