Studies, reading plans and every single day within them, alongside devotionals and articles. Search by title, book of the Bible, passage or topic.
Chapter study
Do not rush into this chapter. Genesis 22 is one of the most important passages in the Bible, and without it much of the New Testament loses its depth. Some chapters can be read quickly without much loss. This is not…
Chapter study
Read Genesis 4:1-16 slowly before reading anything below. The chapter is short, and most of what this study points out is visible in the text itself. Hold three things apart as you read: what Scripture states, what it…
Chapter study
John 15 is spoken in motion. Jesus has just finished the Passover meal with His disciples, and John 14 ends with the words 'arise, let us go hence.' Many readers take that sentence as the close of a scene rather than…
Chapter study
Philippians 4 is one of the most quoted chapters in the New Testament, and also one of the most misquoted. 'I can do all things through Christ' has been printed on posters for athletic victories and business success,…
Chapter study
Psalm 1 does not pray and does not praise. Nobody is addressed as God anywhere in it. It teaches, which is why it belongs with the wisdom writing of Scripture even though it stands at the head of the songbook. Read it…
Chapter study
Psalm 23 is one of the most quoted passages in the Bible and one of the least observed. Many people carry it in memory without ever slowing down to notice how carefully every sentence is arranged. David is not writing…
Chapter study
Romans 8 is quoted more than it is studied. Most believers can recite verse 28 and verse 38 and have never traced the argument that makes either of them true. Paul is not writing a collection of encouraging lines. He…
Dig Deeper
Romans 8:32 He who didn’t spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how would he not also with him freely give us all things? The argument runs from the greater to the lesser. If God has already given the…
Dig Deeper
Psalm 23:1 A Psalm by David. Yahweh is my shepherd: I shall lack nothing. Want here means lack. David is not saying he will never desire anything again, he is saying he will not be left without what a shepherd owes his…
Dig Deeper
Philippians 4:19 My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Need, not wishes, and the measure is His riches in glory. The word but ties the promise back to the gift the…
Dig Deeper
John 15:7 If you remain in me, and my words remain in you, you will ask whatever you desire, and it will be done for you. Two ifs stand in front of the promise. Read the sentence as a whole and the will in ask what you…
Dig Deeper
Romans 8:28 We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose. Work together, not are good. And the promise is addressed to a specific group,…
Dig Deeper
Genesis 4:9 Yahweh said to Cain, “Where is Abel, your brother?” He said, “I don’t know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” The question is asked by a man who has just killed the brother in question. 1 John 3:16-18 By this we…
Dig Deeper
Genesis 22:1 After these things, God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” He said, “Here I am.” The Hebrew verb is nasah, to test or put to the proof. It is the same verb used of Israel in the wilderness, where…
Dig Deeper
Philippians 4:6 In nothing be anxious, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. Careful in older English means full of care, anxious. The Greek verb merimnao…
Bible study
Paul's field manual for anxiety, written from a prison cell Philippians 4:6-7 In nothing be anxious, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of…
Bible study
A verse-by-verse study of the most beloved psalm in Scripture Psalm 23:1 A Psalm by David. Yahweh is my shepherd: I shall lack nothing. Psalm 23 belongs to the collection of psalms attributed to David, Israel's second…
Topic study
Biblical hope is not wishful thinking. It is confident expectation resting on the character and the promises of God. Most people use the word hope to admit that they do not know. I hope tomorrow is easier. I hope the…
Topic study
Prayer is not primarily a way to get things from God. It is the way a creature answers back to the Creator who has invited the conversation. Most people, if pressed, would define prayer as asking God for something.…
Biblical concept
Jesus tells Nicodemus that no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again. Birth is something done to a person, which is the force of the image: nobody arranges their own birth. John 3:8 compares it to wind.…
Biblical concept
After feeding a crowd, Jesus says he is the bread of life, and that whoever comes to him will not hunger. The claim is deliberately connected to the manna: their fathers ate and died, and this bread is different. Bread…
Biblical concept
A covenant is a formal bond with promises, obligations and a sign. God's covenants with Noah, Abraham, Israel and David each carry a sign or an oath, and each is initiated by God. Jeremiah 31 promises a new covenant…
Biblical concept
The prophets use this phrase for a day when God steps into history openly. Amos 5:18 warns Israel not to long for it lightly, because it is darkness and not light for those unprepared. In the New Testament the same…
Biblical concept
Deception in Scripture is not only being lied to. Genesis 3:1 to 5 shows the shape of it: a true statement is bent into a question, the warning of God is denied, and a motive is suggested for God that God never gave. 2…
Biblical concept
Desire in Scripture is simply wanting, and its worth depends on what is wanted. Psalm 37:4 tells the reader to delight in the LORD and speaks of God giving the desires of the heart, so desire itself is not treated as…
Word and phrase
Eternal life is more than life that never ends. John 17:3 defines it directly: this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. It is knowing God, not merely surviving…
Word and phrase
Hebrews 11:1 defines faith as the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. It is confidence resting on God's word rather than on sight. Scripture ties faith to an object. Romans 10:17 says…
Word and phrase
Grace is favour that is not earned. Ephesians 2:8 says salvation is by grace through faith, and that it is the gift of God, not of works, so that no one may boast. Scripture also uses grace for God's ongoing help. 2…
Biblical concept
To justify in Scripture is a verdict, not a treatment. Romans 8:33 asks who shall bring a charge, and answers that it is God who justifies, which is courtroom language. Romans 3:24 says believers are justified freely…
Biblical concept
Israel began with God as king. Gideon refuses the crown by saying the LORD will rule over you (Judges 8:23), and when the people later demand a king like the nations, God tells Samuel they have not rejected you, they…
