Attitudes
for Reading Scripture
Learning to read the
Scriptures well involves nurturing attitudes conducive to study and gaining
technical skills to facilitate close reading. Both elements are necessary to
become skilled and inspired readers who are able to engage the Bible as
Christian Scripture.
Study the Bible prayerfully. Prayer can enhance our
study by putting us in touch with the subject of the Bible—God. Prayer can help to shape and forge in
us the proper mindset for engaging the Scriptures as the word of God. Pray a
prayer for illumination such as “Lord, astonish me anew with the beauty and
power of your Word” or “God, rather than asking you to help me master the text
I am asking that you allow the text to master me.” The word “astonish” captures the potential power
that we readers may find in the Bible. When we come away astonished, we know
that we have touched the divine. When we pray for astonishment rather than
mastery of the material, we learn a key truth about reading the Bible as
Christian Scripture: It is less important that we master the text and more
important that the text masters us. Beginning with prayer helps us to ground
ourselves in the posture of a learner.
Study the Bible expectantly. We read the Bible
as Christian Scripture in the expectation of encountering the living God
through the words of the text. Open the Scriptures not merely to learn but to
be shaped and transformed by the words that you find. We come to the Bible to
gain wisdom and to be shaped by its message. It yields its fruit to those who
come hungry and ready for the feast that it offers. When we read, be grateful
for the opportunity for study and anticipate the life giving insights that we
will find in the Bible’s pages.
Study the Bible persistently. Learning to read
the Bible well is a habit to be nurtured over the course of our lives. Wise interpreters
are not born but forged in consistent times of careful study. In other words,
if we find ourselves struggling with reading the Bible, give it time. Like the
farmer who systematically prepares the field, sows seeds, waters, pulls weeds,
protects the fledging plants from insects, and applies fertilize—all in the
hope for a bountiful yield at the harvest—so we as readers must be patient and
persistent in doing the work necessary to receive the benefits of the
Scriptures. Think of Scripture study as a faithful habit to practice rather
than as a skill to be mastered.
Study the Bible intelligently. Christians read
the Bible as the word of God, but we cannot forget that it was written by other
human beings in the living languages spoken by the people of God in the ancient
world (Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek). The Bible is not a code to be deciphered,
but it is literature crafted carefully and intentionally to communicate its
message clearly to its audience. As modern readers, we must use all of the
tools available to us for understanding it including our minds. The biblical
message may challenge our fundamental assumptions about life and question the
status quo of our existence but it will not be illogical or run contrary to
reason. We affirmed the need to read prayerfully, but this does not mean that
we should turn off our own intellect. As thoughtful Christians, we affirm the
need for prayer and the importance of
close and critical study of the text. In doing so, we will not only gain fresh
and profound insight from the Bible, but we will also learn the meaning of
Jesus’ command to love God with our minds (Matt 22:37).
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