How Do You Read the Bible?

Introduction

***Brag about friendship with Will

“Since he isn’t here we can talk about him”

“A great friend to have”

So you want to read the Bible? How do you read the Bible? — It starts in elementary school with your ABC’s. Has everyone gotten to that point?

For real: HOW DO YOU READ YOUR BIBLE?

40 writers — 1 AUTHOR

Written over 1500 years

Covering ~4000 years of history

There is no other book like it

The Bible as whole can be best viewed as Meditation Literature. It is designed to read - read - and read again! With each read: something new, reminded of something forgotten, something deepened, something corrected

So you want to read the Bible? How do you read the Bible?

Do you enjoy reading the Bible?

Do you find it struggling or difficult to read it every day?

I believe some of this is due to:

difficult to understand

overwhelming of books, chapters, moments, people, places,

familiar with the Bible, sometimes bored when reading

I am eager to answer the question: HOW DO YOU READ THE BIBLE? But before we get there there is one more question to ask: WHY?

(Curiosity: develop this in your life, natural as a child, forgotten as an adult)

Joshua 1:8 “8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”

Psalm 119:9–11 “9 How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. 10 With my whole heart I seek you; let me not wander from your commandments! 11 I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.”

2 Timothy 3:16–17 “16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”

1 Timothy 4:13 “13 Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching.”

Turn in your Bible to Colossians 3:12-16

WHY DO YOU READ THE BIBLE?

live according to God’s way

Prosperous way

Life of good success

Keep a pure way

To avoid sin

Teach, correct, and train in righteousness

To be complete & equipped for every good work

There are many other verses to answer this question!

Colossians 3:12–17 ESV

12 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Between tonight and next Thursday I want to address the:

MOVEMENTS OF THE BIBLE - develop an understanding of the whole story

LITERARY STYLES - not always the most interesting, still helpful to answer our question, very brief!

DESIGN PATTERNS - time allowing it will be introduced tonight and next week fully addressed.

Design Patterns unlocked a whole new world of reading and approaching Scripture

Movements of the Bible

ANSWERS IN GENESIS

Creation: God created a perfect, peaceful, and beautiful universe in six days.

Corruption: Adam and Eve disobeyed God, bringing sin, death, and a curse into the world.

Catastrophe: Humanity's wickedness led God to judge the world with a global flood in Noah's day.

Confusion: People rebelled at the Tower of Babel, resulting in the scattering of humanity and the creation of different languages.

Christ: The arrival of Jesus Christ, the promised Savior, who lived a perfect life.

Cross: Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross and resurrection to pay the penalty for humanity's sin.

Consummation: The ultimate restoration of all things, culminating in a new heaven and a new earth where there is no more death or suffering.

Let’s first look at the Movements of the Bible!

How the Story Works (condensed version below)

Creation and the Royal Task: God confronts chaos and out of it creates a wonderful, ordered world full of beauty and potential. He then appoints humans to oversee this world and multiply and create new communities. This opening story offers an ideal vision of the vocation of humans. Humans are to take this good world and develop all of its potential while living in harmony with God and each other.

Rebellion and the Fallout: As the humans go about this task they’ve been given, they’re faced with choices about what is good and evil. Will they trust God’s wisdom, or will they seize autonomy and define good and evil for themselves? Here a dark, mysterious character enters the story. It represents evil at its source, and it entices the humans to doubt God’s generosity and rebel. This leads to disaster; humanity’s relationship with God is fractured, and their relationships with themselves, their families, and the earth breakdown. This all leads to the rise of two cities (Enoch and Babylon) where pride and violence reign.

