The word of God is called "the sword of the Spirit". It is the most powerful and most successful weapon in your spiritual warfare. However, like any weapon, it is most effective in battle if you are trained on how to use it.

Helpful Study Tools

There are many good Bible study tools available today to help us understand God’s Holy words. Standing in your local book store while glaring at walls full of Christian writings - trying to determine where to begin - can be overwhelming and discouraging. This becomes especially true when you begin to read through some of these books and discover Christian scholars criticizing one another, contradicting one another, each claiming to be right and the other to be wrong. You may find yourself wondering how could so many good scholars come to so many different conclusions from the same holy book?

Quite often, some biblical scholars and theologians rely on the teachings and writings of early church fathers and church leaders. Some have built doctrine and wrote dissertations and books and built churches based on information found in some of these writings without considering the possibility that some of these early church fathers and leaders may have been wrong in their doctrine.  Because a certain doctrine or church practice was documented during the early church period doesn't necessarily mean that the doctrine or practice was indeed correct.  In fact, a good portion of the New Testament is spent correcting the errors of some of these early church fathers and leaders. For example, both Peter and Jude attempted to correct a specific false teaching (referred to as "the way of Balaam" in 2 Peter 2:15 and "the error of Balaam" in Jude 11) that have crept into some of the churches around the year 65 AD. Years later, around the year 95 AD, the erroneous way of Balaam had grown from false teaching to false doctrine in the church of Pergamos (Revelation 2:14).

The best way to guard yourself from the false doctrines of yesteryears or newly established false doctrines of today is to following these instructions from God:

In other words, when it comes to the word of God, we must cut through the maze of human opinion and go directly to the source - the word of God, to get Godly facts.

So, where to begin? Let's start with the basics; a Bible and a good concordance (one with a lexicon/dictionary in the back). These items are enough to lay a solid foundation of good biblical understanding. Remember, the Bible was not originally written in the English language.  Unless you are fluent in the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek languages that the books of the Bible were originally wirtten in, it is almost impossible to really understand the Bible without a good concordance. 

A Bible and a good concordance (one with a lexicon/dictionary in the back). These items are enough to lay a solid foundation of good biblical understanding. Remember, the Bible was not originally written in the English language.  Unless you are fluent in the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek languages that the books of the Bible were originally wirtten in, you will need a good concordance to help you understand the definition of words, in their original language, and how those words are used throughout the entire Bible.  Tremendous damage has been done within the Christian community by people who have alterned the meaning of certain Bible passages by developing doctrine based on the English, or western definition of certain Bible words.  A good Bible student must remember that the Bible is eastern in its language, eastern in its thoughts, and eastern in its cultures.  We must take this into consideration as we approach holy scripture.

What Bible to Use?

There are many different Bible translations available in today's market, some of which with a specialty. The trick is finding a Bible that is right for you! Here is some information about some of the popular Bibles that are available today:

• Paraphrase Bibles - paraphrase Bibles are not a word for word translations but rather a thought for thought translation (hence it's a paraphrase and not a true translation). Popular paraphrase Bibles includes the New Living Translation, the New Century Bibles, the Message, the Good News Bible, and others. A paraphrase Bible is good for understanding the basic message or thought behind passages. It is great for kids since it is easy to read and good for people who have zero knowledge of the Bible and want to get a very basic understanding of the entire Bible. Its downfall is that spiritual growth is limited. You cannot perform word searches or get behind the definition of words and terms. Bible study tools such as a concordance or expository dictionary won't work with a paraphrase Bible since these tools are designed for a word translation Bible and not a though translation Bible. You are at the mercy of the writer's interpretation and it is almost impossible to take the Berean Approach since you don't have a true word for word translation from an original manuscript. Good for beginners, but you will quickly outgrow it.               

• Study Bibles - there are many different types of study Bibles. Some are designed for beginner to mid-level Bible students (i.e., Life Application Study Bible or the Inductive Study Bible) while others are designed for advanced students (i.e., Key Word Study Bible). Most study Bibles include the basic features such as background information for each Bible book, profiles or biographies of certain biblical people, time-line of historical events, maps and charts, scriptural cross references, and explanations and commentaries of hard-to-understand verses.  They differ in their area of concentration.  For example, the Life Application Study Bible contains all the necessary ingredients to understanding the Word of God, but has a concentration on how to apply what you learned into your life.  An Inductive Study Bible will also contain the necessary ingredients to understanding the Bible but have a greater concentration on teaching how to get to the original meaning of Bible words and passages and understanding it's proper context.  A Key Word Study Bible focuses on key words of the Bible, their original meaning, and how they were originally used.  This Bible includes the Strong's Reference Number above key words throughout the Bible and grammatical tools to assist in understanding grammar, particularly Greek verbs of the New Testament (the original language of the New Testament).  Study Bibles tend to be more expensive, costing anywhere from $40.00 to over $100.00, but they offer great information to help you  understand the Scriptures.  A great Bible for the serious student!

