GraceLife Thoughts – Successful Bible Study

Grace Thoughts

GraceLife Thoughts – Successful Bible Study

Bible “study” basically means spending time to determine the meaning of what the Bible says. That means understanding what God meant when He inspired prophets and apostles to write His Word. You’ll find hundreds of different interpretations about what Bible verses mean, but there’s only one interpretation I’m interested in and that’s God’s meaning.

Text and context are paramount in studying the Bible. What does each word mean? What do the words of each verse mean? What do the verses mean in context. That process is known as exegesis – reading “out of” the text the author’s meaning and intent. The opposite way of studying the Bible, which I highly recommend against doing, is known as eisegesis – reading “into” the text what the reader/interpreter wants to find. That’s a dishonest and dangerous way of studying the Bible.

If your desire is to be successful in your study of the Bible, I highly recommend exegetical – also known as “rightly dividing the Word of Truth.”