God’s Covenant with Israel: The tension between the just and generous creator God and the rebellious nations who have given into evil develops the plot conflict that drives the storyline of the entire Bible. God’s response sets in motion a plan to restore divine blessing to the whole world. He will do this through one family chosen from among the nations, the people of Abraham, who later become Israel. The story of God and Israel is the first main subplot of the Biblical story. It has three main movements:

Movement One: God Chooses Israel to Bless the Nations

God makes a covenant promise to Abraham’s family to bring them into a land where they’ll become a nation that brings God’s blessing to the world. The family grows, but they become enslaved in Egypt. As a nation, Egypt embodies all that’s gone wrong with humanity: idolatry, injustice, and giving into evil. God raises up Moses and defeats Egypt’s evil, rescuing his people and bringing them to Mount Sinai. There he enters into a covenant partnership with Israel. Furthermore, he will personally live among them. They are invited to obey the terms of the covenant which start with the ten commandments, followed by hundreds more. By being faithful to these commands, they will become God’s priestly representatives to the nations.

Movement Two: Israel’s Royal Failure

Israel enters the promised land, and they blow it–big time. They begin worshiping the gods of the nations around them, leading to corruption and injustice. Even their best kings, like David or Solomon, fail miserably. Eventually the leaders of Israel run the nation into the ground. Then the tribes of Israel are conquered by the superpower, Babylon. Most of the Israelites are then dragged into exile in Babylon. Now we see two big conflicts in the story. All of the nations have continued with their rebellion, ruining God’s good world. Even God’s own chosen people are doing the same!

Movement Three: Israel’s Exile and the Prophetic Hope

Despite Israel’s sin, all wasn’t lost. Among Israel was a vocal minority called the prophets. They had previously warned of Israel’s downfall, but they also made it clear that it wasn’t the end of the story. God had promised to restore divine blessing to the world through this family, and even Israel’s rebellion wouldn’t stop him. Their hope was that after the exile God would return to live among his people once again and a great leader would come and lead Israel in faithfulness to their God. Moreover, it would be through this very leader that God would rescue the world.

Jesus and the Kingdom of God: Enter Jesus of Nazareth who is sometimes called Immanuel, meaning God with us. The four Gospels in the New Testament present him as the resolution to all of the conflict of the Old Testament. They claimed he was the very love of God become human and the embodiment of divine mercy. They claimed Jesus was the kind of human we were all made to be, but perpetually fail to be. Furthermore, they claimed Jesus was the faithful Israelite who would fulfill God’s promise to return divine blessing to all of the nations through Abraham. Here’s how he’d do it. Humanity and Israel’s embrace of evil had created a world of violence and death, but Jesus was a man of compassionate power. He proclaimed that he was bringing God’s kingdom back over the earth and he would confront the tragic effects of evil. But Jesus’ plan to defeat humanity’s evil and sin was to let it defeat him. After dying for the sins of the world, his resurrection from death sealed his victory over all of our evil and death. He now offers up his own righteous life as a gift to those who would follow him.

The Spreading People of the Kingdom: After his resurrection, Jesus’ followers experienced the power of the Holy Spirit indwelling them with his presence in Jerusalem. Jesus appeared in the flesh many more times, sending his followers out as witnesses to share the incredible news of what he had done for Israel and all humanity. This Jesus movement became a multi-ethnic international movement that flourished especially among the poor. It was made up of small communities of mutual love and generosity called “churches.” People would gather to celebrate their new way of life as redeemed humans enjoying an intimate covenant with God. They would eat together and worship Jesus while challenging each other to abide by his teachings. A large portion of the New Testament is made up of letters from Jesus’ appointed leaders called “apostles.” Written to all kinds of different churches, these letters showed the recipients what it meant to participate in Jesus’ kingdom in the first century world. Moreover, the entire New Testament presents Jesus as the way forward for humanity itself. In Jesus, God’s brand new world is inaugurated. His followers continue to look to the day when he will return to finish what he started: conquering evil completely while fully establishing his kingdom on earth with us forever.

The Return of the King: All disciples of Jesus, the apostles, and Jesus himself have set their future hope in God’s covenant promises to completely redeem our world and set all things right. This hope is focused on the return of Jesus to consummate the kingdom he inaugurated through his life, death, and resurrection. On that day, he will return to fully confront and deal with evil in all of its manifestations, removing it completely from his good world. He will make all things new, and people from all nations who submit to his love and justice will be invited into this new creation. It is here, and at an unfathomable degree, that the great human vocation of ruling as caretakers in the presence and goodness of God will be carried forward.

