Steps to Reading the Bible

Steps to Read the Bible

            Many of us have grown up in church and quite honestly, most of us don’t have an interest in the Bible. Not only do we not have an interest in the Bible but most of us actually have no idea of how to read it. Strangely enough, most people who have been in church for a very long time have no idea that they do not understand the Bible. To illustrate, it is similar to someone who hates snowboarding because they think they’re too good at it but in reality, they actually suck. In this blog, I would like to introduce a few steps about how we should approach the Holy Scriptures.

           The first thing we must understand is that the authors who wrote the Bible were influenced by their culture and background. It is not difficult for many of us to see how our own cultures and backgrounds have drastically shaped us. I for one have been raised up in America by parents who came from Korea. There are specific traits I picked up from my own American background and my background being a minority. Within those large overarching classifications, it breaks down even more (i.e., finances, neighborhood, city, school, etc.). For us, we have to dig pretty deep into the historical, social and political atmosphere of the author’s life in order for us to see what things have shaped him/her. 

            Secondly, we understand that the authors of the Bible are writing about particular people (most importantly, Jesus) who are also shaped by their own language, culture and society. When Jesus rebuked the Pharisees or helped a Samaritan woman, the author had to filter the events through his own experiences and interpret it himself. So this is where things begin to get a bit tricky. First, we need to understand who our author is. Secondly, with a similar process, we have the task of trying to put together the pieces of the people who the author is writing about. Then we must put ourselves back in the place of the author with all of the information we have accumulated. We are going to have to ask, “How did the author perceive the events in the story and why did he communicate it in such a way?”

           

      The final person I wish to address is ourselves. Many of us have been given the privilege to study at prestigious educational institutions. We have been shaped in many ways by our schools and background. It is the task of us to the best of our ability to deconstruct who we are and try to read our information as objectively as we can. The reality is, we cannot read it objectively but it is our task to do our best.

There are many elements in reading the Bible and many different approaches. One of the important things that need to be stressed is that we must be critical and honest in our reading. We might not all be able to go back to the original languages (I sure can’t) or we might not understand all the different genres but we must do our best if we truly believe this book brings life.

To get more information on this topic, N.T Wright’s book New Testament and the People of God is a great reference. It is pretty difficult (especially the first 80-90 pages) but my NT professor has deemed it one of the most important works in NT studies in the last 25 years.