Bible Study Habits, with Alex Bernardo

Most people who want to know how to study the Bible are looking for a system. A plan to finish in a year, the "right" translation, a highlighting method that finally sticks. Alex Bernardo, host of the Protestant Libertarian Podcast and a trained biblical studies student, spent this episode dismantling that instinct. There is no single correct method. There is only the daily habit of putting yourself in front of the text and refusing to leave until it has done something to you.

Doug Stuart noticed Alex's heavily marked-up Bible over breakfast at Acton University and wanted to know the man behind the exegesis. What came out is a working philosophy of Bible study that treats intellectual growth and discipleship as the same project, not competing ones. You cannot grow as a disciple without growing in understanding, and understanding that never touches your life is just trivia.

This is a practical guide to how to study the Bible over a lifetime: how to build the habit, which translations reward close reading, when to bring in commentaries, what to mark, and which popular practices are worth abandoning.

Chapters:

0:22 Welcome and Bible Reading Habits

2:53 Early Bible Memories

4:39 Faith Through the Gospels

6:06 Daily Reading Routine

8:36 Reading Without a Plan

10:26 Lectionary Life

12:05 Choosing the NASB

16:00 Paragraphs and Verse Marks