As it was part of the recommended reading list from the church planting course at mosaic church in Leeds, I purchased “How to read the bible for all its worth” by Fee and Stuart. I can honestly say that NO book has impacted me more than this one when it comes to the Bible.  I have always read my bible but I have never been taught how to study it, in a systematic thoughtful way. This may sound strange as I have been a Christian for 19 years this month, but never the less it is true.

“How to read the bible for all its worth” is an excellent beginners guide to study the bible in a structured way.

The book is set out in a very simple way. It starts by looking at the need to interpret the bible, and then moves onto looking at different translations and the other tools you will need to gather in order to truly study the word. Looking at the use of concordances, bible dictionaries and other study tools it identifies and teaches how to apply these so that you can gain the best use from them. It then gives some basic exercises that should be followed when studying a book of the bible, such as reading it through in one sitting, then re-reading it and looking at the topical sections in the text and writing them down etc.

It then looks at exegesis and hermeneutics (not “Herman’s new tricks” as I was want to call it, I could never work out why all the bible students in the church got so excited about a German magician with new tricks!),  to put them in plain English context and application for today.

The bible is then split up into several groups

·         The epistles (two chapters on exegesis and one on hermeneutics

·         Old Testament narratives

·         Acts

·         The Gospels

·         The Parables

·         The Law(s)

·         The Prophets

·         The Psalms

·         Wisdom

·         The Revelation

For each of the groups they give basic information, the style of the group, what to look out for, why they were written and a little detail on who wrote them. They then give some pointers as to specifically handling the text found inside the books.

The book has radically changed my bible study times, the word has come alive and I cannot wait to read my bible more and through that get to know Jesus better and apply what I learn to my life.

I cannot recommend this book enough to someone who wants to start and study and appreciate the bible fully.

Praise God for His word