Of course, the first step is to start reading the Bible. If you are a very good reader, and an experienced reader generally, you can probably succeed by starting anywhere in the Bible that interests you.
If you are new to reading the Bible, my personal suggestion is to start reading in the New Testament first. Starting with the Gospel of Mark, the shortest Gospel, is probably best. It has 16 chapters, so if you were to read 3 chapters each day, it would take just over five days to read it. Reading fewer chapters each day just means you will take longer to read all the way through.
Ezra Pound said that “Literature is news that stays news.” He was most certainly right. The Bible, as the world’s greatest work of literature, is still news today, and well worth reading.
The second step is to start studying the Bible. There are many ways, and many strategies which can be used, to study the Bible. I have outlined quite a number of these ways in the category to the right, “How to Study the Bible.” Read those directions, and try a way that interests you.
I personally believe the best, the most fruitful method of Bible study is cross reference Bible study. My suggestion is that as you do your Bible reading, when you come upon a verse that strikes you, look up the cross references for that verse. You will find cross references in the center column of a reference Bible for starters. The NIV Study Bible, the ESV Study Bible, and many editions of the King James Version come with very good cross references.
Unfortunately, Thomas Nelson Publishers have allowed both of my expansions and corrections of the original work, The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, to go out of print. The software version of my book, The New Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, is still available. It runs on Logos software and works very well. The print version of my book is still available on Amazon, but the price is quite high. My second book, Nelson’s Cross Reference Guide to the Bible, has just recently gone out of print, and there are no signs currently to indicate it will be in print again. Copies are available from Amazon, but again, at quite a high price whether used or new.
Fortunately, the original work, The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, is still in print and very inexpensive. It is available from Amazon, and no doubt it can be ordered from your local Christian bookstore. It is a good source of extensive cross references. It is not nearly as complete, accurate, or readable as my printed editions of cross references were, but since my books are no longer available in printed form, I highly recommend that you get the original Treasury of Scripture Knowledge to have access to enough cross references to make such study worthwhile.
The original Treasury of Scripture Knowledge is available online at the Blue Letter Bible website. It works well.
I find that though I have read the Bible in canonical order, that does not give me the best understanding of what happened when. I recently bought the Chronological Life Application Study Bible in the New Living Translation. It is in full color, and has a most handy table of contents at the front of the Bible where you can quickly find where in its pages any verse is found. That will be an excellent tool to get a better handle on the chronological order of the events in the Bible.
Another kind of resource to help you understand more about the Bible is the study Bible. I have several, and just a week or two ago when I wanted to get a better general understanding and overview of 1 and 2 Chronicles, I found the new ESV Study Bible to be quite superior to many of the other study Bibles I have in my personal library.
I have argued here quite often that the best place to start is to read from a plain text Bible. I still believe you should read directly from the Bible itself first. After you have learned as much as you can by personal direct study of the Bible, or a Bible book, it will be helpful to learn more background from a study Bible or two by reading the introductory material they supply for each Bible book.
Another area of great concern is the doctrinal study of the Bible. Many try to avoid this department of Bible study, but it is unavoidable. Most, if not all, general use study Bibles only present the most generic and minimal information on Bible doctrine. Some study Bibles edited by such authors as Dr. R. C. Sproul and Dr. John MacArthur do delve more deeply at times into matters of doctrine.
An instructive example is the widely different handling of the subject of baptism in Dr. R. C. Sproul’s study Bible compared to what you will find in Dr. John MacArthur’s study Bible. Though both of these men are Calvinists, Dr. Sproul holds to the viewpoint of the Reformed position more consistently than Dr. MacArthur. Upon careful study of all the evidence I have been able to learn about in my extensive personal library of Bible study reference works, it is absolutely clear to me, hands down, that Dr. Sproul is right, and Dr. MacArthur on this point is wrong.
As a young person, a new believer, the subject of the mode of Christian baptism was the first of many controversial doctrinal issues I had to face. I asked my Methodist pastor which view was correct. He would not tell me. He said he would arrange for whatever mode of Christian baptism I believed was correct in the light of what the Bible teaches. I opted for sprinkling, since this was the customary mode practiced in my local Methodist church. Not long after, the dear folks at Highland Park Baptist discovered that I was teaching Sunday school there, but my name was not on the membership roll. I asked how I was to solve that. They said I would have to be baptized by immersion. So I followed through and did that. My parents were most upset at my decision to be immersed, but did not argue about it with me. But in any case, which ever mode is correct, I’ve experienced both, so on that score I might be safe. Of course, water baptism is not a salvation issue, though some think it is.
Logos Software just now has a Community Pricing offer of a set of 40 books or so on the subject of baptism for about $80 as I recall. Not many have yet “bid” on the set. I wish they would wake up and do so. I have some of those books already in my print library, and they are very, very good. Many other volumes I know about, but have never been able to get in hard copy.
Why should you study books about Bible issues on more than one side of the issue involved? You will learn much by studying the evidence marshaled in defense of each of several sides. Such study will help you dig far deeper into the Bible than you ever thought possible. Having such knowledge will enable you to spot error in the teaching of others, will help you discover some errors in your own viewpoint, and will help you more accurately teach the truth. It will help you guide young people when, as happened to me right off as a new Christian, a young person must make a decision which way to go on an issue.
The Discipleship Bible, published, I think, by Zondervan, is one of the most complete study Bibles I have which handles Bible doctrine strictly Biblically for the most part. The Dake Annotated Reference Bible is another study Bible that covers Bible doctrine quite well, though Mr. Dake has some interesting but mistaken views of his own on a few things.
With all the wonderful resources available to us today, we have no excuse not to get better acquainted with the Bible!
How to find the time? For many, just watch less television. Reduce your commitment to keeping up with sports. Take time for Bible study. If necessary, start by reading or studying the Bible for as few as five minutes a day. Once you get into it, you will easily be able to devote 20 minutes a day. Beyond that, you will find ways to take a whole evening for Bible study at least once a week, sometimes more often, and you are well underway to getting more acquainted with the most important Book in the world, God’s Word in the Bible.
Here is the link to the Blue Letter Bible:
http://www.blueletterbible.org/
When you reach the site, type in the book, chapter, and verse you wish to study.
When the verse appears, to its left you will see a “Tools” button. Click on that. One of the options available is “Cross References.” Click on “Cross References,” and the cross references from the original Treasury of Scripture Knowledge will appear.
The referenced verses will appear in full in order for each of the keywords, so they are very easy to read.
If any of those verses strikes your interest, you can click on the “Tools” button to its left, click on “cross references,” and proceed to dig deeper from there.
Other resources, including commentaries, are available from the “Tools” drop-down list.