Character Bible Study Printable

This is the fifth in a series of printable Bible study resources. We have already taken a look at making observations about a Bible verse, studying a word using Strong's Concordance, a Bible Verse Map, and a topical Bible study.  Today we will look at studying a person in the Bible. To begin, print out the Character Bible study template. You may also wish to print out the instructions and a list of people to study if you need some help.

First, you have to choose which person in the Bible to study. If you need a suggestion, use the list of men and women from the Old and New Testaments. If you choose a person who is mentioned a lot in the Bible, you can choose to narrow your study to just one aspect of their life or just one book (or passage) of the Bible. For example, you can look at Jesus in the book of John, at Peter in the book of Acts, or at Moses before Mount Sinai.

After choosing a person, research any information about the person: where and when they lived, their nationality, members of their family, their adversaries, and any other pertinent information. Your goal is to put the character in context here. It's not as important to nail down an exact date of birth (those are mostly estimates for biblical characters anyway), but you should know the time period (before Israel was chosen, during the times of judges, after Jesus died...). This will help you understand the context of your character. You may find this information in the Bible or you may find it easier to look up the character in a Bible dictionary.

Next, list all of the verses or passages mentioning the person. Or, if they are mentioned many times, you may want to just list the verses/passages that seem most important (going in-depth is okay too). Be sure to list the verses or passages in chronological order. Remember to include the high and low points in their life. Summarize each verse or passage. Think about answering all of the who, what, where, when, and why questions. Focus especially on the character's actions, reactions, attitude, and relationship with God and/or Christ. 

The next two steps involve contrasting the good and bad about the character and their life. To begin, look at the person's weaknesses and strengths. What does the character do poorly or well? Which of the character's actions and attitudes are worthy of avoiding or imitating? Next, consider the character's challenges and victories. What trials did the character face? Did they ever fail? How? Why? What successes did they achieve? What did they overcome? How did they succeed?

After that, write a brief summary of the character's life, including the major events. Include any important turning points. Follow that with commenting on the character's growth or change. How did the character change throughout their story? Did they grow and improve? How?

Finally, look back over your notes and see what you can learn from their story. What lessons can you learn from their life? Is this character's life an example of any Biblical principles? Can you identify with any part of their story? How can you apply these lessons to my life? Also, examine where God is in their story. Where do you see God's influence on their story? What role did the character play in God's purpose? How did God respond to their actions?

So try it out on one of the characters in the list. See what you can learn from them.