In 2017, I realized that I did not know how to praise God. I knew that my own experiences were not providing an answer, and the sermons I had heard and the experiences of my fellow Christians were not helping me to find the solution either, so I knew that I needed to search the Bible to obtain an answer from God directly. I dug into the Bible to research praise, and I found some beautiful answers. I am used to researching information and synthesizing it, but you may not know how to begin a project like this, so I have written out some techniques to use in topical research of the Bible. Remember that these are suggestions. You can modify them however you like to fit your own needs. They may spark ideas for how you can use other methods to perform your research. There is no one correct way to research a topic in the Bible.
Resources:
There are a variety of resources that can be used to learn more about a topic in the Bible. There are pre-made materials that provide all the verses and historical information that you need. You simply read through the topical Bible study and usually write in answers to questions. This can be a rewarding spiritual experience. However, there are times when you feel the need to learn more about a topic where there are no pre-made materials available, or maybe you are like me. I understand a subject more deeply when I do not have to follow someone else’s framework and pattern of thinking. I tend to surface read a prepared study whereas my mind is stimulated to go further into the topic when I am gathering information by myself. Not everyone is like me, and I highly recommend the pre-made materials, as long as you do not let the material that you are using limit your experience in studying about spiritual matters. In other words, let God lead you through the study, not a person. Another resource for topical study is a Bible dictionary. Using a dictionary, you are able to look up a topic and collect information as a starting point for your research. You can buy a hard copy dictionary, use a free online one, or use an electronic Bible dictionary. Free Bible dictionaries are part of Bible study apps like e-Sword. A third resource that can be used for a topical Bible study is a cross-reference Bible, online cross-reference tool or cross-reference app. This resource will provide more Bible verses that are related to the verse that you are reading. The final tool that I use a lot is a concordance. A concordance provides verses that contain a specific word. Many Bibles have a concordance in the back. Again, there are online concordances, and Bible study apps have a search feature where you can type in words and receive a list of Bible verses that contain them. To find any of the online resources, type the words: online concordance, online cross-reference tool, or online Bible dictionary into a search engine like Google, and you will find many sites to choose from.
Recording Bible Verses:
One of the tedious parts of research can be writing and rewriting the same information again and again. Using electronic means, such as a word processor like Microsoft Word or other apps, such as One Note, simplifies this process because you can simply cut and paste to organize your information. This is my preferred method, especially because I can type rapidly, and I am already using an electronic Bible study app that allows me to copy and paste my verses. (Besides, my hands become tired too quickly when I write with a pen.) However, many people prefer not to use electronics for their Bible study. If you are writing the verses that you collect by hand, I suggest that you write them on index cards so that you can organize and reorganize the verses as needed. You can use more notecards to write your personal thoughts on. Label the cards that belong together. For example, any cards that speak of the benefits of praise can have a large capital B (for benefits) written on all of them so that they can be easily organized if the cards happen to fall onto the floor and become mixed up. Another way to keep your information in order is to color code your cards with a marker, or to simply buy different colors of note cards to start with. To store your research cards, simply buy a cheap recipe card holder or other index card holder and, if you like, tabs to separate the cards.
Method:
The method that I am describing here is just a starting point. Modify it to fit your own style and needs. Sometimes, you may want a quick look at a topic, so you might not follow every step. You might simply look in a concordance for a few verses and meditate on them for a few minutes. Other times, you may want to take a long time with your research, so you may add other steps to the process, such as digging up historical information from a commentary, history resource, or book written by an expert in the field. The method I am giving you is just to help you begin the topical research process.
Step 1: Always begin by praying for God’s guidance.
Step 2: Pick a topic that has meaning to you. You may be thinking of a specific topic like praise, or you may have a question, like why did John the Baptist call Jesus the Lamb of God? You may be going through a situation where you need to give advice to someone from the Bible. The topic needs to be narrow enough that you will not be overwhelmed by all the material in the Scriptures. For example, love is too general. You could narrow the topic down to showing love to animals or loving a spouse.
