Bible Reading vs. Bible Study
Reading the Bible for morning devotions is not the same thing as Bible study, and that’s okay.
If you are a follower of Jesus, you probably have a desire to spend some time in the Word each day. You may be wondering, what to do with that time. Should you read the Bible every morning*, or use that time to do homework for your weekly Bible study?
"Blessed is the one... whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night."
There isn’t one right answer, of course. There are many ways to seek the Lord daily in His Word and in prayer. In this post we’ll explore the long term benefits of investing that time in Bible Reading and in Bible Study.
Bible Reading and Bible Study are not the same thing. It might help for you to know the different goals of each as you decide how to spend your daily Quiet Time.
*Time in the Word is not limited to the morning. You may find your best time of the day is after the kids are on the bus or down for naps, or during your lunch hour, or in the evening.
Bible Reading
If you are reading a portion of the Bible every morning, you are doing Bible Reading. If you are using a reading plan, or taking care to read all the different books of the Bible over the course of a year or two (or five), you are doing Systematic Bible Reading, which is the kind of reading this post will refer to.
The long term goal of Systematic Bible Reading is to gain a big picture view of all scripture (the bird’s eye view).
Daily Bible reading can help us gain familiarity with the scriptures as a whole. This is essential when we later come to do in depth Bible Study, as knowing the whole Bible allows us to make connections and see how specific passages, books or genres fit into the overarching narrative of Scripture.
If you read a chapter a day (or more or less) you will be able to read through many books of the Bible in a year. Over the course of a lifetime, as those few minutes a day pile up, you will have read through the entire Bible many times.
The more familiar you are with the whole Bible, the easier it is to read and understand any one part of it. This is the reward of the lifelong discipline of Bible reading.
(Note: It can be tempting to stick to one area of the Bible, like the New Testament or Psalms, and avoid the books that are more challenging to understand. Using a reading plan or a checklist is a great way to make sure you don’t skip entire sections of scripture.)
Bible Study
In contrast with Bible Reading, Bible Study is something we may not do daily.
The goal of Bible Study is to take a deeper dive into a particular book or topic in the Bible in order to develop sound doctrine and put our faith into practice.
While daily Bible Reading gives us a view of the terrain like that of looking out the window of an airplane, Bible Study gives us a street level view where we get to know a certain neighborhood extremely well.
Bible Study builds up an intimate knowledge of the scriptures, one book at a time. Bible study should help us to know what we believe and why we believe it, and understand and obey the Word of God. Over the course of a lifetime, disciplined study of the Word of God equips us to teach and disciple others, discern truth from error, counsel others with biblical wisdom, and lead the Church.
For many people, Bible study takes the form of weekly homework for an organized Bible Study. This is a great way to dig deep on your own and also learn from a gifted teacher or your group members.
(One note: If you are attending a Bible Study without spending any time thinking about the text on your own, you may be doing something more akin to Bible Hearing, than Bible Study. True Bible study will require you to explore the text on your own, by yourself, too.)
You might do your Bible study during your morning quiet time or at another appointed time weekly. Once you learn to study the Bible inductively (which is the goal of every DeeperRiches Bible study on this site), you may find that it changes how you Read the Bible, too. It’s ok if the lines get a little blurred between the two.
So Should I Read the Bible, or Study It?
The short answer is: Do both. Systematically reading through the Bible chapter by chapter will help you build a broad familiarity with the whole of Scripture. You also need to dive deep into books of the Bible, to build a solid foundation for your faith.
How this looks in your life will depend on your life stage, your schedule, the resources available to you at your local church, and your preferred learning style. You may have seasons of study followed by seasons of reading. Or you may find creative ways to take in Bible reading (using an audio Bible, or reading on the treadmill) so you can spend your morning Quiet Time getting your Bible study homework done.
My personal preference is to begin my quiet time with 20 minutes of Bible Reading and Prayer, and then move on to my Bible Study if I have time remaining. But I have had seasons where I focus on one or the other. Having both practices in my pocket keeps me eager to meet God each day without falling into a rut of over intellectualizing through study, or just checking the box on a reading list. Variety keeps things fresh.
Reading and Study Answer the same questions:
Both Bible Reading and Bible Study have at their heart the same primary question:
“Who is God?”
In light of who God is, we then ask “Who am I?”
And lastly, “How should I then live?”
The overall goal is the same: to increase in knowledge of God AND obedience to His Word.
Better Together
Bible Reading and Bible Study, with the goal of knowing and obeying God, pair together to build a house that is on solid rock. The more you know from your Reading, the more insights you’ll bring to Bible Study. And as your deep understandings increase through study, you will find the whole of Scripture taking on a more recognizable shape in your daily Reading.
For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance..
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