How to Study the Bible
Text: II Timothy 2:15
Series: Restoration Sermons
Date:
Speaker: Ed Rangel
Location: Waupaca Church of Christ
Bible Version: NASB 1995
Sermon Type: Expository
Learning Objectives
By the close of this lesson the hearer should be able to:
- Explain the principle that "the Bible is its own interpreter" and state the corollary: how obscure passages should be handled.
- Name and briefly describe all seven methods of Bible study, and identify at least one type of content that each method is suited to discover.
- State why the command to teach or preach implies a command to learn, and what this means for the person who will never preach.
- Identify the six characteristics that a Bible student must have (Section IV) and explain why the absence of any one would undermine the study.
- Explain why it is sinful to be ignorant of the Bible — what specific text or principle makes ignorance a matter of responsibility, not merely a gap in education.
Thesis
"Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth" (II Tim. 2:15). The call to accurate handling of the word implies the capacity for it — which means it implies study. Ignorance of the Bible is not neutral; it is the failure to use what God gave and to develop the competence he commanded. The Bible is its own interpreter; the methods are multiple and accessible; the characteristics required are moral as much as intellectual.
Burden
"Where one will read the Bible, ten will read books about it." The observation is as accurate now as when it was made: there is a great market for books about the Bible, and a comparatively thin practice of actually reading the Bible itself. The burden is practical: to equip the hearer with the principle that the Bible interprets itself, the methods that make the study productive, the divine command behind the study, and the personal characteristics without which the study cannot be honest.
Introduction
It is sinful to be ignorant of the Bible. The word "sinful" is strong, and it is appropriate. If God has revealed his will and given a book that contains it, the person who does not know the book has failed to know what God required them to know. A command to teach or preach implies a command to learn: the teacher who does not know the material cannot teach it; the preacher who does not know the word cannot preach it; the Christian who does not know the Scripture cannot be "adequate, equipped for every good work" (II Tim. 3:17).
The study gap in the contemporary church is not primarily a capacity problem — the Bible is available, literacy is widespread, time exists. It is a priority problem and a method problem. This sermon addresses both: why study is commanded and how to do it.
I. The Bible Is Its Own Interpreter
The first principle of Bible study is the most important methodological one: the Bible explains itself.
It contains its own key to unlock its secrets. The principle comes from the Reformation but is grounded in the nature of Scripture itself: the same Spirit who inspired all of it also ensured its internal coherence. The Bible does not contain competing theologies that cancel each other; it contains a progressive revelation that builds, deepens, and completes. The key to understanding a passage is often found in the same book, in the same author's other writings, or in the broader context of the canon.
Obscure passages are interpreted by plain ones. When a passage is difficult — when its meaning is unclear, when it seems to say something surprising, when the interpretation is genuinely contested — the first interpretive move is to find the plain passages that address the same subject and let them illuminate the difficult one. The difficult passage must not be made the controlling interpretation that overrides the plain ones; the plain passages are the controlling interpretation, and the difficult passage is understood in their light.
This principle has a specific application: the person who builds a doctrine on a single obscure text, without reference to the plain texts that address the same subject, is not interpreting — they are proof-texting. The interpreter whose conclusions are always drawn from the obscure and who dismisses the plain is reading backwards.
II. Methods of Study
Seven methods, each suited to a different kind of understanding.
As a whole book. Reading the entire Bible — Old Testament and New Testament, from Genesis to Revelation — gives the student what no other method gives: the sense of the whole, the movement of redemptive history, the development of theme and promise from beginning to end. Many Christians know individual books well and have a thin sense of the whole; many others know the story of redemption in general terms and have a thin knowledge of specific books. The whole-book method addresses the first gap.
Book by book. God gave the Bible in books — not chapters, not verses, not topical sections. The book is the basic unit of revelation. A book has a context, an audience, an occasion, a structure, and a sustained argument or narrative that can only be understood by reading the whole book in sequence. The chapter-and-verse system is useful for reference; it was not how the books were written or intended to be read. The book-by-book method reads each book as the sustained unit it is.
