What basic Bible study tools are available?

Thanks to the explosion in biblical scholarship that has happened in the past 30 years, Bible students have more available to them now than ever before. Bible study resources available for purchase or in libraries run the entire spectrum from basic introductions to advanced studies in the original languages of the Bible.

If you are navigating the shallows, here are the kinds of tools you need for starters:
  • Bible translations – See the separate question on Bible translations. Purpose: To read and understand the Word of God.
  • Concordances – an exhaustive concordance specific to your preferred translation is what you want. Purpose: to do word studies and to find where a verse is you remember a fragment of.
  • Bible commentaries – These range from simple to complicated. The only way to choose is to take a look at the comments on a few sample passages and see if the comments are helpful to you where you are right now in your understanding. Purpose: To get the opinion of an expert on the meaning of a passage.
  • Bible dictionaries – Again, there is a range from small paperbacks to multi-volume editions. There is also a range from conservative to liberal. Conservative is preferable. Purpose: To find out facts about Bible people, events, and places.
  • Bible atlases – Several excellent atlases are available. Go to a Christian bookstore and take a look at a few. Purpose: To learn the geography of Bible places.
  • Many resources are available online – Bible texts in the original languages, Bible translations in dozens of languages including English, Bible dictionaries, concordances, commentaries, atlases, and much more are all available on the World Wide Web. Purpose: To enrich you Bible study resources exponentially with no investment other than your time and effort.

Here are a few words of warning, though.
  1. Internet and public library a mixed bag – Even though good, God-honoring conservative reference works are available now as never before, the tools you will find in many public libraries tend to be on the opposite (liberal) end of the continuum. I'm not sure why this is true, but it is. Unfortunately at best, a public library will be a mixed bag when it comes to what is useful and what is not. Just be aware of the problem, and when you encounter a reference book in your public library that acts as if the Bible's origins are merely human, just remember that other (better) books are available. The Internet has the entire spectrum, from excellent material to mediocre to writings completely untrustworthy and misleading. You will have to be discriminating about which ones you choose.
  2. Many books are reprints – Even though many excellent Bible study books are coming out each year, many of the books that appear are reprints of earlier books, some originally published in the 19th century! Some of the material in such books is excellent, but over a hundred years of archaeology, philology, linguistics, exegesis, and hermeneutical debates have happened since then, which means that newer ought to be better. Check the copyright page before you buy.

    Copyright issues are also why much of what is available for free on the Internet is dated (more than 50 years old), because they have to be that old to be in the public domain (not protected by copyright). The exception to this principle is the great electronic searches that you can do with the Bible translation of your choice. Even if you remember only a snatch of a Bible verse, you can find it almost instantly by doing such a search. For an idea of the variety of resources available, go to my Study Links page.

    [Close window to return to The Shallows]