How to read the Bible (and why you should) - Alpha Course 06
Video of the complete Livestream where Matt asks, “How to read the Bible (and why you should)”
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Talk: How to read the Bible (and why you should)
The Bible is not a book in itself. Rather, a collection of books, split into two main sections, the Old Testament and the New Testament, written by over 40 people. So, if it has been written by that many people from so many different walks of life over so many centuries, is the Bible reliable? And why do Christians say that the Bible is God's Word?
Is the Bible reliable?
Sir Christopher Wren built St. Paul's Cathedral in London, the most significant English architect of his time, most people would say. He started this project at the age of 43 in 1675. And for 36 years, the cathedral was built under that one architect. It was completed in 1711 when Christopher Wren was 79 years old. So Christopher Wren built St. Paul's Cathedral, but actually, he didn't lay a single stone. There were stonemasons and carpenters and builders, and many people were involved in it over a long period. But Sir Christopher Wren was the inspiration behind St. Paul's Cathedral.
So it is with the Bible. There are many different writers, but there's one architect, one inspiration behind it all. And that's God Himself. That's what the Bible says of itself. The apostle Paul wrote this to his mentoree, Timothy,
“All Scripture is inspired by God. ”
The Queen of England, at her coronation, was handed a copy of the Bible with these words written in it; we present you this book, the most valuable thing which this world affords. Why? Why is it the most valuable thing that this world affords? Well, Jesus said this in Matthew's Gospel,
“But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’””
In other words, Jesus says this; material things alone don't satisfy. Even the best human relationships don't ultimately satisfy. There's always what you might call a spiritual hunger, which can only be satisfied by something spiritual. And Jesus said that is the words that come out of God's mouth - the word of God. And the primary way in which God communicates with us is through his book. God has spoken; it is His revelation. That's the Bible!
Why read the Bible?
Well, the Bible is inspired by God. And if it is, if Jesus thought that God's word was essential to sustaining life, then that's a pretty good reason right there. That's probably one of the best reasons for reading it.
In the first official document he produced as Pope, Evangelii Gaudium (meaning the joy of the Gospel), Pope Francis says this about the Bible,
We do not blindly seek God or wait for him to speak to us first, for God has already spoken. And there is nothing further that we need to know which has not been revealed to us. Let us receive the sublime treasure of the revealed word.
- Pope Francis
So we should read the Bible because God speaks to us through the pages of Scripture. And what does he predominantly talk about in the Bible? The answer is Jesus. Jesus said this in John's Gospel,
“You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me!”
So the whole point of the Bible is so that you and I can learn about Jesus so we can get to know Jesus and become friends of Jesus. That's the point of the Bible. It is Jesus. We should read it then because we learn about Jesus in those pages.
Rick Warren, who wrote the insanely popular book, The Purpose Driven Life, said this,
Reading the Bible generates life. It produces change, it heals hurts, it builds character, it transforms the circumstances, it imparts joy, it overcomes adversity, it defeats temptation, it infuses hope, it releases power, and it cleanses the mind.
- Rick Warren
And if I'm honest, that is my story. As a new Christian, I started to read the Bible, and over the last 30 years, I have learned about Jesus on those pages. And I have read and understood more about him. And as I have done that, it has generated life in me. It has changed me, healed my hurts and built my character. It has infused hope in me, and I am captivated by him, especially on the pages of this book.
Why then should you read the Bible? You hear God speak, you learn about Jesus, your life is transformed, and your hurts are healed. And that's just the beginning.
A former prime minister Stanley Baldwin, who dominated the UK Government between the two great wars, said,
The Bible is a high explosive, but it works in strange ways. And no living man can tell or know how that book in its journey through the world has startled the individual soul in 10,000 different places into a new life, a new world, a new belief, a new conception, a new faith.
- Stanley Baldwin
I am one of those souls reading the Bible, and its explosive power has had a profound, almost immeasurable effect on my life. The apostle John, who wrote one of the Gospels, put it this way. He said,
“but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”
How to read the Bible?
So how do I read the Bible? Do I start as a regular book and go page by page through it? Great questions, and for me, it all depends on where you are on your faith journey.
Start with the Gospels
Now, if you are just starting, and you've never read the Bible before, I would begin not at the beginning (the book of Genesis) but the start of the New Testament. With one of the Gospels, probably Mark or John, because in there, you will learn about Jesus, and the whole Bible is about Jesus. The New Testament talks about Jesus all of the time. And the Old Testament points to Jesus and His coming. Now, if you head over to our website, you will notice that we have gone through the Gospel of Mark in detail. And you could follow along with that study, read it in the Bible, follow along with the talk we did on CROWD. Or you could try the gospel of John. John had some real insight into Jesus that's worth reading.
Which version of the Bible should I read?
Several versions of the Bible use different languages and perhaps slightly different interpretations of the original language. So my advice is, find one that works for you. You can use something like the Bible app, which you can download to your phone. It is freely available and has different versions of the Bible, and you can try them out. I would suggest looking for versions like the New International Version, or the NIV, as it is called, amongst Christians. It's an easy to read version. And actually, it's the go-to for many people.
One version I particularly read and like is The Message. Now The Message is an interpretation rather than a direct translation. But it's still great to read, especially alongside something like the NIV. It gives you some great insight into what's going on.
Set apart a time and place
It doesn't matter where you are on the faith journey. All of us have to give time to reading the Bible. Osmosis doesn't work with the Bible. Part of me wishes it did, where you could just put it down beside your bed at night and just suck all of the knowledge out of it. That doesn't work. So time is something that we have to give. And time, of course, is our most valuable possession, we can always get more money, but we can never get more time.
