Life with God

On Ash Wednesday liturgy, we were called to the observance of a “holy Lent,” a season in which we focus, among other things, on “self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God’s holy Word.” This week I’d like to share some thoughts on “reading and meditating on God’s holy Word.”

Over the past several years I’ve been using The Life with God Bible in my devotional reading of scripture. This study Bible seeks to approach the Bible through “the lens of spiritual formation,” seeking to “combine the highest possible biblical scholarship with the deepest possible heart devotion.” It also seeks to help us “experience Scripture as living and active, forming and transforming.”

In the introductory section, the editors – including Eugene Petersen, Richard Foster, and the late Dallas Willard – share what, in my mind, is a helpful introduction to the important question of “how” we read the Bible. They begin by encouraging “reading with the mind,” which involves identifying the basic literary forms of scripture – law, history, poetry, wisdom literature, prophecy, apocalyptic, gospel, and epistle – in seeking to put the biblical text in its context, both on the level of the individual books and within the entire canon of scripture.

They also encourage “reading with understanding,” which they break into four categories. First, we read the Bible literally, “from cover to cover, internalizing its life-giving message.” Second, we read the Bible in context. To the extent this is possible, we seek to understand the original intent of the biblical author, and then “allow that intent to control our comprehension of the passage.” Third, we read the Bible “in conversation with itself.” In other words, how we interpret individual passages of scripture is determined by how we understand scripture as a whole, with its overarching narrative of Creation, Fall, Redemption, and New Creation. Finally, we read the Bible “in conversation with the historic witness of the People of God.” The church throughout space and time has been reading scripture, seeking to hear the voice of God in and through the text. It would be foolish to assume that we, either as individuals or even as a local congregation, can discard the wisdom of past generations, or ignore the unique perspectives that Christians from other languages and cultures bring to bear on the biblical text.

In addition to reading with mind and understanding, the editors encourage us to read “with the heart.” In order to do this, they suggest the ancient practice of lectio divina (“divine” reading). Lectio divina involves several “stages”: listening to the text, submitting to the text, reflecting on the text, praying the text, applying the text, and, finally, obeying the text.

One of the hallmarks of the Protestant Reformation, including the English Reformation, has been to encourage laypeople (and clergy!) to develop an intimacy with scripture. Morning and Evening Prayer are saturated with systematic reading of scripture, and, today, we have a wealth of study aids to facilitate understanding of the scripture that we read.

The challenge for most of us, however, is carving out space in our lives for this discipline of engaging scripture. I pray that each one of us would take this seriously, because to the extent we are formed and shaped by the story that scripture tells, to that extent we will encounter the God who inspired scripture – the one who, through Christ and in the power of Spirit, is remaking the world according his purpose. Reading scripture isn’t a burden, it is rather an invitation to life with God, a life that is open to us all.

Peace,

Chris