Crucifixion Church
Faith Formation Dept.

How to Read the Bible...

It should first be noted that most, if not all, of the advice or notes in this section can be found in any Catholic Study Bible.

How to find a book, chapter and verse in the Bible:

To find a specific verse in the Bible, you must first find what BOOK in the Bible you are looking for (the word "bible" means collection of books, an important point to remember when reading the Bible).

The book is going to be named after its author or subject (Job or John, for example), event or events (like Exodus or Acts of the Apostles), its audience (Thessalonians or Timothy) or what is included (Proverbs, Wisdom).

The next thing to look for once you have found the BOOK, is to find the CHAPTER in that book (John 3:16).

The CHAPTER is going to tell you where in that book the verse you are looking for occured. They are numbered in ascending order (1, 2, 3...)

After you have found the CHAPTER, you will need to find the VERSE itself. This will be numbered in ascending order as well.

These will be listed after the BOOK and CHAPTER, sometimes following a colon (John 3:16) or comma (John 3, 16).

Notes While Reading the Bible:

ALWAYS read with the eyes of the Church:

It was the Catholic Church who gave the world the Bible, Old and New Testaments. It was the Catholic Church who translated it into the language of the people. It was the Catholic Church who spent hours, days, and years copying it exactly so that the Bible could be shared. It is the Catholic Church who boasts the greatest assembly of biblical scholars the world has ever known. Look to them to better understand the Bible. This sometimes requires more work than simply sitting down and reading, but it will prove to be much more spiritually fulfilling, enlightening and enriching.

If you wanted medical advice for your physical health, you might try to read a textbook, but, ultimately, to have a complete view, you need to see a doctor, a trained expert in the field.

Why would it be different for your spiritual health?

Slower is better:

If one has grown up in the faith and maintained some semblance of that faith into adulthood, he/she will have a wealth of stories, teachings and/or quotations stored away. This great experience can actually act as a detriment to continued and mature growth in appreciation for the Bible and the faith itself.

This is because we are so good at connecting the dots in our head automatically when we know what's going to happen. It is very easy for certan words or events to slip through our minds as we read the Bible because we already know the "big picture" and little, seemingly insignificant details are skipped without a second thought.

Consider the next time you read the Bible, to slow down and let every, single, word, resonate with you in your mind. Ask yourself questions like, "What would this word have reminded the first readers of?" "What does it remind me of?" or "What idea was the author trying to show by using this word?" to help in putting yourself in the intended mindset of those whose eyes first read the message of the Gospel.

Know the background of whatever book of the Bible you are reading:

As mentioned before, the Bible isn't just one book, but a collection of books. That means that there are several books with different genres, written by different people at different times all within the binding of Genesis to Revelation.

These books all need to be read with this understanding. When a poet writes using imagery or hyperbole within a poem, the poet did not necessarily intend for the reader to take it as a literal fact, whether historical or theological.

Know the intended audience of whatever book of the Bible you are reading:

Just like you would cater a letter to adjust your speaking style to a certain audience, so too did the authors of the Sacred Scriptures.

This is going to affect the words or images that are used, and may even affect how the story is told.

For example, it is widely accepted that the Gospel of Matthew was writen to a Jewish audience. This means that the author knew his audience would already have been aware of Jewish customs and beliefs and very familiar with the many prophecies that Jesus fulflls in that Gospel.

It helps to know a little history:

Just like we have certain landmarks, phrases or images that evoke certain emotions or ideas, so, too, did those present in the times and places of the Bible. Translations help as much as they can in this regard but even they cant convey the message that is intended when a character speaks about a certain town or person.

For example, the Catholic Church uses chapter 16 of the Gospel of Matthew as a basis for the Pope, specifically when Jesus gives Peter the "keys" in Caesarea Philippi (Matthew 16:19). There is significance in both the symbol and location of this scene that would be lost without proper understanding of the context.

The "keys" are an image used to remind Jewish people of the office of Prime Minister in the Davidic Kingdom (see Isaiah 22:22), an office that Peter would take in Christ's new Kingdom of God. Also, Caesarea Philippi was recognized as a prominant place of worship of the Roman Emperor. Jesus was undermining the Roman ruler by promoting a new one, His Vicar the Pope, to a place where worship will be brought back to the true God.

Read with the author's intentions and the audence's assumptions:

Though the message of the Bible transcends all times and cultures, authors, audiences and original languages don't.

Because we want God to "speak to us" through the Bible, it becomes very tempting to impose our own meanings onto the words of the Scrptures. This creates a subjective truth carrying the weight of God with it and becomes a very dangerous weapon.

When the Holy Spirit inspired the Sacred Authors to write what they did, they still had to communicate that message effectively to the people who would hear it. This requied tailoring how one wrote as well as what one wrote.

This is more specific to the genre or audience point made earlier because it deals with particular words, phrases or figures of speech that would have resonated with any audience within a particular genre.