Question
How do I read the Bible, and where should I start?
Analysis
What Scripture says about reading it
| Point | Where |
|---|---|
| It is useful for teaching, correction and training | 2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Timothy 3:17 |
| It is meant to be understood and acted on, not only heard | James 1:22; James 1:23; James 1:24 |
| Checking what you are told against the text is commended | Acts 17:11 |
| Some of it is genuinely hard, and misreading is possible | 2 Peter 3:16 |
| It was read aloud in community, not only alone | Nehemiah 8:8; Colossians 4:16; 1 Timothy 4:13 |
| It is described as a lamp for the path, not a floodlight over the whole route | Psalms 119:105 |
Four questions that prevent most misreadings
- What kind of writing is this? Poetry, law, narrative, prophecy, letter, apocalyptic and proverb are not read the same way. A proverb states what usually happens; it is not a promise. A narrative often reports what someone did without approving it.
- Who was it written to, and what were they facing? A letter answering a specific problem in Corinth is not a general instruction until you have understood the problem.
- What comes before and after? Most verses that get badly misused are quoted with the surrounding sentences removed. Jeremiah 29:11 is the classic case: it is a promise to a specific people in exile with a stated seventy-year timeframe (Jeremiah 29:10), which does not make it less true, but does change what it says.
- How does it fit the whole? Scripture is read as one story by every tradition, and a reading that requires ignoring the rest of it is usually wrong.
On methods and plans
- A plan helps more than willpower. A chapter a day finishes the New Testament in under a year. Many find a chronological or thematic plan easier than front-to-back.
- Reading aloud slows you down and catches things the eye skips, which is how it was originally received.
- Writing one sentence about what you read is the cheapest comprehension check there is.
- Use more than one translation for a hard passage. Where two good translations differ, that usually marks a genuine difficulty in the original rather than a mistake.
Where Christians differ
Not on the method above, which is broadly shared. They differ on who interprets: traditions with a formal teaching authority (Catholic, Orthodox) hold that Scripture is read within the church's tradition and that private interpretation has limits; most Protestant traditions emphasise that ordinary readers can and should read it directly, while still valuing teachers. Both sides cite Acts 8:30; Acts 8:31, where an official reading Isaiah says he needs someone to guide him.