How to Study the Bible

(by Scot Pollok)

I remember taking an exam upon my entrance to seminary in Texas. It is infamous among the student body. The goal of the test was to calculate our Biblical and theological knowledge at the beginning of our seminary career. We all take the exact same exam as we exit and graduate. The difference between the two scores is supposed to quantify the knowledge we gained during our tenure there. Whether or not the test adequately fulfills its intended goal, I remember approaching the first exam, as a first-year student, with wide-eyed and arrogant enthusiasm. I was going to break the seminary records, of course. In fact, there would be an unprecedented hustle behind the large computerized scantron scoring machine when they entered my score card. “Something must be wrong,” the technician would say. “No one has ever scored this high on the first test. There must be a mistake.” So they would run it through again and yes, there was a mistake. The score would come out higher the second time.

Reality humbled me.

I had to gently hound an administrator for my scores and eventually she only reported the percentile of all test results in which I fell. It was nowhere near the top. In fact, it was right smack in the middle of ordinary. I was the vanilla of average.

But what I soon discovered was that my ordinary experience and understanding of the Bible would be transformed into an overwhelming affection for God and His Word. The truth slowly resurrected my heart and mind to the Scriptures. It was a beautiful beginning to a brand new adventure, no seminary admission or diploma required.

Perhaps you find yourself on a similar wrung of the knowledge/experience ladder. Perhaps you are miles ahead or even on the very first one. It doesn’t matter. God’s desire is that we all make progress in our relationship with Him, getting to know Him and love Him more each day. We do this by spending time with God, listening to Him and talking back. We spend time with Him primarily by spending time in His Word. So let’s get to it.

The hope for this brief resource is to both aid and inspire the Christian of any age and experience to fall in love with God all over again through study of His Word. As with the other elements in this tool kit, please consider this one of the tools. Use it as you see fit. It can become anything from a one-time reference to a slow-paced workbook. Whatever form it takes, the goal is the same: equip you to enjoy God through His Word on a consistent basis.