Learning and Applying the Bible
I get asked fairly regularly by people, who feel they don’t know the Bible well enough, how to approach knowing it better. Usually the issue is that they are reading it, but it’s not going in. Now, in some cases, this is simply a matter of time – I think it probably took me three or four times through before it started sticking. But it can be broader than that – how does one approach studying the Bible in a way that it can genuinely impact our daily lives? Sometimes it’s the application that isn’t clear and more help is needed.
What is written below are my views, and that’s all they are. They aren’t absolutes, simply things that make sense to me now after many years of being in the Bible and applying it – in a way, they are what I wish someone had told me years ago that might have helped saved me a lot of time!
Why are you reading the Bible?
I do think it’s worth giving some thought to this question – after all, it influences how you approach study and the lens through which you interpret it.
Absolutely, the Bible has great historical significance, and has some incredible stories. It is very exciting at times and tragic at others. But we’re not reading it in the way we read a novel.
I believe if you start with the following idea, you probably won’t go far wrong – the Bible is the means by which you can understand the character, the promises and the wisdom of the God in whom you have already put your faith.
You are therefore reading it with this in mind – how can I know my God better, and how do I understand what He wants for my life and how I live? And understand clearly what He promises…
Now there are many stories in the Bible, and you might well say, they aren’t about God’s character – why are they in there? God shares important principles through stories, and as your faith develops you will see more complex ideas through those stories that you will apply more generally. Genuinely, nothing is wasted.
Bible study never ends – there is always something new to learn. Therefore take heart – you are embarking on a process that will happen for the rest of your life. Don’t think you need to get it all done in the next week (unless God tells you so…). The habit of being in the Word is critical, so that it becomes second nature. More on this at the end.
Jesus says “If you love me, keep my commands”. Well then, if you love Him, you should at least probably know what He said, or how will you keep those commands?
Where do I start?
I would suggest you read the whole thing through, but if you struggle with that, at the very least read all of the Gospels, ideally twice.
Can I then suggest you do this. Read “What is the Bible” by Rob Bell. I know, Rob Bell has undergone some reputational challenges, but the book is a gem. He gets across, in a very easy to read way, how to approach reading the Bible and the questions to ask yourself. As well as what is lying beneath the surface in terms of language.
Then can I suggest you read immediately after “Through Peasants Eyes” or “Jesus though Middle Eastern Eyes” – both by Kenneth Bailey, who is for me the best author I have ever read on Middle Eastern culture and how to understand the Bible through that lens. In these books, he goes through the parables of Jesus and how to understand them through the lens of a Middle Eastern individual. His books can be a little heavy, but please persevere. They will teach you how to read culture into the Bible and how to step back and look at the broader context within which the passages you are reading are occurring.
Then take another pass at the gospels and see what else you get out of them. You might be surprised…!
What next?
Doug Wilson, a well known reformed theologian, suggested something that I wish I’d done years ago. He talked about creating an Apostolic Study Bible. When you go through the New Testament in particular, you’ll see where there are references to the Old Testament (usually letters by the verse that reference the bottom of the page). However, it doesn’t work in reverse. Hence, he spent two weeks taking all the New Testament references and writing notes back in the Old Testament on the NT verses to which they relate.
This is really important because if you do this before you start the OT you’ll see where the links to the NT are more clearly. I’ve spent a lot of time on these links over the years but I wish I’d done it this way – it would have saved me a lot of time!
Then read the Old Testament. But…
One of the things to understand about the Bible is there are themes that occur repeatedly, and it is worth looking out for them as you read through the OT. Here are some:
- References to “the name”. You’ll see plenty of references to “bearing a name”. It has a specific meaning and it’s worth seeing this.
- The Shepherd symbolism. The shepherd idea runs through the Bible and it’s worth seeing how it repeats.
- Look out for references to Babylon and Phoenicia (Sidon and Tyre). These two are linked to Satan in Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28 respectively and it’s worth being clear about this. Obviously, the Babylon idea returns in Revelation 17-19.
- Keep an eye out for covenant language. There are a series of places where God talks about covenanting with His people and the idea of covenanting is important. I will talk more about this in another paper.
Where you find these references, write them down – it will give you a clearer idea about the geography of the Bible and how different ideas repeat and develop.
Gulp – and then…
Read the Unseen Realm by Michael Heiser. It will help you see the Bible through a completely different lens, especially how the OT reads into the NT. It won’t change your view of Jesus but it will start to change how you view the supernatural mindset of the writers and the people of the time. I won’t say anything more and spoil it – the book is extremely well written and Michael Heiser’s online material is also very helpful. Many other books have now been written on the subjects he addresses in the Unseen Realm so the ideas have become far more mainstream.
It is definitely worth learning the key OT and NT references in the Unseen Realm. This is a theme in itself, similar to the above, but bigger in magnitude.
The letters
If you haven’t already by now, you should spend some significant time in the letters. It is hard to single any one out – but Romans as a description of the foundations of our faith is very important. It’s probably worth – if you don’t already know this – understanding the key distinctions between some doctrinal differences (eg Calvinism, Arminianism etc). Where are the doctrinal differences and why? A bunch of these debates occur in relation to passages in the letters.
They are also worth reading alongside the Book of Acts, which provides the context in terms of the development of the church for the letters. There is a great deal of practical wisdom in the latters – note also that the faith (correctly in my view) views the letters as the fulfilment of Jesus’s statement in John 16:12-13, where He says “I have much more to say to you, more than you can bear. But when he, the Spriit of Truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth”. This is why the letters are viewed with such importance.
Jewish Culture
By this point, you should be fairly conversant with what is in the Bible and why. It is quite valuable to spend some time at this point on understanding Jewish culture and how the Jewish people saw the issues that Jesus is talking about.
Roy Blizzard and David Bivin have written a very helpful book on the called “Understanding the Difficult Words of Jesus”. I can’t recommend it enough. It will given you a deeper perspective on what Jesus was dealing with, and why He said what He did.
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If you’ve got this far, you will probably find your Bible knowledge is decent to very good. At this point, if not before, let the Lord guide you on what to study next. My wife and I only know about the Phoenicians because the Lord led us there. But it opened up the Bible in a completely different way. God will certainly do the same for you! And once you are at that point, you have a critical habit for life.
2 Timothy 3:16 says “all scripture is God breathed, and useful for teaching, correcting, rebuking and training…” This verse is a justification for why scripture is the inspired word of God. Which it is. But what I think people miss here is that there are two parties who are God inspired. For sure, the writers have God’s Spirit within them. But don’t underestimate how much the Spirit does within you as you read the word. Everyone has the experience of seeing something new in a scripture they have read many times – along the lines of “how did I not see that before?!” The answer to which is that the Spriit is speaking to you differently. That’s the key thing about the habit – somehow, in a way none of us understand, God speaks to us through His word, in whatever way he wants us to hear at the time. And that’s why the habit is so important, and how we come to know the character of our God.