Study Tips

#1 Remember

The Bible is made up of different kinds of writing.
History. Poetry. Letters. Visions. Testimony (like the Gospels). Reading history isn't the same as reading a letter—you expect to find different things in each of them and learn different things from them. First, read the section and find out what you do understand. Then, use the resources to help with the parts that you don't.

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#2 A Study Method

First, look at the words.
Remember that it's English. Treat it like anything else you want to understand. Look at the words in each sentence—how they work in the sentence, how they affect each other, what they say. We've looked at Heb. 11:1 on other pages, let's use it again.

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

We begin with “faith is”. Faith is ... what?

It is being sure and being certain. Ask yourself if these are two ways of saying the same thing or if there are differences in the words that would add to the picture of faith.

What is faith sure and certain of?

What we hope for and what we do not see. These two phrases aren't quite the same. You can hope to win a car—you can go look at it, you can sit in it, you might even pretend you're driving it. But, how does it change the way you hope, if you can't even see the thing your hoping for?

Looking at all the pieces we see that faith has something to do with knowing (being sure) something we can't see but hope for. Then, if I can see or hold something I don't have faith—I don't need faith because I already have it. I need faith when I don't have the thing yet.
This isn't a very satisfactory definition, though. It seems like there should be more to understanding what faith is. And that's where our next study tip comes in.

Then, look at the context.
When we look at the scripture around our one sentence, we find:

The verses just before it are about the hard times those believers had. Chapter 10 ends with ... “But my righteous one will live by faith... But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.”

Then we look at the verses that come after our sentence and find example after example of what that “faith” looked like in the life of specific believers.

When we put it all together we can have a definition of faith and how to recongize it.

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#3 The Three Step Study Method

Observation: What does it say?
Intrepretation: What does it mean?
Application: How does the meaning apply to me?

Observation

Find out the context—this is very important to accurate interpretation.
Example: sharp—a pointed object, a musical term, a thin edge, quick witted, bitingly cold or stylishly dressed. You can tell which meaning is the right one by the other words in the sentence.

Look for the obvious—facts about people, places and events—often these will be repeated making them easy to see. This provides a framework for the text.

Read asking questions of the text.  Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?

Interpretation

Use all you’ve observed to find the meaning of the text. Be objective—let Scripture speak for itself. Don't try to make it say what you've always thought it said.

Application

This is where you ask the last question—So what? So what does He want you to know from this passage? What should you do with that knowlege—how does it apply to your own life?

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