This blog post is a slightly modified transcript from the YouTube video below.
Reading and understanding the Bible can be difficult especially if we don’t have any interpretive principles in place to help guide us through the Scriptures. This being the case, the goal of this article is to provide you with 11 practical tips for reading and understanding the Bible that’ll help ensure that you come to an accurate understanding of God’s Word every time you read it.
Tip #1 Understand the Context
Tip number one is to understand the context. This is by far the biggest issue I see when people misinterpret the Bible. They just don’t understand the context or they haven’t considered it, or they don’t even know that there’s a context to consider.
But the Bible, like any other book, has a context to it and we have to consider it any time we read if we want to obtain an accurate understanding. Because if we neglect the context then, essentially, we can make the Bible mean anything we want it to mean.
For example, I could say to you right now that you can’t be saved unless some guys stay on a boat. That’s in the bible. Acts 27:31 “Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved.”
Now, of course, I just took this verse completely out of context and I used it to support the idea that you can’t become a Christian unless some unknown people stay in a ship. Obviously this is an extreme example, and a ludicrous one at that, but you can see how not considering the context of a given verse or passage could be an issue.
Now if we wanted to consider the context we’d have to ask some questions like:
- Who is speaking?
- Who are they speaking to?
- What’s the current situation?
- What are the circumstances?
If we asked these questions about the verse used in our example then we’d find out that it was Paul speaking to a centurion and some soldiers in regards to some sailors who were trying to escape from the ship they were on. So this verse has absolutely nothing to do with the salvation of someone’s soul.
That being said, always consider the context.
Tip #2 Remove Your Denominational Blinders
Tip number two is to take off your denominational blinders and this is what I mean by that. Sometimes when we’ve been part of a particular denomination for a while, we tend to interpret Scripture in a way that reflects those denominational biases. We assume Scripture means certain things simply because of the denominational teachings we’ve been subjected to.
The issue with this is that sometimes we’re held back from understanding the truth about a certain verse or passage because we already have our minds made up as to what it means. And so we have to take a step back and ask whether or not what we’ve been taught actually aligns with Scripture or are we inserting into Scripture what we’ve been taught? Is our understanding of a certain passage biased due to our denominational persuasion, or have we truly let Scripture speak for itself?
And so what we have to do is instead of assuming that certain passages mean certain things, we look at them objectively and we analyze them in light of what the rest of Scripture teaches. We have to learn to question everything and assume nothing.
So don’t let your denomination speak for the Bible, let the Bible speak for itself.
Tip #3 Understand What the Bible Is
Tip number three is understanding what the bible is and here’s what I mean. Most of us would classify the Bible as the Word of God and it is, but more specifically than that it’s God’s revelation to mankind. And so everything that God thought necessary to reveal of himself, to reveal about his plan of salvation, and to reveal about his plan for human history, and so on, is all contained in the Bible.
And so any time we read the Bible we ought to be asking questions like:
- What is God revealing here?
- What is God saying of himself or the condition of mankind?
- What’s so important about this that God deemed it necessary to tell us?
- And what are the essential truths that God is revealing here to all of mankind?
And the reason it’s important to make this distinction about what the Bible is, is because some people look to Scripture and say, “What does this mean to me?” or “What is God saying to me?” They make the word of God subjective to themselves because they don’t fully understand what the Word of God is.
It should never be, “What is God saying to me?”, but simply “What is God saying?”. If we all take the approach of asking “What is God saying to me?” then we’re all going to have a different view of what the text actually means. But when it comes to Scripture there’s only one true interpretation of any given passage. We can’t both look at a single verse and come to two different conclusions on it and both of them be right.
We have to understand that the Word of God is God’s revelation to mankind and that it’s not subjective to our own personal interpretations or understanding but rather that each verse only has one true interpretation.
Tip #4 Use the Right Bible Translation
Tip #4 is to use a Bible translation that you like and understand. Now when I first got saved I was given a King James Bible and to be honest, at that time, I didn’t know of any other translations. The churches I was a part of were King James Onlyist, meaning that they used the King James Bible exclusively. This may be the case at your church too, but just know that there’s other solid translations of the Bible besides the King James.
