Reality SF

We believe the Bible is a unified library of texts that tells a cohesive story culminating in Jesus. We read the Bible because we want to encounter Jesus, understand the story of how God is redeeming the world, and find our place in that story. During this Year of Biblical Literacy, we are trying to become more adept at reading and understanding the Bible by reading it through - some of us for the umpteenth time and some for the first time ever. But how should we generally read the Bible? And why exactly are we beginning in Genesis and working our way forward toward the New Testament? Let's answer the first question first and look at a few fundamentals on approaching the Scriptures. First, we read the Bible by reading the whole Bible. Specifically, we read both the "Old Testament", which is essentially the Jewish Scriptures arranged in a slightly different order, and the "New Testament", which is the collection of Christian texts written in the first generation or two after Jesus. Typically, Jewish converts to the Way of Jesus begin with the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) and find that it eventually leads them to Christ. They then begin to explore the New Testament. Most gentile (non-Jewish) Christ-followers, however, typically discover Jesus through first exploring the New Testament, and then later (if ever), they go back to the Old Testament to see where everything started. Part of the beauty of the Bible is that it works both ways. It doesn't matter where we begin. But to get a full picture of God's story, we have to do the homework and read the rest of the story. All of it matters and it all fits together to paint one cohesive picture. If we leave any parts out, we may end up accidentally distorting those parts that we read to mean something other than intended. For many of us, the first major shift in this year's approach to reading the Bible is that we're actually reading the Old Testament. The whole Old Testament! Biblical illiteracy often stems largely from a lack of serious attention to the Old Testament. Some of us really never even open it. Therefore, the first challenge of the Year of Biblical Literacy is to discipline ourselves to read these old texts and to learn to understand and appreciate them. Secondly, we read the Bible in a kind of back-and-forth rhythm. s mentioned, we can read the Bible in either of two directions. Like many Jewish converts, we can read it forward, beginning with the Hebrew Scriptures and working our way toward the New Testament's presentation of Jesus as their fulfillment. Or, like most Christians today, we can discover Jesus in the New Testament Christian Scriptures and then read backward, studying the Old Testament in order to explore the earlier story and promises that Christ fulfilled. We call this reading forward and backward, inspired largely by theologian Richard Hays' wonderful book, Reading Backwards. Another way to think about it is reading Jewishly versus reading Christianly, or reading developmentally versus Christologically. But going forward, we'll use the forward-backward paradigm. The second foundational approach to reading the Bible then is not only to read the whole thing but to read it both forward and backward in a kind of ongoing rhythm. We ought not to read the Bible in only one of the directions mentioned. This too can cause us to miss out on much that the Bible has to offer. In fact, one of the most surefire ways to misread the Bible is to read either only forward or only backward. As with any good long story, we should start at the beginning and read forward to the end, and we should then go back and re-read it, allowing the climactic ending to shine new light on the earlier chapters of the story. If we only read the ending without really understanding the beginning of the story, we'll misunderstand its meaning. But it would be foolish then to never allow the ending to in some sense reinterpret and reimagine the rest of the story. Both of these approaches to reading the Bible are important and both lead to their own kinds of understanding. What is key is that the insight gained from reading in one direction enables us to better go turn and read in the opposite direction. The Bible wants to propel us on this back-and-forth journey. The Year of Biblical Literacy challenges us with the discipline of reading forward through the Bible, from Genesis to Jesus. Those of us who are unfamiliar with the Old Testament are likely also unfamiliar with reading the Bible forward and perhaps even uncomfortable with the notion. It can feel like we're pretending to be the Old Testament people of God for half of the year until we finally reach the Gospels at the end of the summer. Therefore, this year's journey is an opportunity to discover a more balanced approach to Bible-reading. It's a chance to practice our weaknesses. And this means of course that it often won't feel fun or easy. It's a discipline! And the goal is not to perfect our understanding of the Bible this year but rather to build momentum that will propel us toward a lifelong journey through the Bible moving continuously from Genesis to Jesus and back again. This rhythmic approach to reading is a huge, lifelong project, not something we'll check off our box this year. The aim is to spend the year growing in Biblical literacy in order to then spend a lifetime enjoying the life-giving fruit of Scripture reading. Treat this Year of Biblical Literacy as a beginning. Use it to set yourself in motion and to train yourself through daily practice to read and enjoy the Bible for the rest of your life. Like all training, especially at the beginning of a new workout routine, this year will likely feel painful and difficult and even disorienting at times. That's just part of the workout.