Basic Bible Study - Part 1

Preface:  I have been burdened by God if you will to teach people how to study the Bible.  This teaching is 11 weeks long and I have contemplated making it into a book.  Since this is a Kingdom work and not my own, monetary profit is not my goal.  In order to make this available to many, I believe this blog is the way to go.  I will be posting each lesson at weekly intervals as I teach it at my church so that anyone who is unable to attend will be able to log on and read the lesson.  I welcome anyone to use this material to teach a class of your own.  Add to it and make it your own for teaching, but PLEASE do not sell any portion of this study.

LESSON 1.0 Parts of the Bible

There’s no place to start like the beginning.  The primary tool for this whole course is your personal Bible.  If you don’t own a Bible, please let your Pastor or the teacher of this course know immediately and one will be provided for you.  It is essential for each participant to have a Bible of his or her very own.  You will learn to use this gift of God to know Him more.

As you open your Bible you will notice a page to possibly put your name and a title page which is common to most books.  Following these pages, your Bible should have a Table of Contents.  The Table of Contents is a great resource for the new Bible student and quite frankly for any Bible Student.  In this, you will notice things that are individual according to the publisher and version of your Bible.  Make yourself familiar with those things in your Table of Contents.

Every Holy Bible is divided into two sections.  The first portion is called The Old Testament and the second portion is called The New Testament.  The word, testament, means covenant.  As you study the Bible, or the Word of God, or the Word, you will learn more of the significance of the old and new covenant.  For now a simple truth to know about each of these sections is that The Old Testament covers the time from the beginning of the world until about 400 years before Jesus Christ was born.  The New Testament is a record beginning just before Jesus Christ was born through the years following His crucifixion and resurrection. 

Each Testament of the Bible is further divided into books.  Some of the books are recorded by the same person while some authors only wrote one book in the “Canon” of the Holy Bible.  While there were several human authors or recorders of the Bible, all of it was inspired by God.  II Timothy 3:16 NLT (The second book of Timothy, third chapter, sixteenth verse, New Living Translation) says, “All scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives.  It straightens us out and teaches us to do what is right.”  There are 66 books in the Bible, 27 in The New Testament and 39 in The Old Testament.

As novels that one would find at the bookstore or library, the subdivision of a book is the chapter.  Just because there is a new chapter doesn't mean it is a stopping point in the Bible as some lessons continue for several chapters and must be read in completion to understand the full meaning.  Chapter divisions can in a sense be seen as markers to assist the reader in finding a particular theme or area.  To further this search, we also are given divisions called verses.  Verses vary in size from 2 words long a paragraph in length.  We can pinpoint where a particular passage is in the Word as a navigator finds positions on a map by using longitude and latitude.

When notating Book, Chapter and Verse.  It is written like this:  John 3:16.  The colon separates chapter from verse.   Commas can also be used to indicate verses in the same chapter that are not consecutive like, John 3:16,18 or hyphens to indicate multiple verses in the same chapter that are in a consecutive location, I John 4:7-8.  There are several books in the Bible that have a first and second book, like Kings, Chronicles and Samuel.  The difference is often noted by a roman numeral or just a number in front of the book name: I Samuel, II John, 1 Peter, Second Chronicles.  The most confusing book name is John.  There are 4 books called John in the New Testament.  The first is often called The Gospel of John or just John.  It is the 4^th book in the New Testament.  Nearer the end of the New Testament are the other 3 books of John: I John, II John, and III John.  It is important to see how John is written to determine which book was intended to be noted.

When looking up a passage, let’s continue to use John 3:16, first you must find the book of John.  This can be done by looking in the table of contents for the page number or thumbing through the Bible until you hit John.  The first is easiest until you know the order of the books or at least have a general idea of the order.  The Bible has headings on the left upper corner of the left page and the right upper corner of the right page like a dictionary.  These headings are the name of the book and also the chapter number.

 

The chapter number is also placed within the page where it begins It is easy to spot because it is bigger than the rest of the print or font. 

The verse number comes just before the verse itself as a superscript.  It is not always at the margin while the chapter number often is at the left margin just before the chapter text.  Some translations or versions have several verse numbers together and the division between verses is unclear. 

This first lesson may seem very basic to some while it is very informative for others.  Even if you've been studying or reading the Bible for a while, take the time to look over your Bible. Become familiar with the formatting of your Bible and each of its sections.  This is the beginning of a deeper relationship between you and God as you will know Him better the more you read His words.

Lesson 1.0, Parts of the Bible Homework:

1.       First of all each student needs to have a Bible.  If you do not have a Bible of your own to keep even after the class for personal use, please let your Pastor or your instructor know as soon as possible.

2.       Notice the beginning few pages of your Bible.  Look at the Table of Contents

3.       2 Main divisions of the Holy Bible are called.

a.       The ________   _____________________________

b.      The ________   _____________________________

4.       There are 66 ____________________ in the Bible.  ___________ in the ________   __________________ and __________ in the ________   __________________.

5.       The other 2 subdivisions of the Bible are the ________________ and the smallest is the ___________.

6.       Label each part of this notation of a scripture.  

John 3:16

7.       How many books called John are in the Bible? _________ 

Assignment:

Review each part of your Bible this week.

Look up the following scriptures:

John 3:16

Romans 10:9

I John 1:9

II Corinthians 5:17

II Timothy 2:15

Psalm 119:11