The Bible Is Not About You!Uddrag

Five Questions to Ask Every Time You Read the Bible

Did you notice over the past few days, we haven’t found ourselves in the Bible? The Bible truly isn’t about us, but primarily about God! And if even the humans who do appear on the Bible’s pages are God’s supporting cast, what does that mean for us, who don’t turn up in the Bible?

The Bible doesn’t tell us how good we are, or that we can accomplish whatever we put our mind to. God’s job is not helping those who help themselves. Understanding humans’ roles in the Bible’s stories, and implications for ourselves, starts by seeing how Jesus is the true and better version of every person in the Bible. This unpopular truth appears throughout Scripture: “For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong,” and “the Spirit helps us in our weakness,” Paul writes (2 Cor. 12:10; Rom. 8:26).

Even Paul’s invitation, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” (1 Cor. 11:1) is at least an invitation to deep, abiding dependence on God, for everything! Our role isn’t trying harder, pulling up our bootstraps, and proclaiming, “I can do it!” Rather, our role—in any situation—is admitting, “I can’t, but God can! God did!”

Every time we open our Bibles, let’s pray that God will give us eyes to see the Bible as His story; that He will help us know where we are in the story; and that He will show us Jesus as the hero of the story.

There are five questions we can ask every time we read the Bible, which can help us know we’re reading the Bible rightly — we can ask these of the whole Bible, of a whole book or chapter of the Bible, or even of a single story, verse, or command!

1. Who is God? What do these verses tell me is true of God’s character and being—whether I believe it or not?
2. What does God do? What do these verses tell me is true of God’s activity, work, and promises—especially through the life, death, resurrection, and reign of Jesus— and again, whether I believe it or not?
3. Who are we? What do these verses tell me is true of mankind, and thus myself—positive or negative—and whether I believe it or not?
4. What do we do? Based on the other three questions, what might God be leading us—or me—to do, by the power of His Spirit, through these verses?
5. How does this passage point to Jesus? How is he both hero and redeemer, and the truest fulfillment of whatever this story, verse, or command contains

There are many ways that Bible texts point us to Jesus, but here are some common ones to look for:

• Prophecy: multiple Old Testament prophets and parts of several psalms predict various aspects of the coming Messiah, which are later fulfilled in Jesus.
• Fulfillment: the Bible often displays human needs and also shows that Jesus fulfills God’s promises. When we find a need or promise, we are driven to understand how Jesus is the fulfillment of either.
• Comparison/Contrast: we find examples of godly and ungodly people throughout the Bible. If we dig under the surface of their action or inaction, we can find in each a comparison or contrast with the heart of God, which we know Jesus alone perfectly reflects.
• Words and Works: by far the clearest way the Bible points to Jesus is by recording His words and works in the gospel accounts. Here we see Jesus as the hero and redeemer of every scene.
• Types and Imitations: typology is a certain kind of symbolism, and specifically “a type in Scripture is a person or thing in the Old Testament that foreshadows a person or thing in the New Testament.” So a parable tells a story, while a type foreshadows Jesus. There are many instances of types in Scripture, and once we start to look for these, our reading will be enriched, and we’ll read through clearer lenses. Here’s one: the animal God killed to cover Adam and Eve’s shame in Genesis 3:21 was a type: it foreshadowed the greater sacrifice of Jesus to cover our shame and remove our sin. Israel’s annual sacrificial Passover lamb, commanded by the Mosaic Law, was similar: Jesus is “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). Other types and imitations—foreshadows and echoes of His life, death, resurrection, and reign—exist throughout the Bible.

Bottom line: The Bible isn't about us; it’s about God. We aren’t heroes of the Bible; we need a hero. And the good news is that we have one—who lived, died, rose, and reigns. Ours is a better hero, better Savior, and better King than anything else under the sun. Just as Jesus is the hero of the Bible’s one big story, and every story in it, Jesus is also the hero in the story of our lives too. And we increasingly understand that as we read the stories of the Bible through the lens of the gospel.

Questions:

1. What are the five questions you can ask every time you read the Bible?
2. How will you remember to ask them as you read?

This study was taken from the book READING THE BIBLE, MISSING THE GOSPEL: RECOVERING FROM (SHOCKINGLY COMMON) WAYS WE GET THE BIBLE WRONG IN OUR EVERYDAY LIVES. Click here to pick up your copy and continue learning how you're getting the Bible wrong.