BIBLE STUDY INFORMATION, HELPS AND RESOURCES

EVER WONDER HOW THE BIBLE CAME ABOUT


This is how it all came about...
It all started out with a few books or scrolls referred to as the Cannon. The term cannon is used to describe the books that are divinely inspired of God and therefore belong in the Bible. The difficult aspect of determining the Biblical canon is that the Bible does not give us a list of the books that belong in the Bible. Determining the canon was a process, first by Jewish rabbis and scholars, and then later by early Christians.
Ultimately, it was God who decided what books belonged in the Biblical canon and gave holy inspiration to those that wrote them. It was simply a matter of God revealing to the men that He would appoint to write and decide which books should be included in the Bible.
Compared to the New Testament, there was very little controversy over the canon of the Old Testament. Hebrew believers recognized God’s messengers, and accepted their writings as inspired of God. The only issue that remained was the Apocrypha…with some debate and discussion it continues today. The vast majority of Hebrew scholars considered the Apocrypha to be good historical and religious documents, but not on the same level as the Hebrew Scriptures.
For the New Testament, the process of the recognition and collection began in the first centuries of the Christian church. Very early on, some of the New Testament books were being recognized.
Paul considered Luke’s writings to be as authoritative as the Old Testament (1 Timothy 5:18; see also Deuteronomy 25:4 and Luke 10:7). Peter recognized Paul’s writings as Scripture (2 Peter 3:15-16). Some of the books of the New Testament were being circulated among the churches (Colossians 4:16; 1 Thessalonians 5:27). Clement of Rome mentioned at least eight New Testament books (A.D. 95). Ignatius of Antioch acknowledged about seven books (A.D. 115). Polycarp, a disciple of John the Apostle, acknowledged 15 books (A.D. 108). Later, Irenaeus mentioned 21 books (A.D. 185). Hippolytus recognized 22 books (A.D. 170-235).
The councils followed something similar to the following principles to determine whether a New Testament book was truly inspired by the Holy Spirit:
1) Was the author an apostle or have a close connection with an apostle?
2) Is the book being accepted by the Body of Christ at large?
3) Did the book contain consistency of doctrine and orthodox teaching?
4) Did the book bear evidence of high moral and spiritual values that would reflect a work of the Holy Spirit?

Remember, those of us that believe that the scripture is the inspired inerrant Word of God, then we believe that according to the scripture God breathe His Word (2 TIM 3:16) into the hearts and minds of those that wrote it, and saw to the process of it all coming together.
Remember, it was not Hollywood writers that wrote the scripture but men of God who lived lives fighting for truth, and God used these mere men to convey His Word and His way to the world. By using their own writing styles and personalities, they still recorded exactly what God wanted to be said. The Bible is not dictated from God, but it is perfectly guided and entirely inspired by Him.
Humanly speaking, the Bible was written by approximately 40 men with 40 different personalities over the course of 1500 years. Isaiah was a prophet, Ezra was a priest, Matthew was a tax-collector, John was a fisherman, Paul was a tentmaker, Moses was a shepherd. Despite being written by these approximent 40 authors over approximately 1500 years, the Bible does not contradict itself and does not contain any errors. They simply tell the truth as they saw the event transpire from their own background and personality.
While the authors all present different perspectives, they all proclaim the same one true God, and the same one way of salvation (John 14:6; Acts 4:12).
Jesus Christ spoke Ancient Aramaic, the language in which the disciples and apostles preached the Gospel and the scribes recorded the Scriptures.
The New Testament has been preserved in the sacred scribal language since the Apostolic Age. The whole Bible was preserved in this language by the saints of the Ancient Church of the East at the cost of their lives. That Church emerged out of Jerusalem during the 1st Century of Christianity. It was established by the disciples and apostles of Jesus. The Scriptures that this Church used were the first ever recorded and were the letters and and books that they wrote. Below is a full list of the books and dates that they were written:

