Guides to studying Scripture, and the history of how the church has read it.
Study method
13 min read
Where to start, how to observe, interpret, and apply a passage, a worked example from James, and a 30-day plan through the Gospel of John. Works for first-time readers and keeps working as you go deeper.
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Study method
12 min read
Inductive Bible study uses observation, interpretation, and application. Learn what each step does, compare it with deductive study, and use an OIA worksheet.
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Doctrine history
How 42 doctrines were asked, argued, defined and re-read across two thousand years of church history.
ReadObserve, interpret and apply a passage.
Study method
20 min read
The Bible contains 66 books in Protestant Bibles, 73 in Catholic Bibles, and 78 or more in Eastern Orthodox Bibles. Every tradition shares the same 39 Old Testament and 27 New Testament books. This guide walks through each one, explains where the differences come from, and traces how the Reformation redrew the lines.
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Study method
11 min read
Exegesis draws an interpretation from the text and its context; eisegesis imports an unsupported meaning. Compare the methods through worked Bible examples.
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Study method
17 min read
Cross references in the Bible are citations linking related passages across Scripture. Learning how to follow them changes the way you read—you stop treating verses in isolation and start seeing how the Bible builds on itself across thousands of years of writing.
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Study method
15 min read
A Bible concordance indexes words and their verse locations. Exhaustive editions aim at comprehensive coverage; shorter editions select entries. Learn how to move from an English search to Strong's numbers and word study.
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Study method
7 min read
Compare Bible study approaches from Hendricks, Keller, Sproul, Stott, Arthur, Wilkin, Carson, and Willard, with sources and a worked passage exercise.
ReadHow the major English Bibles differ, and why.
Translations
6 min read
Compare dated Bible translation sales rankings and Christian bookstore data. Learn why bestselling, most read, and most used in churches mean different things.
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Translations
10 min read
Compare NASB 1995, NASB 2020, and ESV using edition details, publisher sources, and verse examples. Choose wording that fits your study and reading.
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Translations
9 min read
Compare NIV, ESV, NLT, KJV, NASB, CSB, NKJV, and BSB by translation approach, edition, and study task, with publisher sources and a short verse example.
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Translations
10 min read
Compare NIV and ESV wording, translation principles, and verse examples. Check edition differences and decide which version fits your reading and study.
ReadFrom the guide: Exegesis vs Eisegesis: How to Read the Bible Correctly
“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.”
Two ways to build a sermon from the text.
Preaching
11 min read
Exegetical preaching is a method in which the meaning of a biblical text governs the structure, content, and application of the sermon. The preacher does not import a topic into the text—they draw the message out of it.
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Preaching
11 min read
Topical preaching organizes a sermon around a subject, question, or theme and assembles biblical passages that speak to it. Done well, it addresses real needs with clarity. Done poorly, it turns Scripture into a collection of proof texts.
ReadApps, software and study Bibles, compared.
Tools
6 min read
Compare seven Bible study apps by documented features, resource access, and study tasks. Includes source links, ownership disclosure, and questions to test.
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Tools
14 min read
Discover the essential Bible study tools—from AI-powered platforms to classic concordances—that help bridge the gap between ancient Scripture and modern understanding. Compare free apps, premium software, and traditional resources.
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Tools
7 min read
If you're looking to move beyond simply reading the Bible to truly understanding it, a study Bible is the single most powerful tool for your journey. But with countless translations, commentary styles, and special features available, choosing the right one can feel overwhelming.
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Tools
9 min read
What AI does well in Bible study, where it goes wrong, a source-checking exercise you can run on any tool, and five questions to ask before you trust a Bible chat app.
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Comparison
How the two compare on study model, original languages, platforms and cost.
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Comparison
Library-led versus passage-led study, side by side, with the details checked against Accordance’s own guides.
Read42 doctrines, from the early church to now.
Doctrine history
Is the bishop of Rome merely first in honor — or does he hold universal jurisdiction over the whole church?
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Doctrine history
What does baptism do, and who should receive it — infants of believing households, or believers alone?
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Doctrine history
Who is Mary — and what may the church say, and pray, about her?
