Every January, many commit to reading the Bible in one year. Incidentally, this commonplace is one reason why I love evangelicalism. We are Bible people. As Bible people, we should pursue reading Scripture well by avoiding common mistakes that we sometimes make.
3 Mistakes We Make When Reading the Bible:
1. We read without hearing from God
John Piper taught me that we talk to God in prayer, while in Bible reading, we hear from God. I think that’s right. Reading the Bible well means praying to God as we hear from him in Scripture. It is a two-way conversation.
To use an older word, Scripture provides one way to commune with God. We talk to him; he talks to us. The Spirit works throughout to intercede and mediate our communion with the Father and Son.
Put very simply, listen to God speak in Scripture. Then, respond to what he says to you.
2. We don’t read through a whole book of the Bible
Often, we read snippets in Scripture without reading an entire book. Even when using a Bible reading plan, we may read one chapter daily without considering how the text communicates its message.
Here is the thing. Biblical books communicate ideas. Each of the four Gospels presents Christ from four different angles. Paul’s letters have a purpose. And so on. Like any book we read today, we miss the point if we do not understand its beginning, middle, and end.
Just consider reading a novel. If you read a novel paragraph every day and consider how that paragraph fits into the grand story, you would not enjoy or understand the book. We read the Bible like this sometimes. Instead, we should read books of the Bible (even the whole Bible itself) as a coherent story.
In short, read through whole books of the Bible to understand them as books.
3. We forget about the divine author
God wrote Scripture through prophets. In the language of Peter, the Spirit of God carried along prophets to inspire Holy Scripture (2 Pet 1:21). The Holy Spirit worked through human authors to illuminate the Bible. Therefore, Scripture does not come from the “will of man” but of God (2 Pet 1:21). God willed Scripture into existence. He is the author.
Most of us would agree. Yet, sometimes, we do not apply this conviction to how we see the Bible. If God is the author of Scripture, then each book of the Bible—despite their various human authors, settings, and arguments—unites around God’s purpose for creation.
That purpose is to sum up all things in heaven and earth in Christ Jesus (Eph 1:10). Every book of the Bible, to some degree, advances this purpose. It previews, sets up, prophecies, and teaches of Christ.
Scripture’s united message follows from the fact that God wrote the Scriptures. So we can have confidence in the Holy Word about the Word of God.
This year, when you read Scripture, remember to talk to God, read whole scriptural books, and remember who wrote the Bible: God.
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