Reading the Bible with new eyes

There are (very roughly) two groups of people who are beginning to read the Bible anew:

1. The Bible is “somehow known
   These are, for example, people who grew up in churches or free churches and now want to read the Bible with new eyes.
2. The Bible is unknown
   There is a steadily growing group of people who hardly know anything from the Bible anymore. You’ve heard about the Bible, but you don’t know the stories. One would like to know the Bible.

Whatever the reasons for starting to read the Bible, the first step is always to really start reading the Bible. So, here we go! Grab the book, read it, and read it regularly.

When reading the Bible, it is particularly helpful to read continuously, i.e. not to pick out individual Bible passages that particularly appeal to you. Only by reading continuously do you discover connections. Even though it seems boring all the time (unless you’re into gender registers), the same names and thoughts appear over and over again. That the Bible has an inner connection can only be discovered by oneself.

No matter what your starting point is, the Bible can be read with profit.

However, let’s take a brief look at these different starting points. How you deal with the Bible is probably very individual and possibly shaped by one of the two starting points mentioned.

The Bible is “somehow known

Those who received a certain “view” of the Bible in their childhood may find this an advantage or a disadvantage. The fact is, however, that almost all of us approach the Bible with certain assumptions and expectations. This is also true for the New Testament. If we would like to understand the New Testament better, it would be useful if we do not put ideas over the Bible from the outset. Are you frustrated with past experiences? Then try to take some distance. Try to read as if you were reading the Bible for the first time. “Be a tourist in your own country.”

The point at which Christians begin to think critically about their own views could not be more different. Some stumble upon certain views. Again and again I meet people who said they had hardly heard anything about the Bible in their own church. Not infrequently, a reorientation begins through one’s own experiences that cannot be processed with the internalized view. Others have forgotten the youthful experience, and wake up one day with a desire to pick up the Bible again. Still others note that the ideas preached from the pulpit are often not at all consistent with the biblical passages quoted. All of these people often want a fresh start. Just as you “grow up” as a person, you can also “grow up” in your personal faith. Various Bible writers even place special emphasis on this.

“Be a tourist in your own country.”

I myself belong to this group. My way to a better understanding was to start reading the Bible again, but with a critical eye to my previous assumptions. What I discovered then was like a new beginning. However: not everyone stands in this place. Therefore, now another look at the second group.

The Bible is unknown

A growing number of people do not know the Bible. We live in a post-Christian age. The self-evidence of belonging to a church, let alone an understanding of the Bible, has not existed for a long time. That is why many people grow up without any reference to the Bible.

In this situation, often neither churches nor free churches are very helpful. Those who do not fit into the mold of the particular community are often not welcome. Or, in other words, if you have questions outside the consensus, you overburden the community. In addition, a certain piety (or: aloofness) is often cultivated, which not everyone from outside the church necessarily wants to activate for themselves.

“But I do not want to become pious, nor do I want to belong to one of these strange churches”.

Those who are now dealing with the Bible for the first time are therefore faced with a special task. How can I learn to understand this book and where can I find people who want to walk such a path with me? Not a few people add, “But I don’t want to become devout, nor do I want to belong to one of those strange churches.”

Personally, I find such a starting position an advantage – one does not have a Christian imprint and can therefore immediately attend to one’s own concerns. It is easier to grasp the essence if one does not have to strip off many layers of religious imprinting first.

The New Testament in keywords

This article is about a few such thoughts and approaches, with which one can read even the New Testament with profit. There are two questions:

• Why does it work?
• Why is it not possible?

Both are important. We should, on the one hand, learn to recognize what the Bible writes about and, on the other hand, avoid making our own projections on the Bible that are not helpful for understanding.

The following is in keyword form. Not everything is described. These terms, however, and these thoughts describe essential themes of the New Testament. When you start reading the New Testament, it will be easier to see the “common thread.” This is a quick start and yet only the beginning.

Why does it work?