Biblical concept
The kingdom of God is God's rule, not a territory. Mark opens the ministry of Jesus with the announcement that the kingdom of God has come near, and calls for repentance and faith as the response. Scripture speaks of…
Biblical concept
The phrase appears in Matthew, where parallel passages in Mark and Luke read kingdom of God. Matthew 19:23 and Mark 10:23 report the same saying with the two phrases, which is the plainest evidence that they name the…
Biblical concept
John the Baptist points at Jesus and says, Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. Lamb is sacrificial language. It means a death in place of the guilty. The phrase takes away is one word in Greek…
Biblical concept
Jesus says he is the light of the world, and adds a promise: whoever follows him will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life. Light here is both revelation and direction. In Matthew 5:14 he turns the same…
Biblical concept
In ordinary speech living water meant running water from a spring rather than still water in a cistern. Jesus takes the phrase and offers water that becomes a spring inside the person who drinks it. John 7:39 tells the…
Biblical concept
Messiah is Hebrew and Christ is Greek, and both mean anointed. In Israel priests, kings and occasionally prophets were anointed with oil to mark them as set apart for God's work. John 1:41 translates the word for the…
Place in Scripture
Mountains in Scripture are meeting places. Abraham is sent to a mountain in Moriah, Moses receives the law on Sinai, the temple is built on a hill in Jerusalem, Jesus teaches, is transfigured, prays and is crucified on…
Biblical concept
2 Corinthians 5:17 says that if anyone is in Christ there is a new creation, and that old things have passed away. The change is described as God's work, not self improvement. Revelation 21 extends the same word to the…
Biblical concept
To anoint someone was to pour oil on their head and so mark them out as chosen for a task God had given. Samuel anoints Saul and then David, and in David's case Scripture says the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon him…
Biblical concept
In Exodus 12 each household killed a lamb, put its blood on the doorframe, and ate in haste. Where the blood was, the destroyer passed over. Israel was not spared because it was better but because it was covered. The…
Biblical concept
A priest in Israel existed for one reason: sinful people cannot simply walk into the presence of a holy God. Someone has to stand in between, carrying the offering in and carrying the blessing out. Hebrews states the…
Biblical concept
Redemption is release secured by payment. In Israel a kinsman redeemer could buy back land or a relative sold into slavery, and the price was real. The New Testament uses the same picture. 1 Peter 1:18 says believers…
Word and phrase
Repentance is a change of mind that produces a change of direction. John the Baptist and Jesus both open their preaching with the same call: repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Repentance is not mere regret.…
Bible question
1 John 5:14 This is the boldness which we have toward him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, he listens to us. WEB Before anything is explained, hear God speak about your prayers in his own words. 1 John…
Bible question
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us the sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. WEB Let God answer this before anyone comforts you or frightens you about it. 1 John…
Bible question
John 10:27-30 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give eternal life to them. They will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is…
Bible question
John 17:17 Sanctify them in your truth. Your word is truth. WEB Read what Scripture claims for itself before reading anyone's argument about it. The claim is unusually direct. 2 Peter 1:16-19 For we did not follow…
Bible question
1 Corinthians 15:3-8 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the…
Bible question
Matthew 6:31-33 “Therefore don’t be anxious, saying, ‘What will we eat?’, ‘What will we drink?’ or, ‘With what will we be clothed?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you…
Bible question
2 Peter 1:3 seeing that his divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and virtue; WEB God speaks about growth before we…
Bible question
Ephesians 4:32 And be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving each other, just as God also in Christ forgave you. WEB God speaks about forgiveness before we explain it, and his words set a standard no…
Bible question
Romans 10:9 that if you will confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. WEB This is the passage where Paul answers the question directly,…
Bible question
Micah 6:8 He has shown you, O man, what is good. What does Yahweh require of you, but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God? WEB God has already spoken about his will. Read that first, because…
Bible question
2 Peter 2:1 But false prophets also arose among the people, as false teachers will also be among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, denying even the Master who bought them, bringing on themselves…
Bible question
1 Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has taken you except what is common to man. God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above what you are able, but will with the temptation also make the way of escape,…
Bible question
Romans 6:12-14 Therefore don’t let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. Also, do not present your members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God, as…
Bible question
2 Timothy 2:15 Give diligence to present yourself approved by God, a workman who doesn’t need to be ashamed, properly handling the Word of Truth. WEB Scripture teaches how it wants to be read. Hear that before any…
Bible question
Proverbs 3:5 Trust in Yahweh with all your heart, and don’t lean on your own understanding. WEB Let God's own words set the terms before the study begins. Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in Yahweh with all your heart, and don’t…
Bible question
Matthew 6:9 Pray like this: ‘Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. WEB This is one of the few questions the disciples asked out loud, and Jesus answered it directly. Read his answer before any advice about…
Bible question
John 20:28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” WEB Read three passages before any argument. One is a claim Jesus made, one is what his hearers understood by it, one is what a disciple said to his face. John 8:58…
The Sunday Study
Verse-by-verse teaching with historical context, and a prayer to close. Nothing else in the email.