1. Creation and the Royal Task

God creates an ordered, good world and appoints humanity to rule it as His representatives, cultivating creation while living in harmony with Him and one another.

2. Rebellion and the Fallout

Humanity rejects God's wisdom, choosing autonomy instead. Sin fractures relationships with God, others, and creation, resulting in a world marked by pride, violence, and evil.

3. God's Covenant with Israel

God chooses Abraham's family to restore His blessing to the nations through a covenant relationship.

a. Movement One: God Chooses Israel to Bless the Nations

God makes a covenant promise to Abraham’s family to bring them into a land where they’ll become a nation that brings God’s blessing to the world. The family grows, but they become enslaved in Egypt. Rescues Israel from Egypt through Moses, and establishes His covenant at Sinai.

Israel is called to obey God's law and serve as His representatives to the nations.

b. Movement Two: Israel's Royal Failure

Israel repeatedly turns from God through idolatry and injustice.

Even their greatest kings fail, leading to exile in Babylon.

c. Movement Three: Israel's Exile and the Prophetic Hope

The prophets promise that God will restore His people.

A future King will come to rescue Israel and bring God's blessing to the world.

4. Jesus and the Kingdom of God

Jesus fulfills God's promises as the faithful King and perfect human. Through His life, death, and resurrection, He conquers sin and death, offering salvation and inaugurating God's kingdom.

5. The Spreading People of the Kingdom

After Jesus' resurrection, the Holy Spirit empowers His followers to proclaim the gospel and establish churches. The New Testament letters teach believers how to live as citizens of God's kingdom while awaiting Christ's return.

6. The Return of the King

Jesus will return to judge evil, renew creation, and fully establish His kingdom. God's people will dwell with Him forever, fulfilling humanity's original purpose of ruling over His creation in His presence.

HOW DO YOU READ THE BIBLE?

How valuable it is when we are familiar with the movements of the Bible! We are able to fulfill Colossians 3:16-17

Colossians 3:16–17 ESV

16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

The Movements of the Bible unlock and expand our approach and reading of the Bible.

Psalms is a great book of the Bible. It is far greater when you are familiar with the Movement 3 - God’s Covenant with Israel.

The Minor and Major Prophets share some interesting prophecy but also judgement on Israel. When you are familiar with instructions of God in Exodus, you’re like wow God really tried to prepare them and help

We will get into Design Patterns — these become more visible when you are familiar with Movements of the Bible

How are we doing? Any questions, thoughts, or wait a minutes?

HOW DO YOU READ THE BIBLE - Literary Styles

NARRATIVE

Narrative is the primary genre of the Bible because God often teaches through stories.

43% Narrative (Story)

33%Poetry

24%Prose/Discourse (letters, laws, teachings)

Because nearly half of the Bible is narrative, learning how to read stories is essential to understanding Scripture.

Why Does God Use Stories?

Stories are one of the most powerful ways people learn.

They help us:

Understand life's events.

See purpose through a sequence of events.

Remember truth more easily.

God doesn't simply tell us truth—He often shows us truth through people's lives.

The Purpose of Biblical Narratives

The goal is not simply to copy the characters.

Most biblical characters are deeply flawed.

Instead, narratives help us:

See ourselves in the story.

Recognize our own struggles and failures.

Understand God's character.

See God's work throughout history.

Ultimately, every biblical story points us toward God's greater story of redemption.

Types of Narrative in the Bible

Historical Narrative – Records real events in Israel's history (Genesis, Exodus, Samuel, Kings).

Parables– Short fictional stories Jesus used to teach spiritual truths.

Biographical Narratives– The Gospels tell the true story of Jesus' life, ministry, death, and resurrection.

Poetry

33% of the Bible is Poetry

One out of every three chapters in the Bible is written as poetry.

Poetry is one of God's primary ways of communicating truth.

