The Thematic Method of Bible Study

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Method Four - The Thematic Method of Bible Study

In the thematic Method you will approach a theme within the Bible and perform a basic study of it. It is shorter than the Topical Method, which comes later in these notes, and is much less exhaustive in its scope. In a topical study you would examine each possible verse that relates to your topic of study, including each sub-them; in a thematic study you will study only those verses that apply directly to a single theme

4.1 - Tools

4.1.1 - Study Bible

4.1.2 - Exhaustive concordance

4.1.3 - Topical Bible or cross references

4.2 - Hints

4.2.1 - Stay narrowly focused on your theme since each associated idea can lead to hundreds of additional cross references causing your simple thematic study to grow quickly into a study requiring a great deal more time and effort than you have allocated.

4.2.2 - Keep your list of questions short as some themes may have one or two hundred references associated with them which, if you have too many questions, would cause you to tire of your study even before it is complete

4.3 - Steps

Step 1 - Choose a theme to study, for your first thematic study you may wish to choose a theme that is relatively simple

Step 2 - Make a list of all the verses you intend to study using the tools described above and select from this list the verses that are most applicable, or important, to your theme

Step 3 - Decide on, and make a list of, the questions you will ask of each verse. If you have written more than five you may wish to choose from this list as five questions is generally more than sufficient for the study

Step 4 - Ask these questions of each verse in your list of step two. You may not be able to obtain an answer for each question in each verse, some verses may only answer one or two of your questions but this does not mean that your verses have been improperly chosen

Step 5 - Draw some conclusions from your study. This would include collating the notes you have made and summarizing the details of the study

Step 6 - Write out a personal application and remember to evaluate your progress.

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