We are starting a journey through Acts from the New Testament at the church where I serve as Pastor. Before we jumped into this journey that I’m really pumped about, I thought I would share with our congregation some useful questions to ask when we come to study God’s word. I think it is important that Christians know the Bible as it was given to us to show us more about our great God. Here are the questions that I shared with our congregation to help them in Bible study.

1. Who wrote the text? I know that some are wanting to share 2 Timothy 3:16 with me right about now. The ultimate author of the Bible is God. He did chose to use men to write it down though (2 Peter 1:20-21). When we know who wrote the particular passage, we can also know a little about what is intended by the certain use of wording.

2. When was it written? The date of the writing can tell you about some things that were going on. This may take a little extra digging to find, but it will help to understand some passages when you know the context of what was written.

3. Why was it written? This has to do with the purpose of the book/letter. This might be one of the most important questions to keep you on the right path and not wandering into alternate interpretations that have nothing to do with the real purpose.

4. To whom was it written? I don’t know where it started, but many think that the Bible was written to them. Hear me closely: the Bible was not written to me but it was written for me. This is to say that though the letter of Galatians is not addressed to me, I can still learn much from it about what God desires in my life.

5. What am I to take from this passage? When you have asked and answered the first four questions, you are ready to ask the fifth and see what God has for you. It might be a promise. It might be conviction to repent. Each time we come to the Bible, God has something for us to take with us.

I hope that these will help you in your study of the Bible. What other questions have you used in Bible study? I’d love to hear them in the comments section.