5 Topical Bible Studies You’ll Love
Ever wonder how you can move beyond simply reading your Bible and, instead, dive deeper into God’s word?
The Bible tells us in 2 Timothy 3:16 that Scripture is useful for teaching and training. To be trained by it, we need to not merely read, but study. And there’s no better way to immerse yourself in scripture than to do a deep dive into a specific biblical topic.
We think you’ll love the five topics we’re going to discuss because they provide insight and encouragement for victorious Christian living!
But what is a topical Bible study and why should you undertake one?
TOPICAL BIBLE STUDIES: WHAT ARE THEY AND WHY ARE THEY USEFUL?
While traditional Bible-reading methods usually focus on reading individual books of the Bible, a topical study focuses on… you guessed it… a specific topic! Whether that topic is something as general as “love” or as specific as “women in Jesus’ ministry,” studying a topic in the Bible has a few benefits:
Capturing your attention with a biblical subject that interests you
Allowing you to become familiar with scriptures across multiple books of the Bible
Gaining a deep understanding on a specific spiritual topic
So, how do you go about doing a topical Bible study?
There are many study tools available out there that allow you to locate, cross-reference, and meditate on scriptures. Online keyword searches, commentaries, and concordances are just a few of them.
To do a topical Bible study, we recommend using either an online concordance or one in physical book form. This study tool lists all the occurrences of words throughout the Bible along with the origins of words, which often have deeply symbolic meanings.
FIVE TOPICAL BIBLE STUDIES YOU CAN DIVE INTO TODAY
A Heavenly Father
In a world where fathers aren’t always present anymore and our relationships with our dads aren’t always healthy, it’s important to remember that we have a perfect Heavenly Father. The Bible is full of scriptures that describe God as a father, and these scriptures can heal our past, solidify the loving parental relationship between us and God, and even teach us how to be loving parents ourselves.
Search for all of the scriptures that talk about God as our father and embrace him as the loving parent he wants to be to you.
The Kinsman Redeemer
When Noami and her daughter-in-law Ruth were both widowed and without any resources, God united them with a good and prosperous man who, as a relative, was willing to accept the role of kinsman-redeemer and restore all their hope. Ruth was then blessed to be included in the genealogy of Christ!
In the same way, Jesus Christ is our Kinsman-Redeemer, not only paying our debts and giving us the blessings of heaven, but making us part of His family.
Read the book of Ruth alongside the Gospel of Matthew to see how this story in Old Testament history foreshadowed the great work that Jesus Christ did to redeem us 1,000 years later.
What Happens to our Sin?
Everyone struggles with sin at some point – even after committing our lives to Jesus. What does God mean when He says that He forgets our sins? The Bible says our sins have been cast into the depths of the sea and no one may recover them. God has put them out of reach of any who might accuse us, and the Lord will not allow our sins to resurface.
Study all of the scriptures that discuss forgiveness of sins, forgetting of sins, and the washing away of sins, and you can regain the confidence that God has blotted out your transgressions forever.
Fear of the Lord
In the Book of Exodus, when God came down upon Mount Sinai in an awesome display of His power, His people had the “fear of the Lord,” but not as He desired. They neither loved nor trusted Him. Now, the grateful souls of the redeemed know a different type of “fear of the Lord,” one that is based on a loving relationship with the God of righteousness and mercy.
Do a topical study on what it means to have a healthy and holy “fear of the Lord” and how it differs from being “afraid.”
The Parables of Jesus
During his earthly ministry, Jesus didn’t always speak to the crowds in simple terms. Instead, he used parables to get his points across. These parables are full of wisdom, insight, and revelation. They tell us about God’s love for us, man’s sinful tendencies, and our responsibilities as believers.
Look up all of Jesus’ parables and study them to find valuable insights into Christian living and working in the kingdom of God.
HAPPY STUDYING!
The process of a Bible study can be an enjoyable search for the treasure of eternal truths, but the endgame is always this: To internalize God’s principles and apply them to all aspects of your life. A topical Bible study will help you align with God’s will, make decisions with greater confidence, and give you peace and strength during life’s challenges.