An Introduction to Biblical Word Studies

Joke:

Do you know what you call a person who speaks 3 languages? Trilingual. Do you know what you call a person who speaks 2 languages? Bilingual. Do you know what you call a person who speaks 1 language? American!

Americans, are pretty isolated linguistically, many of us flat out intimidated by languages other than our own.

But even if you can’t tell a Hebrew aleph from a Greek alpha (those are letters of the alphabet), YOU CAN do basic word studies on the Bible. Here’s how.

1. In your passage of choice, pick out 3-4 words to study.

2. Get at the various ways the word could be used when the author wrote the book you are studying.

How many uses for the English word “hand” can you think of right off the top of your head? I bet you could think of at least 8-10 with a little effort. “Hand me a brick.” “Give him a hand with that box.” “Give him a hand for that performance.” “The hand on the clock is bent.” “That horse must be 15 hands high.” “He’s a hired hand.” “She bit his hand.” “He built that by hand.” “He asked for her hand in marriage.” “He had a hand in organizing the business.” And without any effort, you intuitively understand the nuances of each of those statements. Isn’t language wonderful!

Now if you are studying a word from the Old Testament, you need to be able to access a Hebrew dictionary, and for the New Testament a Greek dictionary. You could use an Exhaustive Concordance, a Bible Software program (like Logos or Accordance), or you could use an online site. BlueLetterBible.

A Suggested List of Key Words for Study

Adoption

Adversary

Apostle

Atonement

Baptize

Believe

Bless

Body

Call

Chasten

Christ

Church

Confess

Covenant

Death

Disciple

Everlasting

Evil

Faint

Faith

Favor

Fear

Fellowship

Flesh

Good

Gospel

Grace

Hear

Hell

Holy

Hope

Immanuel

Iniquity

Jehovah

Jesus

Joy

Judgment

Kingdom

Know

Law

Laying on of Hands

Life

Light

Lord

Love

Lust

Manifest

Marriage

Mediator

Meek

Mercy

Mind

Minister

Miracle

Mystery

Name

Obey

Passover

Peace

Perfect

Perish

Preach

Propitiation

Reason

Reconcile

Redeem

Remnant

Repent

Rest

Resurrection

Righteous

Sabbath

Sacrifice

Saint

Sanctify

Save

Servant

Sin Soul

Spirit

Temptation

Trial

Truth

Understand

Vain

Vision

Watch

Wisdom

Witness

Word

World

Worship

Comments

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