5 Questions to Ask When Selecting a Bible Study

{ HINT: If We’re Not Talking about Jesus, We’re Not Talking about the Bible }

I am sticking to my one resolution of not making any resolutions.

But I am continuing some of the habits I’ve had in place for years — the most of important of which is immersing myself in God’s Word daily. Of all the healthy habits and spiritual disciplines possible, this is, for me, first and foremost.

As an avid reader and an English teacher, I love good books. But the Good Book is the only one with living words. The Bible is the only book with the power to change lives, and it’s the Bible that changed my life when I was a very lost teenager.

So, every January I like to plan out what I will study in the upcoming year. Sometimes I choose to read the Bible in a year. (I love the One Year Chronological Bible by Tyndale for this.) Other times I choose a few books of the Bible and do a deep dive. More recently, I am following the Bible reading plan that my church provides. It’s two chapters a day, one from the Old Testament and one from the New Testament, and it moves sequentially through certain books of the Bible. I appreciate that my church does this because it prioritizes God’s Word and helps us stay on the same page (literally).

In addition to a personal Bible reading plan, I also like to participate in group Bible studies. The communal aspect of this is vital to our spiritual growth.

Over the years, I’ve enjoyed studies by many different authors, but as I’ve gotten older — and hopefully a little wiser — I’ve developed some criteria for selecting Bible studies that I believe will most edify the women who come to a weekly group gathering.

Even if you’re not the person who selects the Bible study curriculum for the women at your church, the following criteria is still useful in your own evaluation of the Bible study materials you use. Here are five questions to ask:

1. Is the workbook a topical study, a character study, or a book-of-the-Bible study?

In a topical study, the author chooses a topic and then hopscotches through Scripture to pull out verses on that topic. The participant is then dependent upon the teacher to guide them through a collection of Bible verses the teacher has preselected. For those who are new to the Bible, this can leave them in awe of the teacher’s Bible knowledge, and at the same time, it can leave them feeling inadequate in their own inability to navigate Scripture by themselves.

In a character study, the teacher focuses on the life of one person in the Bible. This usually allows the study to follow a more sequential pattern, which is great, but the possibility of skipping around the biblical text still exists. More importantly, we need to remember that the central character in the Bible is God and no one else. The stories of various people in the Bible are really stories of how God has demonstrated his love, his faithfulness, and ultimately, his glory through the lives of broken, sinful people.

When we study the Bible, we want to study it with our eyes on the One to whom all praise and honor is due.

Obviously, I prefer studies that lead participants through whole books of the Bible — chapter by chapter, verse by verse. This helps to keep the rightful focus on God, and it helps to equip all the participants, including those who are new to the Bible, to grow in their biblical literacy and in their confidence in approaching Scripture on their own.

As an extra bonus, when you systematically study whole books of the Bible, you come across a variety of topics along the way (while keeping each topic in context!), and you get to meet a number of characters along the way as well.

Do I ever do a study that is not a book of the Bible? Occasionally, yes. In fact, I am preparing to do a new study by Jen Wilkin on the Sermon on the Mount, which isn’t a whole book by itself, of course, but this study will delve deeply into those three chapters in Matthew verse by verse. I am looking forward to it!

2. Does the workbook focus more on personal application or God magnification?

In a deductive Bible study, we start with a topic (or a character) and search for Bible verses on that topic (or character).

In an inductive Bible study, we read a passage in the Bible and ask three questions:

• What does the text say? (Observation)

• What does the text mean? (Interpretation)

• How do I apply this to my life? (Application)

When a workbook focuses more on the third question, it focuses more on personal application. This isn’t to say that all personal application is bad. Not at all. The Bible does impact us! It is living and active (Hebrews 4:12). But we don’t want the primary focus of our Bible study to be all about us and how a certain passage impacts us.

The Bible is about God, so if we’re devoting adequate time to the first two questions, then we are learning, first and foremost, what the Bible says about God. And when we learn more about God, he is magnified in our sight.

More than anything, we want our time in the Word to magnify God. Because when he is magnified, everything else in our lives — every difficult circumstance and every hard situation — shrinks in the shadow of the Almighty.

3. Is the workbook more author-centered or text-centered?

If you skim through each day of the study, are the workbook pages filled more with the author’s words or with questions that direct you back to the biblical text?

Everyone loves a good story, especially if it helps to draw the participant into the study. I also understand that some publishers require the author to include a personal story at the beginning of each day of the study. But overall, does the workbook seem to feature the author’s words or does it focus more on directing the participant back to the biblical text?

Here’s another indicator: When going through a study, if we find ourselves growing more in awe of the teacher, then chances are strong that the study is centered more on the author. However, if we find ourselves growing more in awe of God, then chances are good that the study is centered more on the biblical text.

4. Does the workbook discuss or indicate the historical context and authorial intent of the text?

So far, whenever I’ve used the word “author,” I have meant the author of the Bible study workbook. But now, when I say “authorial intent,” I mean the intended meaning of the author who wrote the book of the Bible you are studying. In other words, if you are studying the Gospel of Matthew, what was Matthew’s intended meaning when he wrote those words? How would his original audience have understood his meaning?

Also, what was the historical context for the book? This, too, is key. For example, we don’t want to read the individual narratives in the book of Judges as isolated events. As a whole, the stories in Judges represent a particular period of time in Israel’s history. The spiritual health of Israel was in serious decline at that time, and this is made clear by the key line repeated in the book where the author of Judges says, “Everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 17:6, 21:25). The author is communicating here that the people of God were choosing to ignore God’s commands and do whatever they wanted, resulting in a downward spiral of the people, which is reflected in the stories told in Judges. It’s impossible to appropriately understand Scripture apart from its historical context.

When selecting a Bible study, it’s important that the historical context and authorial intent is clearly communicated. We want to understand what the words of Scripture meant to its original audience.

5. How much does the workbook talk about Jesus?

It’s paramount that we not neglect the Christ-centered gospel message of the Bible. From the earliest pages of Genesis to the final words of Revelation, Jesus is the Savior and Redeemer of all who repent and call on his beautiful name.

When we study the Bible, it’s critical that the Christological themes throughout the text are made evident. This means that a strong Bible study will keep a consistent focus on Christ. A study does this by drawing clear connections between the Old and New Testaments, by pointing out prophecies that speak of Christ, and by seeing how the archetypes in the Bible foreshadow Jesus.

If the workbook talks about God in a generic way, but rarely, if ever, mentions the name of Jesus, then we want to ditch that study. Simply put: If we’re not talking about Jesus, we’re not talking about the Bible. Because it’s all about him. So, when you’re looking for a possible new Bible study, look for the Name that is above every name. Look for Jesus.

As you embark on this new year, I want to encourage you to find a Bible reading plan that works for you. Hopefully your church provides one. If not, here are some options you might consider. I also want to encourage you to be a part of a group, if you’re not already, that studies Scripture together. And if the group uses a workbook type of study, I hope these five questions help you discern a solid study to learn from.

Shalom.

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