One form of Bible study is word study or concept study. The Bible is written in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek, languages that most of us do not master. Even if you do not know these languages, you can still study these concepts using good resources, such as the Study Bible.
The word study method takes a close look at the meaning and context of a specific word. The aim is to learn the meaning of a particular concept as precisely and comprehensively as possible. Someone once said, "Just as a large door hangs in two small hinges, so important theological dogmas in the Bible often depend on small words such as prepositions and articles, for example. Central teachings in the Bible sometimes revolve around a single word, for example grace, atonement or faith. To understand the deepest meaning of Scripture, we must study the root words. But now to practice. When I want to study concepts like grace, love, righteousness or holiness etc. in the Bible, how do I proceed? As an example, let's take the concept of peace.
Step 1
Establish the meaning of the Dutch word. We look in a dictionary and see that in Dutch the main meaning of the word is "absence of strife or war. Four of the six meanings given by Van Dale Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal are related to "war.
Step 2
If we want to know what the word 'peace' means in the NT, we must first identify the Greek root words used for it. Through the 'search' function in the main menu and the search form "Searching word studies" on "word(s)" we find four Greek words where "peace" appears in the meaning: 1358 eirçneuô, 1359 eirçne, 1360 eirçnikos and 1361 eirçnopoieô. And if we search on "part of word" we find even ten Greek words. A reading reveals that there is only one root word for peace, which is the Greek eirçnç (word number 1359). But we also see that there are Greek words for, for example, "keep peace" (1358 eirçneuô), "make peace" (1361 eirçnopoieô), "peacemaker" (1362 eirçnopoios), and "peaceful" (1360 eirçnikos), which, although the same root word eirçn- always occurs, we have to read along with it.
Step 3
We now check the "concordance" option of word study 1359 to see how and where the word is used and how it is translated. The word appears in all books of the NT except the first letter of John. Thus, it is a very common and widely used term in the NT. Moreover, we see that the Greek word is very consistently translated "peace" in the given translation (NBG-51). This also appears to be true of the compound words. The root word 'peace' recurs throughout. Indeed, this is far from always the case elsewhere. Often Greek words in translations are translated with another Dutch word according to the context.
Step 4
Next, we want to study the root meaning of the Greek word. For this we turn to the text of word study 1359 eirçnç. Here we read, among other things, that the word also occurs occasionally in the NT in the sense "absence of war or discord" (e.g. Luke 14:32 and Jac. 3:18). Most often, however, the term is used in the sense of the Hebrew shalôm, indicating a "complete or gifted state. This meaning thus transcends the Dutch that usually describes peace in a negative sense as the absence of something (e.g., war). We find the essence of the New Testament "peace" in two passages. First, the passage about the peace Jesus gives that the world cannot give (John 14:27), and second, the peace of God that surpasses all understanding (Phil. 4:7). This peace is a characteristic of the Kingdom of God (Rom. 14:17), excludes disorder (1Cor. 14:33) and unites where there was first a wall between (Eph. 2:14-15). This peace has been proclaimed as the Gospel since Jesus' first coming (Eph. 2:17; cf. Luke 2:15), hence the expression "Gospel of peace" (Eph. 6:15).
Step 5
Next, if you want to dig even deeper, go through the explanations of the Bible verses mentioned as key texts in the word study. To do this, go to the concordance list which is still checked. By clicking on a verse reference in the list, you will immediately get all the data (Greek text, Bible translations and commentary) of that passage on your screen. Thus, you can deepen and expand your study of the concept of peace at will. If you proceed in this way and constantly take notes, the word study will naturally expand into a thematic article or a study of the concept of "peace" in the New Testament.