So, you’re reading along in Colossians and come to Col 4:7 and a character you’ve never seen before: Tychicus. You wonder who he was and how he fit into Paul’s ministry. Ever wonder how the pastor finds out? Well, there’s the “cheating” way. You can just look up Tychicus in your Bible dictionary. But, since Bible study is a personal discipline, it might be good to research him on your own to see what the Bible says about him. That’s called a character study.
To do a character study, follow basically the same process done in the word study except this time you’ll be looking at the traits and history around a particular character such as David or the apostle Thomas. Let’s look at Tychicus, this time. Here are the steps to the study again:
- Pray first
- Find a character that intrigues you in any passage, “Tychicus” in Col. 4:7, for instance.
- Read the context around Tychicus, at least the surrounding paragraph, a few times first.
- Go online to http://www.blueletterbible.com
- Enter the name looking for: “Tychicus” in Col. 4:7, for instance, into the search window at the top of the page.
- Go to Col. 4:7
- Click on “tools” in the left hand column.
- Scroll down until you see “Tychicus” in the list.
- Two columns to the right of “Tychicus” you will see the strong’s number. Click on it.
- You will now see a screen showing what the name means in Greek and other places in Scripture where that name appears.
- Write down what you learn from the descriptions found in the surrounding verses and context.
- Put all that information into a sentence or two, a paragraph at most unless you’re doing a study on a major character, of course, like David or Solomon.
- Now you have seen how a particular character is described in Scripture.
It’s that simple.
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