1. The New Testament
   The New Testament is the second part of the “Christian Bible” and was written in the first century. It is the written testimony of all that Jesus did and all that His followers and imitators built during that time. The New Testament includes descriptions of Jesus’ life (the Gospels or accounts), Acts (or: how things went on after Jesus was gone), letters, and a prophetic book (the Revelation to John).
2. The Old Testament
   There is no New Testament without an Old Testament. They are connected. The “old” and “new” delude us into thinking that one is over and the other applies now. But it’s not that simple. If I want to understand the New Testament, I cannot do so without understanding the Old Testament (Tenach) and what is written there. It is an ongoing development. At every turn, the New Testament refers to the Old Testament. Let us also remember that Jesus, the apostles and all the writers of the New Testament were all Jews who knew only the “Old Testament” (the Tenach) as the Bible.
3. Jesus Christ
   It is about a person in the New Testament. It is about Jesus of Nazareth, born in Bethlehem, crucified, died and buried, and raised and made alive on the third day. This is witnessed. His disciples and the later apostles become “witnesses of his resurrection”. This establishes hope and expectation and is seen as the action of God in this world.
4. The municipality
   The followers and later imitators of Christ Jesus are a community of faith. They are people who see themselves called by God and have responded to the Good News with their lives. Two particular types of church have emerged in the New Testament: There is a group of believing Jews, especially in Israel, who await the fulfillment of the promises to Israel with the 12 apostles. Somewhat later, a 13th apostle is called, Paul, who as “apostle to the nations” calls out today’s worldwide church from all nations. Two communities, of which especially the last community gained importance in the past 2000 years.
5. Israel
   In the so-called Gospels, Jesus speaks to Israel (Mt 15:24). His task was to confirm the promises made to the prophets of Israel (Rom 15:8). The sermon was “The Kingdom of Heaven has come near!”. This messianic kingdom was waiting for the approval of the people, which did not arrive. Several times this kingdom was offered to the people (Acts 2:36), but always rejected. After that there was the work of the apostle Paul, but not without expectation for Israel (Rom 11:25-27).
6. God’s work
   Central in all these things is the realization that God is working into this world. He is the creator, also the sustainer of this world. Paul explains in several places that God did and does this through Jesus Christ (Acts 17:24-31, Col 1:15-20). The Bible speaks of God revealing Himself to man, meeting him, and having something in mind for this world. God’s activity becomes visible in all the previously mentioned themes.
7. Redemption
   Every person faces two problems in this life. These problems are his mortality (death) and his inability to do everything right (missing the mark or sin). Sin and death (or: failure of purpose and mortality) cling to us all. That is a sober and completely value-free statement. Now the Bible talks about how God provides two solutions for this. Death is once replaced by life (1Cor 15,22, 2Tim 1,9-10). The miss of the target is replaced by God’s own righteousness. This is God’s work in this world, all the way to the goal wherein He will be “all in all” (1 Cor. 15:28). This solution is called salvation. This is good news. Whoever trusts in this working of God believes.

Of course, there are many more things in the New Testament. However, these here highlight key issues.

Why is it not possible?

1. It is not about me
   The Bible tells us about God in the first place. Jesus also bears witness to God. God’s work, however, is “through Jesus Christ”. God looks at us “in Christ.” God has made peace with you and me and now invites us to be reconciled to Him (2 Cor. 5:14-21). So here is the difference: the Bible does not speak of me, but of God’s work. However, these statements concern me and I can respond to them with my life.
2. It’s not just about some “good thoughts”
   The New Testament is not just ethics. It is not a collection of rules of life. Rather, it is about the reality of this world and what a response to it might look like. This is not without God. The testimony of the Bible speaks precisely of God. God speaks into this world. He works his “redemption” through Christ. He calls people who thereby become part of his work. Everyone who responds to this call does not simply change camps (as some portray it), but becomes involved in this action of God. Vocation is not an end in itself, but a means to an end. So it’s not just about a few spiritual thoughts and feelings, but a concrete outlook that includes the world.
3. It is not about churches
   It cannot be stressed enough, but nowhere in the Bible is it about institutions. As much as people like to focus on the churches or their own group, the Bible is never about those groups. According to the Bible, God Himself always stands central, working through His Son. We are invited to the feast.
4. It is not about rules
   The Bible has many rules. They are often really useful, which is not doubted. However, the apostle Paul also says that the law was given merely to show us humans that it still does not work (Rom 3:19-20). So, according to the Bible, there is no “salvation by rules”. In this, the Bible is extraordinarily sober. Paul makes it clear that we are saved by grace, not by our own efforts (Eph 2:8-9).
5. Are all religions the same?
   No. All religions deal with the same basic questions (death, suffering, inadequacy of man), but there are definitely different answers to them. The Bible’s answer is unique and comprehensive in comparison. It is therefore worthwhile to engage with the statements of the Bible and take a closer look at them.
6. Ideological imprints do not apply
   The Bible is also readily used for all kinds of ideologies. Those who already have fixed ideas in their minds about how the Bible should be or how it “is” can expect contradictions with the book itself. However, if you simply see the Bible as a text written by people many millennia ago, you can be touched by God’s spirit and work as you read it (2 Timothy 3:15-16). For just as many years, people have experienced the message of the Bible as transformative to their own thinking and lives. They have become believers, confidants.

Stories

Much of the Bible is described as history. Through the stories we can reflect on our own lives. Likewise, we can see from the accounts how people lived with their God. Stories have the power to make connections clear to us. That way, we can more easily make them our own.

The start has now been made. A few basic ideas were mentioned. Now it’s a matter of thinking about the Bible stories in a way that gives them meaning for your own life story. Our own history is written to the extent that we let relationships be part of our history. Through the stories, the Bible offers insight into encounters and, as a consequence, speaks of the encounter with God.

Deepening

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