As our walk with Christ deepens, we want our understanding of the Bible to deepen as well. Whether we are already regular readers or still struggling, we want God’s word to come alive as we seek to understand what God reveals in it. And part of that means going deeper into what the Bible says.
When we’re reading, there are often verses that stand out to us. Sometimes they seem incredibly encouraging, frustratingly confusing, or oddly contradictory to other parts of the Bible. Regardless of how Bible verses stand out to us, there are some questions we can ask as we dwell on them and seek to understand certain verses better.
This list can seem intimidating and mentally exhausting, especially if we’re just trying to understand a single verse. Don’t treat this like a checklist – instead, think of it as prompts that can get us moving in the right direction. Treat this as a resource to help you as you go deeper into God’s word. In time, you’ll find that you’re asking (and answering) these questions without realizing it.
What kind of book am I reading?
The entire Bible is essential and true, but each book is unique in its own way. Authors have different writing styles, and certain books are different in their genres.
Think of it like this: a poem, history book, and letter require us to read and understand them differently.
- a poem gives truth through creative language and style
- a history book reports the facts
- a letter speaks to a specific audience.
All three can speak the truth, but they all require different approaches as we read them if we hope to understand the truth they’re speaking.
Example: Is Genesis 1-3 real in how it reports creation and the Fall, or is it a myth? If we read and understand Genesis chapters 4-50 as a literal, historical account, what does that mean about how the first three chapters are understood?
(See my discussion about creation here)
What happened before?
We have the unfortunate tendency to decide what a Bible verse means based on how it makes us feel. Without reading what’s happening around the verse, we’ll conclude its meaning apart from the larger context of where that verse is being said. When we do that, we often misrepresent God by making Him say things He didn’t say.
If we don’t want to take God’s words out of context, an important step we can take is looking at what was said leading up to a particular verse. In other words, why did the author say it? By going back and seeing the buildup to what we’re reading, we can often get a bigger idea of what is being said.
Example: The verse “I can do all things through him who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13) has found itself on countless coffee mugs, living room walls, and human bodies. It’s the rallying cry for anyone who is going through self-doubt, and it’s what we tell ourselves when we want to nail a job interview or win a competition. We always quote this in the face of adversity and difficulty as we look forward to fair skies and easier living.
However, reading Philippians 4:10-12 shows us why Paul is saying this and what he means. Notice that he talks about difficult and good times. Is he really talking about how Christ is a source of self-empowerment and our means of escaping hardships or is Paul talking about what it takes to serve Christ in all circumstances, including when things are going well?
(Check out this article to see how I breakdown Philippians 4:13)
What happens after?
When we watch lawyers on TV, we often see a lawyer ask vague, mysterious, and seemingly random questions as they try to get a confession from a witness. The opposing side will often yell “Objection!” and it’s always exciting when the judge warns “I’ll allow it, but you’d better be going somewhere with this.”
When we’re trying to understand what the Bible is saying, it can often help us to read ahead and see where the writer is going. What we’re reading may have a totally different meaning than we first assumed when we realize that it’s just the beginning of a much bigger point.
Example: Who doesn’t love Romans 8:28 when life seems random? And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28)
We can initially assume this means that everything bad will eventually turn out good for us. We may even start treating life as a long line of karma – bad things happen now, so good things must be coming later. We measure “good” in this verse by the world’s standards, whether it’s our health, wealth, or overall positive events in our lives. Of course, this gets confusing when we realize that none of Christ’s apostles retired to an easy life, but instead lived in regular persecution until the day they were executed by those who hated them.
Yet when we read where Paul is going with this in Romans 8:29-39, we see that God measures “good” much differently than we do. With that bigger picture, we may realize that we’re accidentally expecting God to serve us instead of the other way around.
(This article discusses how Romans 8:28 gives us an idea of God’s desire for our lives)
What do the words mean today?
What does Romans 3:25 mean by “propitiation”? What is a covenant? The Bible can have some words we aren’t sure about, yet they’re often crucial to our understanding. If we want to understand a verse, it’s essential to understand the words used to create it. Going to Dictionary.com or using a Bible dictionary can often help us clear things up.
Example: The word “therefore” has a specific use in grammar. Check out this article and podcast where I discuss why this word should immediately make us stop reading.
What did the words mean then?
Because the Bible was written in Hebrew, Greek, and a little Aramaic, our Bibles are only a translation into our own language. Even the best translations are limited by how well an ancient language can be accurately rewritten in a way that makes sense. Things like sentence structures may be wildly different, words and phrases used then may not make as much sense in our modern context, and all translators throughout history have had to make difficult decisions on the best way to translate something that could be translated multiple ways.
Bible dictionaries can help this, as can looking at the context clues around the word to better understand what it’s saying.
Example: Paul often refers to himself as a “servant” of Jesus Christ. The Greek word for this is doulos, which might be better translated as “slave.” The reason it’s not translated this way is obvious, but learning the author’s understanding of that word offers a better picture of our lives in Jesus Christ.
(What did Paul mean by the “tongues of angels”? This article uses context clues to try to understand a very confusing statement in the Bible)
What do good resources say?
For better or worse, we live in an information-rich world. It’s necessary to be on guard in an environment where anyone can be just as loud as an expert. A benefit, however, is that we can find many trusted sources that we can rely on to help us understand things that we’re struggling to grasp. Blogs, podcasts, magazines, YouTube videos, books… there’s almost no end to the helpful resources we have at our disposal.
