Jun 27 2008
How to Approach the Bible
Whenever we sit down to read, the first question we ask about a book is this one: “What kind of book is it?” The answer (novel, history, true crime) determines how we read it and what we expect from it. We don’t read a crime novel the way we read true crime, and we don’t expect the same kind of accuracy in a historical novel that we do in a biography.
The same is true of the Bible. If we approach it merely as a historical text, as some scholars do, we’ll read it one way; but if we approach it as the inspired word of God, we’ll read it in another way.
The Church sees the Bible as the inspired word of God. As Vatican II states:
Those divinely revealed realities which are contained and presented in Sacred Scripture have been committed to writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. For holy mother Church, relying on the belief of the Apostles, holds that the books of both the Old and New Testaments in their entirety, with all their parts, are sacred and canonical because written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, they have God as their author and have been handed on as such to the Church herself. In composing the sacred books, God chose men and while employed by Him they made use of their powers and abilities, so that with Him acting in them and through them, they, as true authors, consigned to writing everything and only those things which He wanted” (Dei Verbum, no. 11)
In this paragraph, the Second Vatican Council wished to make a number of points. (1) The Church holds all the books of the Old Testament and New Testament to be written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. (2) Because the books of the Old Testament and New Testament were inspired, we may rightly say that God is the author of the Bible. (3) Though the writers of the books of the Bible were inspired, they had full use of their powers and abilities, which means that all of their human learning (or lack thereof) is contained in the Bible. (4) Even though the human authors had full use of their faculties, they wrote everything the Holy Spirit wanted and only those things the Spirit wanted; therefore, every book, every chapter, every phrase, every word was inspired by the Holy Spirit.
Now that we know something about the authors — yes, it is correct to speak in the plural — of the Bible, we can now ask a second question: What is the Bible about?
Simply put, the Bible is about how the Triune God acted in history to offer salvation to the human race. This was the primary subject the human authors had before them as they penned the various books of the Bible. They were not interested in detailing the origins of the universe, nor were they interested in preserving precise historical data (as we would define it) about wars and kings. Their goal was simple: To proclaim God’s saving work.
So, then, what kind of book is the Bible? It’s a book, from the first verse of Genesis to the last verse of Revelation, which tells us how God offered salvation to the human race.
How should we read it? With devout attention, because the story of salvation is our story. For example, when we read how God saved the Hebrews from Egypt and led them across the Red Sea and through the wilderness to the promised land, we should see how God has saved us from the slavery of sin through baptism and leads us through the spiritual wilderness of worldly life toward heaven.
What should we expect from reading it? A deeper knowledge of Jesus Christ, for as St. Jerome said, “Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.”
And finally, where should one begin one’s reading of Scripture? First, I’d recommend you begin with the Gospel of Mark; it’s the shortest Gospel, and after reading it a few times you’ll have a good grasp of the life of Christ and a solid foundation for reading the longer and more complicated Gospels. Second, I recommend you to read through the Psalms. The Psalms are prayers to God inspired by God himself, and they examine all parts of life from a transcendent viewpoint: They teach us how pray and how to see life from a biblical perspective. Third, you’ll want to read the New Testament, and always with a special focus on the Gospels. Finally, you’ll want to work your way through the Old Testament.
