Leaders in Covenant Community Bible Study

Exhaustive Questions Bible Study Method

We often read the Bible too quickly. We tend to skip over the difficult parts in order to get to the parts that we like. It feels good to read those passages that we love and enjoy, but we are actually missing out on discovering some great truths when we read the Bible this way. Those who desire to find treasure must dig for it as a miner digs for the hidden gems beneath the earth’s surface. A half-hearted, indifferent attitude towards God’s Word will not yield very much. It’s only when you roll up your sleeves and get to work that you will discover the richness buried within the pages of Scripture. Proverbs 25:2 says, “It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter.”

The Holy Spirit is the One who authored the Scriptures and He is available to reveal their riches to us; all we have to do is ask Him. Learning to ask questions, as you spend time with the Lord in your Bible study, will help you discover details you would have otherwise missed. Be determined to interview the text; have the mind of a reporter. Interrogate the Scriptures by asking anything that comes to mind—any question you’d like answered. Be exhaustive and more likely you’ll be successful!

Follow these simple steps to do an Exhaustive Questions Bible study:

Step 1 Choose a chapter of the Bible and read it three times

Read slowly, making note of anything that doesn’t make sense.

Step 2 Write down three or more questions for each verse

Yes, that is a lot, but that is the point of the Exhaustive Questions study method. You are to ask about everything. Refer to the questions found on pages 24 and 25 as a guide.

Step 3 Research five questions from the entire chapter

Pick these five questions from the ones you have already written down. What are you most curious about? Does the passage contain any words or phrases that you don’t understand? Does it mention people or places that you never heard of before? Ask anything and everything.

Step 4 Find the answers!

Never leave a good question unanswered. It may take time and you may need to utilize a concordance, cross-references, commentaries, Bible handbook, online Bible resources, and even your pastor, to help you come to the correct interpretation of the text. But do whatever it takes to understand the truth.

Step 5 Apply the answer

What is one personal application that you can make from the Scriptures you studied?

Step 6 Tell someone

Choose the answer to the one question that impacted you most, and share your discovery with someone else. Ask them questions as if it were a Bible trivia game.

Andy Deane, Learn to Study the Bible: Forty Different Step-by-Step Methods to Help You Discover, Apply, and Enjoy God’s Word (Maitland, FL: Xulon Press, 2009), 79–80.