How should I read the Bible?

Most people who give up on reading the Bible do not give up because it is boring.

They give up because they opened it in the middle of Leviticus with no idea what they were looking at.

Ask what it meant before you ask what it means

Every passage was written to somebody, in a real place, about a real situation.

Ask that question first. What did this mean to the people who first heard it?

Only then ask what it means for you.

Reversing the order is how a promise made to Israel about returning from exile ends up printed on a coffee mug.

Context is not a technicality

Notice what kind of writing you are in. History reads differently from poetry, poetry from law, law from letters, letters from prophecy.

Read the verses on either side of the one you are studying.

Ask who is speaking, to whom, and why.

These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.

They were commended for checking. That is not suspicion, it is care.

Let the clear passages interpret the difficult ones

Every reader hits verses they cannot resolve.

Build your understanding on what Scripture says plainly and repeatedly, then work outward to the hard places.

Doing it the other way around, building a doctrine on one obscure verse, is how most bad teaching begins.

Read it as one story

The Bible is a library, and it is also a single unfolding account.

Creation. Fall. Covenant. Redemption. Messiah. Restoration.

Knowing where a passage sits in that story explains more than any cross reference will.

Read to be changed, not only informed

You can study Scripture accurately and remain untouched by it.

Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Pray before you read. Ask the Spirit to teach you. Expect Him to press on something.

Where to start

Start with a Gospel. John or Mark.

Read a chapter at a time rather than a verse a day, so you can see an argument develop.

Get a readable translation and stay with it long enough to get familiar.

Short and consistent beats long and occasional.

So how should I read the Bible?

Prayerfully.

In context.

As one story.

Letting the clear explain the difficult.

Consistently, in ordinary amounts.

And expecting it to change you, not only to inform you.