Texting and emails are a part of life; messages are written and read immediately. Communication is as quick as thumbs or fingers can function, sometimes even quicker than thought. At the risk of dating myself, I remember a day — not all that long ago — when composing a message was not as convenient and consequently receiving the message was always in one way or another of special interest. When I was in college, there was an on-campus delivery system that my now wife and I would use to send “love notes” to one another. I recall sacrificing some good study time to write a note to her, and I couldn’t wait until her note was slipped under my dormitory door. I pretty much knew what it was going to say, but I really enjoyed reading it. I think she enjoyed reading mine as well, at least that is what she affirmed the next day. She even kept the ones I wrote her in a shoebox to read again. We loved reading each other’s letters because we loved each other.

Now here is my transition to point. In His gracious love, God has written to us and what He has written is kept for us in the Bible. Every word of Scripture has been divinely breathed out, revealing the mind and will of God. Therefore, there is no more important message to read than the Bible. It reveals everything we are to believe and what we are to do. If we love Him in response to His first loving us, we ought to be eager to read and relish every word. Like David, His beloved, we should regard the Bible as a treasure to be desired like fine gold and as a dessert to the soul sweeter than honey (Ps. 19:10). In reading the Bible, you should keep these principles in mind.

Read with Presuppositions⤒🔗

When we approach the Bible with faith, we do so with a set of beliefs that we take for granted to be true. The mindset of a believer every time he opens the Bible must be the convic­tion that whatever the Bible says is true. We cannot trust our reason to determine what is true or false, right or wrong. By faith we believe in the inspiration of the Bible, and therefore we affirm its authority, infallibility, sufficiency, and effectiveness from cover to cover.

By authority, we mean that it is the absolute standard of truth (matters of faith) and the absolute rule for living (matters of practice). The Westminster Larger Catechism summarizes well: “The holy scriptures of the Old and New Testament are the word of God, the only rule of faith and obedience” (3).

By infallibility, we mean that the Bible is free from error. Truth is absolute, and all truth has its ultimate source in God, who is Truth and the Revealer of truth. Infallibility extends to every statement of Scripture, including matters of history and science as well as matters of theology. The Bible, therefore, is the standard by which all matters of theology, history, and science are to be judged.

By sufficiency, we mean that the Bible is all we need to direct us in how to know God and please Him. It is all we need to direct us safely through life and to the life to come. According to His infinite wisdom and good purpose, God has revealed all that we need for the welfare of our souls. There is no need for humanly defined philosophy, psychology, opinion, or experience to supplement the Bible. It may sound trite, but it is true: if God said it, that settles it.

By effectiveness, we mean that there is an inherent power in God’s Word to accomplish what it says. The Lord Himself declared, “So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it” (Isa. 55:11). The Word of God is the hammer that in judgment breaks rocks in pieces (Jer. 23:29); it is the means of grace whereby God communicates the gospel that saves all who believe (Rom. 10:17).

The bottom line is that every time we open the Scripture, we must do so with awe generated by the certain knowledge the Bible is not an ordinary book but the very word of the eternal God, whose veracity is beyond question or doubt. Although time has passed since the word was written and circumstances have changed, truth is timeless and changeless.

Read with a Plan←⤒🔗

Once we have established the proper presuppositions and mindset about the Scripture, we must develop the proper procedures for reading the Bible. The goal of reading is understanding what God meant when He said what He said. Certainly what God means is infinitely more impor­tant than how we may feel about what He said. Here is a basic procedure that should help us discover the message God intends.

