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Bible Tips

Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

(2 Tim 2:15)

Bible Study Tips

  • Bible Reading Tips:

    1. Start in the New Testament

      • The New Testament is written for Christians and contains everything you need to understand "theology".

      • Reading the New Testament first imparts to you a "Christian" mindset, which will help you understand the Old Testament.

      • The New Testament is revealed and open to understanding, while the Old Testament lessons are usually concealed within allegory, that is, representations.

    2. Don't feel the need to read through the New Testament books in order.

      • The New Testament was not ordered in the 1st and 2nd century, this occurred over time and because of this, it should be seen as a recommended order for reading. Notice, the New Testament starts with the Four Gospels; you may understand better, for example if you read Luke followed by Acts, instead of reading Luke followed by John.

      • The letters were written to churches to address concerns and to recognize good works being done, if one of these letters addresses a problem you are having that day, it may be good to jump ahead to the topic.

      • Here is a tool to help you locate Bible Topics: KJV Online Bible Topics

    3. Start with one of the Gospels.

      • Jesus Christ is the topic of the New Testament. If you are a new Christian, it would be wise to know the story of Jesus and who he is before getting into the details on how everything fits together.

      • The Gospels are engaging, as they are stories; this is in contrast to the Apostle's Letters which focus more on addressing issues in the Church and the laying out of Church Doctrine.

      •  The Four Gospels can be seen as four viewpoints: Matthew as Matthew's, Mark as Peter's, Luke as the historic account, and John as a retrospective and personal account.

      •  The Gospel of Luke and The Acts are parts of the same narrative. Both of these books are written by Luke and are written as a two-part story.

    4. Audio Bibles should not be ignored.​

      • The Bible was meant to be both heard and read. Remember, the ancient and medieval periods were not as literate as we are today, and much of the teaching was done through sermons to the common man. Audio Bibles can help you visualize the Bible in a different light compared to exclusively reading the Bible.​

      • The Newbie's Corner has audio Bible links.

      • We prefer Alexander Scourby's narration of the Bible, but there are many excellent narrations available.

1: Bible Reading Tips

  • Suggested Bible Reading Plans for a Newbie:

    • Plan#1: The Jewish Perspective:

      • Start with Matthew -- Read Acts Chapters 1-9 -- Read Galatians -- Read Hebrews -- Read Revelation (Purpose: Jesus fulfills the Law and Prophets; the Apostle perspective.)

    • Plan#2: History and the Core beliefs:

      • Start with Luke -- Read Acts -- Read Romans (Purpose: Luke's Church history followed by Paul's Church doctrine; this gives a picture of what the early Church did and believed.)

    • Plan#3: John's Perspective: 

      • Start with John -- Read 1st John -- Read 2nd John -- Read 3rd John -- Read Revelation (Purpose: John's perspective -- more personal, heartfelt and reflective.)

    • Plan#4: Peter's Perspective:

      • ​ Start with Mark -- Read 1st Peter -- Read 2nd Peter -- Read Galatians (Purpose: Easily communicated and to the point Christianity; more action-packed and direct. Mark's Gospel is written as if from Peter's point of view.)​​

    • Plan#5: The New Testament: ​

      • Read the New Testament in order, Starting with Matthew and ending with Revelation. (Purpose: The best reading order, according to the Church.)​

    • Note#1: Go back and read the rest of the New Testament after you work through a suggested plan before reading the Old Testament. This will help you understand the Old Testament.​

    • Note#2: The book of Psalms and the book of Proverbs are excellent for starting and ending your day. Try reading aloud a Psalm in the morning and meditating on a chapter of Proverbs right before you go to bed. There are 150 Psalms, the longer psalms can be split up and read over the course of a few days. There are 31 chapters in Proverbs, you can easilly turn this into a daily reading plan, as you can match the chapter to the day of the month. 

    • Note#3: If you wish to follow along and read through the Bible in a year, here is today's reading. This could be helpful if you can gain some momentum with a community, as you know exactly what everyone else is reading.

  1. The Old Testament:​

    • The Old Testament should not be ignored, we are preparing the metaphoric "ground" of the heart and mind by reading the New Testament first. ​

    • If you want to try a deeper study, look up the Old Testament references as they are presented to you throughout the New Testament narrative. You may need a cross-reference tool, as it is a little difficult to locate the reference quickly.

  2. An Outline of the Bible:​

    • Old Testament:

      • Genesis through Esther is history.

      • Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon are the wisdom and poetry books.

      • Isaiah through Malachi are the prophets and their writings.

    • New Testament:

      • Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are the four gospel accounts.

      • Acts chapters 1 through 9 is the spread of the Gospel (Good News of Jesus) through Israel; Acts chapters 10 through 28 is the beginning of the spread of the Gospel throughout the rest of the world.

      • Romans through Jude are the letters and doctrine to the New Testament Church.

      • Revelation is the final prophesy and the end of the world.

