Goaying Places

I decided to take the plunge and order the ESV Study Bible after reading this blog post by Dr. Albert Mohler. I had been vacillating between pre-ordering one back in October or holding off, supposedly in the name of responsible money management. But I figured if I’m going to engage in some frivolous spending this holiday season I might as well do it to the glory of God (I hope that’s not blasphemous).

This tome of the Word of God will truly "divide joints and marrow"-- if you drop it on your foot. Oof!

The bible itself is MASSIVE. I got the hardcover edition which makes it even bigger. It’s over 2,700 pages and it’s packed with all kinds of notes, diagrams, timelines, tables, full-color illustrations, detailed maps and cross-references. The introductory articles and outlines (PDF link) for each book are pretty in-depth. Purchasing it also gives you access to the online version, where cross-references are hyperlinked for convenient study; a nice bonus that I’m looking forward to using.

Looking at my NKJ MacArthur study bible that my parents gave me as a birthday gift when I turned 16, I cringe at some of the margin notes and passage highlight choices I made in high school. I have no idea what I was thinking or feeling in calling out some of these choice passages. For some unfathomable reason I found it necessary to highlight about 60% of the first half of the book of Joshua (only the first half, as apparently I didn’t finish the second half). Seriously, it looks like someone splashed yellow paint on these pages. In other examples, I remember only too well what I was thinking and it makes me cringe even more. I was apparently quite keen on finding ways to self-righteously reproach and rebuke my friends; I highlighted Christ’s prescription for dealing with a sinning brother in Matthew 18 without touching anything else in the chapter. This included Christ’s prescription to become as little children to enter the Kingdom, His adamant words against allowing sin to the degree of plucking out an eye or lopping off a hand, and His brief and beautiful parable of the lost sheep and the shepherd’s joy to rescue it. Most ironically, and shamefully, Peter’s question regarding forgiveness and the parable of the unforgiving servant which just so happens to be the very next passage also stands untouched. Yeah, yeah, Jesus, I’ve heard all that stuff before, I know it– just tell me how I can go tell so-and-so how he offended me and how to get other people on my side, too.

Thankfully, my methods have developed somewhat from those mysteriously highlighter-happy days, and learning to study the bible is an adventure that the Lord guides me through every day (okay, not every day, but I’m trying). It’s still a rather fuzzy science, though, and I’m always looking for new practices to maximize the effectiveness of my time in the Word. Here are some methods that I’ve found to be quite helpful (and some not so helpful):

1. Colors!

I bought a 4-color + .05mm pen/pencil to use with my planner and it’s actually become my most valuable bible study tool. Early on, I was loathe to sully the pages of my bible but I’ve since shed that attitude and mark up my bible with vigor. As I read through a book I’ll underline passages depending on what personal category they fall into.

Blue: default color for call-out. I like to circle the first time a person’s name shows up, except for genealogies. In that case I just circle names that I recognize.

Green: personally memorable, touching or convicting passages. Devotional or reflective margin notes.

Red: passages that clearly point to the main theme of the bible, Jesus Christ and the gospel. Key doctrinal passages or monumental moments in the history of God’s revelation to us, prophecies pointing to the cross, God’s divine purpose of grace. So far this is working out really well, though books like Romans and John have pages that look like they’re bleeding.

Black: cross-reference summaries, misc notes. This is why I’m looking forward to using the digital version with linked cross-references; looking them up manually really eats up time but is so necessary.

Pencil: Questions, hopefully to be answered later in black.

2. Outlining

When I first started studying the bible I would focus chapter-by-chapter but found I was coming away with very little grasp on the big picture of books. This was especially frustrating given some of the seemingly random placement of chapter breaks in some books. Can someone explain to me why that is, again?

Reading through the book and outlining on the first pass before going back and digging into each chapter has been very helpful. I haven’t been able to try it on any of the OT books yet and am still deciding how to go about it (e.g. Exodus seems to outline fine, until you get to oh, the last 20 chapters).

3. The “Bible Rolodex”

This was an idea that sounded awesome on paper but didn’t work out that way. When I was studying English at UC Riverside I would find it helpful to write character sheets documenting the plot arc and development of each character in a novel as I read through it. This paid off big when writing papers. I wanted to do the same for the bible and keep a “bible rolodex” that would document and chart the developments of each and every person mentioned in the bible that I could look up any time. In addition to the study benefits, I figured when I bump into some of them in Heaven I’ll at least be able to jump start conversation and not have to greet them with an awkward, “So what was it like to know David? Oh uh, sorry, you were one of the people exiled in the Babylonian captivity? Never mind.”

Since our Sunday bible study class was embarking on a 2.5 year trek through the bible starting with Genesis at the time, I figured I was ideally positioned to start the rolodex and update it as we went along. Unfortunately, this ambitious and naive endeavor pretty met its end rather quickly. Starting with the genealogies, there were just way too many names that I had a strong feeling I’d never see in the bible again. This led to inconsistent use and trying to “guess” or retroactively update characters after they proved to be recurring, if I even remembered their first appearance or bothered to write it in. In the end, my rolodex project was counted among the poor souls who met their miserable end wandering in the wilderness in Numbers, never to see the Promised Land (which in retrospect was a good thing; there’s a ton more names in Joshua).

4. Not Reading the Commentaries

This is a skill and area of discernment I still struggle in developing and employing. My pastor recommended it to me early on as general bible study advice. Wrestle with the text first, he said, and allow yourself to ask questions and to not know what other people have answered with yet. Yeah, okay, that sounds good, except for one important detail– I don’t like not knowing. The first impulse is still to immediately glance down and see what so-and-so theologian has to say about it.

It took time, and the purchase of a standard bible with no notes or commentary to use side-by-side when the temptation was too great, but it was very valuable advice. Wondering what the heck God means in a given passage and waiting for Him to answer through the book itself or through cross-references is incalculably more rewarding, enriching and equipping–but sometimes frustrating–a method. It’s frustrating because sometimes I just don’t find the answer or can’t find it in the manner I want to get it– NOW! But those sublime moments of stumbling onto a cross reference that suddenly snaps two floating pieces of the puzzle in your mind together– those are what I’m cheating myself out of by cutting corners, I try to tell myself. As Dr. Mohler puts it, “A first principle of interpreting the Bible is to interpret the Bible by the Bible. In other words, to allow the Bible to interpret itself text by text.”

5. Bible School

Not surprisingly, taking classes at the Los Angeles Bible Training School is probably the single biggest source of the development of my bible study methods. My two professors really pounded “the sufficiency of the Word” into our heads. Just as enriching as the actual class curriculums is the underlying education by practice/osmosis of how to better study the bible. Hopefully that means my next class, Bible Study Methods, will give a double helping of improved understanding in absorbing the Word.