So I suggest setting aside something that is most precious to you to learn about something more precious than gold, the Bible says of itself. God's word is more precious than gold, diamonds or rubies. Maybe even just 15 minutes a day. So set aside some time and get into a regular habit of reading the Bible.
And I would suggest you do this in a specific place. When we read the story of Jesus, we see that Jesus will often go to a solitary place. I go to a quiet room in the house where I don't get disturbed. I go there expecting that God is going to speak to me. For you, it could be on the bus, on a train, or maybe a specific coffee shop. It doesn't matter. Find a place that works for you. And get into a pattern, into a habit of reading the Bible.
Bible in One Year (BIOY) Challenge
If you really want to get into the Bible, try the Bible in one year (BIOY). Again, this is an app that you can download. It's from Alpha. And again, it's free. It takes you through the entire Bible in one year. So in 365 days, you've read the entirety of the Bible. And if you've never read the whole Bible like that, I would suggest that you do it. We've done it as a family. It's brilliant. Even get Nicky Gumbel explaining what you're reading. And he has one of the most soothing and lovely voices that God has ever placed on this earth. So it's a great app, and it is worth getting and reading through it like that. So it's a big challenge from me to you. If you've not done it, have a go.
Now, if you want to go deeper in your walk with God, then you're going to want to move from simply reading the Bible to studying the Bible.
How to study the Bible?
For me, there are many ways to do this. But by far, my two favourite ways are:
#1. Study a Book
I like to take a book in the Bible, like the Gospel of Mark, and work through it slowly, verse by verse. I like to read those verses and read around them, read the context, dig into it, read commentaries, and understand the background. And as I study, I like to write notes in my book or on my iPad. And that's what works for me. I gather documents, and I start to pull all this together. And I begin to write down my ideas. What do I think about it?
And here's the most important question you've always got to ask, what is God saying to me? And as I'm writing stuff down, I'm trying to answer that question.
#2. Study a Topic
The second way is to study an actual topic in the Bible. So let's take, for example, the topic of money—a pretty big subject. So ask yourself, what does the Bible say about money? Then use the search function on your Bible app to find every reference in the Bible to the word money. Read those verses and around those verses to get the context. Understand what's going on, understand the background, why the writer wrote like this?
And then ask yourself, “What is God saying to me through this?” Write it down, learn about it, look at what others have said about those ideas and verses too. Then look for similar words to money - words like wages, or income, or profit or giving or provision and so on. And look at some of the broader topics surrounding it, and build up a picture.
What we never do, is take a single verse and form a theology out of it. I know many people have done this, including myself, over the years. But one of the things that we learn as we grow older is that the Bible is pretty good at confirming itself. So we never just take one verse out of context and put a theology around it. That's just not helpful.
But what we can do is start to dig in and get all of this information the Bible has to say, bring it together. We understand Jesus and what Jesus is doing, the context of God's goodness and God's love. And then we go, what is God saying here? What is he saying to me? Not a single verse; we're forming a theology on the entirety of Scripture. So dig into those topics.
What topics to study?
If you're wondering what to study in the Bible, start with crucial topics like love, faith, and hope. Or you can look at one of my favourites, identity, who am I? What does God say about me? Who does he say that I am? These are great questions. And you can also look at things like money and health and marriage and forgiveness or sex and all the big topics that we like to know about.
But what resonates with you right now? I would suggest if you're struggling, say with anxiety, find out what the Bible says about it. Not just what your pastor says about it, not just what a quick Bible study you've read on it says about it, not just what someone's book says about it. Not what the internet says about it, or what somebody on the BBC News said about it. Dig into it for yourself, be responsible, and find out what the Bible says on it. Determine to spend the next few weeks or months looking at the topic and digging into it, all the time responding to the key question you need to be answering when you study the Bible. What is God saying to me through this?
And here's the genuine kicker in all of this because I get excited when I read the Bible. It's all the stuff that comes out of it. What's God saying to me? And then, if you want to push yourself, ask yourself this. What am I going to do about it?
Don't ever fall into the trap of just being one of those Christians that reads the Bible but then doesn't do what it says. You see, sometimes the Bible is hard to read. It's hard to understand. It's hard to grasp. It can lead to many questions that you have to wrestle with. I heard a great analogy from Nicky Gumbel, who did the "Bible in one year" app. He said,
The Bible is a bit like a crossword. If you can't solve this bit, you have to look for clues and maybe solve other parts of the puzzle and then come back to it later.
- Nicky Gumbel
That's kind of what it is with the Bible. Sometimes we don't get all the topics, and sometimes we don't understand things. But we can solve this over here and come back to it. If you go to YouTube, there are all kinds of videos about contradictions in the Bible. And then, if you dig further, there are all kinds of videos contradicting the contradictions in the Bible. Some people love it; some people hate it. But that's the mystery of it. It's the mystery of God revealed on paper to us. It's the most popular book ever. Yet, it's one of the most contested books ever. And if you live in the West, I reckon it's probably had more of an impact on you than you can imagine. Here's what the apostle Paul had to say about it,
“All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.”
Sure there are a lot of questions around it. The thing is, though, you have to get into it. You have to read it for yourself. You cannot outsource the Bible. Spend just 15 minutes a day getting into it, and see what a difference it makes in your life. The Holy Scriptures, Augustine of Hippo wrote, are our letters from home!
CONVERSATION STREET
Questions we ask this week
Conversation Street is part of our live stream, where the hosts (in this case, Matt & Sal) chat through Matt’s talk and answer questions that were sent in through the live stream. You can watch the conversation in the video, it starts at 32 min 53 seconds into the live stream, or you can go straight there by clicking the button below. This week’s questions and topics of conversation are:
Why are there so many versions of the Bible?
Where to start reading the Bible if you’ve never read it before?
Can you give an example of how reading the Bible has challenged or changed you?
