Reading

Comprehension

Reading is a vital skill for modern life. Often people will say, “I’m not a reader.” Of course, what they mean is that they do not consume books or long articles on a regular basis. However, just reading signage and navigating the normal interactions of life such as grocery shopping, doctors appointments, and work requirements engages us in reading as a tool. But even though we all use this tool everyday, for many people, their reading ability is limited to certain kinds of tasks. Fortunately, the skill of reading can be improved through education and practice.

The difference between those who can use the skill of reading simply to navigate life and those who can use their reading ability to grasp more complex or abstract arguments is really about reading comprehension. Reading comprehension includes the process of decoding and using language skills to understand the words, which is a part of the skill we all use. But it goes on to apply our background knowledge and to keeping track of the connections and communication in the story or those that make up the argument.

It is vital to our understanding of any text that we not only know how to read but also how to read it. We must have the background knowledge and connections to make sense of what is being communicated. This is called context. It is essential to reading comprehension and especially so with the Bible!

How do you read it

When a certain lawyer came to test Jesus with a question regarding the acquisition of eternal life, which led to Jesus' famous parable known as, “The Good Samaritan,” he asked the Lord, “What shall I do to inherit eternal life (Luke 10:25-37)?” Jesus answered his question with two questions, one was about the content of the Law. This is more than just the ten commandments. Jesus was asking him about what was taught in the Old Testament regarding being in covenantal relationship with God, particularly in the Torah. Of course, this is the expertise of the lawyer! He was a scholar of the Law, so Jesus is pointing out that the answer to his question about eternal life is found in the revelation of God.

But Jesus also asked a second question, “How do you read it?” The revelation of God regarding righteousness, forgiveness, grace, mercy, and love is available in the pages that this lawyer has spent his whole life studying, but the issue is reading comprehension and interpretation. Jesus is asking him about the way he reads these words. Obviously, Jesus is not asking if he reads the Bible on his knees in prayer or seated at a table. Jesus is asking about the lenses that he uses to interpret the text. By lenses, I mean the set of pre-understood notions or presumptions that he is bringing to the Bible.

Depending on the presuppositions that someone has they will come to different conclusions when reading a written text. When you and a close friend share an inside joke that requires you both to know the context which makes it funny, then other people who might overhear the communication do not know. So if we are to understand the Bible we must learn to let the Bible define the context and the presuppositions that we use to read the Bible. Why are there so many different groups of people who believe so many different things about the Bible when many if not most of them are attempting to read it for what it says? The answer is that they are all using different presupposed contexts to read the same book which leads to the various interpretations.

The Words of Eternal Life

So, how do we learn to read the Bible correctly? We must go to the words of Jesus! I am not saying that the quotations of Jesus, what are commonly referred to as the red letters, have more authority than the rest of the Bible. Rather I am saying that we should take the teachings of Jesus, who is the head of the church (Colossians 1:15-19), as the context for how to read the Bible. We should use the way that Jesus used and interpreted the Old Testament to be the model for how we should read it. We should also extend this logic to the way that the Apostles interpreted both the Old Testament and the words of Jesus because they learned their interpretive skills from the Lord Himself. So we must seek to read all the Bible according to the process and principles that we find in the inspired interpretation of the New Testament.

I may have brought up more questions than answers in this post, but let’s all resolve to have the humility and diligence to be like the noble Bereans who searched the Scriptures to know the truth (Acts 17:10-12)!

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