Some consider the Bible a boring book or simply read it as a history book. I want to offer you three suggestions that will help you see the Bible as a lively book where you can actually encounter both God and yourself. I am not an expert on this topic, but I simply want to share with you what has helped me to understand the Bible better.
1. There are two parts of the Bible. The Old and the New Testament. I submit to you that the New Testament does not start with Matthew, but actually begins at Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection. Why? The Old Testament talks about how sin came into a once perfect world, where before there was no lack, no sin, no deceiving… When sin became rampant, people fell into lifestyles that God never intended. God was constantly intervening to get people to understand that He could not accept the sin of this world. All the while there was a silent pointing to Jesus Christ’s coming into the world one day to take all the sin, sickness and lack upon Himself and offer us a new life in which negative and earth cursed habits are no longer part of our life. Jesus took care of all the things that went wrong because of sin. So that’s why I say the New Testament begins when Jesus said: “It is finished”. For that was when Jesus allowed us to be brought back into the life that we had before the fall of man. He came to restore us. The life after Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection shows that we passed from the old covenant into a new covenant. We no longer have to try hard to fight against sin, but we could have faith in Jesus and through Him live the life that He created for us to live.
2. Always rightly divide the word. Do not read the Bible simply as a history book. Because then you will not get the dept of the word. Always ask yourself: who is the portion of scripture talking to: believers, unbelievers, the religious people, the Jewish people? And know that all that has been written, all the promises of God’s blessing and his goodness toward men, have become ours because of our belief in Jesus Christ. We don’t discard what was written. Also in the New Testament, we should not get tied up under law. We no longer do things to gain God’s acceptance but we now understand that we are loved by God, which makes us WANT to do what He says. Jesus already fulfilled the entire law so believing in Him makes God accept you as if you have fulfilled the law because the ‘Law Fulfiller’, Jesus Christ, now lives in you.
3. Always read the Bible in it’s context. Don’t just take out one verse and run with it. Doing this will cause a skew in your understanding of the Bible and you will misinterpret what the Bible is telling you. Always read four verses before and four verses after the verse that you are focusing on.
The Bible is such a lively, deep and awesome Book where we can understand how we can live as believers in Christ. If you take account of these three points it will help you get a better understanding of God’s Word and truly enhance your Bible reading experience!