We’ve talked about how the Bible can open your eyes to a whole new level of life. We know that God’s Word can totally change our relationships, our social lives, and everything else we do physically, mentally and, obviously, spiritually. We know that we need above all to have the right attitude in studying the Bible. We know that we need to repent and believe what God says without reading our own meaning into it. We know that we should combine Bible study with prayer, meditation and fasting.
What else can help us really get to know our Bibles? Bible helps!
First of all, we have a lot of material: books, booklets and magazines. Church members also have sermons and Bible studies through weekly Sabbath services. These truly are Bible helps, and they combine the principles mentioned above in a fantastic way! Regularly studying Church literature and your notes from messages is one of the most important uses of Bible helps you can make.
Beyond Church literature, though, there is a whole world of other references. You’ve probably heard them mentioned frequently: “The Jamieson, Fausset and Brown says…”; “That’s number 3905 in the Strong’s…”; “According to the RSV….” So what is that all about? These sources seem helpful, but you know they aren’t all right, because they’re written by people who are cut off from God.
If you put God’s revelation to His Church and, above all, His Word—the Bible itself—first, then that is the proper perspective to have. Understand that God does not require each person to have a huge library of commentaries, lexicons and encyclopedias in order to become well-versed in the Bible and to learn His way of life.
Think of Apollos (Acts 18:24). This man became “mighty in the scriptures” without a single Bible help. However, Bible helps can be useful, containing technical information and details not found elsewhere, so let’s talk about how to use them—and use them correctly. Just so you know, almost everything here is available to you completely free!
Translations
God inspired the original text of the Bible. It contains no contradictions. Translations into our modern languages, on the other hand, can contain errors. Firstly, the King James Version of the Holy Bible is the most accurate English translation we have available. This is due to the fact that the translators did not try to force modern doctrine into the Scripture. It is also thanks to the original texts they used, which is an involved subject of its own. However, when KJV language obscures a scripture, you can check a more modern translation. The Moffatt, Ferrar Fenton and Revised Standard Version are not as accurate as the King James Version overall, but they can certainly provide clarity with modern English. Most of the time, when modern translations differ in meaning from the King James, they are the ones who are in error. Many modern translations have been rendered from faulty translations rather than original texts. Another note: Be careful when using paraphrases such as the Living Bible and the Amplified Bible. These, obviously, are not as reliable as actual translations.
Concordances
Concordances are critical Bible helps. These references list every word used in the Bible and group all the scriptures together that use the same word. If you know one word in the verse you’re looking for, you’ll find it in the concordance. Strong’s Concordance is probably the most frequently used example; it lists the English words. For those who use computers, BlueLetterBible.org is an excellent online Bible program that contains a concordance. Online concordances like Blue Letter Bible also allow you to find combinations of words or similar words. This is helpful when you are studying a particular doctrine or topic, because oftentimes passages on a given subject are scattered all over the place—“here a little and there a little.”
Lexicons
A lexicon is an alphabetical list of words with information about them. Thayer’s Lexicon is a commonly used example, and is available at Blue Letter Bible as well as in print. Concordances, particularly on BlueLetterBible.org, can combine a concordance with a lexicon, which is helpful in learning more about what a word means. Hebrew or Greek lexicons will tell you other instances where that Hebrew or Greek word is used, giving you further insight into its meaning and implications. The same word can be used in completely different contexts, so, for instance, two different English words can trace back to the same Greek word! You may also find out that what has been translated as the same word in English in two separate passages is actually two different words originally, with two different meanings. In these ways, lexicons can help you make sure you really understand what the Bible actually says and are not off track because of an erroneous translation. When you’re looking at a passage, get in the habit of noting the key words that can illuminate the meaning, and look them up. And remember, you always want to get what the Bible actually says.
Topical and Cross-Reference Bibles
Topical Bibles approach themes in a broader fashion by listing basic subjects and their related scriptures. These can be especially useful when the scriptures that relate to a specific subject are not easily found in a concordance because the topic is broader than just one biblical word. Nave’s is a well-known topical Bible. Thompson is a widely used chain reference Bible. In a chain reference Bible, you look up a scripture and find a list of all the topics discussed in that scripture. It then directs you to an index on a number of different subjects. The Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge is another good example. It contains over 500,000 scriptures, cross references and parallel passages! The beauty of these extremely helpful books is that they are merely directing you to other scriptures, rather than giving you possibly erroneous interpretations of the scriptures. A good cross-reference resource can quickly put you in touch with an enormous number of possibly relevant scriptures and can be invaluable in preparing messages.
