Knowable Word

Helping ordinary people learn to study the Bible

Copyright © 2012–2025 DiscipleMakers, except guest articles (copyright author). Used by permission.

Study Bible Buying Guide

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I’ve recently reviewed many study Bibles, and I’ve now also evaluated and compared each one according to how it helps or hinders OIA Bible study (observe, interpret, apply).  I’ve given each Bible a score based on the blessings and curses of study Bibles I’ve written about before. Because some study Bibles get much more hype than others, I find it helpful to know which study Bibles will actually help people to study the Bible.

If you’re ready to see my evaluation:

Check it Out

I still recommend Tim Challies’s infographic if you’re interested in just the facts and stats for some of these study Bibles. My buying guide provides more detailed evaluation of OIA principles (and of ways the study Bibles help or hinder OIA study).

I’ve also added this buying guide to the resources page so you don’t have to navigate back to this blog post to find the buying guide in the future.

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50% Off ESV Journaling Bibles

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From now until Dec 31, 2015, Westminster Bookstore has all ESV journaling Bibles at 50% off. Perhaps this would be a good time to consider getting a new markup Bible.

Check it out at Westminster Books!

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Dear Journal: If people click the Westminster link, this blog will receive a small commission. How should we notify them of this fact?

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Let Them See You Do It

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Floating FingerMy grandfather used to do a magic trick for children where he would remove half of his finger and make it float in mid-air. I thought he was a wizard, until he showed me how to do it. His revelation inspired me to perform the same trick whenever I’m around young children, and I now think I’m destined to become like my Pop-pop: a crazy old feller who gets his kicks off making children laugh at him.

Did you catch the turning point in my tale? He showed me how to do it. Training a new Bible study leader works the same way.

Following Jesus’ Example

Jesus got his first disciples on John the Baptist’s recommendation. John’s men trusted him when he told them to behold the Lamb of God (John 1:35-36). They went to check Jesus out, and Jesus didn’t commit too quickly. He merely invited them to “Come and see” (John 1:38-39). (Presumably, it was sometime after this that Jesus called them to make a clean break with their life direction and follow him – Mark 1:16-20.)

Jesus took these disciples along when he performed his first miracle (John 1:2) and cleared out the temple (John 1:22). He had them watch for a little while (Mark 3:13-6:6) before he gave them much to do themselves (Mark 6:7-8:30).

Jesus knew they wouldn’t know what to do unless they first saw him do it.

What to Show Them

As you begin training new Bible study leaders, first let them in and then let them see you do it. But what should we show them?

  • Show them how you study the Bible. Practice Bible study together. Work through the observation, interpretation, and application as a team. Label things as you go so they can see why you’re doing what you’re doing.
  • Show them how you prepare to lead a Bible study. Doing it and leading it are different skills. The former begins with a blank notebook and a clean text, the latter begins with a main point and suggested applications. Some people will intuit the difference; others need to be shown.
  • Show them how you think about caring for the Bible study’s members. Meet with your apprentice and discuss how people are doing. Share your insights about how to encourage and challenge these folks.
  • Show them how you set up the meeting. Talk about the schedule, room set up, greetings, and dismissal. Don’t just make these decisions yourself or feel your way through it. Let your apprentice know why you’ve made the choices you’ve made.
  • Show them how you pray. If you need the Lord’s mercy for the Bible study to succeed (and you do), your apprentice should see you begging for this mercy. Don’t be too respectable to beg.

If you had a mentor who showed you these things, you understand how helpful it was. If you didn’t have such a mentor, you can help others avoid the mistakes you made. This will get them farther faster.

The first phase of training apprentices is “I do, you watch.” This involves letting them in and letting them see you do it. Don’t just tell them how to do it; show them.

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Basic Facts About the Bible

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At the Gospel Coalition, Joe Carter writes of some basic Bible facts we all should know. This background information helps us to understand better as we read and study. Carter briefly covers issues such as:

  • it’s a library of books
  • the Bible is self-referencing
  • why it’s called a “Bible”
  • the meaning of Testament
  • where chapters and verses came from
  • how we discovered the canon

Check it out!

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Teach Bible Study During Family Devotions

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skeeze (2014), public domain

skeeze (2014), public domain

My daughters have gone dance crazy this fall. Everywhere I look, I see pointed toes, pliés, and skipping, twirling children.

My girls will join their dance studio’s production of The Nutcracker in a few weeks. You can imagine the preparation this requires—buying costumes, reserving a venue, and cramming gobs of detailed instructions inside little heads. What an undertaking!

Train Them Up

Just as my daughters need months of ballet lessons before they hit the stage, they also need training in the skills and habits of Christians. Following Jesus is the central calling of their lives, and I cannot send them off unprepared.

It is vital that we provide our children with a solid approach to Bible study. At this blog, we advocate the OIA method. While the terminology isn’t sacred, we think the skills of observation, interpretation, and application show up in all faithful descriptions of Bible study.

So how do we pass along these crucial skills to our children?

Gather as a Family

We have opportunities throughout each day to equip our kids to study the Bible. Chief among these chances are meals and times of family worship. It’s a privilege to engage all of your children at once about the most important things in the world!

But most parents know that family devotions can feel more like a chore than a privilege. The adults are exhausted, the baby is crying, and the older children are feeding spaghetti to the dog. It is difficult to steer a ship this large (especially with a mutinous crew).

Let me encourage you to stick with it. Family devotions can be a source of deep joy and they can prepare your children for a life of loving and obeying God. Family devotions are worth the effort.

Realistic Expectations

If you’re feeling guilt about family devotions, you may need to adjust your expectations. We must be both faithful and realistic. If we set the bar too high, we will frustrate everyone.