Now, personally, I use the ESV but you could also use the NASB or the New King James version. All of these are solid Bibles that don’t use the same archaic English that the King James uses so they’re a lot easier to read and comprehend. But like the King James, these are literal word-for-word translations so they’re as close to the original text as you can get without having to learn Hebrew and Greek.
Now, if you wanted something even easier to read you could opt for a thought-for-thought translation but they’re not going to be as accurate as their word-for-word counterparts simply because it’s not their goal to render a literal translation of the original Greek and Hebrew languages. Translations such as the NIV, CSB, and the NLT would fall under this category.
Generally speaking, I wouldn’t recommend reading these types of Bibles simply because they’re not getting me as close to the original text as possible, and if it’s your goal to understand the Bible better, then you need to know what it says in its original format. So if you’re going to use one of these translations I would recommend reading it in tandem with a word-for-word translation.
Tip #5 Use Commentaries
Tip number five is to make use of commentaries. If you’re not familiar with what a commentary is, it’s essentially a series of explanations of Scripture written by a particular individual. And commentaries are very helpful especially when you’re stuck on a verse or passage and you just need some perspective. Now, I consult commentaries all the time but I do want to offer a few words of caution if you’re going to use them.
First of all, just understand that commentaries are written by men and men are fallible. So not everything you read in a commentary is going to be true and accurate, no matter how well learned the person was who wrote it. No one man has all the answers to every question we have about Scripture.
And second, you need to make sure you don’t get into the habit of consulting commentaries immediately, any time you have a problem understanding what a particular verse means. This is exactly what I did a few years ago when I first started using commentaries because, essentially, it was an easy way out.
And so, if you’re just looking for a quick explanation and you don’t want to exert any mental effort of your own, then a commentary allows you to do just that. But that’s not what we want to do, we don’t want to be lazy, we want to use our minds to the best of our ability to think through these tough passages of Scripture before we consult the minds of others.
Tip #6 Read Book Overviews
The sixth tip is to make sure you read an overview of any book you’re about to read. The overview will give you information like who wrote the book, who it was written to, what the purpose of the book was, its theme, its historical setting and so on. There’s a lot of valuable information to be found in these overviews.
And the reason we should read these ahead of time is because they give us the bigger picture of what’s taking place and they help us understand the broader context of the writing as a whole. And as I mentioned earlier, if we don’t understand the context, then we’re not likely to come to an accurate understanding of what’s being said.
So don’t skip the overviews. If you have a study Bible, it probably has an overview section at the beginning of each book but if not, then you can find these online as well.
Tip #7 Read Consistently
Tip number seven – read consistently.
Now this may sound too simple to be effective, but honestly, the more you read the Bible the more you’ll begin to understand it, and here’s why. There’s places in Scripture that won’t make sense to you unless you’re familiar with other parts of Scripture.
For example, let’s say you’re reading John chapter one and you come to the place where the crowds ask John the Baptist if he’s Elijah? Well, why did they ask this question? And was John actually Elijah? Well, in order to understand and answer these questions, we have to consult other passages of Scripture.
In the Old Testament, in the book of Malachi, we read that someone would appear prior to the Messiah in order to “prepare the way for him” and in Malachi 4:5 God says, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes.
So the Jews were expecting Elijah to come prior to the coming of the Messiah. And John the Baptist was Elijah, not in the literal sense, but as Luke 1:17 says, he came “in the spirit and power of Elijah”. Furthermore Jesus himself confirms that John the Baptist was Elijah in Matthew 11:14.
So as you can see, just being familiar with these other books in the Bible contributed to me being able to understand this passage. So read consistently, it’s going to help you out.
Tip #8 Do Greek and Hebrew Word Studies
Tip number eight is to learn how to do Greek and Hebrew word studies.
Now, this may sound intimidating at first but I promise you it’s not that difficult and the reward is well worth the effort. So two things, why do we need to do this in the first place, and how do we do this?
