How to Study the Bible by Character?

Studying the Bible by Character is one of the best ways of studying the Bible. Why? Because when you study a character, you get to learn a lot of practical aspects of life from the character’s strengths, weaknesses and accomplishments. As the saying goes, learn from others mistake. Unfortunately, that is not always true for most of us. Even after learning, we repeat the same errors. Well, better late than never.

I recommend the following steps when you study the Bible by Character:

  1. Choose a Character from the Bible. This is totally up to you. But personally, I suggest you pick someone who may be of special interest to you. Maybe someone who you know very less about but want to learn more of. It may be a good idea to pray to God and ask for His guidance in choosing a character.
  2. Locate all the places in the Bible the Character is mentioned. List down the Books, Chapters and Verses. This may sound a little troublesome but you will be surprised how valuable this information becomes as you start to break them down and drain out the gold nuggets.
  3. Read the Books, Chapters and Verses at least two to three times. The reason for reading them more than once is to absorb the information more thoroughly and to allow God to give you more revelations regarding the Character you are studying. One thing I want you to be careful of is that you don’t waste too much time on information that is irrelevant to the Character you are studying. Try to study about the Character in full context but at the same time avoid that information which are not related to the Character in any way.
  4. Figure out the following details about the Character:
    1. What is the real and full name of the Character?
    2. What is the meaning of the Character’s name?
    3. What is the Character’s occupation?
    4. How long did the Character live?
    5. Where was the Character born and in which places did the Character spend most of his life at?
    6. What are the names of the Character’s parents and siblings?
    7. What are the names of the Character’s spouse and children?
    8. Make a list of the Character’s strengths and accomplishments.
    9. Make a list of the Character’s weaknesses and mistakes.
    10. Make a list of the lessons we can learn from the Character’s life.
    11. List some of the key verses related to the Character in the Bible.

I know the above suggestions will greatly help you in studying the Bible by Character and it will at the same time enhance your ability to foresee situations and avoid tragedy from what you learn. Have a blessed day. Amen!

comments