Deductive vs Inductive Bible Study

“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.” — 2 Timothy 2:15

“The danger of topical study alone is that we may only study what interests us. The strength of verse-by-verse study is that God teaches us what we need, not just what we want.”

I love a good teaching on a topic like the next guy. Topical teaching is a great discipleship tool. But we also need to understand the Bible for ourselves. Teachers will always let us down at some point, but the Word of God never will. It is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

It’s the difference between milk and meat. If you want the meat, you have to study the Bible for yourself — line by line, verse by verse, chapter by chapter. We can’t be dependent on a once-a-week teaching alone. We need the Word of God to guide us daily.

Over the last 11 years of following Jesus, reading the Bible daily has changed my life. I’ve grown so much, and I still have so much to learn. One thing that really helped me when I first started reading was learning the background of each book of the Bible — who it was written to, why it was written, and what was going on at the time. When you understand the original audience and context, you can better apply the truth to your life today. Problems throughout history don’t change, but context does. Understanding what Scripture meant then helps us understand how to live it now.

This way of reading Scripture has helped me a ton. Try it. Read the text in context and ask God how to apply what you read each day. It will change the way you read the Bible.

If you want help learning how to study the Bible for yourself, reach out. I’d love to help. Have a great day!