Bible Study Tools: Study with others

Just a short one this week: study with other people.

This is a principle that Jen Wilkin talks about a lot, and it was how I started to develop my own study skills.

Making it happen

Firstly, the discipline of meeting up with someone else to study helps ensure you actually do it. A group of 6-8 works well, because it’s small enough that everyone gets a chance to speak (and hopefully isn’t too shy to speak in that size group), and big enough that if one or two can’t make it, it still feels worth meeting, so you don’t drop out of the rhythm.

Of course, if you’re just meeting with one other person, you should be able to find a regular time that works consistently for you both, and you can go at exactly the pace you want, without worrying that others are getting bored or being left behind.

Asking questions

Secondly, other people notice different things and have different questions to you. When I’m studying with my husband he notices all kinds of things that I don’t, some of which take us down really interesting paths.

Next week we will look at something that came up the last time I led a study day on Haggai – someone asked something that no one had asked about before, and it proved to be a really rich line of thought.

Finding answers

And of course, other people have different knowledge, insights or experience and can help provide answers. A couple of weeks ago I was at a theology conference looking at Isaiah. A couple of times someone asked a question that the teacher hadn’t considered, and others around the room would chip in with ideas or examples that he wouldn’t have known about. (He called it the ‘hive mind’, hence the post image.)

This also helps protect against getting the answer wrong – the more people you have, the wider the range of Bible knowledge you have in the room, so the greater the chance of someone thinking of other biblical examples or principles to support or challenge different viewpoints in the room.

Being accountable

When it comes to the application of a passage, finding that application with others can provide a level of accountability to actually let that application change your behaviour. It’s one thing to be quietly convicted in the privacy of your own room, but if you’re challenged on something and others know about it, it’s harder just to walk away and forget.

Virtual study partners

What if you can’t find anyone to study with? That’s where study Bibles, commentaries and other resources come in handy. See what someone else has to say about the passage you’re studying. If possible, look at two or three (or more) different sources. That way, you should get a sense of how different people think about it, and the different things they pick up.

Over time, you’ll start to develop some ‘go to’ sources that you find trustworthy.

If you don’t know where to start, ask your pastor or one of your favourite preachers/teachers who they recommend. And one of Jen Wilkin’s tips is to look at the footnotes/references that authors you like use. That’s how she got started – she read RC Sproul (if I remember rightly), and after a time started looking at who he was reading/quoting, and started to read them.

So I haven’t got a download for you this week. Your challenge is to go back to one you haven’t done from previous weeks, and find someone to look at it with. Or even better, find a group of people and make a plan to study a book of the Bible together. I recommend starting with something short, so you don’t get bogged down, but if none of the shorter epistles or OT books really grab your interest, go with something longer that does!

Let me know how you get on, or tell me your stories of how studying with others has enriched your learning in the past.

—–

This post is part of a series of ideas for how to get started with studying the Bible either for yourself or as a small group leader. Follow this link to find the other posts in the series.

PS All these resources are absolutely free, but if you find them useful, consider making a small donation through my Ko-fi page. Thank you!