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy = Moses - 1400 B.C.
Joshua = Joshua - 1350 B.C.
Judges, Ruth, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel = Samuel / Nathan / Gad - 1000 - 900 B.C.
1 Kings, 2 Kings = Jeremiah - 600 B.C.
1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah = Ezra - 450 B.C.
Esther = Mordecai - 400 B.C.
Job = Moses - 1400 B.C.
Psalms = several different authors, mostly David - 1000 - 400 B.C.
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon = Solomon - 900 B.C.
Isaiah = Isaiah - 700 B.C.
Jeremiah, Lamentations = Jeremiah - 600 B.C.
Ezekiel = Ezekiel - 550 B.C.
Daniel = Daniel - 550 B.C.
Hosea = Hosea - 750 B.C.
Joel = Joel - 850 B.C.
Amos = Amos - 750 B.C.
Obadiah = Obadiah - 600 B.C.
Jonah = Jonah - 700 B.C.
Micah = Micah - 700 B.C.
Nahum = Nahum - 650 B.C.
Habakkuk = Habakkuk - 600 B.C.
Zephaniah = Zephaniah - 650 B.C.
Haggai = Haggai - 520 B.C.
Zechariah = Zechariah - 500 B.C.
Malachi = Malachi - 430 B.C.
Matthew = Matthew - 55 A.D.
Mark = John Mark - 50 A.D.
Luke = Luke - 60 A.D.
John = John - 90 A.D.
Acts = Luke - 65 A.D.
Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon = Paul - 50-70 A.D.
Hebrews = unknown, best guesses are Paul, Luke, Barnabas, or Apollos - 65 A.D.
James = James - 45 A.D.
1 Peter, 2 Peter = Peter - 60 A.D.
1 John, 2 John, 3 John = John - 90 A.D.
Jude = Jude - 60 A.D.
Revelation = John - 90 A.D

TYPES OF BIBLE STUDY
Expository Study - this type of study involves taking a passage in the Bible and finding out exactly what it means. You will go through a passage sentence by sentence and word by word. Start by reading and re-reading the passage. Note differences in different translations. Use Strong's Numbers and Vines Dictionary to look up each word. Look at the passages around the passage you are studying in order to understand the context. Look up parallel passages that deal with the same material.
· Topical Study - this study seeks to study a topic by looking at all the passages that deal with a particular topic. A topical Bible and a set of cross-references will help you in this type of study. The Thompson Chain-Reference Bible would be a huge help with this type of study.
· Word Study - this type of study looks at all the references to a particular word in the Bible. An exhaustive concordance is required for this type of study. Decide which word you wish to study (e.g. "church" or "worship") and look this word up in your concordance. Then look up each reference to this word and ask yourself what each reference teaches you. A more serious word study will use a concordance of the original languages.
· Thematic Study - this is similar to a topical study, but a little more abstract. For example, you might want to study the testimony given by Christ's enemies, spiritual revivals, or men of God who met lions. A concordance and a topical Bible will help you with this type of study, but of course, a good working knowledge of the Bible gained through daily reading will also be an immense help.
· Doctrinal Study - we can also do studies on the various doctrines in the Bible. For example, we can study the Trinity, or ask ourselves what is involved in a person becoming a Christian. A topical Bible would be helpful, as well as a book on theology. The Synopsis of Doctrine at the back of the Ryrie Study Bible would be a big help.
· Biographical Study - an examination of the life of a particular person in the Bible. Here, we seek to see what we can learn from the life of a man or woman in the Bible. What mistakes did he make and how did it affect him? A concordance should be sufficient to do a biographical study.
· Character Trait Study - instead of looking at a person, we could look at a character trait such as pride, humility or faithfulness. A concordance will be useful in this type of study.
· Geographical Study - in this study, you pick a place (city, mountain, river or country) and look up all the references to that place in a concordance.
· Paraphrasing Chapter Study – this is the easiest study. You pick a chapter in the Bible and as you read each verse, you write down in your own words what each verse is saying. You may not always be exact but when you compare your interpretation to other help guides and commentaries you may very well be able to measure some of your spiritual growth and understanding….plus this is a fun way to study.