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Doctrine history
When the church takes bread and cup and says 'This is my body' — what happens?
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Doctrine history
Is final judgment eternal conscious punishment — or could it be destruction, or even, in the end, restoration?
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Doctrine history
Is the Christian hope an immaterial paradise for souls — or a resurrected life in a renewed creation? And what does it mean to 'see God'?
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Doctrine history
Who is Jesus Christ — and how is the one God also three?
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Doctrine history
Does the Holy Spirit proceed from the Father alone — or from the Father and the Son?
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Doctrine history
Where does final authority lie — in Scripture alone, or in Scripture carried within the church's living tradition?
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Doctrine history
How is a sinner set right with God — by faith alone, or by faith working through love?
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Doctrine history
Does God choose who will be saved — and if so, what is left of human freedom?
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Doctrine history
How does the death of Christ save — a ransom, a satisfaction, a punishment borne, a victory won, an example given?
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Doctrine history
What does the church owe Caesar — and what may Caesar demand of the church?
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Doctrine history
May God and the saints be depicted — and may the depictions be venerated?
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Doctrine history
Who may minister in Christ's name — and what does ordination make of them?
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Doctrine history
What happens between death and resurrection — and can the living help the dead?
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Doctrine history
Will Christ reign on earth for a thousand years — and how should the church wait for him?
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Doctrine history
'You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church' — is the rock Peter himself, his confession of faith, or Christ?
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Doctrine history
Is God impassible, immutable, and timeless — and what do we do with a Bible in which God grieves, repents, and waits?
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Doctrine history
Does God govern everything that happens — including evil — and how is he not its author?
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Doctrine history
What do the six days mean — and did God create from nothing?
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Doctrine history
What is the image of God in us — reason, rule, relationship? And are we souls in bodies, or embodied wholes?
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Doctrine history
What did Adam's sin do to the rest of us — corrupt us, condemn us, or merely example us?
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Doctrine history
Who is the Holy Spirit — and did prophecy, tongues, and healing cease with the apostles?
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Doctrine history
How holy can a Christian actually become — and can a true believer finally be lost?
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Doctrine history
What is the church — the institution, the elect, the gathered believers? And is there salvation outside it?
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Doctrine history
What is a sacrament — and are there two, seven, or something else entirely?
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Doctrine history
What did the church mean when it confessed that Christ descended to the dead, rose bodily, ascended, and reigns?
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Doctrine history
How did repentance become public discipline, private confession, sacramental penance, evangelical conversion, and spoken absolution?
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Doctrine history
How are Israel, the covenants, Christ, and the church related within one history of salvation?
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Doctrine history
How does salvation take hold of a person—and how may anyone know that it has?
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Doctrine history
What place does God's law have after Christ—and how are command, grace, conscience, and freedom related?
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Doctrine history
Does communion with the saints include remembrance, relics, invocation, and heavenly intercession—or only imitation of their faith?
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Doctrine history
How did Christians understand marriage, consecrated celibacy, divorce, and remarriage—and why did their disciplines diverge?
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Doctrine history
How did Christian worship develop from first-day gatherings into liturgical families, Reformation services, and modern worship movements?
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Doctrine history
Who can be saved beyond the church's visible boundaries—and what does 'outside the Church no salvation' mean?
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Doctrine history
Who may decide for the church, how does a council become authoritative, and how should error and misconduct be disciplined?
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Doctrine history
How did baptism, laying on of hands, anointing, confirmation, and baptism in the Spirit become related—and separated?
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Doctrine history
Should Christians expect healing through anointing, sacrament, medicine, relic, providence, or charismatic gift?
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Doctrine history
How did biblical messengers and powers become Christian doctrines of angels, demons, hierarchies, exorcism, and spiritual warfare?
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Doctrine history
How did Christian prayer become liturgical hours, contemplative traditions, Reformation devotion, revival prayer, and modern charismatic practice?
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Doctrine history
What is the difference between evangelism and missions—and why do Christian traditions disagree about proclamation, conversion, church planting, sacraments, service, justice, and dialogue?
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17 guides
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