Search the Scriptures

Most Christians want to get more out of Bible study, but don’t know where or how to start. Search the Scriptures offers a thorough head-start to anyone willing to invest some time and to engage the Word of God passage by passage on much more than a surface level. While this isn’t "easy," it isn’t overwhelming either.

The whole Bible is divided into a series of 1094 daily lessons that add up to three years of study. Students read the whole Bible in a more or less chronological sequence (passages are generally fairly short) and answer questions (usually no more than three). For each book in the Old and New Testaments there is a brief introduction as well as brief but helpful study notes. No answers are provided.

You will need a Bible and a notebook in which to record your findings, and you will need a copy of Search the Scriptures. Suggestions for further resources are included in the text, though because the emphasis is on learning to discover the meaning of Scripture on one’s own they are not necessary for completing any lessons.

There is little emphasis on doctrine—the goal is to nurture Bible study skills, not to breed theologians. There is plenty of attention paid to application and meaning. Some will miss the lack of doctrinal emphasis. However, the authors approach the subject from a decidedly evangelical perspective. For instance, they encourage students to spend time in prayer at the start of each daily lesson in order to ask the Holy Spirit for help and guidance in deciphering the Scripture.

Many of the questions are challenging, and while this is good for developing better study skills, it also means you may need to take more than the recommended twenty minutes a day to complete each lesson. Each study is pretty manageable, however, so even if you really delve into each question you shouldn’t need to take more than a half hour per study.

This is an excellent resource for both adults and high school students. If you intend to have your high schooler work through the text you may want to figure out ways to help them move more quickly so they aren’t stuck with it for three years in a row. After completing Search the Scriptures it would probably be a good idea to have them read some theology—we recommend either Concise Theology by J.I. Packer, or Back to Basics, edited by David Hagopian.