The Four Gospels: Lessons In Analysis

There is so much more to reading the Bible than just reading the Bible. First and foremost, one must pray for spiritual guidance from God. The study of scripture entails more than rote memorization of verses and passages. While reading and memorizing scripture are noble endeavors, to truly begin to understand the Scriptures, one must ask those elementary questions of who, what, when, where, and why. Upon asking those questions, one must be prepared to expend significant effort into adequately answering them.

Surprising to most readers of the Bible is that not all of the answers to those questions will be found within the confines of the biblical text itself. Extrabiblical sources such as secular histories, noncanonical writings, lexicons, and commentaries may need to be searched in order to answer those elementary questions of who wrote, what was his purpose, when did he write, where did he write from, to whom did he write, and why did he write.

Aside from daily devotions or daily scripture reading, this critical analysis of scripture will require more than ten minutes or thirty minutes a day. However, what one discovers is that the more material is uncovered and the more questions are answered, the more fascinating the study becomes; and before he or she is aware; that ten minutes or thirty minutes have ballooned into one or two hours. Instead of asking, "Is it over yet?" one asks in the spirit of a child who doesn't want to stop playing and come in for dinner, "Just one more page? Please?"

In the end, the biblical student will be rewarded with a well-rounded understanding of the message a particular author intended to a particular audience at a particular time and in a particular setting, which one can ultimately determine how to apply what has been learned to his or her daily life.