How do you approach the Bible? I’ve been really digging the latest episodes from the Bible Project podcast where they explore common paradigms for reading the Bible and suggest a better approach. In their assessment, the most common approach to reading the scripture is treating it like a reference book. In this world view, when you come to the scripture, you are expecting to get something out of it: either a theological truth, a moral truth, or a devotional inspiration. While you certainly may gain these types of insights from reading the scripture, it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re reading the Bible on it’s own terms. I remember having a Teen Study Bible in the 90’s that referenced all sorts of life situations and then gave you scripture references to look up. I have heard preachers talk about the Bible as holding the answer to any question you might have. But the Bible is not your Magic 8 Ball. For the makers of Bible Project, a more helpful paradigm is to view the Bible as a unified story that leads to Jesus. John Wesley used this language: “The Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation” (Article V).
I came across this hymn Charles Wesley wrote reflecting on John 5:39, where Jesus says, “Examine the scriptures, since you think that in them you have eternal life. They also testify about me.” Here’s the full hymn:
- Christ himself the precept gives, (Let who will the word despise,)Bids me in the sacred leaves Trace the way to paradise,
All His oracles explore,
Read, and pray them o’re and o’re. - Who with true humility
Seek Him in the written word,Christ in every page they see,
See, and apprehend their Lord; Every scripture makes Him known,Testifies of Christ alone.
- Here I cannot seek in vain; Digging deep into the mine,
Hidden treasure I obtain Pure, eternal Life Divine,
Find Him in his Spirit given,
Christ the Way, the Truth of heaven.
“Digging Deep Into the Mine” by Randy Maddox
The Bible is meditation literature designed to be explored and returned to over a lifetime. What I love about this hymn is the paradigm it sets for an approach to scripture. Meditate, explore, dig into the entirety scripture in a spirit of prayer, looking for how the story leads to Christ. The hidden treasure we seek is to know Christ. I love how Rachel Held Evans describes our relationship to scripture in her book Inspired, “We live inside an unfinished story.” Exploring that story on its own terms unlocks the Bible for you in a way you could never get from treating it like a reference book. In his book How the Bible Actually Works, Peter Enns explains, “The Bible shows us that obedience to God is not about cutting and pasting the Bible over our lives, but seeking the path of wisdom—holding the sacred book in one hand and ourselves, our communities of faith, and our world in the other in order to discern how the God of old is present here and now.”
God’s partnership with humanity has been evident from the very first stories of the Bible. And so we believe that the Bible is BOTH God-inspire and written by people. Meditating on Scripture is a means of grace, where God continues the partnership with us, inspiring us and building friendship with us. I have said before that the Bible doesn’t teach us what to think (that’s using it as a reference book), but it teaches us how to think. As we see the progression of God’s story with Israel culminating in the advent of the Christ, and then spreading across the world through the power of the Holy Spirit here with us, we are invited to use reason, tradition, and experience in ways that reveal how to be a holy people in the world today.
My 8-year-old son just received his first Bible from our church. He is required by his school to read books for 30 minutes a day, and he has decided to read the Gospel of Mark. Truth be told, it’s because I promised I’d buy him ice cream if he finished it. But I’m excited for him to begin to learn the story, to see the Bible as a way to meet the living Christ…the real hidden treasure that we are all seeking.