What Questions to Ask When Studying the Bible: A Three-Faith Perspective

Jewish tradition has always treated scripture study (talmud Torah) as an act of worship, not merely academic exercise. The rabbis didn't just read a text—they interrogated it. So what questions should a serious student bring to the Bible?

1. What does the text actually say?

Start with the plain meaning, called peshat. King Josiah's scribes modeled this when they discovered the scroll of the Torah and immediately asked what it prescribed: "because our ancestors did not obey the words of this scroll to do all that has been prescribed for us" 2 Kings 22:13. The first question is always: what is written, and what does it demand?

2. What is God's word on this matter?

Jeremiah 23:37 frames a direct, personal question to bring to any prophetic or scriptural text: "What did GOD answer you?" or "What did GOD speak?" Jeremiah 23:37. This pushes the student beyond intellectual curiosity toward relational inquiry—what is God actually communicating here?

3. Is this claim true and certain?

Deuteronomy 13:14 commands the Israelites to "enquire, and make search, and ask diligently" before drawing conclusions Deuteronomy 13:14. The Hebrew roots here—darash (to seek out), chaqar (to examine closely), and sha'al (to ask)—form a three-step investigative method that medieval commentator Rashi and later scholars like Nachmanides (13th century) built entire hermeneutical frameworks around.

4. What does this mean for the community, not just me?

Notice that King Josiah's inquiry in 2 Chronicles 34:21 was communal: "Go, inquire of GOD on my behalf and on behalf of those who remain in Israel and Judah" 2 Chronicles 34:21. Jewish study is inherently communal—chevruta (paired study) asks: what does this text demand of us together?

5. What are the deeper and allegorical layers?

The classical Jewish framework PaRDeS—Peshat (plain), Remez (allegorical), Derash (homiletical), Sod (mystical)—encourages students to ask all four types of questions of every passage. Scholars like Abraham ibn Ezra (12th century) insisted no single layer exhausts a text's meaning.

Christian Bible study methodology has been shaped by centuries of hermeneutical tradition—from Origen's allegorical method (3rd century) to the Reformation's sola scriptura emphasis on grammatical-historical reading, to modern evangelical approaches like inductive Bible study. All of them, though, circle back to a core set of questions.

1. What is the context—historical, literary, and cultural?

Good Bible study asks: who wrote this, to whom, and when? This is the foundation of the grammatical-historical method championed by scholars like Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart in their influential 1981 work How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth. Without context, interpretation drifts.

2. What is being disputed or questioned in the text itself?

Even Jesus modeled this. In Mark 9:16, he turned to the scribes and asked directly: "What question ye with them?" Mark 9:16. Asking what the debate or tension is within a passage—what problem the text is solving—unlocks meaning that surface reading misses.

3. What does this text demand of me?

The same urgency found in Josiah's discovery of the scroll applies to Christian reading. When the text was found, the question wasn't merely intellectual—it was: "our ancestors did not obey the words of this scroll to do all that has been prescribed for us" 2 Kings 22:13. Christian hermeneutics, especially in the Reformed tradition, insists every passage has a use—doctrinal, corrective, or practical.

4. How does this passage fit the whole biblical narrative?

Canonical criticism, associated with Brevard Childs (20th century), asks: how does this text function within the larger canon? New Testament writers constantly asked this of Old Testament passages.

5. Is my interpretation true and verifiable?

Deuteronomy 13:14's command to "enquire, and make search, and ask diligently" Deuteronomy 13:14 is echoed in the Berean model of Acts 17—checking claims against scripture carefully. Don't accept a reading just because it's familiar.

There's genuine disagreement among Christian scholars about which questions take priority. Charismatics emphasize what is the Spirit saying through this text now? while Reformed scholars emphasize what did the original author intend? Both questions have their place, but the order matters to each camp.

Islam doesn't treat the Bible as a primary authoritative scripture—Muslims hold that the Qur'an is the final, preserved revelation, and that earlier scriptures were subject to alteration (tahrif). So the specific practice of "studying the Bible" isn't a normative Islamic discipline. That said, the Qur'an does engage directly with the idea of scriptural learning and divine questioning.

Qur'an 68:37 poses a rhetorical challenge: "Or do you have a scripture in which you learn" Quran 68:37—implying that legitimate knowledge must come from authentic divine revelation. This verse, in context, is questioning those who make claims without proper scriptural grounding.

More broadly, the Qur'an in 15:92 affirms that all people will be held accountable for their engagement with divine guidance: "Them, by thy Lord, We shall question, every one" Quran 15:92. This frames the ultimate question of any scripture study not as academic but eschatological—what will you answer when questioned?

Classical Islamic scholars like al-Tabari (9th–10th century) did engage with biblical texts through the lens of isra'iliyyat (Israelite traditions), but always subordinated them to Qur'anic authority. For Muslims curious about the Bible, the questions they'd be encouraged to ask are: does this align with what the Qur'an confirms, and does it contradict established Islamic teaching?

Core study prompts, drawn from Tanakh’s own directives:

• Have I “inquired and made search” diligently about the matter and its truth? Deuteronomy 13:14
• What did GOD answer you? What did GOD speak? Ask the text these questions to center divine speech, not just human opinion. Jeremiah 23:37
• When a forgotten or newly discovered “scroll” confronts us, what covenant obligations have we neglected, and how should we respond? 2 Chronicles 34:21

These questions discipline study toward verification, attention to God’s word, and concrete obedience, not speculation. Deuteronomy 13:14Jeremiah 23:372 Chronicles 34:21

New Testament study can be guided by Jesus’ questioning practice and the prophets’ counsel:

• What are we disputing, and is my question clarifying truth or fueling controversy? Mark 9:16
• What did GOD answer or speak here, and am I hearing the passage on its own terms? Jeremiah 23:37
• Am I testing claims diligently rather than accepting rumors or appearances? Deuteronomy 13:14

Christians, following Jesus’ example, probe conversations to surface the real issue, then measure it against what God has spoken. Mark 9:16Jeremiah 23:37Deuteronomy 13:14

From an Islamic lens, a reader of previous scripture asks with accountability and scriptural grounding:

• Do I approach the Bible aware that every soul will be questioned by the Lord, shaping humility and care in interpretation? Quran 15:92
• Am I seeking learning from scripture itself rather than conjecture, asking what the revealed text actually teaches? Quran 68:37

These questions encourage deference to revelation and readiness to answer before God for how one studied and lived the guidance found. Quran 15:92Quran 68:37