Studying the Bible Like An English Class

As an English teacher, reading and diving deep into passages was my thing. I wanted the students to grasp literary techniques, the author’s purpose, and themes, and to make personal connections. I wanted them to visualize what was being said, think about the whys, and to go deeper beyond the literal meaning. Because I have that as a background, when I find myself studying the bible, I do it in a way that reminds me of teaching my English class.

Now there are levels to this… especially if you are new to the faith and studying the Bible, you do not want to forget that it is the Living Word and not just a book or a great piece of literature. It is a great piece of literature though, but we want to make sure we are growing in our faith and our relationship with Christ. There are ways though that help us understand the word and who God is and who He is for us!

The Types of Books In the Bible

History
Poetry
Prophesy
Gospels
Epistles

Some of my favorite resources as an English teacher are graphic organizers and guided notes! I taught Special Ed and Gen Ed English 10 and the goal of graphic organizers is to guide students along creating checkpoints to alert them of “SOMETHING IS HERE, LET’S FIND IT”. Studying the Bible should be no different, there are things that you should stop and dig deeper but not having a graphic organizer or guided notes will have you all over the place.

One thing to take into consideration when studying the bible is to not focus on everything all at once. When creating a lesson plan, you will have objectives, and according to the TEKS, the things students should learn, there is SOOO MUCH but you narrow your focus on to 1 or 2 or 3 objectives. Maybe we are studying Character and there are soooo many characters in the bible. With character, we want to focus on whether it is a dynamic character or a static character. We may also want to focus on their specific characteristics, who they are, what they believe, what they say, etc. We could focus on more but we don’t want to get overwhelmed. So when students are reading that passage, they spend most of their focus time looking for those two objectives. In the guided notes, you may highlight conversations for students to dig deeper, you may want to highlight background information, where they are from, their age, etc to understand their character. It’s very helpful.

Benefits of Having Objectives When Studying the Bible

Gives you a focus so that you are not all over the place or overwhelmed
Focus on things that you really want to read about or grow in
Sets expectations for you
Helps with time management so that you are not consumed with too much at one time.

Types of Objectives To Have When Studying the Bible

Now keep in mind, you may not be able to do everything for every passage.

Comparing and Contrasting
Building Vocabulary
Topics- Faith, Grace, Repentance, etc- In a particular passage focus on “If this, then that” or the words used to describe, the benefits or consequences
Chronological Order- great for the history books
Cause and Effect- great for the history books
Character
Figurative Language and Literary Devices especially in the poetry books
Below is a color-code chart with other things to focus on.

Whenever you do any study, you should always reflect on how the passage points to God, and every study session should begin in prayer asking the Holy Spirit to reveal things to you and guide you as you read.

So when we take this concept of having objectives and apply it to studying the bible, maybe your objective is to focus on the relationships between certain people and how that contributes to their character as a whole. If we look at Abraham (Abram) and his wife Sarah (Sarai) and the promise God made about making his descendants as the dust of the Earth. Then time passed and Sarai still wasn’t with child so her Egyptian maidservant was chosen to give Abram a child. Then the drama between Hagar and Sarai, and then eventually Abram sends Hagar off with their son. You will get so many life lessons based on their conversation, their actions, and more.

The next step is to reflect and think of ways to apply that to life. Many times I have students write maybe an alternate ending, or what they would have advised them, but we don’t want to do that with the Living Word. We can definitely reflect on and apply it to our lives. There are other creative ways you can show your understanding of your new knowledge. I am all about Bible Journaling, or turning words into visuals.

Studying the Bible: Graphic Organizers and Ways that Help you

Notetaking with a purpose– I always told my students, if they are going to highlight something YOU HAVE TO ANNOTATE or write why you highlighted it. I had a note-taking handout that included symbols to help them understand what was being read. I created a highlighting and symbol chart that you can get for free in our resources database. (Your password was sent to you as a subscriber, do you need to subscribe? Click here)

This is what it looks like:

Studying the Bible Bible Study Color-Code Chart

Verse Mapping– This graphic organizer has you focus on certain things in the passage you are reading. It is not as literary it is more content and context along with the application. One thing I love about verse mapping is getting down to what the original language of the verse meant. Using resources like the Bible Hub and their interlinear resource gives me so much life. Remember I am an English teacher, I LOVE WORDS! The Strong’s is another great resource to help you with the content as well. If you want a free pdf, click here to download.

SOAP– This one is awesome! S- Summarizing the scripture, O-Observations, A- Application, and P- Prayer. This is a great way as a new believer. The summary of course gives a highlight reel of what happened or what was being said. One way I teach summary to students is Somebody, Wanted, But, So, Then. Check out this handout to get a better understanding. But what if there is no somebody… BUT THERE IS!!! The somebody could be the author, and the somebody could be to who this is written.

Inductive Study– You can make your own organizer, but this is an intensive study that I haven’t tried all the way through yet, but want to start soon. There is a step or tip where you are encouraged to write lists, so maybe you are focusing on characteristics and your list shows what you find while reading. Here is an awesome resource for you to use from Moody Church.

There are just so many more ways to dive into the Living Word as a scholar! It can be overwhelming. I would say, try one thing at a time a few times to see how you feel. Many times, I just have a notebook and a pen. There are times though when I want to really really really dive deep when I am studying the bible. If you want, try to find a community to do it with or start a community. You can join me too in my Patreon and/or Facebook group.

I also do Creative Bible Journaling workshops virtually and in person if you are in the Far North Dallas/Plano area! Let me know your thoughts!! What questions do you have?

Stay tuned for YouTube videos of the ways I spoke about coming soon!