How to Read the Bible
Confused? Intimidated? Bored? The Bible Project's "How to Read the Bible" video series can help you learn about the Bible and how to read it well.
People dismiss or avoid the Bible for many reasons. For some, the Bible seems dry and boring; an irrelevant hold-over from ancient times. For others, the Bible reads like an unnecessarily complex version of Aesop's fables, believing all the biblical stories boil down to simplistic lessons in basic morality: “Believe in God,” “Be helpful,” or “Be a good person.” Some want to engage the Bible, but find its many books, themes, language, and story structure intimidating and out of reach. For them, making sense of all of these dimensions in order to arrive at a meaningful interpretation seems impossible or overwhelming.
And yet the Bible is the foundation of a growing and life-giving faith. It is not just information, but power for those who receive it as God’s revelation.
Hebrews 4:12: "For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart."
2 Timothy 3:16-17: "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."
Psalm 119:105: "Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path."
John 17:17: "Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth."
Isaiah 55:11: "So is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it."
A wholehearted and intentional discipleship will include growing one’s ability to read, understand, and apply the Bible in increasingly relevant and effective ways. But the challenge remains: How can we learn to read the Bible without embarking on specialty training in a seminary for years?
While there are many excellent resources up to this challenge, I encourage anyone—whether a believer or not—to check out the "How to Read the Bible" video series by The Bible Project. It’s a playlist of short, beautifully animated/illustrated teachings that will equip you to read the Bible so that you can go beyond a simplistic understanding of the text, and discover tools of interpretation that will help the Bible and its message come alive in ways you never imagined.