By topics — faith, grace, love, baptism. The topical method collects everything the Bible says about a specific subject and lays it side by side. The advantage: a comprehensive view of what Scripture teaches on a subject that no single book presents completely. The danger: the method can be used to strip texts out of context; it requires that the interpreter bring each text back to its original context rather than treating the collection as a new document.
By institutions — altar, tabernacle, temple, synagogue, church. The institutional method traces the development of specific structures and institutions through redemptive history, showing how each expresses the relationship between God and his people in the era to which it belongs, and how each anticipates or fulfills what comes before and after.
By biography of men — Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, John the Baptist, Peter, Paul. The biographical method follows the life of a specific person through all the texts that describe them, giving the student a complete picture of the person and of what they contribute to the story of redemption. The lives of biblical figures are not merely interesting stories — they are theology in narrative form.
By words — many words have wide scope. The word study method — which has been used throughout this sermon series — examines the Hebrew and Greek terms behind the English translation. The English word "love" covers four Greek words with distinct meanings; "baptize" covers a specific action with a contested interpretation in some traditions; "church" covers a Greek word with specific social and theological content. The word study method gets behind the translation to the original concept.
By the random method — reading at opening. This is the method least suited to systematic understanding but most natural for devotional reading. Its legitimate place is the daily encounter with Scripture — not the study session but the daily reading that keeps the reader in the word even when sustained study is not possible. Its limit is that it cannot substitute for the more systematic methods.
III. God Wants Us to Study the Bible
The study of the Bible is not optional self-improvement — it is commanded.
Commanded to study it. "Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth" (II Tim. 2:15). The command is to diligence — to the kind of effort that produces a workman who can handle the word accurately. The workman who does not practice handling the word will handle it inaccurately; the person who handles it inaccurately has not been studying.
Give heed to reading. "Until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching" (I Tim. 4:13). The public reading of Scripture — the hearing of the word in the assembly — was itself a form of study. The person who attends to the public reading is attending to the study; the person who is mentally elsewhere during the reading is not.
If we desire, we can understand. "If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know of the teaching, whether it is of God or whether I speak from Myself" (John 7:17). The condition for understanding is not intellectual sophistication — it is the will to do God's will. The person who approaches Scripture with the desire to do what it requires will be given the understanding they need. The person who approaches Scripture looking for permission to do what they already want to do will find what they are looking for, whether or not it is there.
IV. Characteristics a Bible Student Must Have
Six characteristics, all of them moral as much as intellectual.
Must love the truth. The student who does not love the truth will not find it, even if they encounter it. The love of truth is the disposition that allows the text to say what it says, even when what it says is inconvenient, corrective, or challenging. "But speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ" (Eph. 4:15).
Must reverence the Bible as the word of God. "For this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God" (I Thess. 2:13). The student who does not approach the text with the reverence appropriate to the word of God has already decided that their judgment has the final word. Reverence is the posture that allows the text to correct the reader.
Deal honestly with it. The dishonest interpreter finds what they are looking for. The honest interpreter follows where the text leads. The willingness to change one's conclusion when the text requires it is the test of honest dealing.
Must not corrupt it. "For we are not like many, peddling the word of God, but as from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God" (II Cor. 2:17). The corruption of the word — diluting it, adjusting it for the audience, softening what is hard, obscuring what is clear — is condemned explicitly. The student who corrupts the word in their own study has begun the process that produces the preacher who corrupts it from the pulpit.
Not handle it deceitfully. "But we have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God" (II Cor. 4:2). Deceitful handling includes selective quotation, stripping texts of context, and using the language of Scripture to communicate the opposite of its meaning.
Lay aside prejudice. The prior commitment that will not be changed regardless of what the text says is the enemy of honest Bible study. Every student approaches the text with prior commitments; the characteristic required is not the absence of prior commitments but the willingness to have them challenged and corrected by what the text actually says.
Application
The methods exist; the command exists; the characteristics are named. The specific application for each hearer is which of the six characteristics most needs attention.
The person who loves the Bible but has never read it through should try the whole-book method for one year.
The person who reads devotionally but has no systematic knowledge should add book-by-book reading alongside the devotional.
The person who has opinions about biblical topics but has not done the topical study should do the work — gather all the texts, read each in context, and form the conclusion from the full evidence.
