Variety is the spice of life, so the saying goes. It’s good advice for Bible study. The principle is obvious. While there’s security in routine, it’s nice to mix things up once in a while or try something new. Change invites our problem-solving intelligence to kick in and, consequently, to stimulate our brain.
There are a lot of approaches to Bible study. You might want to try as many as you can discover, or master just a few.
Since most people graduate to Bible study from Bible reading, the verse-by-verse method is often where people start. The method involves moving through a paragraph or passage looking up cross-references, picking words to study, and figuring out what every sentence means within the larger unit.
Topical Bible study is an entirely different method. Topical Bible study is just what it sounds like—discovering what the Bible says about a given topic. This method would require tools that can get you started in sketching out a topic, like Bible dictionaries. You need to know up front what the key words are that relate to a given topic. For example, if you wanted to study Old Testament sacrifices, you wouldn’t just use a concordance to look up the word “sacrifice.” You’d also want to look up words like “offering,” “blood,” “sprinkle,” and “atone.” Once you have a range of key words, you’ll discover the key passages.
Another method is doing character sketches, also known as biographical Bible study. This approach focuses on a single Bible character, searching for every passage where he or she appears. In this method you need to be on the alert for where the character’s name doesn’t appear, too. Sometimes a character is just named by a pronoun (“he” or “she” did this or that). The goal is to build a profile of what that person was like. How did your character react in given circumstances? What can the episodes of his or her life tell you about their personal strengths and weaknesses? How did they relate to God? Sometimes unnamed characters can be the focus of this kind of study. A Bible study on women in the Gospels, named or unnamed, could be quite interesting.
Even this handful of methods can keep you engaged for a long time. Be on the lookout for others and try something new!