We’ve all been told a thousand times in church and Sunday school: say your prayers, read your Bible. But have you ever grappled with trying to read Scripture consistently? Or do you struggle to understand what you read? Then this video is for you. Let’s take a look at this together.
Welcome to answers from an apostolic faith.
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, One God. Amen.
My beloved, it seems obvious to all of us that one of the most essential aspects of the life of the Christian believer is the belief that Holy Scripture is the inspired word of God handed down to us by the Church in holy written tradition. And no one can believe this and not exert an honest effort in attempting to daily reading Scripture. And so, it is fitting for us today, as we continue in our series of Back to Basics, that we discuss the importance of Holy Scripture as a crucial part of the believer's life. And so today we ask the question: How do I build a connection with Holy Scripture?
Now, many of us have attempted several times in our lives to be consistent in our Bible reading. Some have succeeded, many have not. Some complain that while they do read, they don't retain knowledge or they don’t understand. And all of these are hurdles that the believer must both overcome and even anticipate when pursuing a true relationship with Holy Scripture. Like all habits that lead to our salvation, we must expect that we will be warred against with the purpose of having us give up. Nevertheless, it is crucial for us as believers to always remember the importance of daily scriptural reading and also to understand why the Church prescribes this as an essential part of our relationship with the Lord our God.
My father of confession when I was younger used to always tell me: If you have not read your Bible, don’t eat. Do not feed the body, unless you’ve first fed the soul, he would say. Now, some may hear this and think it's extreme, but in truth, there's a valuable lesson to be learned here: Scripture is one of the most vital foods that the soul will nourish itself on. It is the word of God that sustains the mind and the will of the human being.
After Moses died, the people of Israel had lost their great leader and heroic prophet. Now, Joshua, Moses’ disciple, suddenly found himself with the daunting task of filling some very big shoes. It is here that the Lord speaks to Joshua and gives him an extremely important commandment by which he must establish his ministry. Let’s read together what the Lord commands Joshua:
'' 7 (...) be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go. 8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.'' (Joshua 1:7-8)
This is in Joshua, chapter 1, verses 7 and 8.
This commandment to Joshua is clearly applicable to us today. We are called, just as he was, to do three things:
1) Have the words of Scripture be on our mouth, meaning we should use Scripture as the foundation of our lives and speech, just as Christ Himself did when He was tempted by Satan in the wilderness. His every response was scriptural. We should therefore be acquainted and even memorize scripture that we may be guarded by its valuable teachings.
2) To mediate in it day and night. The word of God should be the very thing that occupies our mind and hearts: being inspired by those it speaks of as heroes, learning from the lessons found within it and finding life in its very words and teachings, specifically the life and teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself as He handed down to us in the Gospels.
And finally...
3) That we observe to do all that is found within it. Seeing it as the standard of our lives and actions, the very inspiration of how we ought to live.
Now, needless to say that we can only hope to achieve this level of dedication, is that we have a genuine and committed effort, that we make an effort to read and understand Scripture on a daily basis. And for us to be able to do this, let me suggest a few key principles that would probably set us up to succeed:
1) Have a spiritual guide. No one attempts to jump into the ocean when they're trying to teach themselves how to swim; that would be both futile and dangerous. It's the same thing that applies when diving into Scripture. Even Scripture itself tells us that we need someone to unlock for us the mysteries found within it. When St. Philip the Apostle saw the Ethiopian eunuch reading Scripture alone, he asked him: Do you understand what you are reading? And the Eunuch replied in the book of Acts and said the following:
'' 31 (...) ''How can I, unless someone guides me?'' And he asked Philip to come up and [to] sit with him.'' (Acts 8:31)
We too need that same guidance and support if we're to attempt to understand Scripture.
2) Devote the right time to reading. Most people will attempt reading right before going to bed. Now, I ask you honestly: Is this really the time when you are most awake and focused to receive the word of God? For many, heading to their bedroom at the end of a long day is usually the time where you are most tired: your mind is exhausted and all you want to do is sleep. If this is the case, then assign a different time to your reading. Try reading at a time when you're refreshed, maybe before eating or before studying, or even in the morning before starting your day, but be consistent and devote that same time every day.
