Introduction

This question is of great interest as not everyone approaches the bible in the exact same way. There are essentially three ways that people approach the bible and only two will be discussed, here, at length.

The first approach is as an object as seen in a household. Most families in the United States (approx. 85%) have a bible in their home. Some will see it a religious decoration and hang it on their wall, while others will put in it on their coffee table with other reading material to serve as a conversation piece or something for a guest to read while they wait.

The other two approaches are reading and studying the bible and, yes, they are two completely different approaches. We’ll look at each of them in turn.

Reading Your Bible

When I first became a Christian, I wanted to read through the entire bible; mostly to claim that I actually did so. However, I didn’t want to begin in Genesis and read straight through to Revelation. I wanted to get a little of each section of the bible in a daily read.

I came across a daily reading schedule in which one day I would read from The Law (Genesis-Deuteronomy), one day in History (Joshua-2 Kings), one day in Poetry (Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs), and etc.

This appeared to give me a well-rounded way to read some of each of the scriptures on a daily basis and view some of everything in both testaments. But eventually, I grew bored with the idea and just focused on a book here and there.

Within the last few years, I began listening to scripture from an audiobook while eating breakfast in the morning. I would listen to a few chapters each day jumping back and forth from Old to New Testament.

Isolation of the Scriptures

The main problem with simply reading the bible is that you don’t get the entire meaning of a passage unless you devote more time to it. However, some will isolate a verse and have people believe it to be read a certain way. For example, in John 6:29, Jesus said, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.”

There are those who look at this verse and claim that God does the work and all we have to do is believe in Jesus whom God sent. But, if you add verse 28, you will notice a question asked by His apostles, “Then they said to Him, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?” (John 6:28) Here, it shows that they wanted to do works of God. It wasn’t God doing the work but man. This is why you need to study in addition to reading. This verse, like so many others, can’t be isolated. You need to read it in context with the passage it is part of.

Inserting the wrong word intentionally

Given that the Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew and the New Testament in Greek, both were translated into English. In some translations, though, a word is changed to force a different narrative.

The best example is found in Acts 12:4, So when he had arrested him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four squads of soldiers to keep him, intending to bring him before the people after Passover. (NKJV)

When the King James Version first came out, in 1611, the translators intentionally changed the word Passover to Easter,

Acts 12:4, And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people. (KJV)

This was done to promote the pagan holiday of Easter created by the early Roman Catholic church. Again, this is why study is necessary and also why you should have a selection of translations on hand for full understanding of a passage

Studying Your Bible

This brings us to the other approach to the bible. Studying it is how you will understand what you are reading. For example, here’s what Paul had to say about the mystery of Christ…

how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets (Ephesians 3:3-5)

Notice in verse 4, Paul states that you may understand his knowledge in the mystery of Christ when you read it. Some have incorrectly interpreted this as people will understand that he understood the mystery but, yet, we don’t. This doesn’t make any sense as the scriptures were written for our learning (2 Tim. 3:16-17; Rom. 15:4)

Commentary from A.T. Robertson has this to say about Eph. 3:4, Every sermon reveals the preacher’s grasp of “the mystery of Christ.” If he has no insight into Christ, he has no call to preach. This is why everyone should study and not just read the scriptures. You may not be able to preach but you can certainly teach others. And if we don’t understand the “mystery of Christ”, we’ll never know what God expects of us for salvation and how to live our lives daily.

Conclusion

Although this is the word of God and must be handled correctly (2 Tim. 2:15; 1 Jn. 4:1-6), we are to read AND study the scriptures to know what God expects of us. Through His Word we can become true New Testament Christians and walk the strait and narrow path (Mt. 7:14) towards Heaven (Mt. 25).