10 Guidelines for How to Read the Bible

August 28, 2012 By 7 Comments

The Bible is essential to the Christian faith. Some read it literally, some don’t, and there is a never ending discussion over the peculiar descriptor “innerancy.” Christians make many claims about the Bible, how they read it, and how they use it in worship and life. As a pastor I have observed that most Christians love the Bible, revere it, defend it, and refer to it often. However, most people do not actually know the Bible, nor do they regularly read it, or even interact with it in any significant way on a daily basis. Some claim “I just go by what the bible says,” but they clearly pick and choose.

I’m auditing a class right now on Genesis that is being taught by Terrence Fretheim. Fretheim is a world class Old Testament scholar who teaches at Luther Seminary, and he’s an expert on Genesis, and it’s a serious treat to listen to him teach. He began his lectures with some quick guidelines of how we read the scripture. I’ve simplified, quoted, paraphrased and amalgamated his 14 guidelines to create the following list which is not my original thought, but comes directly from Professor Fretheim:

1. Readers continually bring their own point of view to the text, (male, female, American, Protestant, conservative, rural, urban, rich, poor, Christian, Jew…).  If you want to be a good reader of scripture, you must be constantly mindful of your point of view.

2. Strictly speaking, the only thing which should follow the phrase, “The Bible says…” is a direct quotation from the Bible in the original languages.

3. Remember that you are not reading the Bible, but a translation of the Bible: they are all different, they constantly make theological/interpretive choices, and not all translations are equal at all points.

4. No Bible passage has a single meaning. Every text is capable of meaning several things, (although not in such a way that “anything goes”).

5. We must continually offer up our interpretations to those who come from a different community, history, and point of view (see #1). If we do not, we will be formed into an “opinion cocoon” and we will most certainly be poorer readers of the scripture.

6. The Bible was not written by modern people. If we do not understand the context in which is was originally written and read, we will tend to misread the text. The Bible does not have “answers” to all of our questions because the Biblical writers were completely unaware of many of today’s issues (like quantum physics, biology, evolution, gunpowder, nuclear bombs, birth control, gay marriage, and so on).

7. The bible contains different kinds of literature. Good readers will not read poetry like history, or prophecy like the weather report, or apocalyptic literature as a timeline for the end of the world.

8. Not everything in the Bible is meant to be interpreted literally. (e.g. metaphors – God is not really a rock or a fire; Jesus is not really a lamb; and so on). As a general rule one can read a text “literally” unless there is good reason not to do so, and there are often good reasons.

9. Not every passage in the Bible has equal value for faith and life. We give special weight to some passage we do not give to others, and the Bible itself seems to want us to do so, (e.g., we give the 10 commandments more weight than Paul’s commandment to Timothy to take a little wine for his stomach).

10. “Bible readers must be prepared to recognize that the Bible does not have a single point of view about a whole range of matters, and whether the point of view is being commended by the author needs to be asked.” What role the bible should play in all of our questions and controversies is not always clear, but must be approached with the wisdom available to those who have been shaped by the reading of this text. Truth about the world accessed through other means (science, archaeology, ethics, and more), is a valuable resource through when thinking about the issues we face.

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About Tim Suttle

Tim Suttle is a pastor, writer, and musician. He is the author of two books: Public Jesus (The House Studio, 2012), and An Evangelical Social Gospel? (Cascade Books, 2011). Tim's work has been featured at The Huffington Post, The Washington Post, Sojourners, The Wall Street Journal, and other magazines and journals. Tim is also the founder and front-man of the popular Christian band Satellite Soul, with whom he toured for nearly a decade. He has planted three successful churches over the past 12 years and is the Senior Pastor of Redemption Church in Olathe, Kan. Tim's blog, Paperback Theology, is hosted at Patheos.

  • http://towardfatherhood.com j oliver

    I had to read through a couple of times and ponder. I think you’re saying that the Bible is a whole set of craftsman’s tools, not just one big hammer. Is that pretty close? I took “Not every passage in the Bible has equal value…” to mean, “Not every passage in the Bible plays an identical role…in faith and life.”

  • Tim Suttle

    I think that’s one way to say it. The Bible itself seems to want to accentuate certain texts & give them more value than others. Also, the way the church treats a text can give it more or less value as well. So there does seem to be some sort of devaluation of certain texts – especially those that recommends something we do not follow (women w/short hair and uncovered heads in worship). That command does not hold any currency w/most xians, so it has less value than, say, the admonitions in the 10 commandments that we all hold to. What that devaluation means is not clear, but it’s there nonetheless. The reason I think it’s important to say they don’t have equal value is so that we can be honest about how we read the text. In other words, Jesus’s prohibition of violence does not seem to carry the same value as some of his other teachings – at least for some people. Is this right? That’s a matter of contention in the church. But we can’t have the discussion in any sort of fair way w/out first admitting we don’t place equal value on every passage.

    • http://towardfatherhood.com j oliver

      Thanks TS. I’m struggling with the word “value.” How does that mesh with the scripture about ‘all Scripture being profitable for doctrine, reproof, instruction, ect.?’

  • Tim Suttle

    Yeah, I wouldn’t die on the hill of using the word “value.” I think your phrase, “Not every passage in the Bible plays an identical role…in faith and life,” seems to say the exact same thing w/out pronouncing a value on the text. I think we can still say that it is all valuable, while acknowledging that we assign different values to different texts.

  • Bob Seidensticker

    You mentioned that the Bible must be read according to its genre, and that not everything is to be taken literally. OK, I’m with you so far. But how do you decide what to take literally and what not?

    The Old Testament’s got some crazy stuff in it (genocide, slavery, and so on), and I imagine that you and I would keep and discard pretty much the same moral lessons. But then aren’t you making your own moral instinct (or conscience) the final arbiter, not the Bible? I mean—that’s how I do it, so I’m not complaining. But it seems hard to justify as a Christian.

    http://www.patheos.com/blogs/crossexamined/2011/12/and-god-isnt-good-either/

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  • http://thingsfindothinks.com AndrwwF

    Bob, how does one normally determine if a given text is meant to be understood literally?

    Perhaps I’m being pedantic, but I reckon we could find verses which actually have only one meaning (Jesus wept?) But the broader principle is worth remembering, that text don’t necessarily have only a single meaning (as the apostles’ use of the OT shows).