How a Good Study Bible Makes a Teacher’s Job Easier

A solid study Bible with teaching outlines belongs in every Bible teacher’s library.

If you are veteran Bible teacher, they’re a great tool for on-the-fly lessons when you haven’t had time to dig deep.

If you are a brand new one, they can serve as a guide until you gain the instincts for teaching.

And if you’re responsible for training or discipleship, they’re a top-notch resource to help those you lead dive into Bible research.

Here are three ways an in-depth study Bible with teaching outlines can help you or Bible study leaders you’re discipling discover more insights during lesson prep:

1. You can find most—if not all—of the background info you need about a passage in one place

Every book in the Bible was written at a specific time in history to specific people for a specific reason. Any good study Bible will tell you what those are, and a study Bible with teaching outlines helps you go even deeper.

For example, knowing the book of James was written by the brother of Jesus during the Diaspora helps us discover what the book says, what it means, and how it applies to our lives. In The Teacher’s Outline and Study Bible on James, we learn that the “twelve tribes” named in James 1:1 indicate that the book’s audience are the people of Israel, specifically Jewish believers. Even though they were scattered by persecution, they were still the one people of God.

2. You see the main point and logical flow of the entire book with the detailed outline, so you know where your chosen passage fits as one piece of the whole

Each book of the Bible tells one cohesive story, but sometimes it’s hard to decipher why a particular passage exists where it does.

A study Bible with a teaching outline shows each turn and progression in a book so you can see how it all fits together. And when you see how the parts relate to the whole, you begin to see more in each part—and to see those parts in greater detail.

To use the example of James again, The Teacher’s Outline and Study Bible says in its introduction to the book,

James had two purposes for writing:

1. To correct a corrupted faith that was rapidly seeping into the church. Many were professing faith in Christ, but living immoral and unrighteous lives. Their faith was profession only—a faith of license with little or no restraint upon behavior.
   
2. To present the true faith of Christ: a faith of the heart—a faith that produces outward fruit. James’s point is very simple: a person is known to be a Christian only by his behavior. What he does proves one of two things: it proves he is a Christian or it proves he is not a Christian.

In the section on James 1:19-27, The Teacher’s Outline and Study Bible shows how James’ dual purposes for writing help us understand “the perfect law of liberty” in James 1:25:

The person who obeys and does the Word of God is blessed. Note that the Word of God is called the perfect law of liberty. This means that the Word of God will set a person free from the bondages of sin and death. The Word of God will free a person from all the temptations of this life and give him the full and victorious life for which his soul longs—a life that will continue on and on eternally with God.

With this short explanation, we can see how James makes connections between faith and life—and how God’s Word is at the center of both.

3. You get a ready-made lesson

When it comes to writing your Bible study lessons, some people only need a nudge in the right direction. Others excel at leading discussion but prefer to have others prepare the content.

Either way, a study Bible’s teaching outline gives you the tools you need to open God’s Word with others. The Teacher’s Outline and Study Bible (18 vols.) provides a short synopsis of the each text and what’s happening before jumping into a pre-written lesson. You can use the lesson as is, or you can use the insights you find to create your own lesson.

Whether you’re a pastor, a full-time Bible teacher, or a lay leader, a study Bible with a teaching outline may be just what you need to help you teach God’s word more effectively.

For more biblical guidance and teaching helps, get The Teacher’s Outline and Study Bible (18 vols.). You’ll save 20% while it’s still in pre-pub, but the price will go up when the series ships.