How to Read the Bible
"If any man loves me let him keep my words"
The Bible (The Good News) is God's Book for Man. It is of Divine Origin, not written by men but written under divine inspiration?God's book given to lead us into everlasting life.
God's Book for Man
God Revealed Himself to every generation little by little.
Five thousand years of God's direct dealings with humanity, revealing Him through events. Preparing Humanity and Giving us Prophecies, proofs, to Accept His Son. It prepares our hearts to receive God, making our dwelling with Him.
"If any man loves me let him keep my words, and my Father will love him and we will come and make our dwelling with him"
Two Ways of Reading
Intellectual Mastery
- Subjects meaning to own understanding
- Compares with others' interpretations
- Suitable for science and literature
- Gives man mastery over the world
Spiritual Submission
- Submits mind to the text's meaning
- Sets text as highest criterion
- Indispensable for reading the Bible
- Gives God mastery as Creator
The Danger of Confusion: Reading the Bible with intellectual mastery makes God appear small and limited, fostering a false sense of human superiority-the "very same forbidden thing that Adam committed".
Understanding vs. Memorization
Spiritual Understanding
Aims at Experiential Knowledge, not research, investigation, or study.
Centers on acceptance of a divine truth that steadily grows and permeates the mind as it is brought into willing obedience.
Leads to the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge "human knowledge".
Expands with the truth towards infinity ("into all the fulness of God").
Intellectual Memorization
Demands moving from submission to mastery and possession of the truth.
Involves determining, summing up, and defining the truth so the mind can absorb and store it.
Weakens divine truth, stripping it of its power and breadth.
Is not a suitable way to approach the Bible and brings minimal results.
Spiritual Memorization
"The Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my Name, will teach you all things and remind you of all that I have told you"
The Holy Spirit grants recollection, reminding the reader of the Spiritual Experience whenever and however God wishes.
The Holy Spirit recalls words in depth and breadth, giving irresistible wisdom and spiritual power to bring out the glory of the verse.
Man prepares for this by keeping his heart conscious of the Word through frequent pondering and storing it up out of love and delight.
Reciting the Word for personal benefit builds an awareness of heart and a relationship with God, whereas doing so to build relationships with people (as a teacher/servant) only passes into the intellectual memory.
The Practical Way to Understanding
The true entrance into the Gospel is not intellectual, but spiritual; it must be obeyed and lived out first.
True zeal, burning love, and total obedience to God's commandments open the door to the mystery of the Gospel. Spiritual understanding is the result of forming a relationship with God through obedience.
Saints like St. Antony the Great attained astonishing knowledge of the Bible not through literacy, but by carrying out a single commandment ("leave everything and follow Christ") with precise determination.
This practical obedience transforms into an understanding that springs from experience, forming a living relationship between man and Christ. It is not merely an understanding of texts, but a knowledge of the life and power that springs from the verse.
Entering The Gospel Mystery
No intellectual means can unlock the Gospel. You Have to try it! The Gospel is spiritual-it must be obeyed and lived before it can be understood.
Obey One
Carry out just one commandment precisely with true zeal.
Discover
Experience God fulfilling His promises in your own soul.
Receive Faith
Mind becomes eager, faith kindles, love and fear of God grow.
Enter
Understanding deepens through faithful obedience.
The Greatest Commandment
"IF YOU WANT TO BE PERFECT GO SELL ALL YOUR POSSESSSIONS AND CARRY YOUR CROSS AND FOLLOW ME"
Hearing the Call: St. Antony, while still a young man, entered a church and heard the Gospel reading (Matthew 19:21).
Immediate and Unconditional Obedience: He didn't ponder, research, or intellectually dissect the verse. Instead, he acted with "precise determination" and an "unrivalled resolve." He immediately sold his possessions, gave the money to the poor, and committed himself to monastic life.
Fulfillment: Became The Father of all monks all over the world.
Not Literacy, But Lived Experience
St. Antony was largely illiterate. His deep understanding did not come from being able to read and write extensively, but from carrying out a single commandment.
Knowledge from Relationship: His understanding was a "knowledge of the life and power that springs from the verse." It formed a "living relationship between man and Christ".
