I have recently been reading through Mortimer Adler’s How to Read a Book, and I came across a passage that stood out to me for its applicability to Bible reading. In context, Adler is talking about how to approach reading a difficult book. He proposes a simple solution: “In tackling a difficult book for the first time, read it through without ever stopping to look up or ponder the things you do not understand right away.”1
He then goes on to make a statement that really caught my attention. The first two paragraphs are for context; the third paragraph is what I want to highlight:
What you understand by reading the book through to the end—even if it is only fifty percent or less—will help you when you make the additional effort later to go back to the places you passed by on your first reading. And even if you never go back, understanding half of a really tough book is much better than not understanding it at all, which will be the case if you allow yourself to be stopped by the first difficult passage you come to.
Most of us were taught to pay attention to the things we did not understand. We were told to go to a dictionary when we met an unfamiliar word. We were told to go to an encyclopedia or some other reference work when we were confronted with allusions or statements we did not comprehend. We were told to consult footnotes, scholarly commentaries, or other secondary sources to get help. But when these things are done prematurely, they only impede our reading, instead of helping it.
The tremendous pleasure that can come from reading Shakespeare, for instance, was spoiled for generations of high school students who were forced to go through Julius Caesar, As You Like It, or Hamlet, scene by scene, looking up all the strange words in a glossary and studying all the scholarly footnotes. As a result, they never really read a Shakespearean play. By the time they reached the end, they had forgotten the beginning and lost sight of the whole. Instead of being forced to take this pedantic approach, they should have been encouraged to read the play at one sitting and discuss what they got out of that first quick reading. Only then would they have been ready to study the play carefully and closely because then they would have understood enough of it to learn more.2
Now while Adler was not thinking of the Bible, I found the quote to be rather applicable to how many of us have been shaped in our Bible reading habits. In various ways, a lot of us have been discipled into reading the Bible in short chunks.
Adler’s example of high schoolers reading Shakespeare is analogous to how much expository preaching is done or to how many Bible studies are conducted. The text is broken down into small chunks and examined systematically to the point that you could have a six-month sermon series on Romans or spend eight weeks studying a short book like 2 Timothy. Details are dissected, commentaries are consulted, the languages are mined for meaning, all at the pace of a few verses at a time. A constant diet of this form of reading divorces the passages from their overall context to the point that they may become more memorable for their applicability to certain doctrines or practices than for how they fit into the flow of the book. Test yourself on the following passage, one that is ripe for a single sermon or a portion of a Bible study:
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a ringing gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have absolute faith so as to move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and exult in the surrender of my body, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no account of wrongs. Love takes no pleasure in evil, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
1 Corinthians 13:1–7, BSB
What is the overall context of Paul’s discussion of love here? Where does it fit into the flow of his epistle? Why does that place matter for what Paul is doing when he brings up the subject of love? These are important matters that can easily fall by the wayside when we are not accustomed to reading whole books of the Bible. And on top of that, there is the problem that the Bible may seem just plain boring when viewed as something to be dissected and never taken in whole.
Compounding the tendency to read small portions of Scripture is what I like to call the verse of the day mentality. This practice is rather pervasive all around us, from signs hanging on walls, to daily Bible verse calendars, to inspirational social media posts. They train us to remember verses and sentiments devoid of context, to the extent that the verses are often misapplied. There are many well-known misused verses, but those are not my focus here. Consider these examples—usually applied correctly—and think of whether you can place them into a context or into the flow of the biblical text:
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
Romans 3:23, BSB
God made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.
2 Corinthians 5:21, BSB
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off every encumbrance and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with endurance the race set out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrews 12:1–2, BSB
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and dine with him, and he with Me.
Revelation 3:20, BSB
How did you do at remembering the context those verses fit into? If you were able to place them in their broader context, you are likely in the habit of reading larger chunks of Scripture.
Because some major tendencies around us train our minds to view the Bible in such a compartmentalized fashion, a good antidote is to read (or listen to) entire books of the Bible in single sittings or even publicly in church. By reading whole books of the Bible—or at least substantial units of it—the people of God are exposed to the whole counsel of God in the context in which he intended. We gain a better understanding of how God’s words were heard by their original audience and how it might apply to us today.
Be honest with yourself. Have you ever heard a longer passage of Scripture read and been a little surprised when you heard a familiar verse plopped in the middle of it? I certainly have felt that at various times. I think that effect happens because of how often we have learned verses and passages divorced from their context. Here’s one more example:
5Thus says the Lord:
“Cursed is the man who trusts in man And makes flesh his strength, Whose heart departs from the Lord. 6For he shall be like a shrub in the desert, And shall not see when good comes, But shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, In a salt land which is not inhabited.
7“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, And whose hope is the Lord. 8For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, Which spreads out its roots by the river, And will not fear when heat comes; But its leaf will be green, And will not be anxious in the year of drought, Nor will cease from yielding fruit.
9“The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it? 10I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give every man according to his ways, According to the fruit of his doings. 11“As a partridge that broods but does not hatch, So is he who gets riches, but not by right; It will leave him in the midst of his days, And at his end he will be a fool.”
Jeremiah 17:5–11, NKJV
Did you catch the well-known verse? Did it feel a little surprising to hear it in its context? That likely indicates you have only ever rarely read this chapter or heard it read in full. (If you didn’t catch it, the well known verse is Jeremiah 17:9; that might be a sign that you didn’t read any evangelistic tracts or hear gospels presentations that used the verse to demonstrate human sinfulness).
So when you read the Bible, if you feel like you have forgotten the beginning of the book or lost sight of the whole, or if you find yourself not being able to place verses into their context, try reading whole books of the Bible all at once (in all honesty, whole books don’t take all that long to read; depending on your reading speed, longer books like 1 Samuel or Matthew might take you two hours, while you could get through shorter books like Lamentations or Ephesians in about 15–20 minutes). And take Adler’s advice. If you don’t understand something, just keep on reading. Get the big picture. Then read it again. You’ll probably catch more on the next read through, and you’ll be better prepared to study the text in detail and you’ll learn to better remember the context of those isolated, well-known verses.
