INTERSECT: How Should We Read the Bible?

As depraved creatures, we are prone to the error of extremes. This problem not only shows up in our daily habits, but can also affect the way we read the Bible. Let me illustrate this point with two approaches to Bible study: (1) the proof-text approach, and (2) the exegetical verse-by-verse approach.

The first could be called the “shotgun approach,” since it tends to gather different passages on a single topic—compiling all the Bible teaches about a given issue. This is a necessary method of studying the Bible, referred to by theologians as Systematic Theology. The burden of this method, however, is that care needs to be given to the context of each passage consulted. Unfortunately, folks often pull some word, phrase, or idea out of a passage without first understanding its function in context.

This leads to a misappropriation of Scripture and impedes the understanding of what the Bible actually says. Gathering passages on a common theme or topic requires much digging and a detailed study of every text. Only through this kind of hard work do we adequately reach a proper understanding of biblical teachings on theology and practice.

The second approach is the verse-by-verse method, working through a specific text in painstaking detail. We research the historical background of the passage and analyze the literary context surrounding the passage—all before studying the words and phrases within it. The goal is to arrive at an accurate interpretation of what the author was saying to his own audience.

But it does not end there. The final step in verse-by-verse study is to transfer meaning from the original context to our own. This is one of the most difficult steps, because we are prone to start with application first. When we do this, however, we bypass the meaning of Scripture and read into it our own preferences and convictions. Instead, we need to draw it from the passage. The more effort we expend in trying to understand the Bible’s teaching in its own world, the more we can identify application for our own day. Scholars call this process exegesis.

Another danger in verse-by-verse interpretation is to think it is the only way to study the Bible. Indeed, it helps maintain fidelity to the text of Scripture and makes it harder to import our own views and culture into the text. Yet if we push things too far, we can become narrow in our understanding of the Bible. We develop a segmented understanding of biblical truth, never seeing how the parts relate to the whole.

A similar problem exists in the arena of preaching, with advocates of expository preaching arguing it is the only way to preach. Don’t get me wrong. I think a healthy diet of verse-by-verse exposition of the Bible is the best (even primary) means of stimulating growth and maturity in the church. But surely there is a place for putting things together into a cohesive theological framework.

Reading and studying the Bible needs both synthesis and exegesis. We must organize biblical teaching into a comprehensive system of thought if we are to move from the biblical text into the context of our own world. We must distill the underlying principles of Scripture in order to interpret our world in a distinctly Christian way.

I recommend that we read the Bible both exegetically and systematically, since both are necessary for the life of the church. Systematic Bible teaching needs the rigor of sound exegesis to avoid the misuse of Scripture by inserting our own context and ideas. Those immersed in exegesis also need to pull back from the details to understand the meaning of each passage in light of the whole canon.

But we must consider one last and final step. Both study methods should be anchored in the overarching story of redemption as it unfolds progressively through the Bible. Creation, fall, redemption, and new creation—this progressive framework is the fundamental perspective of the Bible. Each text and doctrinal teaching needs to be oriented toward Christ and the story of redemption. God the Father is working to subjugate all things under the feet of his Son (Hebrews 2:5-8), realized once and for all at His second coming.

As followers of Christ, we need to understand the broad outline of Scripture, the progressive record of God’s redemptive work in history, the thread that ties the biblical canon together. Scripture is a unified and cohesive message from God. The exegesis of individual texts is necessary, because individuals from diverse times and places penned the Bible. The human nature of Scripture makes it necessary to understand the author’s meaning as intended for his unique context. Still, as a divinely given book, the Bible must be read as a cohesive whole by connecting individual contexts and meanings to one another and to the redemption story.

In short, we need to read the Bible both in part and as a whole, with careful attention to locating individual passages within the story of redemption. We should avoid unhealthy extremes in our biblical interpretation, and keeping these three aspects in mind—exegesis, synthesis, and the redemptive context—should help us to do so.

About the Writer: Matthew McAffee is coordinator of Theological Studies at Welch College. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree at Welch College, Master’s degrees from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and University of Chicago, and is currently pursuing his Ph.D. from University of Chicago.