Based upon Rick Warren’s excellent book, Bible Study Methods, this presentation offers a simple way of deepening your Bible study by examining a specific theme within Scripture.

2. #4 The Thematic
Method of Bible Study
How to study a theme in the Bible

3. theme
subject, topic, matter, issue, idea

11. This method relies on you asking
good questions about a theme before
you read your Bible.

12. I KEEP six honest serving-men
(They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who.
I send them over land and sea,
I send them east and west;
But after they have worked for me,
I give them all a rest.

13. I let them rest from nine till five,
For I am busy then,
As well as breakfast, lunch, and tea,
For they are hungry men.
But different folk have different views;
I know a person small—
She keeps ten million serving-men,
Who get no rest at all!

14. She sends'em abroad on her own affairs,
From the second she opens her eyes—
One million Hows, two million Wheres,
And seven million Whys!
The Elephant's Child, Rudyard Kipling

15. Who, What,
Where, Where,
Why, How

16. DEFINITION

17. The Thematic Method of Bible Study
involves approaching a biblical theme
with a set of not more than five
predetermined [decided before] questions
in mind.

18. You then study the theme in the Bible or
a single book by asking only those
questions, summarizing your
conclusions, and writing out a personal
application.

19. Note with a Topical Study, which we shall
look at later, you have no restrictions.
So you might study “Prayer” as a topic and
study each verse related to that, and ask
as many questions as you can think of.

20. But as themes within that you might look
at, “The prayers of Jesus” or “Prayer in the
NT Epistles” etc.

21. So thematic study makes
the Bible study shorter and
less tiring - good qualities
for those starting out in this
adventure.

22. Tools for this
method

23. Only a few tools are needed:
- Study Bible
- Exhaustive concordance
- Topical Bible

24. Advantages of this
method

25. The limited resources
required.
Exhaustive concordance allows
you to look up all the words
relating to your theme. You
then look at the verses and
select the ones you specifically
want to study on your theme.

26. It’s a good method if
…you are limited for time
…you don’t want to do a full topical
study.
…you want to preview a topic
…you only want to answer certain
questions about a theme

27. It’s a good method to make
into a group discussion.
It is simple…use with new
believers, or with people
who are only just
discovering the joy of
personal Bible study.

28. Tips to make the
best use of this
study method

29. 1. Don’t use too many questions.
On a major thematic study ask 3-5
questions.
Every theme within a topic could have
hundreds of references to look up -
you need to be very selective!

30. 2. Sometimes you only
need to ask one question!
e.g. What are things God
hates?

31. According to the NT what
things should we “endure”?
As Christians what should
we “consider”?
According to Solomon in the
book of Proverbs, what
brings Poverty?
What are the traits of a fool
according to Proverbs?

32. 3. Many times you will not find the
answer to all of your questions in
one verse.
If this happens leave a blank space
on your form and go on to the next
verse.

33. 4. If you are not
finding any answers to
your questions in the
verses you need to
change your
questions!

35. Maybe you are asking the
wrong questions!
Read the verses, ask what
God is really saying and
change your questions to
address that (not what you
think it should say)

36. 5. If you want to know everything
God has said about a subject you
need to look it up in your exhaustive
concordance—along with all other
words related to the theme.
This is a massive task!

37. Simple steps for
doing a Thematic
study

38. You need to create good questions before
looking up references. For a study on “Anger
in the book of Proverbs” what you might
ask…?

39. What does an angry man act like, what are
his characteristics?
What causes anger?
What are the results of anger?
What is the cure for anger?

40. Step 1: Choose a
theme to study

41. What are you
interested in?
Make sure it is short
or small.

42. Step 2: List the
verses you intend
to study

43. Use your tools - and make
a list of verses related to
the chosen theme.
Make sure you look at
synonyms etc.
Select the verses you think
are most important (helpful)

44. Step 3: Decide on
the questions you
will ask

45. Write down the questions you
are most interested in! What is it
that you want to know about
your theme?
List no more than 5 questions.
Write them on a blank sheet of
paper, or the form.

