Bible Study Magazine—May–June 2019 Issue

Get Bible Study Magazine now by purchasing the May–June 2019 back issue for $3.95. That’s 20% off the newsstand price of $4.95!

Bible Study Magazine is a print magazine (not an emagazine) published by Lexham Press. Six times a year, Bible Study Magazine delivers tools and methods for Bible study as well as insights from respected teachers, professors, historians, and archeologists.

Read pastor profiles, author interviews, and stories of individuals whose thoughtful engagement with Scripture has shaped their thinking and defined their ministries. Bible Study Magazine reveals the impact of God’s Word in their lives—and the power of Scripture in yours.

• Feature Stories
  Discover new ways to connect the Bible with your ministry and life through in-depth interviews and articles from the biggest names in the church and biblical scholarship.
• Bible Study Tips
  Explore the Word—thoughtful and engaging authors tackle the tough passages in Scripture, explain difficult concepts, and confront complex interpretations in a way that helps the Gospel make sense in your life.
• On the Cutting Edge
  Keep up to date on the latest news in biblical research, including archaeological and historical findings.
• A New Kind of Bible Study
  Encounter God by yourself or with other believers with an ongoing Bible study in each issue.
• On Teaching
  Get advice on how to preach or teach the Bible in any setting from well-known pastors and teachers who use the Bible every day.
• Tool Box
  Learn how to effectively use the latest Bible study tools with our how-to guides.
• In the News
  Keep informed about the latest news in biblically related topics, discoveries, and events.
• Thoughts from the Ancients
  Read the Bible together with those who have come before you, and learn from the wisdom of the early church—in its own words.
• Word Studies
  Get a close-up view of the Bible! Each issue contains insights about specific words found in the Bible and tutorials on how to do word studies.
• If Only Someone Would Explain It to Me
  Enrich your understanding of the Bible with explanations of biblical and theological concepts by top scholars.
• Did You Know?
  Discover interesting facts about the place of the Bible in the contemporary and the ancient world.
• What They Don’t Tell You in Church
  See things you never noticed in biblical passages you have read dozens of times.
• Biblical Humor
  The funniest stories and the best comics related to the Bible, useful for any setting.
• Book Reviews
  Stay on top of the latest books about Bible study. Each issue contains reviews of books and commentaries to equip you in your study of God’s Word.

Jen Wilkin: Feeding the Church One Book at a Time

Author and Teacher Jen Wilkin Refuses to Leave Bible Study to the Experts. By the time she was in college, Jen Wilkin had experienced church life in seven denominations, each with its own distinctive approach to reading the Bible. One church she attended during elementary school held a Bible study where the teachers “treated us as capable of learning and understanding the Scriptures, and then gave us tools to do so.” This early investment in showing kids how to study the Bible for themselves changed everything for Wilkin. “Hearing different pastors teach the same passages in such different ways had been an eye-opener,” she says. “It pushed me to want firsthand knowledge of the text.” By her twenties, Wilkin understood it was possible to drown in waves of opinion. If she was going to learn to swim, she would have to learn to read the Bible for herself.

—Bronwyn Lea

Embodying the Bible

Years ago I discipled a young man who was a new believer, and his response to Scripture always startled me. Most people would read a passage of Scripture, parse the Greek verbs, note interesting cultural or historical facets, think up hypothetical scenarios for applying the passage, and then move on to the next passage. But Dave read a passage and then went and did what he read—immediately and literally. He read the parable of the good Samaritan, then drove around town for several hours looking for someone to help, feed, and put up in a hotel for the night. After reading Jesus’ command to sell possessions and give to the poor, Dave sold his video game consoles and some furniture and gave the money to the poor. He read that believers should confess their sins, so he openly confessed everything to a wide-eyed group of near strangers. While Dave’s early approach was extreme and even inappropriate at times, the heart behind his actions convicted many longtime believers about the way they read the Bible. Are we studying merely to increase our knowledge or to learn faithful obedience? Dave’s actions were confrontational to those of us who had grown content with hypothetical obedience as we soaked in more knowledge about the Bible.

—Aubry G. Smith

A Turning Point in the Apostolic Mission

“The two of them, sent on their way by the Holy Spirit, went down [from Antioch] to Seleucia and from there sailed to Cyprus” (Acts 13:4). Acts of the Apostles records the beginning of the most important missionary trip in the history of the Christian church. The two missionaries, Paul and Barnabas, were joined by John Mark, the cousin of Barnabas, who was to serve as their assistant (Col 4:10; Acts 13:5). The first target of the mission trip is Cyprus, the third-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. After Caesar Augustus gained solitary power in the Roman Empire, he made Cyprus a senatorial province, governed by a proconsul. By the beginning of the first century, Cyprus was already becoming a political backwater in the Roman Empire.

—Thomas W. Davis