The Bible is the most important book for the Catholic religion. It is a rather complex text rich in topics that are often very difficult to understand with just one reading.
Inside it we find numerous volumes, arranged according to a precise chronology, which allow a more agile reading. There are different ways to read the Bible. In this article we will try to help you find the right key to make it easier to understand the texts contained within it.
The meaning of the Bible
The Bible is a sacred text that tells us the greatness of God. To fully understand it, it is essential to keep one essential element in mind: the Bible is explained with the Bible. It may seem a contradiction, but the reality is that only the Bible can provide us with the key to understanding it. That is why it is unthinkable to hope to have a clear vision only after a first reading.
The explanation of his texts can be found between his lines and manifests itself by rereading his stories several times from beginning to end. Whenever you encounter a difficult verse, the explanation will be found by looking somewhere else in the Scripture.
Another very important aspect is meditation. Reading the Bible requires a deep calmness; opening your mind to understanding is often essential to deal with the topics.
What to start with?
The Bible is composed of a series of texts belonging to different authors and positioned chronologically. The first text is Genesis. Many inexperienced readers might think that this is the volume to start with. Actually starting from Genesis is not a good idea. The New Testament recalls many parts of the Old Testament and for this reason it is preferable to start from the Gospels and every time you will find yourself in front of an Old Testament reminder go to search for the character or the story mentioned in the section of the Bible in which it is contained.
How to read the Old Testament
To begin reading the Bible, it is important to remember that God inspired his writing using men of mostly Jewish origin, who lived from two thousand to four thousand years ago and who addressed their contemporaries, according to their way of speaking and their culture.
The fluency in reading is not like that of a novel, which can be understood with a simple reading. For this reason, it is preferable to start from the New Testament. In this way you begin to familiarize yourself with the Jewish culture and language of the time and it will be easier to move on to reading the Old Testament. Starting with the second reading, however, you can follow the chronological order of the texts.
Reading the New Testament
Beyond the method chosen to approach the reading of the Bible, it is important to remember to face this path with humility, asking God, who inspired his writing, to enlighten us and help us to better understand its content.
It is generally recommended to start reading from the New Testament in case this is the first time you are preparing to read Scripture. In this case we speak of a model of “increasing difficulty”. This means that it is preferable to start with the biblical books closest to us and with a simple language similar to modern language, moving on to the next ones that add knowledge of other basic factors for understanding the biblical message.
In order to acquire this knowledge and to deal with each new step, it may be useful to take an approach that starts from a historical basis and allows one to deal little by little with the meaning of Christian life according to Jesus’ teaching, the message of the Kingdom of God, faith, grace, the fruit of the Spirit, the spiritual world, fraternal love and the love of God, a summary of Christian truths, parables and symbolic Hebrew language and prophecies about the last times (eschatology).
Useful tips for reading the Bible
First of all we want to remind you that there are many versions of the Bible and this is because over time many people have proposed a translation of this sacred text. Also the comparison between different versions and translations can be very useful to deepen the study of the Bible.
Despite the small differences that you can find in the translations, it is good to remember that over 99% of the Bible is consistent with the oldest texts that archaeologists still find today during excavations, and this allows us to count on an authentic and sincere reading.
Keep at hand a vocabulary that will help you understand the meaning of the words that are no longer used. It might also be useful to use a biblical dictionary that explains in detail the words found inside the Bible.