46. Step 4: Ask your
questions of each
verse

47. Read through your references and
the questions for each verse.
Write down your answer in the
appropriate place on your paper /
form.

49. You will not necessarily be
able to answer all questions
from one verse—in fact it
will be unusual if you can.

50. If you find a verse answers
none of your questions just
leave the space blank—but
if this happens often look at
your questions again to see
if you might need to change
them.

51. Step 5: Draw some
conclusions from
your study

52. After you have read
the references and
written out your
answers summarise
an answer for each of
your questions.

53. You can organise your study into an outline
by grouping similar verses together and
turning your questions into the major
divisions of the outline. This make it easy
to use as a group study.

54. Step 6: Write out a
personal
application

55. Remember a personal
application should be practical,
possible and measurable (see
devotional method if you have
forgotten how to do this).

56. How to fill out the
thematic study
form

57. Produce your own form similar to the
one shown.
You can always add extra paper if you
run out of space!

63. 1. Theme: Select the theme you want
to research, being sure it is not too
broad and is not a major topic.

64. 2. List of References: List as many
Scripture references as you need for
your study.

65. 3. Questions to be Asked: List the
questions (not more than five) you will
be asking of each Scripture
reference.

66. 4. Answers to the Questions: Ask the
questions of each reference and write
the answers in the appropriate space
under each reference.

67. (Question A in all the A slots,
Question B in the B slots, and so on
throughout). Use extra sheets of
paper if there is not enough room on
the form.

68. 5. Conclusions: Write out your
conclusions and summaries of the
verses studied.

69. 6. Application: Write out a personal,
practical, possible, and measurable
application.

70. Sample Filled Out
Form

75. Assignment

76. Begin your thematic
Bible studies with
themes that are simple
and have only a few
Scripture references.

77. As you get better in
this method, you can
make your themes
more complex and use
more biblical
passages.

78. 1. Theme to be studied: Knowing God’s
will.
(Look up the word will in a concordance,
and find the references to God’s will, will
of God, will of the Lord, the Lord’s will,
and any other related words.)

79. Suggested questions:
a. What specific things are God’s will?
b. Why am I to do God’s will? (such
things as motives and results)

80. c. How am I to do God’s will? (such
things as attitudes and actions)

81. 2. Theme to be studied: Obedience.
(Look up the words obey, obedience,
keep, commandments, do, and many
others like them.)

82. Suggested questions:
a. Why is obedience important?
b. What are the results of obedience?
c. What are the results of
disobedience?
d. How am I to obey God?

83. 3. Theme to be studied: Praising the
Lord in the Psalms. (Note how this
theme has been shortened to just the
book of Psalms. Look up words such
as praise, adoration, thanksgiving,
and joy.)

84. 3. Theme to be studied: Praising the
Lord in the Psalms. (Note how this
theme has been shortened to just the
book of Psalms. Look up words such
as praise, adoration, thanksgiving,
and joy.)
Suggested questions:
a. Why should I praise the Lord?
b. How can I praise the Lord?
c. When should I praise the Lord?
d. What are some results of praising
the Lord?

85. Suggested questions:
a. Why should I praise the Lord?
b. How can I praise the Lord?
c. When should I praise the Lord?
d. What are some results of praising
the Lord?

86. 4. Theme to be studied: The prayers of
Jesus. (Note how this theme also has
been shortened to one aspect of prayer.
Look up this theme in a topical Bible and
the words pray and prayer in a
concordance, choosing only those found
in the Gospels in which Jesus is praying.)

87. Suggested questions, but you should be able
to write many others of your own choosing:
a. How often should I pray?
b. When did Jesus pray?
c. Why should I pray as Jesus did?
d. What did Jesus pray for?
e. To whom should I pray?

88. The End