STUDYING YOUR BIBLE - PART 1

GETTING STARTED
The first thing you will want to have is a Bible that you can understand. While there are many different versions, you will need to find one that will aid you in explaining the text in a way that reads best for your understanding and comprehension. So try a few different versions and then settle on one that you feel most comfortable with.

Next you may want to have a couple of good Bible study helps, for example depending upon what type of study that you will be perusing, you may need a few tools to assist you. Here are a few that we will be talking about:
Concordance
Bible Dictionary
Several Bible translations
A Bible Atlas

Commentaries -

To save money I suggest you go to the Good Will or Thrift stores to look for these before you buy them new….unless you prefer to buy new ones….

The NASB and the Young's Literal Translations are very good translation for word studies because they are very literal to the original Hebrew and Greek languages. Many study tools are keyed to the KJV, and so it is useful to have. The NIV often captures the thought of a passage. Here are my favorite:

New American Standard Bible (NASB)
King James Version (KJV)
New International Version (NIV)
New King James Version (NKJV)
A study Bible is useful because it puts a number of tools all in one place. This is very handy if you are traveling as well. Most Study Bibles will have introductions and outlines to each of the books, discussions of themes, a brief set of cross references, a concise concordance, some maps and notes at the bottom of the page.

The Ryrie Study Bible
The New Scofield Reference Bible
The Thompson Chain Reference Bible
The NIV Study Bible
The Newberry Reference Bible
The Ryrie Study Bible - my personal favorite. It has all the features I want in a Study Bible, I like the notes, and it has an excellent summary of theology at the back. Also, I find the print easy to read. Available in KJV, NKJV, NASB and NIV. I believe a Ryrie Study Bible is one of the first things a new Christian should purchase (but of course, this is just my opinion). An Expanded Ryrie Study Bible has now been published. It is available in KJV, NIV and NASB and should prove very popular. Note that the revised NASB is now available.
The New Scofield Reference Bible - for many people, this is THE Study Bible (mostly because it was one of the first). Available in KJV, NKJV, NASB and NIV.
The Thompson Chain Reference Bible - the strength of this Study Bible is its special set of chain references, which lead you through references to various topics. Available in KJV, NASB and NIV. A NKJV Thompson Chain Reference Bible will soon be published.
The NIV Study Bible - a large number of notes, many of which were written by translators of the NIV. Where differing opinions exist on the meaning of a verse, this Study Bible attempts to present all views. Available in NIV only.
The Newberry Reference Bible - the strength of the Newberry Bible is the fact that it has special symbols beside the verbs to tell you what tense they represent in the original language. This Bible is available in KJV only. Note that a variety of editions are available. Some have clearer type than others.
STUDYING YOUR BIBLE - PART 2

Concordance -
A concordance is one of the most valuable Bible study tools available. It lists the words in the Bible alphabetically, and then lists verses that use that word. For example, the first word in most concordances will be "Aaron", and the following will be listed:
Is not A the Levite thy brother......Ex 4:14
And the LORD said to A, Go into......Ex 4:27
Moses told A all the words of the....Ex 4:28 etc

So, you would scroll down the page until you find the scripture that you are searching for. They are in order according to the location in the Bible….beginning to the end.

There are several ways you can use a concordance -
First, if you remember part of a verse in the Bible, but don't know where it can be found, you can look it up under one of the words.
Secondly, a concordance is useful if you want to look up every reference to a particular word. This is the start of a word study, which is one of the most common types of Bible studies.
Thirdly, many concordances have a numbering system to tell you what this word is in the original language. For example, several different Greek words are translated "love" in our English Bibles. The most common numbering system are the "Strong's Numbers".

