How to Study Your Bible

Rating:
Summary: Simple techniques for serious study
Review: Arthur's Inductive Method of Bible study is a wonderful technique for probing the depths of Scripture and discovering truth for oneself. This guide coaches you through observation, interpretation, and application of the Word of God. It's a little weak in the application section, but the heart of inductive study is the observation: what exactly does it say?
Many helpful appendices are included, particularly how to use Greek study tools to gain deeper meaning from the text.
The only drawback to this method is that some people may want more surfactory and less time-consuming method. But then again, as Arthur notes in the book's introduction, "Greatness is never achieved nor dreams realized apart from great discipline."
If you want to do the inductive method, I recommend the New Inductive Study Bible (NASB translation) or one of the new ESV Deluxe Reference Bibles because of their thicker pages, wide margins, large font, cross-references, and literal translation.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Bible Study Aid!
Review: Arthur's title is an excellent supplement for anyone who wishes to know more about the Holy Bible.

Among the many points covered in the book include:

1. Basic principles of observation, interpretation, and application.
2. Be sure to understand the context of a Bible passage.
3. 7 principles for accurate Bible interpretation.
4. Word study tools.
5. Principles in overviewing a book of the Bible.
6. Different literary devices (parable, allegory, etc.).
7. Different ways writers of the Bible presented their thoughts.
8. Outlining a book of the Bible.

All in all, an excellent supplement for helping you learn more about the Bible!

Read and enjoy!

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Bible Study Resource
Review: HOW TO STUDY YOUR BIBLE teaches you how to do the inductive Bible study method found in Precept upon Precept courses. It served as a handy guide when I used it along with my Precept Bible study. Its hands on approach helped me to receive the most from my Precept lessons.

Precept studies will train you to go deeper into God's Word; you wll learn how to feed yourself from Scripture.I recommend HOW TO STUDY YOUR BIBLE to those of you who want to begin in depth Bible study. Precept upon Precept gets you into the Word so that the Word gets into you.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent study tool...
Review: I've been a Precept student for over a decade now, and there's nothing like this. In fact, this tool is so good (as are Precept's study courses) that seminarys across NA recognize it as solid... some will even transfer Precept courses for accreditation towards a degree. If you want to get serious about your time in the Word and want to find meat instead of fluff, then this is the best place you could start - learning how to interpret and apply the Scriptures for yourself. The methods that Precept Ministries teach are solid and true - the novice to the scholar can can benefit from this form of study method. This book shows you how to do everything from word studies to structured analysis of text. Excellent stuff through and through and highly rewarding for the serious Bible student. Get a copy and dig in!

Rating:
Summary: Spritual weight lifting!
Review: If you are looking for a tool to build some spiritual muscle- the inductive study method is one heck of a workout! Kay Arthur trancends denomination and gets you into the meat of the word with a challenging and detailed series of steps. If you really put the time and effort into learning this method, no other study will seem quite enough. You will learn to let scripture interpret scripture and learn the rule of context (which is that "context rules!"). Like any fitness goal, with time and persistance you will attain such a level of spiritual fitness that you will be able to dicern whether the pastors you hear, and the commentaries you read, are grounded in the truth of God's word or not. It will help you filter whatever teaching you encounter through the eyes of personally learned truth. Kay Arthur isn't self promoting, she's bible promoting. And as far as spiritual fitness goes- in my opinion she's the Arnold Schwartzenager of bible study!

Rating:
Summary: Introduction To The Inductive Method
Review: Just a few months ago I came to the sudden and perhaps not-so-startling realization that although I have been reading the Bible for more than twenty years I had never really been taught how to study it. I have been told of the importance of spending time each day reading God's Word, meditating on it and even memorizing it, but I do not ever recall being taught how to systematically study it.

After explaining this predicament to a friend of mine, she recommended the inductive Bible study approach, which she had only just discovered through buying the New Inductive Study Bible. Kay Arthur edited that version of the Bible and knowing she was a proponent of the inductive method, I decided to read How To Study Your Bible by Arthur.

I do not intend to go into detail about the Inductive method of Bible study. There is any number of resources available in bookstores and online that can outline the method in detail. Essentially, though, it begins with understanding the context of the big picture (the Bible) then works to the smaller picture (a specific book of the Bible) and so on until the study leads to specific words. The method relies heavily on note-taking and Bible marking. There is a whole system of Bible marking that Arthur recommends which helps in identifying themes and patterns. The appendices are filled with useful information about how to best use concordances and expository dictionaries. They even go into some detail about the tenses, moods and voices of Greek verbs!

Although the book sometimes appears as an advertisement for the New Inductive Study Bible, it does a fantastic job of outlining the method and rationale for the inductive approach to Bible study. This book is a valuable resource and I highly recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: A good study guide
Review: Looking to get in-depth with your Bible Study? This is the book for you. The inductive method is perhaps the most intense type of Bible study. It also requires the most amount of work.

Arthur's book does an excellent job of providing an introduction to inductive study. I say introduction because this is not a long book and does not go into extensive detail on any one point. Listed below are some of the pros and cons I saw in this book:

Pros:
1) The book is very easy to follow. The language is plain and simple. A degree in theology is not necesary to understand what is being taught.

2) The appendixes and examples given are very well thought out and helpful. I've no doubt I'll be referring to this in the future.

3) This book teaches you how to study the Bible for yourself. You are given all the tools necessary. The author is obviously not a fan of commentaries as a first stop in Bible study but she does recommend you refer to them after you have done your own investigation.

Cons:
1) This book is short. It does not go into great detail in any one of its topics. This could be a problem for someone trying to use the inductive method just from reading this book. It's possible but could be difficult. It almost seems necessary to seek out one of the seminars on inductive study offered by the author. This gets to the second con.....

2) The constant referrals to other works by this author (In particular the New Inductive Study Bible) gets a little out of hand. After the first couple chapters I had had quite enough of the advertisements. Granted this was directing you to resources that could help but the repetition was very annoying. No doubt these are fine works. I was just tired of hearing about them.....

All in all I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a more in-depth Bible study.

Rating:
Summary: Very effective method of Bible study
Review: Through this book, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, you will understand what you believe and why you believe it.

This book will open to you the living Word of God. You'll learn how to hear God's guiding voice, how to understand verses in context, and the refreshment of re-reading the Word. Readers say, "Why didn't I know how to study this way sooner? I learned more in three days than I've learned in the past thirty years."

Christian philosopher Blaise Pascal said, "People are generally better persuaded by the reasons which they have themselves discovered than by those which have come into the mind of others."

Do you read a few verses to get a warm, devotional feelilng before taking on the day? Then, dare to prepare yourself to sit at the Master's feet and dwell on His empowering Words. If you wonder how to know God, learn how to study your Bible.

Rating:
Summary: Understand the Word of God.
Review: We hear all of the time how difficult it is to understand the scriptures. This difficulty leads to feelings of discouragement and often a lack of sincere study in the Word. Those that are walking through life without the Word are walking a dark path without the assistance that God intends for each of us (Ps 119:105).Without God's Word we cannot understand either the boundaries or freedom that God expects in our lives.

It is so important to know the difference between reading and studying God's Word. Ms. Arthur's study resource offers a plan to extract the important truths of the Bible and allows you to see where and how to apply them tour life. If you've ever struggled to understand what you're reading from God's Word, plunge into this helpful book. You won't be disappointed.