The Big Idea: Print off a Bible passage so you can mark it up with colors, word correlations, etc. Having a worksheet like this is one serious Bible study method!
WHY MAKE A WORKSHEET?
I learned about Bible worksheets from my college days when
InterVarsity Christian Fellowship offered a Manuscript Bible Study. Everyone in
the group worked from a double spaced page of a Bible passage with plenty of
room to circle, color, and write questions. Everyone had the same Bible
version and passage in front of them. Talk about all being on the same page! More about a manuscript study in a few minutes.
What I like about a worksheet:
- A lot of room to make notes.
- Use markers and pens and not worry about it bleeding through or messing up your Bible.
- Multiple people talk about it from the same version.
- Larger print than most Bibles for easier reading and observation.
- A fresh look at a Bible passage you may have read many times before.
TYPES OF WORKSHEETS I
HAVE MADE
I find a worksheet to be so helpful, I've used it many years
in various ways. I almost always include chapter and verse.
Personal Study. I use a worksheet for personal study of
a passage. This is especially useful in examining a difficult passage. With my ipad, I have even taken a screenshot of a passage and used a coloring feature to highlight and circle words.
Side by Side. I use side by side worksheets of 2 or 3
translations for comparison. There are parallel Bibles available in hard copy. You
can view the YouVersion app with 2 versions side by side. Comparisons can be
useful. I don't double space these.
Group Worksheets. I do not give a worksheet for every
Bible Study I lead. But for a particularly difficult passage, or for working
together on a passage, I make a worksheet to hand out. Thus we are in the same translation
for vocabulary and ease of discussion. Usually everyone will read the
passage several times, each time looking at something different.
Often I create a passage with wide margins. Occasionally I arrange a it with a Quarter page margin So more notes or correlations can be written. One
could also use this space to make drawings or charts next to sections of the
passage.
Pre-marked Worksheets. At times I have prepared a
worksheet with some of the work done for the class ahead of time. I may mark
key words, or mentions of God. The class takes the task further. This works
well for ease of listing multiple points such as actions of God in a given section. This is a
time saver since Our class is hemmed in by time.
MAKING YOUR OWN
WORKSHEET
With internet Bible availability I copy the text in the
version I want and paste it into my Microsoft Word program. Here are three excellent websites for an electronic Bible on the web.
You will most likely make a worksheet on your computer and
print it. Decide what Bible Version to use. Copy, cut and paste onto a
document in a word processor program such as Microsoft Word. Make it about 12 pt print or larger for easier reading. Word has a double space option. With Word and
other programs you can change the margins, even specifying how wide from the
left or the right. For making a side by side with different versions, I use the
columns feature. Word also has a feature to number rows as you will see is valuable for a manuscript study. Also www.bibles.org allows you to remove verse marks in the settings feature.
Use colored pencils, markers or highlighters to mark it up.
If you don't have contrasting colors use circles and squares around words, and
underline/double underline. Symbols can be used. But the point is to SEE the
relationships of words.
ORGANIZATIONS USING A
BIBLE WORKSHEET
Precept Ministries has worksheets for everyone to
have the same version and the same 
passage. You can get a study for the New
American Standard Bible (NASB) or the English Standard Version (ESV). The
packet is usually for a book of the Bible and each chapter is on a page.
Chapter and verse numbers are included. There is a
line at the heading for the chapter theme to be inserted, and a chart
at the end of the study for you to record the theme of each chapter you have
studied. It is a good recording tool.
Precept provides suggested colors and symbols to help get you started marking the passages. Suggested symbols include a purple triangle filled with yellow for God (the Father), purple for royalty the king, and yellow because God is light.
Manuscript Bible Study was started in the 1950s by a
staff member of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, Paul Byer. He discovered it
was helpful to have a double spaced passage of the Bible. It really enriched
his learning as he marked the pages up and identified correlations in the text.
Purists of this method remove the chapter and verse markings and paragraphs. It
is printed only on one side. As they work through the book or section, they may
lay them all out in order on the floor to get a sense of what the original
Bible passage looked like when the writers in Bible times put down the Words of
God.
In looking at paper with the words put together without
chapter, verse or paragraph, you have a chance to view it the way the early
church did. It is a fresh way to interact with God's Word. This is why it is
called a Manuscript study. Many who do this will put line markings every 10
lines so a Bible Study group can refer to it more easily.
The Bible was originally written in mainly Hebrew (OT) and
Greek (NT). It was put on papyrus, parchment, vellum (animal skins) and even
pottery chards. There were no chapters or verses assigned. It was purely
written like a letter, story or document.
For the first 1000 years of the church, there were no
chapter and verse divisions. The first thing to be added prior to 1000 a.d. was
paragraph markings to divide the Word into readings to cover a year. Chapters
were first introduced in the 12th century in the Latin Vulgate. Verses were
added to the first English Bible, the Geneva Bible, in 1560. They were
considered helpful for reference and quotation. The artificial chapter and
verse divisions has caused some problems in breaking up a coherent thought or
theme that should go together. There is a good chapter and verse history on
Wikipedia. We have become so used to chapter and verse markings it is hard to
imagine it another way. We must remember the chapter and verse markings are not
inspired, just a useful tool for finding our way.
The authors of the Bible wrote it so we could understand the
story of God as a whole. It is a story with themes that synchronize together to
tell us of God and his desire to communicate with us, that we can know him and
be his friend. It is great to study it and dig deep into his Word. But don't
break the Bible into small favorite parts so much that you miss the woven
tapestry of the whole story.
Up Next: How to choose a Bible Translation (video animation)