    • Here is a tool to help you locate Bible Stories: KJV Online Bible Stories

2: Reading Plans

  • Bible Study tips:

    • The Bible tells us: "the Holy Ghost will teach you all things".  Ask the Holy Spirit for discernment and understanding before (and during) reading.

      • ​John 14:26  But the Comforter, [which is] the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

    • Everything in the Bible has a purpose and is applicable in some way today.​

    • When listening to the pastor in church (either at a physical building or via a sermon on this website), make notes of all verse references. During the week, go back and read the containing chapter for each referenced verse in the sermon.

    • To get the proper context of a verse, use the 20/20 rule (20 verses before, 20 verses after), which provides you with 20/20 "vision".​

    • To aid in your seeing of the "big picture": read or listen to the whole book (not the whole Bible, but one book of the Bible) in one or two sittings; and then go back to study it.

    • Compare the Bible passage you are reading to other linked Bible passages (if this feature exists in your Bible). Most- if not all- passages cross-reference to other passages of the Bible. Looking up the linked passage will bring clarity of context and thought.

    • There is satisfaction to be found in reading a random passage every once in a while; let the Holy Spirit be your guide.

    • Don't be afraid to mark up your Bible. Make notes in the side column(s), and on the top & bottom for any relevant thought that pops into your head during your re-reading of passages, verses, or chapters.

    • Use a concordance and a dictionary to help in the understanding of the words used in Scripture. A concordance is a resource which shows the original word that was used in the original language and all the possible meanings of that word. Remember, words are chosen for a purpose.

    • Free to use Bible study applications for computers and mobile devices provide many tools and resources that can aid in understanding the Bible, including dictionaries and a KJV Bible with "Strong's concordance" tags built in. Check out the Bible Apps page for more information and for download links.

  1. Some thoughts on the Bible:

    • The author of the Bible is the Lord God, His Spirit moved through godly men to inspire them to write His words. The personalities and writing styles of these men came through the text because of the way He did this (think of a secretary writing for a boss, not a court reporter writing verbatim). 

    • The Four Gospels should be seen as the center of the Bible; The Old Testament points to the Gospels and the rest of the New Testament reveals the Gospel’s meaning in detail, while also correlating both Old and New perfectly for the full picture.

      • The four Gospel accounts are not meant to be identical; they have different focuses in order to show Jesus fulfill four different roles (King, Servant, Man and God). Trying to combine all aspects of Christ into one account would make the story very hard to read and follow.

      • The very fact there are four different correlating accounts with four different themes and all four of them are self-sufficient stories should show the importance and the accuracy of the account as a whole.

      • The Gospels are not meant to be “The Biography of Jesus Christ”.​

3: Bible Study Tips

  • Tools From The Past: The Strong's Concordance:

    • This is a Strong's Number Tag: H410

      • What this does is point toward a reference within the Strong's Concordance, which is a reference tool for reversing a translation, that is, to see what word is behind the English translation and to see the word's original language.​ A concordance is a resource which shows the original word that was used in it's original language, including all the possible meanings of that word.​

      • There are two different tags, "H" tags and "G" tags. These correlate to Hebrew and Greek, respectively. An example would be "Adam [H121]" from Genesis 2:21. This is saying Adam equals H121 within the Strong's concordance. The number represents the actual word; every word in the King James Bible has been cataloged with a number.

      • If you look up H121 on a Strong's Concordance program, you would find something similar to this: 

        • H121 -- This is the "H" tag.

        • אָדָם  -- This is the original Hebrew word.

        • 'âdâm -- This is a transliteration into English.

        • aw-dawm' -- This is a pronunciation for English.

        • The same as H120; Adam, the name of the first man, also of a place in Palestine: - Adam. -- This is the description and explanation of the word, including any root words.

        • Total KJV occurrences: 21 -- This is how many times the "H" tag appears in the Old Testament.

      • Now, if we go to the New Testament, you will not see "H" tags, but rather, "G" tags. This is because the New Testament was recorded in Koine (this means common) Greek. An example would be "Jesus [G2424]" in John 3:2. This is saying Jesus equals G2424 within the Strong's concordance.

      • If you look up G2424 on a Strong's Concordance program, you would find something similar to this:

        • G2424 -- This is the "G" tag.

        • Ἰησοῦς -- This is the original Greek word.

        • Iēsous -- This is a transliteration into English.

        • ee-ay-sooce' -- This is a pronunciation for English.

        • Of Hebrew origin [H3091]; Jesus (that is, Jehoshua), the name of our Lord and two (three) other Israelites: - Jesus. -- This is the description and explanation of the word, including any root words, Notice that this word has a Hebrew root of H3091.

        • Total KJV occurrences: 975 -- This is how many times the "G" tag appears in the New Testament.

      • The actual Strong tag can be looked up on the internet, but having a dedicated Bible app is usually ideal. The app allows the Strong tag to be a button next to every English word, which opens a pop-up when needed.​

      • Here is an online Bible with Strong's Number Tags:

      • Here is an iPad app:

      • Here is an iPhone app:

      • Here is an Android app:

4: Tools From The Past Strongs
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