Word Studies, Bible Dictionaries and History Books
Word studies are Bible helps that focus exclusively on the meanings of words. They can give historical or linguistic information associated with a word that could be helpful in helping you understand it better. Vine’s and Robertson’s are examples of word studies resources. Bible dictionaries also give information about biblical words, including people, places and things. A Bible dictionary can be a great help to know the history, geography, customs, social life and educational life within the cultures described in the Bible, causing things that appear strange or illogical to make more sense. This knowledge can help you understand events, stir your imagination, and bring the Bible to life! Hastings is one example of a single-volume Bible dictionary with quality information, although, like others, some of its entries are fish out of water, so you have to be diligent. The Anchor Bible Dictionary and Smith’s Bible Dictionary are other useful references. An example of a history book sometimes used by ministers is Josephus’s Antiquities of the Jews. Ask your parents or your minister for help when using these sources, as well as commentary, which we’ll look at in a second.
Study Bibles
Study Bibles identify themes and provide outlines for each book of the Bible along with some commentary, among other things. These can be used to get an overview of a particular book, to discern its architecture. The commentary is sometimes misguided, because the authors do not have the framework of God’s overall plan for man that has been revealed to His Church. Nor do they understand many of God’s doctrines or have His Holy Spirit.
Commentaries
Bible commentaries can sometimes shed light on a biblical passage and link passages together in a way we might not otherwise think of. But you must be careful! Commentaries can be way off-track, because authors insert their own ideas and commentary throughout, which is based on wrong doctrinal understanding. Remember, they do not have God’s Holy Spirit, and can be quite wrong in their conclusions. These references should be used to establish historical or grammatical facts. Some of the better Bible commentaries include Lange’s Commentary; Jamieson, Faussett and Brown Commentary; Halley’s Bible Handbook; and others.
Free Online Resources
The Internet can provide you with a wide range of free resources, some of which might be hard to get elsewhere, and some of which would be impossible to combine in the same way that you can integrate resources electronically. The Sword Project (www.crosswire.org/sword) is one useful online reference that is completely free. It works on PC or Macintosh computers and has dozens of modules you can download, including 35 English translations, lexicons, Strong’s Concordance;Thompson’s Chain Topics; Nave’s Topical Bible; Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge; International Standard and Condensed Bible encyclopedias; King James, Easton’s and Smith’s Bible dictionaries; definitions and symbols from The Two Babylons; and a good selection of commentaries, including Barnes, Clarke’s Matthew Henry and others. Another online resource is the Online Bible (www.OnlineBible.net). You can also download this application and add resources to it. And of course we’ve already covered the Blue Letter Bible. Many of these have mobile apps for easy access.
Other Resources
There are many other resources that can help you understand what the Bible says. A Harmony of the Gospels, for example, combines all four gospels side-by-side so that the gospels can be read simultaneously in chronological order. The slightly lesser-well-known Harmony of Samuel, Kings and Chronicles does the same thing for those Old Testament books. Other references include Bible encyclopedias such as the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia and other references containing charts, timelines and other useful information. Read page 14 of the Herbert W. Armstrong College Bible Correspondence Course, Lesson 15, section on “Bible Helps” for a list of other references. As with any Bible resource, you must rely most of all not on the books themselves or the men who wrote them but on the Bible itself and God’s Holy Spirit working in His chosen ministers and with and inside you.
Studying the Bible is a thrilling, deep and edifying experience, and one of our main lifelines to God. Study the Bible with a right attitude, with humility, repentance and belief. Pray, meditate and fast along with your study. Use Bible references to help you understand what God’s Word actually says. Above all, rely on God’s Holy Spirit and not human reasoning to guide you.
If you really seek God out , He will change your life and fill it with awesome blessings! Don’t hesitate; crack open your Bible and let the excitement begin!