Because he lived the Word, the Holy Spirit granted him an understanding that surpassed any academic achievement.
Practical vs. Academic Meditation
Academic Meditation
- Product of ideas from study, research, pondering, and logical deduction.
- Stimulates the mind but leaves the spirit unmoved.
- Provides an image of God but cannot bring us face to face with Him.
- Can lead to a worship that is merely formal and a false intellectual devotion.
Practical Meditation
- Comes through inspiration perceived as a result of the soul's experience, trials, and struggles in following the Gospel commandments.
- Attained through secret obedience and the faithful clinging of the heart to God in seemly fear and true humility.
- Builds an inner life with God which impregnates a man's words and teachings with divine power, allowing him to convey the mystery with a single word, as the Fathers did.
- The true way the Gospel should be understood and preached.
The Early Church's Power
Simple, ignorant of manuscripts, newly converted?yet their spiritual life was a powerful example of Gospel living.
"Blessed are the poor in spirit"
They sold everything and laid money at the Apostles' feet
"Blessed are those who mourn"
They despised all suffering in service of the Lord
"Blessed are the persecuted"
They bore cruelest humiliations and attacks
"Watch and pray"
They met in catacombs to watch and pray all night
"Love your enemies"
They bowed necks to the sword in humility, no resistance
Their secret: They lived by what they heard. Every commandment fell on faithful hearts prepared to act sincerely.
Building on Rock or Sand
The Foolish Builder
Hears but does not obey
Like building a house on sand-when storms come, great is the fall. Reading remains useless, understanding powerless, memorization empty words.
The Wise Builder
Hears and obeys
Like building on rock-storms cannot shake it. Word becomes firm through practical experience, receives mysterious aid of Holy Spirit.
"Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house upon the rock" - Power of the word depends entirely on practical experience of it.
A Terrifying Example: Balaam
Prophetic Gift, Unobedient Heart
Balaam was a genuine prophet... yet, despite this extraordinary spiritual capacity, Balaam was driven by insatiable greed.
Spiritual Blindness
The incident where his donkey supernaturally spoke to him... highlights his profound spiritual blindness, prioritizing worldly reward over divine will.
Consequences of Corruption
Ultimately, Balaam's corrupt heart led him to devise a plan for the Moabites to tempt the Israelites into idolatry.
The Core Lesson
Great knowledge, prophecy, or even miraculous abilities are useless and cannot save if not accompanied by a life of integrity and sincere fear of God. Mental knowledge left unpracticed brings spiritual danger.
The Parable of the Sower
"Take heed how you hear"
Along the Path
Devil takes word from hearts before they believe and are saved
On the Rock
Receive with joy but have no root-believe briefly, fall away in temptation
Among Thorns
Choked by cares, riches, pleasures of life-fruit does not mature
Good Soil
Hold word fast in honest, good heart-bring forth fruit with patience
You hear with your heart, not your ears. Inner life affects the word-either killing it or making it thrive.
The Uncircumcised Ear vs The Circumcised Ear
Closed Eyes and Ears
Determined not to be influenced, afraid of God's demands
Refusing to give up positions, possessions, plans, relationships
Resisting the Spirit: Passing quickly over certain passages, escaping anxiously from God's voice
The Circumcised Ear
No barrier preventing hearing God's voice-like young Samuel: "Speak, Lord, for your servant heareth"
Joyfully submissive to voice of God. Alert to hear His call.
Ready to respond, no matter the cost. Courageous to act against self in obedience.
Honoring the Gospel
Make It a Crown
Set the word over your whole life with respect, reverence, and fear
Receive with Humility
Stand in fear of God, open heart in prayer- God's directions come through Gospel
Taste Its Power
Those who taste Gospel's power in life show even greater veneration
Church Tradition Preserves This Zeal:
- Priest offers prayer before reading
- Deacon calls congregation to stand in fear
- Priest removes shoes-standing in God's presence
- Congregation kisses Gospel with joy and tears
Some always fast to read the Gospel. Some always kneel. Some always read with weeping and tears.