How to Get the Most Out of Your Bible
Every evangelical church I’m aware of places its belief regarding the Bible first in its Statement of Faith. Article I of our church’s confession says:
We believe the Holy Scriptures to be the very Word of God: the product of the breath of God and thus verbally inspired in all parts, and therefore wholly without error as originally given by God, complete in sixty-six books of the Bible, altogether infallible, and sufficient in themselves as our only rule of faith and practice, the only standard by which all human conduct, creeds and opinions should be tried. 2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:19-21.
Clearly the Bible plays a central role for individuals and churches that profess and practice fealty to Christ. Yet, it has been my experience that many, many Bible-believing people, despite having regular exposure to Scripture through preaching and teaching, do not necessarily engage in consistent application of God’s Word to their everyday lives. This is unfortunate in the extreme, since the very purpose of the Bible is to equip believers:
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. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)
Teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training are not the purpose for which God has given Scripture rather, these are the means to the end of ‘thoroughly equipping for every good work.’ It comes as a surprise to many that the purpose of the Bible is not doctrine (‘teaching’) but application. In fact, nearly half of the most doctrinally-laden book in the New Testament, Romans, is devoted to application! So, it behooves us to understand the reasons that we often fail to use the Bible in the practical manner intended, and how we can better understand and live out its requirements.
The purpose of the Bible is not doctrine but application.
Public vs. Personal Ministry
One obstacle to practical application of the Bible is an unwarranted expectation of preaching. While regular exposure to the public proclamation of Scripture is necessary for spiritual growth, it is not sufficient. Preaching has the inherent limitation of being presented to a general audience that represents a variety of circumstances on any given Lord’s Day. Therefore, the public ministry of the Word must be supplemented by personal ministry that applies the truth of the Bible to specific situations. Personal ministry can be accomplished by individual study and application, or in partnership with a brother or sister who brings the Bible to bear on the issues of life in formal or informal counsel. But whether by us or others, it must be done if we are to grow in the circumstances in which God has placed us.
The public ministry of the Word must be supplemented by personal ministry that applies the truth of the Bible to specific situations.
Encyclopedia vs. Novel
Another hindrance to proper use of the Bible is misunderstanding its structure. Many mistakenly believe the Bible to be an indexed reference book that we access in order to address particular topics. So, if one is having a problem with worry, then we look up ‘worry’ in a concordance, find the passages that deal with the topic, and we get our solution. But this approach is mistaken on a couple levels:
First, unlike a reference book, the material on any given topic in the Bible cannot be isolated from its overall message. This is because Scripture is not designed to be a fix-it manual, but a narrative into which our individual stories and circumstances fit:
We often treat the Bible as if it were the ultimate how-to book, an encyclopedia of practical wisdom and insight. But the Bible is more like a novel. I can dip into my Encyclopedia Britannica wherever I want, read a few paragraphs, pick out the information that will benefit me, and then close it. But with a novel I can’t do that. I must relate every passage, every description or conversation or turn of events to the overall plot. Otherwise, it makes no sense. At least, not its intended sense. (David Henderson, Culture Shift: Communicating God’s Truth to Our Changing World (Baker, 1998), p. 24 – see here.
Second, treating the Bible as a reference manual fails to appreciate that many of the labels and descriptions we use today are not found in Scripture, at least not using our modern terminology, and so we might erroneously conclude that God’s Word does not address our issue. But the Bible deals with all things, either directly by precept or indirectly by principle. However, its teaching on these matters is not found by simply looking it up, but by appropriating all that God says about Himself, and ourselves, and others, so that we get the Lord’s full perspective on the matter.
The Bible deals with all things, either directly by precept or indirectly by principle.
Fragmented vs. Full Understanding
Which brings me to the final obstacle to proper application of Scripture namely, an insufficient grasp of the Bible’s overall message. Many of us have heard hundreds of sermons and lessons over the years, and read various parts of God’s Word over and over, but have never put its message together into a coherent whole. This is due in part to the intimidation that many feel when approaching the Bible, owing to its size and age. A large book that is very old can seem imposing to us, so we settle for piecemeal reading during the week, and Sunday application from the ‘expert’ because, after all, who can get their arms around a volume like that? The result is a fragmented grasp of the Bible’s message, with bits and pieces of Scripture floating in our heads, never brought together into an overall understanding.
The intimidation factor can be minimized though, if not eliminated, when we realize that although the Bible is a big book, with 1189 chapters, written by 40 different authors, over at least a 1500 year period, with the last being written 2000 years ago, it’s really about just a handful of things:
- The Bible is about Creation. At creation God gave Adam and Eve an orientation to His world. He showed and told them Who He is and what He wanted from them.
- The Bible is about the Fall. The entrance of sin creates disorientation between us and God, us and others, us and the rest of creation.
- The Bible is about Redemption. Redemption is God making right what has gone wrong in His world. It is God doing something about our plight, by reorientation of His creation to Himself and His purpose.
The Bible is about three things: creation, fall, and redemption. What we read in the Bible can be further refined and summarized in one sentence: People in situations before God.
Although the circumstances in Bible times are different from today, two things have not changed – God and people. And God has provided enough situations (much of the Bible is narrative) that we can see ourselves in its pages, as the one story that unfolds in its pages recounts how fallen people interact with the Creator God, and He redeems them.
Ken Brown is the pastor of Community Bible Church in Trenton, MI. We republish his article by permission.
Note: Pastor Brown published this article on his site twice: October 3, 2020 and August 20, 2021.