The person whose study has been compromised by the prejudice of a tradition they have never questioned should lay aside the tradition long enough to let the text speak without the tradition interpreting it.
Conclusion
"Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth" (II Tim. 2:15). The workman who handles the word accurately has studied; the student who has studied honestly knows what it says; the person who knows what it says is equipped for every good work. The word exists; the methods exist; the command is clear. The only remaining question is whether the student brings the characteristics the study requires.
Invitation
The Bible that is the subject of this sermon is the Bible that contains the gospel. The person who does not know the book may not know what it requires of them. It requires belief in Jesus Christ as the Son of God. Repentance from sin. Confession of his name. Baptism for the remission of sins (Acts 2:38). The book says these things accurately; they are not obscure; they are among the plainest things the book contains.
Word Study
| English Term | Greek Term | Basic Meaning | Usage in This Sermon | Sermon Significance | Key Texts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Be diligent / Study | spoudazō | To be eager, zealous, to make haste — to give serious, sustained effort to something. | Used in II Tim. 2:15 as the command: "be diligent to present yourself approved to God." | The word is not passive — it describes active, urgent effort. The study it describes is not occasional or casual; it is the zealous, sustained labor of a workman who wants to be approved. The standard is God's approval, not the approval of any human audience. | II Tim. 2:15 |
| Accurately handling | orthotomounta | Cutting straight — orthos (straight, right) + temnō (to cut). | Used in II Tim. 2:15 for what the approved workman does with "the word of truth": cuts it straight. | The image is of a craftsman who makes a straight cut — precise, clean, accurate. The opposite is the crooked cut: pulling the text in a direction it does not go, forcing it to say what it does not say. Accurate handling requires both the skill to know what the text says and the integrity to say only that. | II Tim. 2:15 |
| Peddling | kapēleuontes | Hawking wares for profit — the word of a merchant who adulterates goods to make more money. | Used in II Cor. 2:17 for what the honest preacher refuses to do with the word of God: peddle it. | The merchant who adulterates goods is the merchant who adds inferior material to increase the volume without increasing the cost. The preacher who adulterates the word is the one who adds human tradition, popular opinion, or audience-pleasing material to the content God gave. Paul explicitly distinguishes himself from this practice. | II Cor. 2:17 |
| The word of truth | ton logon tēs alētheias | The word that is characterized by truth — the word whose content is true, that accurately communicates what is real. | Used in II Tim. 2:15 as the object of the workman's handling: it is the word of truth that must be accurately handled. | The phrase establishes both the dignity of the object and the obligation of the handler: the word of truth is not to be handled carelessly or deceitfully — its truth-character imposes the obligation of accurate handling. To corrupt the word of truth is to corrupt truth itself. | II Tim. 2:15; Eph. 1:13 |
Scripture Interlock Table
| Theme | Boles' Outline | Supporting Scripture |
|---|---|---|
| "Be diligent... accurately handling the word of truth" | Text | II Tim. 2:15 |
| "Equipped for every good work" — Bible equips | Intro. | II Tim. 3:17 |
| "Give attention to the public reading of Scripture" | III.2 | I Tim. 4:13 |
| "If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know" | III.3 | John 7:17 |
| "Accepted it as word of God, not word of men" | IV.2 | I Thess. 2:13 |
| "Not peddling the word of God" — not corrupting | IV.4 | II Cor. 2:17 |
| "Not adulterating the word of God" — not handling deceitfully | IV.5 | II Cor. 4:2 |
| Baptism for remission — what the book says on the plainest subject | Invit. | Acts 2:38 |
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Converted from H. Leo Boles, Outline 173. Primary text: II Tim. 2:15 (stated by Boles). OCR corrections: "lll." → "III."; "lV." → "IV." Doctrinal audit: the principle of plain-over-obscure passages developed carefully as a methodological rule, not as a reason to dismiss difficult texts; all seven methods described accurately without ranking the word-study method above others despite its prominent use in this series; the six characteristics developed in order — each one a genuine moral quality, not merely intellectual; II Tim. 3:17 used for the goal of equipping without the surrounding Calvinist context that misreads "God-breathed" as "God-breathed for faith alone"; invitation retains full obedient response (Acts 2:38) as an example of "plainest things in the book."