Popular Bible Translations

Some of the most popular Bible translations are The King James Bible (KJ), the New American Standard Bible (NASB), The New International Bible (NIV), and the Amplified Bible. With the exception of the paraphrase Bible, you can find each of the above types of Bibles in one of these translations. 

The KJ Bible has been the standard English translation for almost four hundred years.  Its a majestic style and dignity have given it an enduring and universal appeal.

The NASB is the most widely accepted contemporary word-for-word translation.  Based on the original American Standard Version, it is highly regarded for its scholarship and accuracy.

The NIV is the best selling modern English Bible translation.  It is a scholarly translation that accurately expresses the original Bible texts in clear and contemporary English while remaining faithful to the thoughts and meaning of the Biblical writers. 

The Amplified Bible is also based on the American Standard Version, however, it uses a system of synonyms, punctuation, typographical features, and clarifying words or phrases to reveal shades of meaning of key words in the original text.  

When selecting a Bible translation (i.e., KJ, NIV, NASB, etc.) you should consider the manuscripts that were used by the translator(s) for writing that Bible translation.  The reason why this is important is because some manuscripts do not contain certain Bible passages that are found in other manuscripts.  If the Bible translation you are using relied exclusively on one manuscript, your Bible may very well be missing these Bible passages.  For example, in comparing the KJ Bible with the NIV Bible you will find that the following Bible passages are not included in the NIV:

Matthew 17:21 "Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting."
Matthew 18:11 "For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost."
Mark 7:16 "If any man have ears to hear, let him hear."
Mark 9:44 "Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched."
Mark 9:46 "Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched."
Mark 11:26 "But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses."
Mark 15:28 "And the scripture was fulfilled, which saith, And he was numbered with the transgressors."
Luke 17:36 "Two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left."
(And there are others.)

Do your homework!  Find out more information about the manuscript(s) used by the Bible translation your are interest in prior to making the purchase.  Some manuscripts are more accurate than others; and most Bibles will explain which manuscripts were used. 

The next thing we must acknowledge is that no Bible translation is free of translation errors. Such errors were not in the original manuscript but were introduced much later.  For example, consider the following comparison chart of 2 Samuel 21:19 with 1 Chronicles 20:5 - which contain the same story but from four different translations:

2 Samuel 21:19
Kings James Version Bible	Amplified Version Bible	New American Standard Bible	New International Version Bible
“And there was again a battle in Gob with the Philistines, where Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim, a Bethlehemite, slew the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.”	“There was again war at Gob with the Philistines; and Elhanan son of Jaare-oregim, a Bethlehemite, slew Goliath the Gittite, whose spear shaft was like a weaver’s beam.”	“And there was war with the Philistines again, at Gob, and Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim the Bethlehemite killed Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.”	“In another battle with the Philistines at Gob, Elhanan the son of Jaare-Oregim, the Bethlehemite, killed Goliath the Gittite, who had a spear with a shaft like a weaver’s rod.”
1 Chronicles 20:5
Kings James Version Bible	Amplified Version Bible	New American Standard Bible	New International Version Bible
“And there was again war with the Philistines; and Elhanan the son of Jair slew Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite, whose spear staff was like a weaver’s beam.”	“There was war again with the Philistines; and Elhanan son of Jair slew Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.”	“And there was war with the Philistines again, and Elhanan the son of Jair killed Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.”	“In another battle with the Philistines, Elhanan son of Jair killed Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite, who had a spear with a shift like a weaver’s beam.”

In the above example, the King James translation is the oldest of the four and is the only one that correctly identifies the BROTHER of Goliath as being the one killed during the battle of Gob (aka Gezer) in 2 Samuel 21:19. The other three translations erroneously identify Goliath as being the one killed during this battle (although we know from 1 Samuel 17 that it was David who killed this infamous giant).

I am not advocating that you should burn your NIV or NASB Bible and run out and purchase a King James translation. The point is simply to make you aware that no translation is free of translation errors, however, the older the manuscript and the translation, the more likely translation errors have either been corrected or well documented in the footnotes.