When you read the Bible, the words can speak to you?
Is there a technique or a way of contemplating that helps with this?
Is there a particular way of reading?
Well, not in some magical way. But there certainly have been times where I've read something, and it feels like something clicks in my brain. However, I try to avoid assuming that I must be reading it right just because something happens to make sense to me at that moment. Instead I make an effort to do some investigation, seeing how a passage has been understood down through history.
I think there's a lot of misunderstanding about the Bible, and a lot of it comes from the fact that we take the Bible for granted. That is, I can drive to Walmart and pick up a Bible for a few dollars, and read it by myself. Or I can get on my phone and find the Bible online for free. But for most of Christian history this simply wasn't possible.
The reason for it not being possible isn't from anything nefarious, it's a lot simpler: there was no printing press.
So let's start with a question: What
is the Bible? It might be tempting to begin to answer that the Bible is a book, but even this wouldn't be right. The Bible isn't a book, it is a collection of books. It is better, then, to think of the Bible as a library of books, not a book.
Where did the Bible come from?
From the beginning of Christianity there was an understanding that certain books were especially important, these were holy writings (Sacred Scripture). Now, there was no definitive list of which books fit this category, rather there was a more general idea. The five books of the Torah, also known as the Pentateuch or The Law were the most important in Judaism. But there were other books, the books of the ancient prophets, that were also very important, additionally other books of importance included the Psalms, and various works of wisdom literature such as Proverbs, and historical books such as the books of the Kings. But there was no definitive list of books among Jews, and different sects of Judaism didn't agree (most famously the Sadducees only accepted the five books of the Torah and nothing else).
In addition, among Greek-speaking Jews, there were also translations of the sacred books which we refer to as the Septuagint or LXX. A translation of Jewish sacred books into Greek made in Alexandria in Egypt a couple centuries before Christ. In fact, very often when the New Testament books quote the Old Testament, they are quoting (often verbatim) from the Septuagint.
The idea of having a fixed canon of Sacred Scripture didn't begin until after the time of the Apostles, in the 2nd and 3rd centuries especially. The idea of a Canon is something that largely existed to answer the question of what books should be read during worship. Early Christians inherited the basic form of worship which Jews had, a liturgy consisting of prayers, hymns, Scripture readings, and instruction in the form of a homily or sermon. As such when we look at ancient Christians talking about which books should be read, they mean what books are to be read as Sacred Scripture in the context of Christian worship. For the most part, there was already something of a proto-Canon from very early on. But it would take many centuries until a full consensus was reached (but don't be misled by various conspiracy theories, the debate over books was limited to a very small number of books).
It is in this context, of Christians gathering for worship, hearing the Scriptures read, and then receiving instruction and exhortation through a homily, as well as having this teaching echoed in the prayers, hymns, and all parts of the historic liturgy is the way Christians learned the Bible, it's how they encountered the Bible.
And that's important, it means that the Christian encounter with Scripture isn't a one-on-one, just me figuring out what it all means by myself, but as part of a living, praying, worshiping community. Understanding Scripture isn't about me having personal epiphanies and thinking I have special insight to the mind of God. Instead understanding Scripture is about a living, active engagement with the text as part of a living community that extends back two thousand years. As such, it's really important that we don't mistakenly think any idle thought that pops in our head is some stroke of insight or genius. And that's why it's important to not just read the text, but
exegete the text. Scholarship is important, the historic interpretations and readings from Christian theologians, pastors, exegetes, scholars down through the ages is important.
The most profound times I've read the Bible are those times when, upon reading something and it seeming like something suddenly clicks, I end up discovering that this is how most Christians, going right back to the beginning, also read and understood the text. I'm not seeing something new, I'm seeing what Christians have always been saying and believing. That, for me, has been some of the most rewarding. Because it means that I'm not reading it by myself, for myself, but that I'm reading it as part of a faithful people, a people confessing this faith for two thousand years.
-CryptoLutheran