1. Begin every session of Bible study with prayer←↰⤒🔗

As the psalmist prayed for God to open his eyes to behold the wondrous things of the law, so must we pray (Ps. 119:18). We must pray that the Holy Spirit will teach us truth. The Lord Jesus promised His disciples that the Spirit of truth would guide them into all truth (John 16:13). In 1 Corinthians 2, the apostle Paul refers to the great truths of the gospel as those things God has revealed to us by His Spirit (2:10). He then says concerning these truths that they are what the Holy Spirit teaches by “comparing spiritual things with spiritual” (2:13). This could be rendered literally “expounding spiritual (truths) to spiritual (men).” This statement highlights two essential points. First, it is the ministry of the Holy Spirit to illumine and instruct believers in the things of God. The Holy Spirit is the ultimate and consummate teacher of every believer. Second, we must have regenerated hearts before we can understand anything God says. Understanding God’s Word depends in great measure on knowing Him. It is the Spirit of God that regenerates sinners, turning them into spiritual men and thereby intro­ducing them to the knowledge of God; He leads saints into a more intimate knowledge of God through the Word.

2. Spend time in the Bible←↰⤒🔗

Too frequently, Christians tend to read small portions of the Bible and spend more time reading about the Bible than reading the Bible. While there is nothing wrong with reading commentaries or devotional books, there is no substitute for reading the Bible itself. Needless to say, proper understanding of the Bible depends on reading the Bible. Familiarity with the source always aids in accurate interpretation. My wife and I can understand each other’s idiosyncrasies and subtleties of speech because we have listened to each other for years. Because we are together so much, we almost intuitively know what the other means. So it ought to be with God’s Word. The more we read, the less strange the language is. The more we read, the more we understand. Read your Bible.

3. Pay attention to the context←↰⤒🔗

Taking something out of context is one of the most common errors of interpretation. We all know what it’s like to come into the middle of a conversation and jump to the wrong conclusion because we have heard only part of what was said. To ignore the context is to jeopardize the authority of the message or at least make it suspicious. By context, we simply mean the location or environment in which the text occurs. It certainly includes the immediately surrounding verses, but it extends also to the larger context of the entire book and then ultimately to the whole context of divine revelation. It is like looking at a target, with the bull’s eye in the center and the various rings extending from the center. The bull’s eye is contained within the entire ring structure and has no significance as a bull’s eye independent from the other rings. Obviously, to hit the bull’s eye you must stay within all the rings. This consideration of the larger context is often called the analogy of Scripture, which simply means that Scripture must be interpreted in the light of Scripture. The Bible is its own best commentary. Paying attention to context involves read­ing and knowing the content of the Bible. Read your Bible.

4. Meditate on what you read←↰⤒🔗

The blessed man is he whose “delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night” (Ps. 1:2). This word meditate has the idea of being consumed or preoccupied with something. According to that biblical definition, there is precious little meditation in the average Christian’s life. Far too frequently, Christians read the Bible without thinking. The eyes fall mechanically over the ink for a designated number of pages without the mind’s comprehending a thing. Devotions sadly consist of little more than a few verses before leaving home at the beginning of a busy day or a few verses before going to bed after a busy day. The amount of blessing we receive from the Bible and the degree to which we understand the Bible will be in proportion to how much time we meditate on what we have read. Very simply, meditating is thinking. Many Christians get nothing from the Bible not because they are ignorant but because they are thoughtless. Take the time to pray and think over the open Bible.

Read on Purpose←⤒🔗

In reading any book, it is wise to identify the main theme and purpose. The overriding purpose of the Bible is to guide men to a proper relationship with God. God’s gracious salvation is the only way to experience that relationship, and that salvation is only in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. It follows that the revelation of Christ is the grand and predominant theme of Scripture. So as you read the Bible, read intentionally looking for Christ. In the Pentateuch, look for Him as the perfect Priest to stand between God and men and as the perfect sacrifice for sin. The Historical Books draw attention to the perfect King, who would come to rule His people and subdue His enemies. The Prophets anticipate the perfect Prophet, who represents and reveals the only true and living God. The Poetical Books show that Christ is the great theme of worship and praise. The Gospels, with the narratives concerning Christ’s earthly ministry, introduce the performance of His saving work, the historical foundation of the gospel. Acts records the initial proclamation and dissemination of the message of His saving work. The Epistles explain and expound the nature of His person and work and the implications for personal and church life. The Revelation assures the consummation of all the glorious truths of His person and work. Never read your Bible without reference to Christ.