Any seasoned Bible reader knows what cross-references are: chapter and verse references inserted in your Bible near (or within) the verses you’re actually reading. Print Bibles use several conventions for cross-references. A typical strategy places tiny superscripted numbers or letters next to words that correspond to other verse references located somewhere else on the page, usually the bottom. A key principle in Bible study is letting the Bible interpret itself. Cross-references are an important gateway to letting that happen.
The purpose of cross-references is to alert you to other verses in the Bible that say something similar. For example, let’s say we’re in Ephesians 1, and we come to verse 7: “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace.” My copy of the ESV puts superscripted letters next to several words in that verse: in, redemption, through, forgiveness, according. Those letters give me a total of ten cross-references to other verses that reiterate or develop the ideas of Ephesians 1:7.
The more cross-references you can find, the better. Many concepts in Scripture are threaded throughout its pages, not just echoed here and there. When Scripture becomes a commentary on Scripture for you, you’re starting to do biblical theology.
Ten cross-references may sound like a lot, but it isn’t. My ESV Study Bible lists nearly ten more verses that I could look up in regard to Ephesians 1:7. But you can do a lot better than that.
One of the tools every Bible student should have, in print or digital form, is The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. The latest edition (the “New Treasury”; 1992) claims to be “the most complete listing of cross references available anywhere.” It’s not an idle boast. The entire book is a compilation of cross-references. That’s right—a book full of nothing but lists of verses. No prose. It’s wonderful. It provides nearly forty cross-references for Ephesians 1:7.
The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge is most conveniently used within a Bible software platform. The speed saves you a lot of time. But even in hard copy, this is a must-have tool.