Field Tool 87

Studying with Wisdom

Recommended Resources

Faithful tools are servants of Scripture, not substitutes for Scripture.

Secondary resources are most useful after you have read, observed, outlined, questioned, and compared the passage for yourself. Use them to test and sharpen your conclusions—not to avoid the work of careful study.

1

Before Opening a Commentary

Work in This Order

  1. 1
    Read the passage repeatedly.

    Become familiar with its words, movement, and emphasis.

  2. 2
    Observe carefully.

    Record what is present before deciding what it means.

  3. 3
    Identify the context.

    Locate the passage within its paragraph, book, historical setting, and covenant context.

  4. 4
    Follow the flow.

    Trace the main assertion and its supporting clauses.

  5. 5
    Ask interpretive questions.

    Investigate purpose, relationships, key terms, and theological claims.

  6. 6
    Consult cross-references.

    Let clearer and related passages illuminate the text.

  7. 7
    Use reference works.

    Clarify language, geography, customs, and background.

  8. 8
    Read commentaries.

    Compare your reasoning with careful interpreters.

  9. 9
    Confirm your conclusions.

    Revise where necessary and state the meaning clearly.

3

Test the Tool

Choosing Good Resources

Look for resources that:

  • Respect the human author’s intended meaning
  • Use historical-grammatical interpretation
  • Explain how conclusions are reached
  • Distinguish interpretation from application
  • Treat Scripture as the highest authority

Use caution with:

  • Speculative interpretations
  • Sensational prophecy claims
  • Devotional substitutes for exegesis
  • Works that rarely engage the biblical text
2

Use the Right Tool

What Each Resource Does

Study Bible

Purpose: Offers brief explanation and orientation.

Best use: Quick background and initial guidance.

Common misuse: Treating short notes as decisive.

Cross-References

Purpose: Connects related words, themes, and events.

Best use: Comparing Scripture with Scripture.

Common misuse: Ignoring the context of the linked passage.

Concordance

Purpose: Locates biblical words and passages.

Best use: Tracing repeated language.

Common misuse: Assuming one English word always represents the same original word.

Original-Language Tools

Purpose: Helps examine Hebrew and Greek terms.

Best use: Testing possible meanings within context.

Common misuse: Choosing whichever definition sounds most useful.

Bible Dictionary

Purpose: Explains people, places, customs, and concepts.

Best use: Filling historical and cultural gaps.

Common misuse: Letting background information overshadow the text.

Bible Atlas

Purpose: Visualizes geography, terrain, and movement.

Best use: Understanding distances and regional settings.

Common misuse: Treating uncertain locations as certain.

Commentary

Purpose: Presents sustained interpretation of a passage.

Best use: Testing your conclusions and reasoning.

Common misuse: Borrowing conclusions without understanding them.

Biblical Theology

Purpose: Traces themes through redemptive history.

Best use: Locating a passage within the Bible’s unfolding story.

Common misuse: Forcing a theme into every detail.

Systematic Theology

Purpose: Organizes the Bible’s teaching by doctrine.

Best use: Comparing a conclusion with the whole counsel of God.

Common misuse: Making a passage answer a question it was not addressing.

4

Build Slowly

A Starter Library

Begin with a few dependable tools. Add more only as your study requires greater depth.

Study Bibles

  • ESV Study Bible
  • Reformation Study Bible
  • NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible

Language Tools

  • Strong’s Concordance Entry level
  • Mounce’s Complete Expository Dictionary Intermediate
  • BDAG and HALOT Advanced

Dictionaries and Atlases

  • New Bible Dictionary
  • IVP Bible Dictionary series
  • Holman Bible Atlas
  • Carta Bible Atlas

Commentary Series

  • Tyndale Accessible
  • NAC and NIVAC Intermediate
  • Pillar, NICOT/NICNT, and BECNT Advanced

Biblical Theology

  • Graeme Goldsworthy
  • G. K. Beale
  • Peter Gentry and Stephen Wellum

Select commentaries by biblical book and author quality, not merely by purchasing an entire series.