How to study a Bible passage carefully

1. Read the complete paragraph

Begin by reading the verses before and after the selected passage. Identify who is speaking, who is being addressed, what question or situation is being answered, and how the paragraph advances the chapter’s message.

2. Observe before interpreting

Write down repeated words, contrasts, commands, promises, causes and results. Distinguish what the text explicitly says from conclusions that may require support from other passages.

3. Compare Scripture with Scripture

Use search and cross-references to find passages that address the same subject. Give greater weight to clear passages and read every result in context rather than building a teaching from matching words alone.

4. Use Strong’s information carefully

A Strong’s number identifies a Hebrew or Greek dictionary entry connected to the source text. An English phrase may represent more than one source word, including articles and grammatical words. Read each entry’s short definition, morphology and tagged occurrences, but do not assume that every possible dictionary meaning applies in every verse.

5. Record an application

Summarise the passage’s main point in one sentence. Then record a response that follows from that point: a truth to believe, a command to obey, a warning to heed, a promise to remember or a matter for prayer.

Example: John 3:3

Jesus answers Nicodemus by declaring the necessity of being born again to see the kingdom of God. The chapter explains this new birth through the work of the Spirit and points the reader toward faith in the Son. The word-study tools can clarify individual terms, but the whole conversation supplies their meaning.