So you wanna start reading the bible huh?
Excited to see God's word come alive!
Today I decided it would be a cool idea to go over the resources I use personally for doing a deep dive into scripture.
Huh? Resources?
All we need is the bible right?
Yes, that's our measuring stick and for Protestants 'sola scriptura' means...By the bible alone. However you have to always remember context is important when doing a study. And with certain tools that are available to us, it helps us understand the context so much more. Combined with the fact that the bible was written in Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic, it helps to have a proper understanding of the translations as well.
By no means, is this an exhaustive list of tools and resources, but it's my go to top 3 right now :)
Bible Commentaries
These are my go to for understanding verses that I get stuck on. Now I do take this with a grain of salt, because commentaries are always the opinion of man. However these are usually written by theologians that are well versed in the bible. So while I most definitely do not take it as gospel, it's a huge help in understanding the verses I struggle with.
I own a few commentaries, but the Andrews Bible Commentary set are the ones I go to the most. They are on;y a few years old, and two volume tackle the old and new testaments. It adds a lot of value to my bible study.
Bible Dictionary
Remember in grammar school when you had a dictionary beside you to help understand a word and find it's definition....The same holds true with a bible dictionary. Now similar to the commentaries, a lot of this is opinion of man as well...But generally it helps uncover the bulk of the words I may have trouble with while reading scripture.
Names, places, people...All of it is handled with a good bible dictionary. Currently, I have a Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary. They are actually very affordable and it's helped me a lot over the years.
Concordance
And I've saved the best for last ;)
This is pretty much a must for any serious bible student. Disclaimer, most concordances can be found online now, and on apps on your phone. But I still love my Strong's Exhaustive! And this thing is HUGE!!
But with a Strong's, I can find what the Hebrew and Greek words are within the text of scripture. It's all about context and understanding when it comes to bible study and a concordance is a must have resource. It's so important when doing in depth bible study to know the word that was originally in scripture, for a better understanding of what you are reading.
Like I said, this is not my complete arsenal of tools, and without prayer all of it is useless. But these 3 have helped me over the years and I know they can help you discover the wonder of God's word each and every day!