Three Bible Study Methods

"Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true" Acts 17.11.

All those who want to study God's Word hear it with great eagerness but how many of us actually study it? My own studies have led me to identify three types of Bible students: the Thessalonians, the Berean, and the Timothians. The differences may seem obvious, and I hope, very distinct.

The Thessalonians listen to the Word of God like people watching a SITCOM: it's entertaining, you remember some "lesson" from it, and you make assumptions that everyone acts or believes exactly as they do. Thessalonians say "amen," have their favorite preachers, and then live the rest of the week as if the Word was just "a word," because they heard it from a person rather than their God.

The Bereans were more noble than the others because they went back to the Word to examine the validity of what they heard. They are like high schoolers who attend class, take notes, study their teacher's commentary in order to pass the test, and retain only as much as is taught again. Everything they learn originates from someone else. As Paul said of these types: "By this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone else to teach you the elementary truths of God's Word" (Heb 5.12).

Timothians "study to show [themselves] approved...workmen... [who] rightly handle the Word of Truth" (2Tim 2.15). Jesus said that the problem with the Pharisees wasn't that they didn't diligently study the Scriptures, but that they did not study it for the right purpose: to know Him (John 5.39,40). Timothians are better than the Thessalonians and Bereans not simply because they hear the word from God and put it into practice, but because they study for the right reason: to know He who identifies Himself with His Word.

All who follow Christ are disciples of Jesus, that's not the issue. The question is: what kind of disciple will I be? All of us will hear the Word of God. The question is: what type of Bible student will we be?

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