Mr. Strong spent many years working on his concordance, and he assigned each word in the original Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic a number. If you know the number, you can turn to the dictionary at the back of his concordance and find out more information about the original word.
Most Bible study tools today are keyed to the Strong's Numbers. Even those books that don't use Strong's Numbers (e.g. NIV Exhaustive Concordance) will have a key to allow you to look up the Strong's Number.
An "Exhaustive" concordance lists every reference to every word in the Bible.
A "Complete" concordance doesn't list every word in the Bible, but those words it does list, it gives every reference found in the Bible.
A "concise" or "compact" concordance simply lists some of the references to some of the words in the Bible.
Also, because concordances are keyed to words in English Bibles, each translation requires a separate concordance. Exhaustive concordances exist for the following translations: KJV, NIV, NASB, NKJV and NRSV

Vine's Expository Dictionary -
W.E. Vine created a dictionary of words found in the New Testament in the original Greek. For example, the English word "love" in our Bibles will be a translation of the Greek word "agape" or the Greek word "philo". To find out the differences between these two original words, you would use Vines. Many editions of Vines Expository dictionary exist.
Topical Bibles -
Whereas a concordance lists references to words, a topical Bible lists references to ideas and themes, regardless of whether the actual words are mentioned. A topical Bible can be used with any translation, although some topical Bibles will not just list references to verses, but will actually write out the whole verse in a particular translation. The best known topical Bible is "Naves".

Cross References -
You can do an entire Bible study just by reading a passage and looking up all the cross references to that passage. The essential set of cross references is "The New Treasury of Scripture Knowledge". You will find cross references in the middle, top or bottom of your bible. Each verse will have an assigned number. You find the number with the verse beside it and reference to that verse as well.
Bible commentary -
A Bible commentary is a book about the Bible. It tells us what the Bible means. Of course, since commentaries are written by men, they will have their biases. Commentaries are useful to make sure you haven't severely misunderstood a passage, and they are also useful to make sure you haven't missed an important point, but try to only read a commentary after you have read or studied a passage for yourself first.
The Believers Bible Commentary (William MacDonald)
The Bible Knowledge Commentary (Faculty at Dallas Theological Seminary)
The Tyndale New Testament Commentary
The Expositors Bible Commentary
Matthew Henry's Commentary
How to read your Bible -
Start by reading quickly to get a feel for a passage. Then go back and read it slowly. Understand what it is saying. Read from the start of the book to the end so that you get the entire idea the author is expressing. Make notes for yourself. Read the same passage over and over. For a short book in the Bible, you might even want to read it through once each day for a whole month. Understand why the author is writing this book. Also, understand what type of literature it is (history, poetry, doctrine, prophecy, etc.). Many people find it is helpful to read at the same time each day. Regardless of when you read, you should read a portion of the Bible every day. Some things to remember in interpreting the Bible Context - the most important rule of Bible study is "consider the context!" This cannot be emphasized enough.

Look at each verse in the context of the verses that surround it. Consider the context of the book (why was this book in the Bible written and who was it written to?). Also, consider the context of the whole Bible (i.e. what does the whole Bible say about this subject).

Literal Interpretation - interpret the Bible literally unless the Bible itself gives you reason to adopt a figurative interpretation. When two Christians come to a different interpretation of what a verse in the Bible means, it is usually because one (or both) of them has started to interpret the Bible figuratively. Of course, the principle of literal interpretation does allow for figures of speech.
Plain Sense Meaning - consider the plain sense meaning of a passage. Yes, there are deep matters discussed in the Bible, but the conclusions we reach from doing an intensive Bible study should not be different than what the Bible plainly says.

Interpret from what you Understand - if you have 2 passages and the meaning of one is quite clear, and the meaning of the second is unclear, don't adopt a fanciful interpretation of the doubtful passage and then try to force the clear passage into a different meaning.

Compare and Contrast - compare things that are alike and contrast things that are different.