First, consider your weekly schedule. For most families, our weeks bear more resemblance to each other than do our days. Survey a typical week for your family and seize a pocket of time on each lightly-scheduled day for family worship. Don’t beat yourself up when you miss a few days.

Next, consider the content. I’ll advocate for the Bible below, but ponder what else you might do. Involve your children as much as possible and make it fun. Let them choose praise songs or hymns. Ask them about the best parts of recent days and join in a rousing prayer of thanksgiving. The elements of worship can vary. If you make family worship memorable and fun, your children will anticipate and remind you about it!

Study the Bible

Given my push for realistic expectations, it might seem strange to suggest Bible study. Doesn’t Bible study require long, private periods of concentration?

No! Since the Bible is for everyone, so is Bible study. Training children to study the Bible is as simple as asking three questions: What? Why? So what?

What? Children should observe the Bible. You may want your older children to help out with the Bible reading, but anyone can listen and observe! Ask your children to pick out the main characters, the actions, the commands, and so on. The younger your children, the more time you’ll probably spend on the “what” question.

Why? As children get older, they should move into interpretation. Follow their observations with “why” questions. Why did Jesus heal that blind man? Why did Joseph’s brothers sell him? Why does Paul say we should always pray? Ask questions like this to move your children toward the main point of the passage.

So what? With this question we enter the land of application. What difference does all of this make? Children usually need the most help with this question, but you might be surprised how eagerly they suggest applications once you get them started.

Final Remarks

Let me leave you with a few recommendations as you consider how family devotions might work in your home.

  • Don’t neglect the Bible. Story Bibles can be a blessing for young children, so feel free to incorporate them. (My youngest really loves the pictures.) But don’t let them replace God’s word. Your children can handle more than you think.
  • Involve the whole family. Ask questions of all the children—and all the adults! Children should see the adults in their lives modeling good Bible study habits.
  • Revisit Bible passages. If your family devotions bog down, return to the same passage the next time. You might also consider studying the same passage with the family that you (or your children) are reading in personal devotions.

We have several articles on teaching Bible study to age-specific children, along with devotional guides for readers and non-readers, at our children’s Bible study page.

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The Basic Message of the Bible is Plain to All

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Here is something from Aaron Armstrong to be thankful for:

We shouldn’t act as though the Bible has hidden knowledge that only an elite few can access. That is the way of the mystical guru, who offers esoteric nonsense—absurdities in place of true wisdom. But the message of the Bible—at least in its basic message—is plain to all. Most anyone could come to the text of the Bible and understand the means by which God offers salvation (whether they agree with it or not is another question entirely). They can know the commands of God (whether they obey, again, is another question entirely). They can know there will be judgement, there will be a day when suffering and sadness end, when death is no more and all will be made new. Some elements are confusing, and some, frankly, make little sense to those living in the West today. Even so, there is no need for discouragement: what we can know, we can know.

Check out his full article.

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Let Them In

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I’m elbow-deep in my family’s second annual Legofest, where we dedicate our spare moments to rebuilding every Lego set in the house.

Legofest 2014

I’ve learned a lot since last year, but what I’ve learned has really slowed me down. In particular, I’ve learned how to include my kids.

Last year, I introduced Legofest as a way to serve the children. I would rebuild all their Lego sets for them, thus providing them with a load of “new” toys to enjoy through the winter. But the problem was that my kids wanted to join me in the work; and their help was not always very helpful.

They’d pick something to start building. They would search for the first few pieces. They would complete the first few steps. But they’d quickly hit a problem, where they couldn’t find a specific piece amid the piles of carnage. But they’d find an identical shape in a different color; they’d settle for this lucky find and go on their way. By the end, we were missing all sorts of pieces, and we had to unbuild a few automobiles to swap out the necessary parts.

This year, I decided to get in front of the problem, and I banned the children from all Legofest activities. That is, until I realized I was a terrible parent for doing so. What sort of father would do that to his kids?

I’ve now done all I can think of to include the children in the building process, with some clear ground rules for when we can and cannot substitute imperfect pieces. And I’ve gotten better at teaching them how to build and how to find the right pieces. The problem with this is, of course, that the building takes longer than it did last year. Inclusion comes with a great cost to efficiency.

Building Legos and Training Bible Study Leaders

Training a new Bible study leader is like Legofest in this way: Inclusion tends to work against efficiency. If your goals are to keep your calendar clean and to minimize the time you spend in preparation, it’s not worth it to train an apprentice. But of course, the larger cost is that your ministry will always center around you. Training is inefficient. It takes time, effort, repetition, initiative, coaching, careful attention, and repetition.

So the first step for training apprentices is to invite them to watch you. Bring them into the planning process, and talk it through together. Slow yourself down, pull back the curtain, and show them the way. Adjust your expectations so you’re not surprised when it takes more time and effort.

Is it worth it to you?

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OIA Under Another Name

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I regularly try to clarify that what makes our Bible study useful is using not OIA terminology but OIA principles. So when I claim that OIA is the best Bible study method, I’m not saying that “OIA” is the secret pass code that unlocks all the hidden treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I’m merely saying that we have to pay attention to what’s said, understand what it means, and connect it to our lives.

Case in point: Marshall Segal writes a great post about “Six Questions to Ask When Studying the Bible in a Group.” And his six questions are really helpful not only for small groups but also for personal study. And someone might work through the steps Segal presents and wonder, “Why are there so many methods out there, and how do I make sure I’m following the right one?”

But please consider. Notice that Segal’s “Swedish Method” is the same as the OIA process, just with different labels.

Of course, we might explain each step with slight differences, but the substance remains the same. By all means, if you find “the Swedish Method” helpful, then please use it. It’s far more important to use the method than to label everything the same way I would.

I recommend Segal’s helpful article to you. Check it out!

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