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Should People Read the Bible Differently? Giving an Answer
Should People Read the Bible Differently? Giving an Answer
The "ideal" approach to reading the Bible varies from person to person. To be sure, there are different measures to be taken by a pastor who is studying the Bible for an upcoming sermon and a teenager who reads most days during the week, yet there should be a particular set of qualities that are present and a balance to found that is structured but not mechanical. Here are some in no particular order:
- The Bible reader understands that Scripture is God-breathed (2 Tim. 3.16). Paul articulates that this should cause the reader to seek teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness.
- An ideal reader approaches the text both as a student (2 Tim. 2.15), and in order to be exposed for the purpose of being discipline (Heb. 4.12). To put it another way, the ideal reader wants the text to read them!
- The reader knows that he or she is just that, a Bible reader, not a Bible writer. Our reading summarized this well: "meaning resides in the text, and our objective is to discover it, at least to the extent that we are able to recover it in the text [...] We do not create the message; rather, we seek to discover what is already there" (Klein et al. 170). As an "ideal" but not an absolute necessity, I would suggest that the reader develop interpretive qualities within the historical-grammatical hermeneutic.
The ideal Bible reader has a passion and devotion to the Bible as being truth (John 17.17). This truth is theological and historical and sets apart Bible interpreters from interpreters of other literary genres. Shakespeare for example wrote many notable works of literature, but they never maintain to be truth. Tragedies such as "Hamlet" are not intended by Shakespeare to transform his audience and one could well enjoy the written works of Shakespeare with no regard to Shakespeare as the man historically. Literary fiction is written with the expressed purpose of entertainment. The Bible on the other hand never intends to be fictional or entertainment-based. It is presented to its readers as revelatory and transformative. This means that its readers and interpreters are involved in something that transcends other literary categories of reading and interpretation.
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By Kevin Morris
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Should People Read the Bible Differently? Giving an Answer
The "ideal" approach to reading the Bible varies from person to person. To be sure, there are different measures to be taken by a pastor who is studying the Bible for an upcoming sermon and a teenager who reads most days during the week, yet there should be a particular set of qualities that are present and a balance to found that is structured but not mechanical. Here are some in no particular order:
- The Bible reader understands that Scripture is God-breathed (2 Tim. 3.16). Paul articulates that this should cause the reader to seek teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness.
- An ideal reader approaches the text both as a student (2 Tim. 2.15), and in order to be exposed for the purpose of being discipline (Heb. 4.12). To put it another way, the ideal reader wants the text to read them!
- The reader knows that he or she is just that, a Bible reader, not a Bible writer. Our reading summarized this well: "meaning resides in the text, and our objective is to discover it, at least to the extent that we are able to recover it in the text [...] We do not create the message; rather, we seek to discover what is already there" (Klein et al. 170). As an "ideal" but not an absolute necessity, I would suggest that the reader develop interpretive qualities within the historical-grammatical hermeneutic.
The ideal Bible reader has a passion and devotion to the Bible as being truth (John 17.17). This truth is theological and historical and sets apart Bible interpreters from interpreters of other literary genres. Shakespeare for example wrote many notable works of literature, but they never maintain to be truth. Tragedies such as "Hamlet" are not intended by Shakespeare to transform his audience and one could well enjoy the written works of Shakespeare with no regard to Shakespeare as the man historically. Literary fiction is written with the expressed purpose of entertainment. The Bible on the other hand never intends to be fictional or entertainment-based. It is presented to its readers as revelatory and transformative. This means that its readers and interpreters are involved in something that transcends other literary categories of reading and interpretation.
Support the show
If you're ready to dive deep with me, consider joining my all-new membership site Better Readers Academy.