The First Step in Understanding the Bible

By any standard, the Bible is an incredible book filled with profound wisdom, inspiring poetry, and fascinating history.

But above all else, we Christians acknowledge the Bible as the very Word of God. Through it, God reveals His way of salvation and His purpose and plan for humanity. Our very faith is founded upon God’s Word. 

With this in mind, it’s clear that understanding the Bible is crucial to our Christian life. And although the Bible is lengthy and profound, the first step in understanding it is simple: reading it from cover to cover. 

Who is qualified to read and understand the Bible?

We may think that Bible scholars and theologians are qualified to read and understand the Bible, and we aren’t. But God’s Word is for everyone to read and understand. 

In 2 Timothy 3:15, the apostle Paul wrote to a young man named Timothy:

“And that from a babe you have known the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise unto salvation through the faith which is in Christ Jesus.”

Notice the words from a babe. Paul surely didn’t mean that as a babe, Timothy understood every single thing in God’s Word. Paul was saying that from a young age, Timothy knew the sacred writings. 

If a babe can know the sacred writings, we all can! No matter how young or old we are, no matter what our background is, we can all begin to familiarize ourselves with the Bible by reading it. 

Reading the Bible from cover to cover

So what do we mean when we say we need to read the Bible? We simply mean that we need to read the whole Bible, book after book, from cover to cover. This lays a solid foundation for us to understand it.

Perhaps we’ve never read the whole Bible all the way through, for one reason or another. We can certainly gain some benefit from reading any part of God’s Word. But to illustrate how important it is to read the entire Bible consecutively, let’s say we’re interested in learning about the human body. As a start, we acquire an in-depth book on anatomy. If we were to randomly read sections in the middle, then some paragraphs at the beginning, followed by a few words at the end, we wouldn’t gain a proper understanding of the body. The best way to gain this understanding is to read the anatomy book from the beginning to the end, chapter by chapter. This would give us some basic knowledge of the body’s structure, its different systems, and how they’re all interconnected. 

In the same way, reading the entire Bible in order will help us gain a comprehensive overview of God’s Word and a solid base for us to understand its contents. The first book of the Bible is Genesis, so we start there, with God’s creation. As we continue to read, we discover the full history of God’s people, the revelation of Christ, and God’s way of fulfilling His eternal purpose. Finally, we reach Revelation, where we read of the New Jerusalem, the accomplishment of God’s desire. 

Our understanding of the Bible is progressive

When it comes to understanding the Bible, there’s no way we can comprehend everything the first time we read it. Our understanding of it is gradual and progressive.

Consider how children learn to read and comprehend what they read. They don’t begin by digesting whole words, much less whole books. They first learn the ABCs, then form words with those letters. Eventually, they’re able to read and understand the meaning of a simple sentence like “The cat sat on a mat.” That first sentence is just the beginning. With continued reading comes increasing comprehension.

In the same way, we acquire “the ABCs” for understanding the Bible by reading it. As we continue to read, we progress to understanding it little by little. And every time we read through the Bible, our understanding will increase.

For instance, let’s say you come to John 1:29 in your Bible reading: 

“The next day he [John the Baptist] saw Jesus coming to him and said, Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

This verse reminds you of reading Exodus 12, an account of the Passover lamb sacrificed by the children of Israel before leaving Egypt. This Old Testament account is a vivid picture pointing to Jesus as the real Passover Lamb. Realizing this enriches both your reading of Exodus 12 and your appreciation of what Jesus did in sacrificing Himself on the cross to take away our sins.

Many other passages in the Old Testament point to events and people that appear in the New Testament. When we make these connections, we understand more of the meaning of the Bible, and our faith in the Bible being the Word of God is strengthened. Bit by bit, verses come alive with rich meaning and practical application to our lives.

Being consistent

So how do we go about reading the whole Bible? It’s helpful to create and follow a schedule. For example, if you take 20 minutes each day and read two to three chapters, you’ll finish the whole Bible in a little over a year. 

The main thing is to keep reading. No matter what our pace is, if we’re consistent, it won’t take us long to read through the entire Bible.

Of course, sometimes we may miss our daily reading. But when we resume, we don’t need to start all over again. We should just pick up where we left off and continue from there.

The most important thing is to start, if we haven’t already. We can bring our Bible reading to the Lord and pray a simple prayer like this:

“Lord, thank You for giving us Your Word. Remind me each day to set aside time to read. Lord Jesus, help me build up a habit of reading the Bible.”

Surely this is a prayer the Lord would be happy to answer!

We have many more posts about different aspects of God’s precious Word that you can explore here. And if you live in the US, we encourage you to order a free copy of the New Testament Recovery Version, a unique study Bible that will help you understand God’s Word.