Reading the Bible, Knowing Jesus (1)

 

I have had three conversations over the past year that have challenged me about how we read and teach the Bible. They have forced me to look in the mirror and critique my own communication of God’s Word, they have me questioning myself, with one of the conversations shocking me because it was about me as much as about the Bible. I wonder what “we” who teach the Bible have done, I wonder what I have done, and I wonder if there can be a recovery of reading the Bible and encountering Christ in the Bible in the Western church. I don’t know, things are moving so fast, I really don’t know.

 

Two Stories

 

I recently had a sweet time with a friend in the Scriptures. During this time, as he shared with me the form of his Bible reading, I realized that the translation he is using may be a barrier to his comprehension and reading rhythm. While translations are quite important to me, it is more important that people read the Bible and experience Jesus Christ. I tell folks, “Find a car you can drive; when you become an experienced driver then you can look at other cars that might be a better fit.”

 

I talked to Vickie about us purchasing a certain translation, which I thought would be more accessible and fluid, and give it to my friend. I was looking for an edition without interpretive notes for I wanted my friend to experience the Bible directly, without a mediator – I wanted my friend to meet Jesus, not a human interpreter. I wanted my friend to experience John 16:12 – 15 and 1 Corinthians Chapter 2.

 

What I assumed would be an easy purchase turned out to be impossible. I was looking for an edition with just the Biblical text, though cross references would be fine. It turns out that every edition of this translation now comes with free access to an “app” that has interpretive notes for the entire Bible. This app comes with every Bible in this translation, in every single one!

 

Distracted reading is the death of reading and understanding the Bible. I have seen this in Sunday school class after class, I have seen it in small groups, and I have seen it in preachers and teachers. There only ought to be one text on a page of the Bible, just one text, and that is God’s Word (I am not including cross references, they can be helpful).

 

I can’t tell you how many times I have wanted to see adults work through a Bible passage, to wrestle with it, to submit to it, to seek Jesus in it, and they automatically allow their eyes to focus on interpretive notes in their study Bibles and the growth and “aha” opportunity has closed – the possibility for adventure in Jesus has passed, the possibility for knowing Him more deeply has passed, the joy of working through the passage with others has disappeared.

 

An irony is that we have done what many in ancient Judaism did, just as ancient rabbis “hedged the text,” so have we hedged the text. We have so hedged the text of the Bible that few can penetrate the hedge to the living Christ within the text.

 

Another irony is that often those who make much of there being “one mediator between God and man, the man Jesus Christ” (1 Tim. 2:5) interpose themselves or other teachers between people and the Bible, becoming de facto mediators – forcing the minds, hearts, and souls of would-be readers of Scripture into the image of mediators, including mediators in the form of study Bibles.

 

What is the point of having Bibles if we have bought into a mentality that we cannot read the Bible and know Jesus directly in and through the Bible? We might as well go back to the days before Guttenberg’s printing press.

 

It is frankly “nuts” that people are marketing the “John Smith” study Bible, or the “Sally Ann” study Bible, or the “Reformed study Bible,” or the “Pentecostal study Bible,” or the “Cool young person’s study Bible.” It is heretical that others, such as the American Bible Society, now market perversions such as a patriotic God and Country study Bible. What are we doing? We have lost our minds.

 

(There are other ways we have hedged the Bible, which I will focus on in the course of these reflections.)

 

My second story concerns a phone conversation (not one of the above three conversations) a couple of days ago with our friend Pete. Pete and Martha were in our New England parish years ago and our sweet friendship has continued with each passing year. After we moved back to Virginia, Pete and Martha were travelling through our area and stopped to spend the night with us. They had been living in Florida for a few years and were quite active in their local church, leading small groups in their home and elsewhere.

 

During their visit they said to me, “Bob, our home group is finishing it current study, do you have any recommendations about what study material we should use next?”

 

I replied, “Why not try the Bible?”

 

“You mean, just the Bible?”

 

“Yes,” I said, “just the Bible. See where the Holy Spirit leads you. Pick a book of the Bible and go for it.”

 

During our recent phone conversation, Pete said to me, “Bob, we’re still studying the Bible, reading the Bible, gathering around the Bible. Ever since you suggested that we’ve been doing it, and people are excited about it and they are learning to read the Bible and talking to others about it.”

 

It has been about 16 years since I suggested that Pete and Martha use the Bible as their text, trusting Jesus and the Holy Spirit to lead them and their small groups – and they are not only still excited about it, but their enthusiasm has been caught by others. (This does not mean that Pete and Martha don’t prepare for their small groups, it does not mean that they don’t use Bible study resources. It does mean that the Bible is what they and their groups encounter face-to-face, there is no mediatorial filter such as a study guide – the Bible is the first impression.)

 

I have seen few, if any, study guides or Sunday school curricula worth using, I’m sorry, this is the way I see it. Their questions are typically not worthy of consideration, and they fail to present any challenge to the mind or heart – they may be good for promoting boredom or passing the time, but I seldom see any learning theory or Biblical spirituality incorporated into them. Learning should be challenging, it ought to stretch us, it ought not to be cotton candy. If we want fast food, let’s go to McDonalds.

How is the Holy Spirit speaking to you as you read the Bible? (John 16:12 – 15).

 

Before you began reading the Bible, ask the Holy Spirit to reveal Jesus to you. Ask Jesus to show Himself to you. Ask the Father to hear His Voice.

 

I often pray, “O Jesus, that I may touch You and be touched by You.”

 

I hope you will see Jesus coming in the Scriptures today; coming to you, coming for you, coming through you to others.