How to Read Scripture
In the Parable of the Talents, Jesus pictures God investing in us. The investments are gifts of his grace that empower us to bear fruit for his kingdom. One of those great gifts we enjoy is the wide accessibility of the Bible in English, with high literacy rates, and the ability of pastors to be educated in the languages and backgrounds of Scripture. Not all Christians have this “five talent” situation, but we do. How can we invest these talents to bear fruit?
Before we look at that question, we have to lift a few burdens. First, not all of us are expert Bible scholars, which is okay. As the early church writer Tertullian said, “Your faith has saved you, not your skill in the Scriptures.” Second, the Bible’s main purpose is not to be a collection of moral tales that help us cope with life, but it does provide that. Third, the Bible we use has numbered chapters and verses to find specific places.
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Reading Scripture as the Author Intends
However, it is not intended to be broken down into minute, numbered lines that overwhelm us. Having lifted those burdens, we freely engage with the Bible and how the Holy Spirit inspired it. The story of the Road to Emmaus in Luke 24 is one place to start. Here, Jesus goes through all the Old Testament, Moses, and the Prophets to show how they reveal Himself. Yes, the Old Testament’s purpose is to reveal Jesus Christ!
There is a key to all of Scripture,
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
John 3.16
We will not always understand all of the details of Scripture, and there are many confusing places; the main point is to prepare the world for the coming of Christ, to reveal that coming, to call all men to salvation in him.
Joseph as an Example
The story of Joseph in Genesis is a great place to show how the Bible works. Joseph can be read as a moral tale of patience, trust, and humility. It is useful to see it that way, though to see it only that way misses the main point. Let us ponder the story of Joseph to grasp this picture. He is loved by his father but misunderstood and resented by his brothers. He is put in the ground, left for dead. He is falsely accused and jailed. By a miracle, he is raised to the King’s right hand. He uses his position of power not to destroy his brothers but to save them. He saves his Hebrew family; he saves the Egyptians by storing up and distributing grain to everyone. He places his family in a safe place in Egypt, living alongside them.
The Trinitarian Connection
Does this sound familiar? The Father loves Jesus His Son; His own people and all people misunderstand him.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. … He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
John 1.1, 10-13
He comes to the earth but is misunderstood, resented, and finally crucified and buried. God raises the Lord Jesus miraculously, seating His Son at His right hand. Instead of using his power to destroy us, he uses it to save us. Jew and Gentile, united, reconciled in reunion with God and each other. He provides for us from the storehouses of his grace.
The Holy Spirit inspired Scripture, so these historical stories are true. They relate to us through the people of God and the language and culture of their day. Not all the details directly relate in every way, and yet they are given to us to prophetically reveal God’s love for us through the incarnate Son.
A Royal Heritage for All Believers
This is our family history, the good, the bad, and the ugly. It is all there; Scripture does not conceal the truth. God’s intervention is also in our history, bringing about reconciliation from alienation. The individual stories of each human being, both corporately or individually, intersect with the family history of the human race, and all flow back to Jesus Christ.
The Holy Spirit’s Power by Scripture
We bear fruit when we experience these stories in light of the big story, allowing the love of God to be told to us repetitively. We are transformed when the Holy Spirit opens our ears to truly hear and believe that God does indeed love, forgive, and heal us. And when we listen to the stories of those around us and tell the story of God’s love, they are called from estrangement from God’s family to restoration and peace through Christ.
So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.
Galatians 3.24-29
Reader, here ponder the collect for the Second Sunday in Advent,
Blessed Lord, who caused all Holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that by patience and the comfort of your holy Word we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
BCP 2019, pg. 598
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