Getting More Bang for Your Buck: Post 2

            Here are three other tips to keep in mind when reading the Bible:

3) Interpret the New Testament in Light of the Old Testament

            I sometimes cringe when I hear well-meaning people tell new believers/seekers to “start with the Gospels” when going through the Bible. I understand the premise behind the suggestion… I used to say the same thing! The Gospels contain Jesus’ life, and Jesus is the whole point of Christianity, so what better place is there*?

            Genesis, namely.

            The problem is that without understanding what is in the Old Testament (OT), you can’t understand why Jesus is even necessary. A reader can’t understand WHY we need a savior, WHY the savior had to meet certain requirements, and WHY/HOW Jesus took mankind from under the law of God to the grace of God without the Old Testament.

            For example, here is an example of a NT passages that can’t be properly understood/appreciated without understanding the OT.

            Jesus liked to refer to Himself as the “Son of Man” (Luke 9:22, Mark 14:62, etc.). People often mistakenly assume He was referencing His humanity with the title. Actually, it’s the opposite. In Israelite culture it would’ve been understood as a claim to the divine figure in Daniel 7:13-14:

            "In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence.

            He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.”

            If you didn’t know the reference, the correct meaning of Jesus’ favorite name for Himself would go out the window. The Son of Man referred to Jesus' divinity and messianic fulfillment.

            In short, the significance of a lot of Jesus’ life goes unnoticed without the OT. Also, in Paul’s letters he establishes doctrine and mindsets that can only be comprehended if a reader is familiar about the way things used to be before Jesus.

            A lot of the New Testament simply doesn’t make sense by itself. Now, you can always glean SOMETHING by just reading the New Testament, but we want maximum results, right? Well, for that you have to read the New Testament in light of its predecessor.

4) Use Your Imagination!

            Okay, so in my last post I said that the Bible shouldn’t be read like a fiction novel (“movie in a book”). While true, the Bible certainly comes to life when you use your mind to recreate images. Let’s go through one examples. Psalms 137:1-4:

          “By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion.

            There on the poplars we hung our harps,

            Or there our captors asked us for songs, our tormentors demanded songs of joy; they said, "Sing us one of the songs of Zion!"

            How can we sing the songs of the LORD while in a foreign land?”

             Now, use your imagination! I personally can imagine the Israelites hanging beside a river and remembering all that they had before they were captured. They are silent or weeping, too despondent for mirth. I can see the musicians being too depressed to pick up their instruments. But then their bored captors laugh and mockingly demand a tune. Then I imagine the hatred burning through these proud Israelites as they glare back. They slowly comply and sing a defiant psalm.

             As you can tell, I’m a terrible fiction writer. But you get the point I’m trying to make. Use your mind to recreate the scene. All of sudden the Bible goes from “long ago and far away” to “wow, these were actual people with hopes and dreams like me!” I could give tons of examples – from Ezekiel having his crazy visions to Jesus’ agonizing flogging and crucifixion – but you get the gist of what I’m saying.

             The Bible comes alive.

Summary

             As a teenage Christian, I’m in this “Bible reading” business for the rest of my life. I have so much to learn, but God is using people in my life to show me how to unlock the riches in His Word. These are just four tips on an amazingly deep subject (hermeneutics and exegesis**).

             We speak to God through prayer, and we hear Him through the Bible (among many other ways). This series was on reading because I am nowhere near ready to write anything on prayer. Haha, I have a lot of work to do in that area as well.

*Now, I’m fine with a compromise. Reading Genesis AND one of the Gospels works, too.

**Hermeneutics is the principles (guidelines) for interpreting scripture, while exegesis is actually interpreting scripture. Sometimes I just use the word "exegesis" for both, which isn’t the best thing to do.