Methods of Bible Study Part 7–Topical Study

VII. Study Topics of Interest

A. Some outside tools are essential:

1. A Concordance:

a) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance is the most complete, accurate, and generally useful. The equivalent help is available in Bible software, such as the e-Sword Bible program by Rick Meyers downloadable free at www.e-Sword.net.

b) Young’s Analytical Concordance

c) J. B. Smith’s Statistical and Tabular Greek-English Concordance

d) The Englishman’s Hebrew Concordance

e) The Englishman’s Greek Concordance

2. A Topical Index

a) The New Topical Textbook with an introduction by R. A. Torrey

b) Inglis, A Topical Dictionary of Bible Texts

3. A complete source of cross references

a) The original Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. This resource is often available in Bible software, but as good as it is, it still contains many printing errors from the nineteenth century when it was originally created.

b) The New Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. This resource is no longer available new from the publisher in book form, but is sometimes available second hand from Amazon. It has much better print than the original Treasury, far more cross references, with most of the errors in the original source corrected. It also features seven indexes which work well for topical Bible study, particularly the Subject Index and the Topic Number Index. The New Treasury is available in software from Thomas Nelson and is also available in the Logos 4 software.

c) Nelson’s Cross Reference Guide to the Bible. This is almost identical to the New Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, but has no indexes or chapter headings, and lacks the notes from the original Treasury or the New Treasury. The cross references are actually more complete, but consolidated to reduce duplication. The volume is more portable, and the page format makes it even easier to consult the cross references. This resource is currently available in book form.

B. The general rule is, locate ALL the Bible says on the subject or topic. This cannot be done without using the Bible study tools listed above.

Using a concordance alone won’t work because a subject may be expressed under other words, and a concordance will not lead you to those words.

Topical indexes alone won’t work to find all that is on the subject, because even the best of those is not complete. Using a Thompson Chain Reference Bible and Nave’s Topical Bible will lead you to much of the material that pertains to a topic, but they will not lead you to all the material.

To be sure you have found all the relevant material in the Bible that pertains to the subject of your study, you must make use of a good source of cross references to the Bible.

C. When studying a Bible topic, be sure to carefully note and distinguish both the similarities as well as the differences in things which are similar but not identical.

Failure to observe this rule of Bible study and interpretation has led to much misunderstanding of what the Bible actually teaches.

D. Christ is in all the Scriptures (Luke 24:27); find Him there (John 5:39. Isaiah 34:16).

E. Outline your findings once you have gathered all the information in the Bible on your chosen topic for study.