3 Common Bible Study Mistakes
If you've ever read the book of Genesis, you know it starts off as a fascinating and colorful read. The early chapters (Gen 1-2) are what every children's Bible loves to portray —the world, lush gardens, animals of all sorts. There's the unfortunate bit about the snake (Gen 3), but at least Noah's ark (Gen 6-9) has lots more animals!
You journey along through the book. Abraham is interesting enough. But then you get to Genesis 22 where God calls Abraham to kill his son, Isaac, as a sacrifice. Uh oh. We're not in Children's Bible Land anymore. (Quick! Skip ahead to Joseph's colorful coat!)
Difficult passages like the sacrifice of Isaac give us pause in our reading of Scripture. It no longer can remain a nice story with fun pictures. Unless we skip over it entirely, we are faced with a difficult challenge of understanding the message of this passage. Here's where thoughtfully studying the Bible becomes necessary so that we will not make some of the following mistakes.
1. Reading Our Culture into the Text
The first mistake we can make is to read our own culture into the text. We assume that the culture of the people in the Bible is the same as ours. But what was the culture of the peoples in Abraham's day? What did child sacrifice mean? Was it practiced by other peoples with other gods? What would Abraham's experience of this request have been? How might help us interpret what God was doing there?
2. Reading Our Values into the Text
Another mistake we can make is reading our own values and priorities into the text. We (rightly) abhor the idea of child sacrifice, but then think that a good God could never command such a thing. "God is a moral monster", some would say. He asks Abraham to do something horrific and thus he cannot be good or trusted. But what was God's actual purpose in doing this? What was he accomplishing through this act? Were God's values and priorities higher and greater than our own?
3. Reading Too Narrowly in the Text
A final mistake we can make is not reading enough of Scripture. The Bible forms a unified testimony of God's redemptive plan for the world. Reading broadly and widely will help us see how each piece fits together into a whole and give us a larger picture of God's character that can inform the individual passages we read. What place did this event play in Abraham's life in the long run? How did this play into God's plan of redemption for the world?
When we guard against each of these mistakes through cultural study, careful interpretation of the meaning of the text, and reading broadly in the Scriptures, we are given a fuller picture of what a given passage means and its significance. As these pieces come into focus, our understanding of God's revelation to us becomes clearer and we benefit from a growing knowledge of who God is and how he's acted for the salvation of all peoples.
This level of Bible study is not confined to only pastors or professors. This can be done by each one of us if we take the time to learn how to do it. Let me encourage you to pursue a growing knowledge of not just the Bible, but how to study the Bible. In such study the riches of God's word can increasingly meet you and bring transforming truth into your life, unleashing its impact not only on you, but also on the lives of those you touch.
Consider attending our ACE Class "How to Study the Bible" if you'd like to grow in the practice of studying the Bible! In it you'll gain tools to study the Bible for yourself, so that you can more faithfully read and interpret the Scriptures and encourage others through it.