Step 3: Consider the information that you have access to without researching. What do you already know? Gather any verses that you can remember on the topic. In addition, brainstorm any information that you know about the topic. This information could be your own ideas that you want to test out, or it could be factual knowledge that you want to find confirming texts for. Quickly note down the ideas that you already have.
Step 4: Collect new verses. Start by using the verses that you have already gathered to begin your research. Look up the verse and find the cross references for it, using a study Bible, an online cross-reference tool, or a cross-reference app on your computer or tablet. You are using the cross-references to collect related verses to add to your research. Not all the verses provided by your cross-referencing tool will be applicable, so only write down the verses related to your research topic and ignore the other verses. Then you can extend your study with cross-references from the new verses until you are satisfied that you have enough verses or until you reach the end of the related verses that you can find by cross-referencing. If you need more verses for your research, the next move is to use your brainstormed ideas to come up with key words that you can look up in a concordance. You can collect many applicable verses in this way. Only collect as many verses as you need. Do not collect so many verses that you feel overwhelmed and cannot go on to the next steps.
Step 5: Organize the verses. Rearrange the verses into related topics. Doing this electronically means typing category headings and cutting and pasting verses under the correct heading. With notecards, write categories on separate cards and rearrange your verse cards under those categories. Then you can label each verse card to show which category it belongs to, or you can simply rubber band the cards for each category together.
Step 6: Write out your thoughts. Read the verses you have gathered on one specific topic and write out your ideas about what these verses have taught you. Either type this information under the appropriate category heading in your electronic file or write the information on more index cards. Think about the following questions to generate ideas. How are the verses that you collected related? What information in the verses is surprising? What is confusing about the verses? What new information have you learned? What application can you think of for your own life? What do these verses reveal about God? Do you have any more questions that these verses raise or that they did not answer? Can you think of any examples to illustrate the ideas that you read in these verses—either from your own life, your knowledge of history and society, or in the stories of the characters of the Bible?
Step 7: Analyze the information that you have collected. Once you have carried out step five for all the verses, read through your research and organize your ideas. If you are using notecards, you can simply reorganize the note cards into a specific order and number them. If you are working with electronic media, you can easily cut and paste until you have everything organized in the manner that you like. You may stop after completing this step and consider your research finished, or you may begin writing out your findings in an essay about the topic as described in Step 8.
Step 8: Write an essay on the topic. You might choose not to perform this step for all research. However, if you believe that you need to internalize the topic, condensing your research into an essay is an excellent method. Organizing your information into an essay format enables the details of your research to sink into your thoughts rather than being words on a paper that you forget in a few weeks. You can leave out some of your research information and include new thoughts as you write. Your essay does not have to cover your whole research. It can be about one category of your research, and you do not even have to include all of the information in one category. The importance of this step is that it helps you to synthesize the information that you have collected and see connections that you might have otherwise missed.
An alternative method of synthesizing information is to tell another person what you have learned. If you have someone in your life who you can discuss your research with, you are fortunate, and both of you will be blessed by discussing God’s word in depth.
A third way of synthesizing the information is to prepare a speech using some of the information. You might present this speech to a group, record it with your camera, or simply say it out loud to yourself in the privacy of your own home. It is the preparation and speaking that synthesize the information. The audience and viewing yourself on video are optional.
Ending Step: Always end your time of Bible study with prayer. Speak to God about what you have been doing and any concerns that you have. Thank Him for His guidance and discuss the lessons that you are learning with Him.
Final Thoughts:
I do not use topical research often because I tend to focus on stories more than a single idea. However, every once in a while, I realize that there is some topic that I do not understand as well as I thought, so I have researched praise, glory, God’s character, and Pentecost, to name a few. Topical research requires time and effort, but the spiritual rewards are worth the cost. The process allows the Holy Spirit to work within you to create a deeper understanding of God, life, yourself, other people, and the world that you live in. Give topical research a try to see if you are comfortable with it and if it is a method of Bible study that opens your heart and mind to the teaching of the Spirit.