How to Mark Your Bible
for EFFECTIVE Bible Study!

How to Mark Your Bible
for EFFECTIVE Bible Study!

Picture, if you will, a soldier in the time of the apostle Paul. A formidable opponent indeed! He would be outfitted with several pieces of equipment that would protect him from the enemy. A protective metal or leather helmet was placed upon his head. A heavy breastplate would protect his chest and abdomen. His back was not covered in order to discourage him from turning around in retreat. His loins would be wrapped with heavy cloth or chain mail, after which special boots were donned to protect his feet and shins. Lastly, he was given a great shield that would be used to deflect sword blows and airborne objects.

Still, with all this equipment, this soldier was worthless. This soldier could not win any battles because he lacked the most important piece of equipment – his sword!

The sword was the most important piece of equipment the soldier owned. It was his only offensive weapon! Since this sword was so important to the soldier’s success, he spent countless hours sharpening, shining and practicing with it. Only when his sword was at its sharpest could it be used most effectively. One only needs to imagine the utter uselessness of a dull blade in battle to see how important it was for each soldier to care for his sword. It was his dearest friend.

Ephesians 6:17 reveals that by analogy, God’s Word is the Christian’s sword. It is our only offensive weapon against Satan the Devil. As Christian soldiers, we are not allowed to use Satan’s weapons of lying, deception, malice and false rumors.

"For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart" (Hebrews 4:12).

How much work and care do you put into your sword? Are we allowing our swords to go unsharpened or to rust? We must not neglect this most important piece of our spiritual armor! Neglect in this vital area could mean the demise of our spiritual life. Let’s go through some possible ways to keep our swords their sharpest.

Have you ever met anyone who always seemed to be able to pull up just the right Scripture at just the right time? Either he or she has a phenomenal memory, or a well-marked Bible… or both. How to memorize Scripture is the subject for another article. Today, we want to address the subject of Bible marking.

While not many of us have a phenomenal memory per se, it is possible to develop a system of Bible marking that will improve our memories automatically as we use it. Often people are told to "mark your Bible" but little help is offered as to why or what to mark or how to mark it.

Let me give you an example of how Bible marking has helped me. A well-meaning neighbor, a member of a denomination that promotes active door-to-door proselytizing, came to our door just before my son went down to Tyler, Texas. She asked him if his dad was home and would I mind if she took fifteen or twenty minutes of my time. My son said "No, my dad wouldn't mind, let’s go on in." She came prepared for a "kill." She had a tote-bag full of reference books and helps along with her favorite translation.

She began by saying that she knew we were Sabbath keepers and could I show her how I could justify this in the Bible. She began with the statement that the first time the Sabbath is mentioned is in Exodus 16 and that was as far as she got. I reached for my marked Bible and said, "That’s not entirely accurate. The first time the Sabbath is referred to is in Genesis 2:1" and turned to it. All my Sabbath and Holy Day verses are colored in RED. I read her the verse and expounded upon it. Then I went on the next verse colored RED in my Bible. And then the next, and the next. This went on for the best part of an hour. Her defense was that Christians are not obligated to keep the law today. I then turned to the verses marked YELLOW in my Bible that refer to God’s Laws and Commandments. Before we knew it more than two hours went by and her eyes began glazing over as she realized that she had never encountered anyone who could show verse by verse – from the Bible – why they believe what they believe. Although we remain friends as neighbors, she has never brought up the subject since.

Why Mark your Bible?

My grandmother used to forbid anyone to set anything on the old family Bible. To her way of thinking, it would be desecration to have anyone mark or write in the Bible. This was a holy book! It is important to realize that it is the WORDS in the Bible that are holy and inspired of God (2 Timothy 3:16), not the paper and ink of which our copy is made. Anything that we can do to enhance our copy will only serve to "sharpen our swords" and make them more usable. There is much to be gained from regular Bible marking. The discipline of sitting down to seriously consider the essential teachings of the Scriptures will benefit you in many ways:

• Your faith will be strengthened considerably as you come to appreciate that your beliefs rest upon the foundation of the Scriptures themselves. It is one of the best ways to study your Bible there is (2 Tim. 2:15).

• Your mind comes under the purifying influence of the mind of God and His Word.

• A well-marked Bible with one’s personal notes becomes a "personal friend" and companion. If you can remember, for example, that Gentiles as well as Jews were taught on the Sabbath "somewhere" in the book of Acts, the verses in a well-marked Bible will practically leap off the page at you.

Isaiah 28:10 shows that the Bible is written line upon line, precept upon precept. Marking your Bible helps you pull all these related verses together in a logical fashion. Instead of the Bible being a frightening array of disjointed topics, it becomes logical and plain. It becomes a new and exciting way to study your Bible! Once you have your properly well sharpened Bible-sword in your hand, you will

"be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear" (1Peter 3:15).

The Scriptures cannot be broken!

If you are going to invest your time and study in marking your Bible, it would be wise to obtain a good quality Bible such as the Oxford or Cambridge wide-margin Bibles. These are expensive and you may have to special-order them, but should meet all your need and will last you a lifetime. Be wary of the many so-called "Study Bibles" that are very popular these days. While they might contain a great deal of information, they may also contain considerable trivia and many erroneous doctrinal notes and commentaries.

Now that we have seen why you should mark your Bible let’s see what to mark and how to mark it.

