# How to Read The Bible



## WaveRunr (Mar 31, 2014)

Greetings all!

My question is how should I read the Bible? I want to develop a solid covenantal and Calvinistic hermeneutic.

Thank you for responding!


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## Logan (Mar 31, 2014)

I would recommend reading through Matthew Henry's commentary on Genesis as a devotional. I did a chapter a day but it really sets the framework and tone for how to look at the Scriptures and profit from them.


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## reaganmarsh (Mar 31, 2014)

Logan said:


> I would recommend reading through Matthew Henry's commentary on Genesis as a devotional. I did a chapter a day but it really sets the framework and tone for how to look at the Scriptures and profit from them.



Excellent approach.


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## Hamalas (Mar 31, 2014)

Are you looking for a Bible reading plan/schedule or are you looking for resources that will help you to understand _how_ to read the Bible?


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## Dearly Bought (Mar 31, 2014)

I find the following section from the Directory for Family Worship helpful in terms of guiding the reading of Scripture,


> As the charge and office of interpreting the holy scriptures is a part of the ministerial calling, which none (however otherwise qualified) should take upon him in any place, but he that is duly called thereunto by God and his kirk; so in every family where there is any that can read, the holy scriptures should be read ordinarily to the family; and it is commendable, that thereafter they confer, and by way of conference make some good use of what hath been read and heard. *As, for example, if any sin be reproved in the word read, use may be made thereof to make all the family circumspect and watchful against the same; or if any judgment be threatened, or mentioned to have been inflicted, in that portion of scripture which is read, use may be made to make all the family fear lest the same or a worse judgment befall them, unless they beware of the sin that procured it: and, finally, if any duty be required, or comfort held forth in a promise, use may be made to stir up themselves to employ Christ for strength to enable them for doing the commanded duty, and to apply the offered comfort*. In all which the master of the family is to have the chief hand; and any member of the family may propone a question or doubt for resolution.


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## Reformed Irish Man (Mar 31, 2014)

Hi Jonathan,

I find it helpful to keep in mind the entire forest as I look at individual trees. In other words, I find it helpful to have a broad understanding of what scripture teaches in my mind as I look more closely to individual verses. 

Reading and becoming familiar with a reformed confession (in my case the 1689) can provide a broad understanding of the major doctrines of scripture. As you read scripture you can have these broad truths in the back of your mind and they will help you to interpret verses in light of the whole counsel of God's word.

For example. I find when reading scripture and I come across a word like 'covenant', my mind is brought to chapter 7: 'God's Covenant'. This provides a broad explanation of God's covenants which assists me in my interpretation in the immediate context. 

Also, you can read a confession and look to the proof texts and see how the authors of the confession interpreted scripture.


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## Contra_Mundum (Mar 31, 2014)

There is plenty of good advice in the above posts. I recommend reading Scripture as you would other books. Start at the beginning, and follow the story through. Don't be afraid to read from the beginning _as a Christian,_ that is reading even the OT as Christian Scripture.

There is more than artificiality in trying to read the OT as if one were not a Christian, but instead some sort of proto-believer, as (for example) Abraham might have been; thereby to insinuate yourself into his experience, and see matters with his eyes. You cannot possibly reconstruct all that Abraham knew, believed, was taught, had revealed to him, etc.; any more than you can make him a Trinitarian Christian with a fully realized crucified Lord in his mind.

What you know of Abraham in any case is mediated to you by the pen of Moses, who lived and wrote a minimum of three-hundred-plus years after father Abraham. It was a Jewish failure (fully realized by the days of Paul the Apostle) to try to make Abraham a Torah-keeper. Paul, in writing Galatians, indirectly chides his own party, the Pharisees, for starting to read the Scripture at Exodus 20. Consequently, they misread God's covenant-relationship with Abraham as if it had a character identical to that of Sinai.

What the Pharisees of Paul's day should have done was start reading the book at the beginning, without ignoring who they were--Mosaic Covenant people. Such reading would have made them more sensitive both to their own identity and heritage; besides showing them something of what God was doing with the world, and their place in the timeline of it. A Redemptive-historical read, one that recognizes the universal hope of a Coming One who stands at the center of God's purposes with mankind.

Recognize that God intended you to be able to read (and then re-read) the ancient text with Christian eyes; and be able to see in those beginnings not an obvious conclusion, but the shadings of it. What's the point of an epic trilogy, if the climax of the plot is spelled out in "spoiler-alert" terms in the first few pages?

There are several interlocking parts of the OT literature. I'm not ignoring the many interwoven themes, I'm simply focused on the parts, parts which are not broken off at the NT introduction, but which are fulfilled in the last stage of covenant.
There is the historic part. One follows the story from Genesis to Jesus.
There is the prophetic part. One follows the revelation and preaching concerns of the divine spokesmen, arriving eventually at Christ.
There is the worship part. One follows the development of devotional expression through the OT to Christ and the NT. I think the Psalms are central to this subject.
There is the discipleship part. One follows those who "call on the name of the Lord," from the days of Seth (Gen.4:26) to the disciples of Jesus.

That's just four major aspects and I'm sure more could be stated, but in each case mentioned one can find development of a hope in the promised Messiah who will fulfill that hope. Promise Made; Promise Kept. I'm not suggesting that one can or should want to carve up the material into bits that belong to this or that part. The text is too complex for such a division. A text that forwards the historic storyline may also refer to prophetic speech or description of discipleship.

The vital thing to realize is that when one arrives at Christ, his disciples and the NT, the *religion* of the faithful does not change. They, at least, don't seem to have any self-awareness that they have left the faith of their fathers--despite what their enemies and detractors sometimes accuse them of. They write using the religious language they have steeped in (most of them) for decades, their OT birthright. The forms have changed, but not the focus. The "in-group" has shifted, but not the general "shape" of the true Faith. That which began as a seed in Genesis has begun to flower.

Hope this is helpful.


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## Free Christian (Mar 31, 2014)

I would agree with Simon, though not that I don't think the others advice is good either. After reading your post Simon I realised I often did that unconsciously


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## Grimmson (Mar 31, 2014)

I hate to be Captain Obvious here, but anytime you read scripture do it also with prayer. This is just as important as having a proper hermeneutical framework.


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## Andres (Mar 31, 2014)

Here is the best bible reading plan I can think of sharing. I like this one because, as others have mentioned, it's important to read God's Word in it's proper context. It's nearly impossible to do that if one is jumping from random verse to verse or chapter to chapter.


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