How to Study the Bible

by Watchman Nee

How to Study the Bible: Practical Advice for Receiving Light from God's Word

Genres: Christian, Theology

146 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1956

About the author

Watchman Nee (Chinese: 倪柝聲; pinyin: Ní Tuòshēng; Foochow Romanized: Ngà̤ Táuk-sĭng; 1903–1972) was a Chinese Christian author and church leader during the early 20th century. He spent the last 20 years of his life in prison and was severely persecuted by the Communists in China. Together with Wangzai, Zhou-An Lee, Shang-Jie Song, and others, Nee founded The Church Assembly Hall, later which would be also known as the "Local churches" (Chinese: 地方教會). or more commonly as (聚會所) meaning "assembly hall"

Born into a Methodist family, Watchman Nee experienced a religious revival, and joined the Church of Heavenly Peace, Fuzhou in 1920 at age 17 and began writing in the same year. In 1921, he met the British missionary M. E. Barber, who was a great influence on him. Through Miss Barber, Nee was introduced to many of the Christian writings which were to have a profound influence on him and his teachings. Nee attended no theological schools or Bible institutes. His knowledge was acquired through studying the Bible and reading various Christian spiritual books. During his 30 years of ministry, beginning in 1922, Nee traveled throughout China planting churches among the rural communities and holding Christian conferences and trainings in Shanghai. In 1952 he was imprisoned for his faith; he remained in prison until his death in 1972.

Reviews

[Andrew Klob · Rating 2 out of 5]

A unique Watchman Nee book that seemed to cover a wide variety of topics on how to study the Bible. Nee spends the first part of the book discussing how “the spiritual man” (aka a born again Christian), which is humble in heart and fears God, is the only man who is truly able to read the Word of God and understand it. This man is in tune with the Spirit and the things of the Spirit. He then moves from here into talking about how the Bible reader has to be able to understand the spirit of each passage. It’s more than just words on a page but what is the deeper meaning that the author, inspired by the Holy Spirit, is trying to communicate. From there he moves into and ends the book with explanations on many different methods/tools to use to study the Bible. With all of this in mind, it was a somewhat interesting book from Watchman Nee but not his best in my opinion. His importance on how you come to the Word of God (aka your heart before the Lord) is very good but I struggle to agree and recommend his thoughts on understanding the spirit within or behind the text. The ending portion has some good portions to it but overall I didn’t pull too much from this book. As I usually say, books from Watchman Nee always challenge me but there are definitely better ones that he has written.

[Bob Flores · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome little book! I got more from Nee on bible study than I have from most books on the subject.

[Marlene Banks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very helpful guidance for Bible study.

[Rubin Carpenter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great insights into not only how to study but a practical guide to understanding what the Bible has to offer a true seeker

[Onur · Rating 1 out of 5]

What he tells about is ok, nice for beginners who want to go to depths of Bible, however it is still very shallow. The book is like milk rather than meat. As im not beginner, this is very low fat milk for me.

[Esther Hong · Rating 3 out of 5]

Section One: Preparing the Person
Section Two: Methods of Studying the Bible

Good guidance. "In order to study the Bible, we first must be proper persons, having passed through the necessary spiritual training under the Lord's leading and guiding. We must also use the right methods." Talks in-depth about the need to have our being dealt with by God in order to be the proper persons receiving light from His word continually. Points out crucial portions of Bible and generates a lot of helpful questions for study. Studying by comparing was really cool - "When we compare these passages (Rev. 2 and 3 with Matt. 13, Rev. 4 and 5 with Phil. 2, Rev. 6 with Matt. 24, and later chapters of Rev. with Dan.) one with another and interpret one according to the other, we will see many things which we previously have not seen."

[Cary Sawatsky · Rating 2 out of 5]

Watchman has some good points in this book, but he comes across as though there are only a few ways to read the Bible and he knows them all. A little more humility would have been appreciated, but his passion and commitment come through loud and clear.

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great resource on deep study of the bible. Will be using this in the future indefinitely.