3) Your reading ought to be about quality and not quantity. While reading plans that help you finish the bible in a year can be useful for some people, I want us to please ensure that we're setting ourselves up to read Scripture not as if it were a textbook. It must be read carefully with the intention of having an impact on your life. And so if this means we take the time to read, to write notes, to meditate, to ask questions to our spiritual guides, then so be it. A single chapter a day of focused and intentional reading is often much better than the sprinting through of a dozen chapters and we retain nothing.
4) Finally, don’t just read, but study Scripture. We are blessed to have access to many scriptural commentaries in the Orthodox Church. And all of these that can help us properly interpret and understand what we are reading. And to unlock these hidden gems, we ought to search out what the mind of the Church has to say about the passages that we read. I would personally recommend that you consider using Fr. Tadros Malaty's commentaries. This most blessed Father has written commentaries on almost every book in the Bible and he has packed them with historical and contextual facts, with spiritual meditations, as well as early Church patristic commentary. We encourage you, please, look him up online and you will surely find that the body of his work can be of great benefit to you as it was personally for me.
Now we’ve discussed the how to approach the establishment of a committed relationship with Scripture. However, it's just as important to speak of the demeanour and the mindset that we need to have when approaching Scripture. To do this, let’s look towards some great and holy people whose relationship to Scripture is exemplary. Let's begin with a great father of the early Church, St. Irenaeus of Lyon. He says the following:
''...By the will of God, [the evangelists] handed the gospel down to us in the Scriptures – to be the ground and [the] pillar of our faith.'' (St. Irenaeus, Against Heresies)
Scripture is truly indeed the solid ground and pillar on which we establish our faith. While we do not limit our understanding of all theological matters to biblical text only, surely we benchmark all of our beliefs to that which is revealed to us in the mystery of the divinely inspired Scriptures.
Another great saint is Augustine of Hippo. He teaches something of great importance. He says the following:
''...To believe what you please, and not to believe what you please, is to believe yourselves, and not the gospel...'' (St. Augustine, Contra Faustum, Book XVII)
Now, he says this when arguing against Faustus, a heretic. And we have to understand that we begin with the premise that we cannot pick and choose or even reject what we like or don’t like in Scripture. As Christians, we are called to both accept and understand the cumulative message of the entirety of Scripture. We ought never to take a single verse or passage, and oftentimes out of context, and make any conclusions based on that one passage. We must bring all that we read into the complete understanding of the mind of the Holy Church, inspired by the Holy Spirit.
Now, St. John Chrysostom, who has many poignant sayings on Scripture, teaches us the following as well; he says:
''It is not possible, I say not possible, ever to exhaust the mind of Scriptures. It is a well which has no bottom'', he says. (St. John Chrysostom, Homily XIX on the book of Acts)
Rest assured, dear brothers and sisters, that no matter how many times we read over the same scriptural passages and stories, that the Holy Spirit will speak something new to us that we are in need of hearing. The Bible is not a novel that we pick up and read once and say: Done! I've read it. No! No matter how many times we approach it, we are convicted with a new message, or at the very least, reminded of what we may have forgotten.
Finally, I will share with you what two great Syrian fathers have left for us as advice. Let's begin with St. Isaac the Syrian. He says:
''In all things that you find in the Holy Scriptures, seek out the purpose of the words, that you may enter into the depth of the thoughts of the saints and understand them with greater exactness. Do not approach the reading of the Divine Scriptures without prayer and asking the help of God. Consider prayer to be the key to the true understanding of that which is said in the Holy Scriptures.'' (St. Isaac the Syrian, Sermon 1)
Great advice indeed!
Now, St. Ephraim the Syrian, he complements this by teaching us what that prayer can look like. He says:
''When you begin to read or listen to (...) Holy Scriptures, pray to God thus: ''Lord Jesus Christ, open the ears and [the] eyes of my heart so that I may hear [Your] words and understand them, and may fulfill [Your] will.'' Always pray to God like this, that He might illumine your mind and open to you the power of His words. Many, having entrusted in their own reason, have turned away into deception.'' (St. Ephraim the Syrian)
Let us learn from all of these great saints, my beloved. Let us seek a serious and committed relationship with the word of God and let us pray and ask that the Holy Spirit may speak to us and open our hearts and our minds to receive and keep the words of Scripture that we may live by them all the days of our life.
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Remember: Know your faith, live your faith, and teach your faith.