It can feel intimidating at times to know how to read some of the Bible’s exotic and bizarre content. Believe me!—our church just finished a sermon series on the book of Ezekiel. If the stories of wheels, and eyes, and graveyard prayer walks, and cooking over human excrement aren’t enough to scare you away from ministry, I don’t know what is.
Often churches tell people “we must be reading God’s Word;” or we need to be “in the Bible.” But then when people pick up the Bible to read it for themselves, it can feel very confusing. Ancient legal documents, near eastern culture, cultic practices, dreams, strange family histories, encounters with spirits, and poetic language can all tangle together to form a jungle in our minds. How do we make sense of this? How do we decipher what is being communicated and understand it’s importance for us today?
Here are three recommended resources to help you develop the tools you need to study the Bible in a way that will enrich your mind and faith.
#1. Living By the Book, by Howard Hendricks
Howard Hendricks is a teacher who helps anyone to develop their ability to read and pay attention and glean important insights. He gives you the basic tools to read and understand what you’re reading. He also gives a broad overview of the observation, interpretation, and application process. This is a great resource for beginners.
#2. Rick Warren's Bible Study Methods
America’s beloved pastor and author of The Purpose Driven Life takes the reader through a series of different methods that help you glean information and insight from the text. These various study methods include: chapter summary, thematic studies, word studies, character studies, book of the Bible studies, verse-by-verse, devotional method, and more. These proven and practical methods are well articulated and well demonstrated in Warren’s straight forward approach.
#3. How to Read the Bible for All It's Worth, by Gordon Fee & Douglas Stuart
How to Read the Bible for All It’s Worth has been a standard book for academic students trying to learn the process of interpreting the Bible. Fee & Stuart walk the reader through the essential exegesis and hermeneutic process—what did the text mean to it’s original audience, and how do we interpret it’s meaning for ourselves? They also go into more depth on the various types of Biblical literature and the specific rules that apply to those literature forms: poetry, history, apocalyptic literature, prophetic tradition, and more. This book deserves to be on everyone’s shelf.
Conclusion:
The further our culture slides from Biblical truth, and the more that local congregations are influenced by confusion and deception, it is important that every person be able to develop their own life-sustaining habits of reading, interpreting, and applying God’s word. The Bible should not feel like it’s talking in a foreign language. With a little extra help you can hone skills that will pay enormous rewards towards your spiritual and emotional growth in Jesus.
Tags: truth, bible, god's word, interpreting the bible