Commentaries are especially useful in this regard, as their purpose is to explain what the Bible is saying. Check out this article for how you can use a commentary in your daily Bible reading. We can also go to our pastor or another mature Christian we trust to understand a confusing part of the Bible. And, of course, the internet is full of wonderful men and women who have dedicated their lives to teaching God’s word.
What do people I disagree with say?
It’s common sense to go to people we trust when we have questions. Yet, something that’s helped me grow over the years is to look at trustworthy sources I disagree with. I do this for two reasons.
First, it gives us a bigger perspective and alternative understanding from people who have done the work and tried applying their worldview to their interpretation. When I’ve written about supernatural gifts, the Prosperity Gospel, or done a deep dive into other religions, I’ve made sure to read from more than just people who agree with me.
Second, it forces us to better understand why I believe something. It’s always tempting to stay in an echo chamber where we surround ourselves with like-minded people who praise us for saying the right things and don’t challenge us on our beliefs. By finding good sources we disagree with, we have an opportunity to ask ourselves why we believe something. It also lets us dig deeper into a passage if we know we disagree with them, but we know we can’t fully support why.
Some may fear that looking at alternative views may cause them to doubt, but that’s only further evidence that our faith needs to be strengthened, not coddled. Don’t ask this question in isolation – we should weigh contradictory beliefs alongside those we believe are true, and it’s vital to go to people we trust when something causes us to doubt. However, if our beliefs are true, they should stand up under scrutiny or alternative ideas. If they don’t, we need to ask ourselves if we believe truth or just tradition.
Overall, looking at alternative interpretations can genuinely sharpen our own beliefs. The goal isn’t to find someone easy to pick apart but instead seek out those who will help our faith grow by forcing us to understand why we believe what we believe.
Example: Does God exist? If we stick within our Christian circles, we’ll never really have a reason to dig into why we believe He does. When I wrote the article “Arguments For (and Against) God’s Existence,” I read and listened to respected atheists to make sure I accurately understood a belief utterly opposed to my own.
What did this mean to the original readers?
This can, arguably, be the most challenging task for new and old readers alike. We must remember that the Bible wasn’t written to us, but to specific audiences thousands of years ago. In a way, reading the Bible is almost like eavesdropping and learning about people based on how they interact with one another. We’re seeing things being said, but we must remember that someone like Paul is writing to a specific group of people at a unique time in history at a particular place in the world. In other words, we need to get inside the minds of the original audience to understand what it meant to them before we can know what it means for us today.
Depending on how much someone loves history, we can either do the heavy lifting ourselves or find some trustworthy sources who can help us better understand what was happening at this time in the Bible. Things like the ban on decorated trees in Jeremiah can lead us to weird conclusions if we don’t first understand why the Israelites wanted to follow a local custom. Often the Bible will give us context clues to help us understand why something is being said, but there are plenty of examples of things that may not make sense without digging into history through other sources.
Example: What does it mean to be a lukewarm Christian? Check out this article or podcast episode that discusses what lukewarm water actually meant to the people reading this warning.
What does it reveal about God or people?
A simple rule worth keeping in mind is that God’s word will often reveal one of two things: God’s greatness or our wickedness. From Genesis to Revelation, we constantly see a good, holy, loving God interacting with rebellious, sinful, prideful humans.
This is especially important today when so many harmful Bible teachings want to use the Bible as a source of self-empowerment for us, or to turn God into either a tyrant or a vending machine. So much of our interpretations go wrong because we want to read the Bible to make ourselves feel good, but all that does is point our hearts away from Christ and toward ourselves. Likewise, we want to use God to fulfill an agenda or serve our own desires, reducing His majesty to serve ourselves.
Example: What does it mean in Jeremiah 29:11 that God doesn’t have plans to harm us? Many want to use that as evidence that God only wants to give us health, wealth, and easy living. This discussion digs into what this famous verse reveals about God and His people.
What does it mean for me today?
Not all of these questions will always be asked, and we may answer them in different orders each time. However, I’d argue that this should always be the last question we ask.
So often, when we read God’s word, we’re in it for ourselves. We want to get something out of it that will propel us through the rest of the day or help us overcome whatever struggle our doubt we’re experiencing at that moment. Unfortunately, when we do that, we risk robbing the Bible of its bigger purpose and instead make it all about us.
Not only that, but I hope this article has shown that there’s so much more to God’s word than simply opening it up and interpreting it through how it makes us feel. We want to be responsible readers, and doing that means we can’t approach it like either a self-help book or a series of rules. By understanding the what and why of what we’re reading, we can glorify God in how we apply it to our own lives.
Final thoughts
Again, don’t be intimidated by these questions. Their purpose isn’t to overwhelm anyone but to make our time in God’s word more meaningful and intentional. They can seem daunting at first, yet over time we find ourselves answering them without realizing it.
We’ll naturally start respecting the context of a set of verses. We’ll find ourselves curious about the bigger picture, whether it’s the genre of a particular book or digging into the history of what’s happening. We’ll start bookmarking websites (or actual books) that both agree and disagree with us so that we can keep growing in our faith.
These questions can be hard to answer, but they’ll help us interpret and apply what we’re reading. It’s not as easy as opening our Bibles for 30 seconds, but our walk with Christ deserves to be nurtured, strengthened, and deepened by a better understanding of God’s word.
