ONLINE RESOURCES
Anyone who has done any online Bible study knows that there are many to choose from. In this series of pages we reference several that we have found to be especially useful and easy to navigate. Including these particular sites does not mean that we find the others to be inferior, it just means that we have worked with these the most and find them to satisfy our needs for Bible study. Other students may find that other resources work better for them. This makes sense given that what really matters is what we hear — not what we read.
Each resource has its own strengths. We strongly recommend that readers become familiar with several resources so that they can use them effectively when their preferred online resource does not seem to yield the desired answers to Biblical questions.
BIBLE STUDY TOOLS.COM
There are many useful online Bible study tools available. We have tried several of them and found that they all can help in basic research and study. There is one online tool, however, that is easy to use and comprehensive in how it assists study:BibleStudyTools.com.
In our experience, this tool satisfies all of our needs for Bible study. Here are some of the features that we especially appreciate:
It is possible to search by scripture citation, key words or absolute phrases. This is especially helpful for students who have difficulty remembering scripture citations.
It is possible to search in any version or in all translations at one time. Searching by all translations is useful when you remember a key word or a phrase but cannot remember the version of the Bible in which it is found. This can happen when you search for a scripture using key words that you remember from one version that are not translated with the same word or words in another version. Just search for the key word or phrase in All Versions and then look for the version that includes the scripture for which you are looking. After finding the scripture for which you are looking, you can then go back to the Bible version or version you prefer.
We typically use KJV (King James Version), NAS (New American Standard), NIV (New International Version) and RSV (Revised Standard Version) because we have found them to be the most accurate translations and because they have study features that other versions do not have. Most often, however, we search in NAS and RSV because they are easier to understand than KJV. NIV is mainly useful when looking for Cross References. When trying to understand a particularly difficult scripture, we will often read in several versions before coming to a conclusion about the spiritual intent. In doing this, we sometimes find that no version has translated from the Hebrew or Greek correctly so we interpret it ourselves.
KJV and NAS allow the option to highlight the English words that are directly translated from the original Hebrew or Greek. (The filler words added by translators are not highlighted.) This is done by clicking on the Strong’s Number box. Clicks on an individual highlighted word generated in the scripture text that you want to study further takes you to a page that displays the definitions of the Hebrew or Greek word from which that English word was translated. This page also reports the many different ways in which that particular Hebrew or Greek word is translated into English in that version (KJV or NAS) of the Bible. The page with the definition also lists the books of the Bible in which that Hebrew or Greek word appears. Clicks on the book of the Bible generates a list of all scriptures in that book that include the Hebrew or Greek word. This kind of research is especially helpful to get a feel for the way or ways God intends that word to be understood while avoiding some of the errors in understanding that Old/First Covenant biases contribute to the English translations. This is important since translators typically come out of one Old/First Covenant religious tradition or another and their theological traditions are always reflected in their translations. The problem is, of course, that their theology and translations always miss the New Covenant perspective. In other words, they translate the literal word but are unable to translate the spiritual intent or meaning of the word.
The ESV (English Standard Version) and NAS (New American Standard) have “cross referencing” features that link to other scriptures with related themes found in other scriptures. Clicking on the Cross Reference box generates highlighted numbers embedded in the text. Each of these highlighted numbers provides a link to one or more related scriptures that can be explored to aid in understanding of the theme or topic you are currently studying. Since the Bible is so mysterious and full of symbols and themes, it almost impossible to discover the scriptures that explain the mysteries and symbols without researching these related links. The explanations exist, but they are very hard to find. This cross referencing feature is very useful to that end.
Another feature that is useful in serious study is the ability to collect many related scriptures in one page. For example, after a key word has been entered, a list of scriptures with that word can be generated. Some of them will apply to the current search topic and some will not apply. By copying the links of the scriptures that do apply and pasting them in the search box, all the applicable scripture references can be saved in one list. When doing this, however, do not click on the search box until all the scriptures to be saved are entered in the box. When all the scriptures to be saved are entered, a click on the search box will aggregate them into a new list that does not include the irrelevant scriptures.
People who like to write in the margins of their Bibles or highlight them will find the View In My Bible feature useful. It appears above the Bible Translation drop-down box on every page with scriptures. It can be used to highlight text, bookmark scriptures, make notes and tag them according to some term that will help you find them again. Because we do not use this feature we can’t say much about it, but we encourage serious students to learn how to use it. It is probably necessary to register with BibleStudyTools.com before using this feature.
The ability to read a particular scripture in context is very important. A search for a key word will generally produce a citation with only one verse. This is usually not enough to allow full understanding. A click on the link that says Read (chapter, verse) in context which appears below the scripture goes to another page which includes the first scripture in the context of the paragraph or chapter in which it is found. It is also possible to read the entire chapter in which the verse is found by clicking on the Read Book.
Sometimes, because of the theological biases found in all versions of the Bible, it is useful to compare scriptures from two Bible versions side by side. Clicking on the View in Parallel link does this according to the translations that you choose to compare. Doing this helps readers decide which version best translates the God’s intended meaning. It is still best, however, to also use the word definitions found in
BibleStudyTools.com has many other features that make it a very useful web site. Because the entire site reflects Old/First Covenant theology, however, readers must be careful to use great discernment when reading anything other than Bible text. Beyond the Bible study tools mentioned above, the only other tool we use is, Baker’s Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology. Again, because this is written from an Old/First Covenant theology perspective, it must be read with great discernment. It is useful, however, to help find Hebrew and Greek words.
It may take some experimentation to get familiar with BibleStudyTools.com, but any time spent using it is worthwhile. It is an excellent resource for finding and studying scripture.
Here are three other online resources which we recommend: