Okay, I haven’t been as faithful posting to this blog as I originally intended, but I will do better. My goal is to write two posts every week in addition to my bulletin article, but I have been a little lazy the past couple of weeks–please forgive me.

I don’t know why I like to compare Bible study to eating. Perhaps it is because I really enjoy both of these activities (I probably enjoy the eating a little too much). I think the comparision is useful though, because the Bible is our spiritual food and we need to consider how to have good nutrition spiritually so we can be healthy Christians.

Often, a food pyramid is used to teach healthy eating habits. The general idea is the most important part of our nutrition (i.e., whole grains) forms the foundation of the pyramid and supports the rest. Moving up the pyramid you find the next most important groups (Fruits and vegetables). Then you have Dairy and Meats. Finally, you have at the very top things that are bad for you if you consume too much of them (i.e., fats, oils, and sugars). This pyramid idea has been and is being disputed, but that’s okay. The goal of this post is not to teach healthy eating habits. Lets look at how this applies to the Bible.

If I were to make a pyramid for Bible nutrition (which I guess I did), it might look something like the pyramid to the right (Click on the pyramid for easier reading). The following explains each section of this pyramid.

Good Bible Translations: This must be the foundation of proper Bible study–it is what we are studying! Too many people get caught up in using Bible study tools and guides and lose sight of what they are actually trying to study. This is the only part of the pyramid that is necessary to understand God’s will. I believe word-for-word translations are best (KJV, NKJV, ASV, NASU, RSV, ESV) because God inspired the Bible word-for-word (cf. 2 Timothy 3:16-17). Paraphrase and dynamic equivalent translations take more liberties with God’s word and get in the way of Bible study. Also, I am not a fan of study Bibles. These are just commentaries inside your Bible. It is food someone else has chewed and spit it out for you to consume. Don’t eat pre-chewed food. Its gross and wrong. There is, however, one study Bible I am interested in learning more about: The New Inductive Study Bible. Instead of being a commentary, this one acts as a guide to Bible study giving you instructions on how to study each book of the Bible (if you have one of these study Bibles please let me know what you think of them). In addition, a Greek New Testament or Greek Interlinear is very useful. The Bible was inspired in its original languages and by studying them we get a more accurate, colorful, and in-depth study of God’s Word.

An Exhaustive Concordance: This is a tool that points you back to the Bible. It merely gives every occurence of a word letting you examine topics and study how the Bible writers used a particular word. Watch out! Some concordances are not exhaustive (i.e., they do not give every occurrence of a word). The occurrences displayed by these concordances have been chosen according by some guy and he/she thinks is important. This can give you an inaccurate picture of topics and word use. Don’t let some guy dictate your Bible study, get an exhaustive concordance.

Greek Lexicons/Grammar: If you want to study the New Testament in its original language you are going to need these tools. Grammars in particular will be useful. Studying the Greek involves looking at more than what the word means. The grammar of Greek is very detailed and precise (more so than English).

Bible Dictionaries, Encyclopedias, and Atlases: These give you historical information about people and places in the Bible. All the information you really need to know, however, is already in the Bible.

Manners and Customs Books: These tell you about the life during the time of Bible writers and heroes. It also explains some of their actions that can seem odd to us. Again, all the information you really need to know about these things is already in the Bible.

Commentaries: These are the fats, oils, and sugars of Bible study and should be used sparingly and as a last resort. Commentaries are the work of another’s Bible study. They can be inaccurate and misleading. They are like highly processed foods–they are not nearly as good for you as going to the source.