Resources for Studying Scripture
The Bible is one big story that leads to our Savior Jesus and the healing that He brings to the world. Now, how do I study it? How do I embrace it and be changed by the words of God? Well, that’s what we’re jumping into today!
16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NIV)
All Scripture is in the Bible for a reason. Some of it is very, very hard to understand. Thankfully, we are blessed by Jesus to have very smart people who have provided resources to help us understand this beautiful revelation story of Jesus, who came to save the world forever.
What you need to know is that it isn’t going to be some kind of discourse or revelation that you learn about how to study Scripture. Instead, it will be full of tools to guide you on the journey of getting to know Jesus and to let Him transform your heart. This phrase is pretty popular, but I find it fitting when it comes to learning about Bible resources and doing Bible study on our own. It comes from a Chinese proverb.
“If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day—if you teach him to fish, you feed him for many days.”
Today, I’m not necessarily giving you a fish. I’m teaching you how to fish, so that you can fish on your own.
The first thing I want to start with is this. Google can be your best friend when it comes to studying the Bible. But you also need to pray for discernment with the resources they provide. Why? Because Google is not God. It can absolutely be a great tool, though, to help you gain access to good Biblical resources. Ask Google any question, and you’ll be loaded with resources. Again, what you need to be careful with is that not all resources are Biblical. Some seek to coerce others into accepting their own views rather than what God is saying. In my research, the resources I present are reliable based on my observations and inquiries, conversations with friends, and checking into their theological backgrounds. These are not the only resources, but the ones I tend to rely on for my learning.
Commentaries
To use Learning Religion’s definition of what a Bible commentary is.
“A Bible commentary is a written, systematic series of explanations and interpretations of Scripture.”
The authors of these commentaries are people who are well-versed and have extensive research in the setting, time period, ways people would learn, and more to help provide understanding and meaning of what a certain Book of the Bible or set of verses is trying to teach. There are tons and tons out there. Many great ones. If you asked for a commentary on the Book of Philippians, more than likely, all of our staff would suggest a different commentary. Know that it’s okay to have various commentaries because each voice hits something different and provides meaning.
If you’re looking to be introduced to a commentary set, I would highly recommend the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentaries. I love this series of commentaries because they’re not written with big words and are not going to cause the average reader to fall asleep. They’re easy to understand. If you’re looking for something more advanced, I’d suggest New International Version Application Commentary, The Pillar New Testament Commentary, and anything D.A. Carson/N.T. Wright. These are not the only ones to check out, but these are the ones in my personal experience that have helped me understand the Scriptures better and grow closer to Jesus.
This resource has numerous free commentaries, Bible translations, and word studies to deepen understanding of the Bible. I grew up my whole life, and I was even in my first ministry position before I even knew a Bible commentary existed. This site opened my eyes to a whole new world. I was mind-blown. The first story I remember studying on this site was Zacchaeus in Luke 19. I was blown away seeing that the geographic location mattered in the story, the job title mattered, and so much more.
Bible Gateway has a lot of translations of the Bible on its site. Why do we need more than one translation? We don’t per se, but different Bibles have different purposes. The New Living Translation and The Message are very readable and easy to understand. The New American Standard Bible and the New King James Version are very literal, or word-for-word, translations of the original text. Just so we’re clear, there is one real version, and it’s in Hebrew, Greek, and some Aramaic. What we have now are translations from those texts. Groups of scholars come together to provide a translation that doesn’t tear away from the original intent and meaning—some questionably might—but some may seek to be closer to the word-for-word, which can often be bad English. Others are easier to read, but dip further away from the intent of the original authors. We need to recognize that translators do their best but are not always perfect, so having multiple translations to consider helps us understand where the author was heading. If it’s still confusing, you can consult the Hebrew or Greek definition on Blue Letter Bible to further understand.
Bible Gateway is excellent to have loads of translations at the tip of your fingers.
This place is fantastic! I had a student I was meeting with, and we were studying the Book of Revelation, and it is a very hard book to know fully what is happening. Well, during our meetings together, I often looked up what’s happening in John’s recording of the revelation he received. Who are the four horsemen in Revelation 7? They give great Scriptural context, they are very humble in their responses, and don’t leave it as “my way or the highway.” They have answers to nearly 700,000 questions about the Bible, and many of those answers address questions that are particularly difficult to answer. This site has been huge in helping me understand the Bible because there are really hard questions about it, and sometimes my brain doesn’t have the capacity to understand on my own. Help is there. They have Bible scholars answer the questions, and also, what I think is awesome is that the CEO takes responsibility for every answer on the website. To me, I feel like that’s awesome, knowing how much content is on there. If you have questions about the Bible, this is a great resource to go to. They also have an app called “Got Questions,” so they’re literally in the palm of your hand.
The BibleProject is a nonprofit organization that provides educational resources to help people experience the Bible as one unified story that leads to Jesus. They do quite a bit and have a solid team helping to advance this mission. This is not meant to be biased towards BibleProject, but they have a ton of resources that are accessible to you, so I want to hit on what they do because they’ve had a huge impact on my life and knowledge of Scripture.
Videos
This is how the BibleProject got started. For a while, they mainly did animated videos that talked about a certain topic or a book of the Bible to explain what it is in around 5 minutes. Some videos are longer, and others are shorter than 5 minutes, but they typically fall within that range. These are valuable because they discuss a theme from the beginning to the end of the Bible and consistently explain how it points to Jesus. We use these videos a lot around here, or tell people to watch them, because they are solid and put a lot of Biblical depth in a short amount of time.
These videos often, but not always, come with a study guide that provides additional detail on what the video covers to help you understand it further. It often goes into the Hebrew and Greek of the subject matter, showing how it is referenced throughout other stories in the Bible. They also tend to have reflection questions at the end.
Podcasts
Their podcasts are often expanded series about the topics of their videos. For example, they produced a Tree of Life video and then a podcast series of approximately 10 episodes. It’s pretty amazing if you’re looking for a good listen. They go into great detail and stick to Scripture, and also they take into consideration what Israelite readers and listeners would have thought as they would have been listening to a certain letter being read. It digs deep, and you’ll learn a ton. It may leave you with tons of questions at the end, but that’s the point, so that you can research and develop your own thoughts about the Scriptures.
Blogs
Blogs have been amazing to hit a bunch of different things in a little amount of time to research. The BibleProject blog is basically an expansion that sticks to the themes they are hitting in their podcasts and videos, and often gives great resources for further study.
Classroom
If you want to take seminary-level classes for free, these classes are solid. All of our staff take these classes and find a lot of meaning through them. These classes are asynchronous and provide video lectures with their team of teachers, usually people who have been professors or are most likely adjuncts now, and dive deep into a book of the Bible or a set of chapters. Super good. You’ll learn a lot, be mind blown a lot, and feel like you both understand a ton about the subject matter, but also very little. And that’s the point. So that you continue to learn and grow closer to Jesus. They have an introductory course on Eden, and it’s solid. I would highly recommend taking a class.
App
In 2021, BibleProject released an app that is a command center for all of their resources. It contains basically everything from their website in a mobile friendly way. I love it to be able to listen to their Classroom sessions like a podcast. The app also tracks the different podcasts and videos you watch, so that’s encouraging and can keep you accountable as well.
So, all of these resources I’ve gone through are just some of the many resources that are out there for you to help get to know this strange, difficult-to-understand, but beautiful story about Jesus that literally changed us all. As we go today, may this be our experience with the Scriptures:
Your word is a lamp for my feet,
a light on my path.
Psalm 119:105 NIV
