Any student of the Bible, whether you’re new to the faith or a seasoned believer, should have an easy system of study. This includes a reading plan, a scheduled time of day, and resources such as a commentary. However, most people don’t think about one simple concept that can amp up your Bible study experience to a whole new level; color coding.
Before going crazy with your highlighters, let’s first decide what you’re going to be reading and determine what’s important.
Let’s assume for a moment that you may be studying one of the four Gospels; take John for instance.
The gospel of John is full of theological themes as well as vital lessons for the Christian life. How in the world would you be able to figure out what to highlight? Here are a few tips:
1) Match a color with a theme. Themes such as the blood of Jesus could be highlighted in red. Lessons in general can be matched up in yellow.
2) Highlight according to importance. Does it jump out at you? Does it feel like something you need to investigate further? This is especially useful if it’s practical or vital to correct doctrine.
3) Give a color to specific things you want to look for. This tip is helpful for when you’re doing topical studies, such as the attributes of God or demonstrations of faith. If you wanted to continue with our example of using John, you could highlight the Seven I Am’s of Jesus. If we were to look at demonstrations of faith, we could approach Hebrews 11 with the same mindset; highlight each time “by faith” appears in that passage.
4) Do not use more than three or four colors. It can get overwhelming if you use too many colors. To be safe, choose three or four of your favorite shades and stick to them; create a chart if you have to.
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To help you learn to color code on your own, I’ve created a few resources that you can keep with your supplies. They are codes for each Gospel, and you can download them straight to your device. They are free to download and you can print off as many as you want for personal use or group studies.
I've also included some beginner study tips and a color code for that too!
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