The Relationship of the Bible
Follows the message Rooted in Scripture from the Rooted series
If Bible reading feels like a chore you keep failing at, the problem may be how you think about it. Scripture is the God-breathed Word, and every time you open it, its Author is present to help you understand it. Treat it as a relationship, and you'll find yourself coming back for more.
Key takeaways
- The Bible is God-breathed: God's own words, given through human authors carried along by the Holy Spirit.
- To read it well, start with what a passage meant to its first readers, then ask what it means for you.
- Scripture is a daily need, like daily bread, not dessert or medicine you reach for only when something hurts.
- Christians still need the Old Testament, because without it the cross makes little sense.
What are you actually holding when you hold a Bible?
You are holding God's own words, given through human authors. The Bible is God's story spoken through people. It is fully inspired by God, and you can still see the humanity of the writers God chose to use.
Peter explains how that works:
For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
2 Peter 1:21
Paul tells Timothy the same thing: all Scripture is God-breathed (2 Timothy 3:16). God-breathed means Scripture comes from God Himself, even though human authors wrote it down. In both Hebrew and Greek, the word for spirit is also the word for breath. So when you open your Bible, you are reading words the breath of God brought into being.
On Beyond Sunday, Pastor Sean Sloan and his guest Kirk Matthews admitted something honest here. Every verse is inspired, but not every verse feels inspirational. Genealogies and ceremonial law take effort. That doesn't make them less true. It means some reading is work, and the work is worth it.
How should you read it so you don't get it wrong?
Start with what a passage meant to its first readers, then ask what it means for you. The episode leaned on a principle from Gordon Fee's book How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth. The Bible can never mean what it never meant.
That keeps you from starting with "what do I think this says to me?" Instead, you ask what God was saying to the people who first heard it. Then you ask how His words apply to your life today.
Kirk summed it up as two things that are true at once. Go as deep as you can, and handle it with care. You can't take Scripture however you want. It was written to real communities for a reason.
Is the Bible a daily need or an occasional help?
It is a daily need. Jesus taught His followers to pray for daily bread, and Scripture is meant to feed you the way regular meals do.
Kirk said many people treat the Word like dessert or medicine. They reach for it when they want a pick-me-up or when something hurts. If you saw it instead as the food your spirit needs every day, you'd realize how much you need it.
It also never gets old. Watch a movie for the third time and you'll catch details you missed. Scripture does that a thousand times over. Long-time readers still say, "I never saw that before."
What does biblical meditation mean?
Biblical meditation means turning God's Word over in your mind and speaking it to yourself throughout the day. The word can make some Christians nervous, but it is a biblical practice. The Hebrew word carries the idea of muttering or murmuring to yourself.
Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the LORD, and who meditates on his law day and night.
Psalm 1:1-2
Think of a song lyric stuck in your head all day. Scripture can live in you that way. When you say a verse out loud, even softly, your voice and your ears join your mind. God gave Joshua the same instruction as he stepped into leading Israel.
Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.
Joshua 1:8
The life that is truly life is built on God's Word.
Do Christians still need the Old Testament?
Yes. Some people say Jesus did away with the Old Testament, so you can ignore it. Pastor Sean and Kirk disagreed firmly. Jesus fulfills the law where people got it wrong. Some twisted it to fit their own agendas; others slid into legalism. Some things don't carry into the new covenant. But throwing out the Old Testament throws out the foundation.
Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.
Matthew 5:17
As the episode put it, without the Old Testament the cross is meaningless. Matthew opens with a genealogy full of names you wouldn't know. The cross makes little sense apart from Psalm 22, the tabernacle and temple, sacrifice, and atonement.
Reading the whole story also shows how often Jesus claimed to be God. That leaves the choice C. S. Lewis described in Mere Christianity: liar, lunatic, or Lord. Jesus doesn't leave you the option of calling Him only a good teacher.
Why does this book deserve your trust?
It deserves your trust because it carries God's authority and it leads to life. The same Word that John 1 says was with God in the beginning became flesh in Jesus. Some followers walked away from Jesus after hard teaching. Peter answered for the rest:
Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life."
John 6:68
For example, Kirk shared about a former professor who served as a missionary to a country where Christianity is illegal. He smuggled in ten verses written on a tiny scrap of paper. Believers there held on to those ten verses with their whole lives. Most of us have the whole book sitting on a nightstand.
Build a relationship with the Word
- Pick one verse and say it to yourself through the day, out loud when you can.
- Before asking what a passage means for you, ask what it meant to its first readers.
- Read some Old Testament alongside the Gospels this month.
- Set a reading goal, and when you miss a day, start again the next morning instead of quitting.
- Before you read, ask the Author to help you understand what He meant.
Pray
God, thank You for breathing out Your Word and putting it in my hands. Give me a hunger for it every day. Help me read it carefully, live it faithfully, and know You through it. Amen.
Common questions
What does it mean that the Bible is God-breathed?
Paul writes in 2 Timothy 3:16 that all Scripture is God-breathed. And 2 Peter 1:21 says the prophets spoke from God as the Holy Spirit carried them along. God used human authors, and His Spirit stood behind what they wrote.
Do Christians still need the Old Testament?
Yes. Jesus said He came to fulfill the Law and the Prophets, not abolish them. The genealogies, the sacrifices, the temple, and passages like Psalm 22 are what make the cross make sense.
What is biblical meditation?
Biblical meditation means turning Scripture over in your mind and speaking it to yourself through the day. The Hebrew word carries the idea of muttering, and Psalm 1 and Joshua 1:8 call God's people to meditate on His Word day and night.
What if I keep failing at a Bible reading plan?
Treat it like a relationship, not a pass or fail test. If you drop the ball with a friend, you reach out again. Do the same with God's Word: go as deep as you can, handle it with care, and keep coming back.
Your next step
Reading Scripture is better with others. Find a group at Calvary and open the Word together this season, or take your next step.