What to Mark

This will depend largely upon personal taste and need.

Without doubt the best way to mark your Bible is topically or by subject. Get all your Scriptures together on a subject or topic and assign a predetermined number, color or identifying sign to them and then chain them together. You should make your own index so you can find the first Scripture in your chain. Some may wish to list all the Scriptures in the back of his Bible. It is possible to carefully add extra blank pages at the back of your Bible for this purpose.

Probably the best place to get all the Scriptures together that you want to mark is in a Topical Bible, such as the Nave's Topical Bible. Nave’s gathers more than 100,000 Scripture references arranged under more than 6,000 topical headings. Nave's arranges Scriptures under subjects, even if the specific word you are looking for is not mentioned. Other reference books to use to find appropriate Scriptures to mark are Strong's Exhaustive Concordance and The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge .

Nave’s Topical Bible has, for example, nearly four pages listing occurrences of the Scriptures relating to the God's day of rest. If you want to find what the Bible has to say, for example, about what our attitude should be about gossip or rumors, look under "Talebearing," "Busybody," "Slander," "Speaking Evil," "Accusation," "Falsehood," "False Witness," "Forgiveness" and related topics.

How to Mark

Underscoring: It is often wise to underscore or underline key words or phrases that you want to stand out in order to find them quickly. I use two colored fine-line pens for my underscoring, black for generally important verses and red for very important verses. Do not overdo this by underlining every time a new thought strikes you or the time will come when you will have more underlined than non-underlined and this can lead to a confusing hodgepodge.

Symbols: Some people use a plastic template for making lines or symbols in the margins. You must predetermine which symbol you wish to represent each topic. Usually symbols are used to indicate a type of message in the Bible. A hollow star could be used, for example, for a prophecy. A solid star could be used for a fulfilled prophecy. A circle could be used for a command from God. A pyramid, either upright or on its side could be used to signify a promise from God. A square could mean a message from God. And so forth.

Chain Referencing: This is done by first gathering a list of all the relevant Scriptures that you want to have in your chain. Give each topic a consecutive number. God’s Sabbath could be, for example, # 1. Prayer could be # 2. God’s Law could be # 10, etc. Now begin transferring your list to your Bible. Turn where you want to begin your chain and put the number of your topic in the margin of your Bible with a little circle around it. Just beneath the circled number, neatly print the second Scripture in your chain. Now turn to this place in your Bible and repeat the process. Write the number of your topic and, just beneath it, the third Scripture in your chain. Continue this process on through the whole list of Scriptures you want to chain. Be sure to put the key to your topics on a flyleaf of your Bible so you will always know which topics your numbers signify.

The strength of this method is that you will find all the Scriptures you are looking for. The weakness of this system is that you may have to go through an entire chain of Scriptures to find the specific one that you are looking for.

Color Scheme: By far the most useful method is the color scheme. I would like to share my color scheme with you because it is simple and easy to remember. I have assigned a color to various topics and have used colored pencils to color over the selected verses.

Your Bible Marking Kit

A small plastic box such as a school pencil box is handy to use as your "Bible-Marking Kit." Your "kit" should consist of a set of pens for underscoring and note-taking, a mechanical pencil, colored pencils, a six-inch plastic ruler for underlining and "boxing in" a verse to color, a template for making uniform symbols, if any, a Bible-page size of thin cardboard, and a folded paper towel to wipe off excess colored pencil so it will not rub off on the opposite page.

Pens: A fine-line black pen is recommended for underscoring and note making. A fine-line red pen is recommended for underscoring important verses. Ball point pens work OK but may glob or bleed through the thin Bible pages with the passage of time. Better are drafting pens, such as Rapidograph or Castel. Drafting pens, however, need refilling and occasional cleaning. I have found the Micron Pigma pens an excellent choice. The .01 and .03 fine points work best. Do not use felt-tip or roller points under any circumstances, because these will nearly always bleed through the page. It is best to test out your pen on a page in the back of your Bible before using it.

Mechanical pencil: Use a thin lead (05) pencil for outlining verses to be colored and to draw light guide lines for personal study notes.

Colored pencils: Use soft thick lead pencils such as Berol or Castel. These are "creamy" in consistency so that they cover well and are easy to work with.

How To Do It

Once you have decided which verses you wish to color code, begin by placing your page-sized cardboard or index card under the page you are going to color so that your markings do not make indentations on the page beneath it. Next, take your mechanical pencil and six-inch ruler and lightly outline all sides of the verse. This makes the verse stand out neatly and lets you "stay inside the lines" when you color.

After you have outlined your verse, take your colored pencil and, at about a thirty degree angle, lightly color in the verse, taking care to stay within the lines. Try for a "pastel" look rather than a dark, gaudy or heavy look. When finished, take your folded paper towel and gently smooth or smudge your colors – always towards the center – to remove excess color. This prevents the color from rubbing off onto the opposite page. It would be wise to practice your technique on an old paperback book before coloring your Bible for the first time.

It is not important that you adopt the system suggested in this article. What is important is that you devise a workable system of your own – one that works for YOU. It is said that the best thing to do with the Bible is to know it in your head, stow it in your heart, sow it in the world, and show it in your life. Marking your Bible will help you to accomplish all these ends. Try it and see.

May you:

"Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman who needs not be ashamed, but rightly dividing the word of Truth" (2Timothy 2:15)

Written by: Lloyd W. Cary