Well, the main reason we should do Greek and Hebrew word studies is because in some instances the English words used in our Bibles don’t convey the same meaning as they did in the original languages. And sometimes, when it comes to understanding a particular verse or a concept in the Bible, it really just comes down to understanding what was meant in the original language.
For example, when we think about speaking in tongues, the Bible doesn’t specifically say what speaking in tongues is. Were they real human languages, were they angelic languages, or individual prayer languages? There’s a lot of debate around this topic.
But when we look at the Greek word used for “tongues” which is “glossa” we’ll see that it actually means “the tongue” as in the human organ of speech, and “a language” as in real human languages. By looking into the original meaning of the word, we can gain some clarity as to what speaking in tongues actually looked like.
So how do we do this? Well the first thing you’ll need is a concordance or a lexicon. And if you don’t have a physical copy of either of these, you can access some of them online at Biblehub.com or other similar websites. And what you do is simply look up the word in question and you look at what it means in the original language. You’ll also want to look at how the word is used in other places in Scripture because this too will help you understand what it actually means.
Tip #9 Familiarize Yourself With Jewish Culture
Tip number nine is to familiarize yourself with Jewish culture.
When you read the Bible you’re inevitably met with Jewish customs and cultural traditions that we, as 21st century Americans, just aren’t familiar with.
Most of the time understanding these customs and traditions isn’t absolutely necessary but it does help bring some things to light that we wouldn’t attach much significance to otherwise.
For example, when we think of the term disciple, we typically use it to refer to someone who learns under someone else. And this is true in the Biblical sense of the word as well, but to be a disciple in Jesus day meant much more than simply learning from someone.
During the times of Christ a disciple lived with their rabbi, they traveled with their rabbi and their goal was, essentially, to become like their rabbi in every way possible. So they would observe how he prayed, how he spoke when teaching, how he fasted, how he ministered to the poor and so on. To be a disciple in Jesus day meant that you had dedicated your life to becoming like the one you were studying under.
Now when we apply this understanding to the word disciple, it takes on a whole new meaning especially in regards to us being disciples of Christ. Our goal as his disciples isn’t just to become familiar with what he taught but to fashion our lives after his in every way possible just as the Jewish disciples did with their rabbis.
When we take the time to familiarize ourselves with Jewish customs and traditions, things in the Bible will begin to take on a whole new meaning, and sometimes that meaning can make a huge difference in how we approach Scripture.
Tip #10 Use the Synthesis Principle
Tip number ten is to use the synthesis principle which simply means that we use clearer parts of Scripture to help us understand more obscure ones.
Whenever we’re studying a particular concept in the Bible, we never want to start with the most difficult verse and work our way back, we start with the easier verses and work our way forward. We establish an elementary level of understanding and we build upon it until we’re able to make sense of the more complex verses.
This principle can also be used in regards to specific words in the Bible. For example, when we look at Matthew’s gospel, we’ll see that the word “generation” occurs about a dozen times. One of these instances, however, is the center of a large amount of controversy concerning the end times.
In Matthew 24:34 Jesus says, “This generation will not pass away until all these things take place.”
Some people have taken Jesus’ words here to mean a future generation. But when we look at the phrase “this generation” throughout the rest of Matthew’s Gospel, we’ll see that it’s always used to refer to the group of people alive at that time. That being the case, it would make more sense to think that its use here would also refer to the people living at that time, not some future generation.
Now of course we always have to consider the context, but you can see how using this principle, at times, can help you make sense of ambiguous parts of Scripture.
Tip #11 Use a Study Bible
Tip number eleven is to get yourself a solid study Bible. Now if you don’t already have one, my recommendation would be the Reformation Study Bible by R.C. Sproul. It has great book introductions, theological notes, maps and illustrations, a list of Creeds, Confessions, and Catechisms, and it’s just a great resource to have at your disposal.
Now of course, study Bibles aren’t going to answer every single question you have about the Bible, but more often than not, if you have a good one, they’ll be able to at least give you some insight or some different perspective about what a particular verse or passage means.
So definitely invest in a solid study bible.