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Feed Yourself Lesson Sixteen

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Subject Study

"It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things." 1 Peter 1:12

In this lesson we will look at doing a Subject Study. A Subject Study is where you want to find out what the Bible teaches on a specific topic rather than just understanding a verse or chapter. It uses the Comparative Study Method which means we compare verses with each other to see what the Bible teaches on a specific subject. You will need your Bible, Strong's Concordance, paper, and a pencil. Nave's Topical Bible may also be helpful.

Step One is to choose which subject you want to study. If it is a very general topic you may want to break it down into one specific aspect of that topic. For example, Love is a large and general topic. You could study one aspect of love like God's love for the world, Christ's love for the Church, the love of friends, married love, sacrificial love, etc. Make it a manageable study.

Step Two is writing down your subject and all the words you can think of that might relate to the subject. Don’t be afraid to write down too many words. You can always eliminate the ones you don’t need later. Keep an eye out for synonyms. Remember when you look up words in your concordance it only lists the exact word you look up. Looking up synonyms can lead to additional Scriptures for your topic. Also, when you look up the word in Hebrew or Greek, check to see what others were used to translate it. If they are appropriate for your study, look them up as well. If we were studying Christ's love for the Church we might write down, Jesus, Christ, love, Church, congregation, ashamed [as in not ashamed], brethren, etc.

Step Three involves going to your concordance [it should be an exhaustive one, i.e. list every word in the Bible] and perhaps a topical Bible. Look up each word in your list and keep an eye out for other words to add. Quickly scan the references and write down the verse references which relate to your topic. Of course, there will be many references which contain those words that have nothing to do with your subject. Ignore those. Build a list of Bible verses which relate to your subject.

Don't forget that all Truth is balanced. Many times people go into error because they only look at one aspect of Truth. When doing your study do not neglect balancing Truth. For example, Christ's love for the Church can be contrasted with God's judgment on sins. A study of the sovereignty of God can be balanced with a study of the responsibility of man. When doing a specific study you are like a doctor studying a finger. Do a good study, but never forget how it connects to the whole body! No truth is isolated. It must connect to the Big picture.

Step Four means looking up each reference and checking out it's context carefully. Never forget context. It is vital to knowing how or even if a verse relates to the subject we have chosen to study. What is this verse saying about our topic? Write down on your Subject Chart, the verse reference, what you learned about the subject specifically, and the general category it would be in [for doing an outline later]. For example, if, in our study of Christ's love for the Church, we listed Heb. 3:6 our specific topic might be "faithful" and the general category could be "How Christ Treats His Church."

After you have completed Step Four you are ready to organize your information in Step Five. Here we do an outline. Take your general categories from Step Four as your Main Points and then organize your specific points under them. You may want to download and review the sample Subject Study Chart and the sample Outline. Take time to study the examples provided to understand how this will work with your topic.

This study will give you a good idea of what the Bible teaches on your selected topic. You can then choose to pursue the subject further filling in your outline with detailed summaries and information or move on to a new topic.

WEEK SIXTEEN PROJECT

1. Refresh your memory on how to outline by downloading the PDF: How To Outline. Download the Subject Study Chart, the Outline Chart, the sample Subject Study Chart and the sample Outline.

2. Choose a topic which interests you and do a subject study. You could study things like the birth of Christ, prayer, a place, the Flood, God's faithfulness, marriage, etc. Note: If you choose a large subject this project could take more than week. That's fine. When you are finished move on to the next lesson.

3. Continue with your daily reading program.

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Reference Works Used In This Course:

Bible Study Methods by Mrs. Shirley Davis

The International Inductive Study Bible by Harvest House Publishers

Effective Bible Study by Howard F. Vos, Zondervan

How To Understand Your Bible by T. Norton Sterrett, IVP

How To Study Your Bible by Kay Arthur, Harvest House

Independent Bible Study by Irving L. Jensen, Moody

How To Study The Bible For Yourself by Tim LaHaye, Harvest House

Return to Feed Yourself Lessons.

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