Purpose of Poetry

Uses creative, vivid language to help readers see truth from a new perspective.

Appeals to the heart, imagination, and emotions—not just the mind.

Invites readers to experience God's truth, not simply understand it.

Characteristics of Biblical Poetry

Uses imagery and metaphor to communicate deep spiritual truths.

Expresses emotions such as joy, sorrow, praise, hope, repentance, and trust.

Often challenges our familiar ways of thinking and helps us see life through God's perspective.

How to Read Biblical Poetry

Look for repeated words, images, and themes.

Pay attention to figurative language rather than reading every phrase literally.

Ask what emotions or truths the author is trying to communicate.

Types of Poetry in the Bible

Psalms (Songs): Worship, praise, lament, thanksgiving, and prayer.

Wisdom Poetry: Reflective teaching about life, wisdom, and fearing the Lord (Proverbs, Job, Ecclesiastes).

Prophetic Poetry: Passionate calls to repentance, justice, hope, and God's coming redemption.

Key Takeaway

Biblical poetry is designed to shape our hearts and imagination, helping us experience God's truth in ways that prose alone cannot.

Prose Discourse

24% of the Bible is Prose Discourse

Includes speeches, letters, laws, sermons, and essays.

Focuses on clearly communicating truth through logical reasoning.

Purpose of Prose Discourse

Builds a sequence of ideas that leads to a conclusion.

Explains how biblical truth should shape our beliefs and actions.

Calls readers to respond with obedience and faithful living.

Characteristics of Biblical Discourse

Presents logical arguments and connected ideas.

Uses cause-and-effect reasoning ("if...then..." or "therefore...").

Teaches doctrine, instruction, correction, and practical application.

Often includes commands, encouragement, warnings, and exhortation.

How to Read Prose Discourse

Follow the author's line of reasoning from beginning to end.

Pay attention to connecting words such as therefore, because, for, if, then, and so that.

Ask how each idea supports the main point.

Identify the response the author is calling you to make.

Types of Prose Discourse in the Bible

Law Collections: God's commands for His covenant people (Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy).

Wisdom Instruction: Practical teaching for wise and godly living (Proverbs and portions of Ecclesiastes).

Apostolic Letters (Epistles): Letters written to churches and believers explaining doctrine and Christian living (Romans–Jude).

Key Takeaway

Biblical discourse teaches truth through logical arguments that call believers to think biblically, believe faithfully, and live obediently.

CLOSING - Design Patterns

Biblical authors used design patterns as a key way to unify the story of the Bible. Repeated words, phrases, and parallel themes connect individual stories across the Old and New Testaments. These patterns highlight central themes of the biblical story to show how it all leads to Jesus.

Understanding biblical design patterns is key to reading the Bible as a unified story. The biblical authors were brilliant writers, and the storyline of the Bible is filled with rich imagery and allusions that point to a cohesive narrative. When we learn how to spot these patterns, the entire Bible will come into clearer focus.

Here is an easy example to set us up for next week:

Adam & Eve — in the garden — saw & took fruit

Abram & Sarah — in the promised land — saw and took Egyptian slave

Aaron — base of God’s mountain — saw gold and took it

Achan — victory in the promised land — saw gold and took it

Israel — in God’s land — see Saul and take him as king

David — in the God’s provided palace — saw Bathsheba and took her

EACH OF THESE END IN DESTRUCTION AND DISASTER

Design Patterns typically come to a climax with Jesus. The stories above focus on humans desiring evil and taking it.

The repetition builds up anticipation. Perhaps someone will come and break the pattern. This is why the stories of Jesus have been designed to carry the patterns forward to their climax.

What does Jesus say when he’s faced with his greatest temptation to avoid dying on the cross? “Not my desire but your desire be done.” So the pattern flips. And you have one person resisting temptation, and his suffering provides life for many.

Design Patterns are the main way God in His divine authorship and human writer have unified these hundreds of stories together. And every pattern develops a core theme throughout the whole biblical story that leads to Jesus.