Reading the Bible
Practical guides on reading Scripture by genre, book by book, with the context the text deserves.
22 guides in this topic.
Wisdom and its edges
A woman in your group has prayed over her adult son for twenty years.
6 min read
The Old Testament Arc
Ask most churchgoers what the Old Testament is about, and they will name a character: Abraham, Moses, David.
6 min read
The Old in the New
Picture the scene.
6 min read
The New Testament Arc
Imagine being handed Acts 17 with no context.
4 min read
The Kingdom of God
When John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, he had one sentence: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matt 3:2).
6 min read
The Gospel Through the Canon
Two disciples are walking away from Jerusalem, three days after the crucifixion, convinced the story is over.
6 min read
The Gospel Announced
Imagine a soldier stationed in a remote post in 1945, cut off from communications for weeks.
6 min read
Temple and Presence
When the priests completed the dedication of Solomon's temple and stepped back, something happened that stopped them in their tracks.
4 min read
Reflective Reading
At first, we come to Scripture to learn, to understand what it says and what it means.
3 min read
Reading the Psalms
Psalm 88 ends like this: "my companions have become darkness" (Ps 88:18, ESV).
6 min read
Reading the Gospels
Someone in your group has almost certainly asked it, even if they phrased it as a doubt: "Why does John put the temple cleansing at the beginning of Jes...
6 min read
Reading the Epistles
Walk into almost any gym locker room in America and you'll find Philippians 4:13 on the wall.
6 min read
Reading by genre
Picture someone reading a legal contract the way they'd read a love letter.
6 min read
Reading Apocalyptic
A church in Smyrna is being economically strangled.
7 min read
Prophets as covenant voice
Picture Amos standing in the royal sanctuary at Bethel, an outsider from Tekoa who tends sycamore trees, delivering a verdict to a prosperous nation.
6 min read
Narrative as revelation
Nathan could have confronted David directly.
6 min read
Inspiration of Scripture
Somewhere around AD 65, a man named Paul is sitting in a Roman prison, aware that his execution is not far off, writing a last letter to a younger pasto...
7 min read
How We Got the Canon
One of the most persistent myths in popular Christian culture goes like this: Constantine called the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD, bishops voted on which...
6 min read
Gospel Equilibrium
Every generation of Christians has to relearn the balance of the gospel.
4 min read
Exile and Return
The last image of Eden is a closed gate.
4 min read
Covenant as Spine
Most first-time readers of the Bible experience it as a library of disconnected books.
5 min read
Authority and Inerrancy
A student in a Bible study once paused mid-session and asked a question that stopped the room cold: "If Matthew and Luke describe Judas dying differentl...
6 min read