THE Bible isn’t the easiest book for the modern day reader to understand. Filled with dated words, strange metaphors, various styles of literature and written for a cultural very different from ours, it can be a bit perplexing to know how to correctly interpret what we’re reading. But the Word is meant to bless us, not perplex us—so if you’re struggling to read your Bible effectively, here are a few simple tips from Relevant Magazine writer Bronwyn Lea that will help.
1. Read “You” differently. “Almost all the ‘you’ words in the New Testament are plural you’s rather than singular you’s,” Bronwyn writes. The epistles were written for the corporate body of believers, not believers alone. So while the beautiful promises and stern admonitions are for you personally, don’t forget to think about how the authors were writing to groups of Christians, working toward living out the gospel together.
2. Recognize that lamenting is OK. Sometimes we Christians think being filled with the hope, joy and peace of Christ means we never have reason to be sad. But believers can and should mourn and lament-these are natural reactions to sin and suffering. “Just look at the Psalms,” Bronwyn notes.
3. Realize that prophecy is more often FORTH-telling than FORE-telling. When we read the words of the prophets, we often want to ask, “what did they say about the future?” However, as Bronwyn reminds us, “often the prophets weren’t talking about the future (foretelling), they were explaining and interpreting Israel’s history and current predicaments in light of their covenantal behavior (forth-telling), and had little to do with the future. Israel may have painfully aware that they had just suffered military defeat at the hands of the Babylonians, but it took the prophet’s words to explain from God’s perspective why this had happened and what lessons they were to learn from their experience.” Read more.
