How to Read the Bible Part 2: Reading Scripture Well
Last week, I began a short series of pieces on how to read the Bible, based on questions I frequently get as a pastor. While last week I focused on how to choose a reliable commentary, this week I want to highlight a series of best practices for how to actually approach the Bible. For some of this content, I’m indebted to my friend Jason Jackson at New Life DOWNTOWN from a message he preached in 2019 on reading Scripture. For his take on this subject, you can listen here. Here are my favorite tips for reading the Bible well:
1. Focus on frequency over quantity.
It sounds counterintuitive but the rhythm of Scripture reading is more important than the volume of Scripture reading. James Clear touches on the broad principle of this in his book Atomic Habits. While Clear doesn’t focus on Bible reading, the principle still applies: developing a consistent rhythm is more valuable in the long run than consuming large quantities of Bible reading just for its own sake. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying you should intentionally shorten your time in the Scriptures just because. But if given the choice between reading a single Psalm or a few verses and not reading at all, I say read a Psalm or a few verses.
In fact, for years I’ve often discouraged people from feeling like they have to read the Bible through in a year. Most of the longest-lasting Bible reading plans take people through the Bible in two or three years. Reading the Bible through in a year is great for some a minority of people, but for most smaller quantities in a consistent rhythm are much preferred.
2. Shake things up occasionally.
There are multiple ways you can immerse yourself in the Bible, all of which are good—especially when you alternate how to read every once in a while. Here are a few ideas:
Follow a devotional plan or book
Choose a single book of the Bible and study everything you can find on it for six months or a year
Transcribe a book of the Bible by hand into a journal
During a difficult season, immerse yourself in the Psalms
3. Combine Scripture reading and prayer.
A time-tested, ancient practice that Christians have used throughout the centuries is to pray the Scriptures. Borrowing from their Jewish roots, Christians have used Scripture prayer plans like the Psalter (a reading plan for the Psalms in multiple prayer books like The Book of Common Prayer). Ken Boa’s Handbook to Prayer is one of my favorite resources for praying the Scriptures. The Bible itself has multiple prayers such as the Lord’s Prayer and the Jesus Prayer (reminiscent of Bartimaeus’ prayer in Mark 10, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner”) that give us Scriptural prayers we can pray, echoing the voices of our spiritual ancestors who have prayer the same prayers throughout the centuries.
4. Engage Scripture like the ancients.
A very small minority of people in the Roman world knew how to read. Additionally, societies of the ancient world were much, much less individualistic than we are. For them, Scripture reading was not a private, silent endeavor. Rather, ancient Christians read the Bible aloud and in groups. Even if you’re alone, try reading the Scriptures aloud rather than silently.
5. Read Cross-Culturally.
You and I don’t live in the ancient cultures who first received the Scriptures thousands of years ago. These people thought about the world incredibly different than we do in the modern West. Here are a couple examples:
Regarding community: We think about how we are distinct from the rest of the community. They thought about how they contributed as a component to the community.
Regarding right and wrong: We think about justice and guilt. They thought about honor and shame.
Regarding rules and relationships: We let rules govern our relationships. They let relationships govern their rules.
Regarding time: We start an event at a designated time. They started an event when everyone showed up.
Regarding creation: We view the world as physical (seen) vs spiritual (unseen). They viewed the world as creation and Creator.
This impacts how the Bible is to be read. Honor and shame, for example, are extreme influencers behind the scenes in nearly every biblical narrative, yet these are things we seldom think about. For a deeper dive in reading the Bible cross-culturally, check out Randolph Richards and Brandon O’Brien’s book Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes.
6. Embrace Complexity.
The last book of what we now call the Bible is believed to have been written 1,900 years ago. The rest of it was written over a span of about 1,300 years before that on different continents, by 40 different authors. It was written in Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic. The Bible itself even recognizes that it is difficult to understand at times:
15 And when our Lord waits patiently to act, see that for what it is – salvation! Our beloved brother Paul has written to you about all this, according to the wisdom that has been given him, 16 speaking about these things as he does in all his letters. There are some things in them which are difficult to understand. Untaught and unstable people twist his words to their own destruction, as they do with the other scriptures. (2 Pet. 3:15-17 NTE, emphasis added)
So if all of these realities are true, it’s incredibly foolish to think that you can:
Understand everything in the Bible with absolute certainty
Never have to change your mind about something in the Bible
Have to do a little work in study to understand what the Bible is trying to say
Instead, we should strive to study and learn, embrace the reality that we aren’t going to have everything figured out (and that is ok), and have the humility to approach the Scripture with a posture of reception, trusting the Holy Spirit will guide us into truth as we utilize the wisdom and resources he has given us.
7. Read the Bible missionally.
A church leader once told me he read the Bible through the lens of leadership. While admirable, such an approach is misguided. The central theme of the Bible is God’s mission to reconcile humanity to himself and to restore creation through Jesus the Christ. Everything in the Bible points to Jesus and to his mission. The central theme of action to which the Bible calls us is to participate in that missional work. This focus must be central to how we engage the Scriptures.
