Biblical insight in reply to an important question from a new Christian.
The Question
I am 22 years old and just became a Christian. My girlfriend has been praying for me for about a year, and I finally understood the meaning of the Christian faith and made a commitment to Christ. I want to follow Christ.
I have started to pray regularly now and go to church and a home Bible study group. But I have to say I’m somewhat confused about Bible study. People read a passage from the Bible and then say what they think it means to them. Some in the group give differing interpretations.
What is the point in studying the Bible when it is so difficult to know what it means? How can I study the Bible to get the most from it?
My Insight
Thank you for this question. I appreciate your honesty and openness. It’s refreshing.
Why study the Bible? The world tells us we study to get information, and sadly we study the Bible for the same reason. But the acquisition of information should not the only reason for Bible study. We must study the Bible as a pathway for Christ to enter and live continuously within us (Colossians 1:27).
Various Views of the Bible
will find varying view of the Bible among sincere Christ-honoring Christians. On one end of the spectrum, there are extremist who feel only the King James Version of the Bible is the inspired Word of God. That’s untrue for many historical, linguistic and theological reasons, but they are not dissuaded.
Bible truth does not change, but language is in constant change and it’s a good thing to have the Bible in contemporary language in all languages. The “Cult of the King James Version” only came on the scene in the mid-twentieth century as new and convincingly better translations began to appear.
The evangelical position is that the Bible has verbal plenary inspiration, but only in the original manuscripts. The term “verbal plenary” means that every word is authoritative. We have no original Bible manuscripts at all, and so translations come from collections composed of the earliest manuscripts discovered by archaeologists and studied by linguists who are Bible scholars.
The New Testament is translated from either the Textus Receptus (KJV) or the more reliable Nestle-Aland text (NIV, ESV), based upon the Westcott-Hort compilation of the earliest Bible fragment manuscripts.
The third view of the inspiration of the Bible comes from a group of Neo-Orthodox believers. They were orthodox (held to historic Christian teachings), but in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries reacted against the errors and excesses of Fundamentalism and Calvinism. Neo-Orthodox Christians believe that the Bible becomes the Word of God when it connects with human experience. That is, the Bible is subjective, not objective truth.
Of course theological liberals and non-believers don’t think the Bible is the Word of God in any sense.
Have I confused you? I hope not. My main purpose in going into this depth is to explain why people can interpret the same Bible passage in different ways. They do this also because they do not obey consistent principles of biblical interpretation (called hermeneutics), but we’ll save that topic for another time.
What’s the take-away here? That the Bible is a book of power. The power extends beyond the words it contains.
I encourage you to study the Bible for yourself. Get a copy you can easily understand such as the NIV or ESV. Don’t get one filled with notes—they are always misleading because they reflect the bias of the person who wrote the notes. Read and think. Compare scripture with scripture. God will illuminate your understanding through the Holy Spirit. He has been doing it that way for thousands of years.
Different Approaches to Bible Study
There are different ways that people study the Bible. All are legitimate and you should give them a try to find the method you like best. Here are the two over-arching methods, but there are variations of each.
The analytic method. Some people study the Bible to pick it apart. This is not as bad as it seems. It all depends on the purpose of the person doing it. People who have an ax to grind, who are looking for alleged errors in the Bible, often use the analytical method. For example, using the analytical method, people have discovered that there are two creation stories in Genesis, one in verses 1:2:4a, and another in verses 2:4b-2:25. They allege that something is unreliable about the Bible since it focuses on two aspects of creation. This is a poor use of the analytical method.
The analytical method can be good, however. Believers should analyze the Bible by breaking it down into manageable parts. It’s good to go through the Bible and analyze topics as well as the content of specific passages. Pastors often use the analytical method as they examine the passage as a part of sermon preparation; the expository preaching method requires such analysis.
The synthetic approach. Some study the Bible from a synthetic approach. Synthesis is the process of reading divergent passages and harmonizing them. This is a great way to study something like prophecy. You can read various prophetic passages in the Old Testament, for example, and see how they relate to the life of Christ.
Another form of synthetic Bible study is tracing a doctrinal theme. The doctrinal approach is when you trace theological themes, like the doctrine man, sin or angels, all through the Bible. Rather than taking Bible passages apart is in the analytic method, the synthetic method enables you to bring various portions together to see the greater truth.
A Bible Study Plan
Christians are too often guilty of studying the Bible with the purpose of trying to discern some inscrutable truth, rather than just enjoying the Word of God. If you’d like to enjoy the Bible more, try this method.
1. Begin by entering the presence of God. Close down the busyness of your mind and invite God’s Spirit within by closing your eyes and uttering a simple prayer, like “I now open myself to you, God.” Solitude is not required to enter the presence of God; you can do it anywhere—a busy home, office, air terminal or other place you choose.
2. Read a selected scripture passage once for information. Don’t outline it (analytical method) or search the cross references (synthetic method), just get a basic understanding of content.
3. Read the passage again, this time out loud. If you are in a busy place, you may be uttering the passage in a whisper, but that’s okay. Linger over the words. Repeat the ones that seem especially important to you. This is God speaking to you.
4. Enter the passage in your imagination. A Holy Spirit enabled imagination is a good thing. For example, if you have just read Matthew 19:13, imagine you are one of the children and Jesus has put his hand upon you. If you’re reading Acts 17:16-34, imagine you’re on the platform with Paul as he preaches to the unbelievers. Always put yourself in the middle of the action and look around to see what’s happening.
5. When you put down your Bible and go about your business, let the words you read aloud continue to echo in your heart and mind.
Bible facts are important. Understanding the plan of God for humanity as revealed in the Bible is important. Bible doctrine is important. But, in my view, nothing is more important than having communion with God through his Word in the way I have described.
Your new purpose in life is to translate what you read into the kind of actions that honor Jesus Christ. You get the most out of the Bible when you put what you read into life-changing action. The Bible is designed to change you through the power of the Holy Spirit, and for you to change your world whatever size it may be. One of the most startling, life-changing verses in the Bible is Colossians 1:27: “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
I hope that clarifies the role of the Bible and Bible study in your life.
Sources cited: Unless otherwise noted, Bible quotations are from the English Standard Version (ESV).
This article was adapted from my book, The Will of God for Christian Relationships. In it, I give my biblical insight into unusual, far-ranging questions readers have asked me.
