Why Read the Bible?

D.A. Carson answers the question, "What's our goal for reading Scripture?"

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Last December I wrote this post about Bible reading, which includes various Bible reading plans.

(HT: Desiring God)

The Message of the Bible

D.A. Carson writes the following:

God is the sovereign, transcendent and personal God who has made the universe, including us, his image-bearers. Our misery lies in our rebellion, our alienation from God, which, despite his forbearance, attracts his implacable wrath.  

But God, precisely because love is of the very essence of his character, takes the initiative and prepared for the coming of his own Son by raising up a people who, by covenantal stipulations, temple worship, systems of sacrifice and of priesthood, by kings and by prophets, are taught something of what God is planning and what he expects.  

In the fullness of time his Son comes and takes on human nature. He comes not, in the first instance, to judge but to save: he dies the death of his people, rises from the grave and, in returning to his heavenly Father, bequeaths the Holy Spirit as the down payment and guarantee of the ultimate gift he has secured for them—an eternity of bliss in the presence of God himself, in a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.  

The only alternative is to be shut out from the presence of this God forever, in the torments of hell. What men and women must do, before it is too late, is repent and trust Christ; the alternative is to disobey the gospel (Romans 10:16; 2 Thessalonians 1:8; 1 Peter 4:17). 

From For Such a Time as This: Perspectives on Evangelicalism, Past, Present and Future, ed. Steve Brady and Harold Rowdon (London, UK: Evangelical Alliance, 1986), 80.  Read the context of Carson's quote, in the midst of writing about "The Biblical Gospel" here.

(HT: Desiring God Blog)

How to Interpret the Bible

Matt Chandler provides some very helpful advice on how to interpret the Bible and includes an illustration from David and Goliath.

Bible Reading Plans

We're just a few days from Christmas, and then the New Year is just around the corner.  Have you ever started a new year with the resolution to read through the whole Bible that year?  Have you ever failed at such a resolution?  If you have, that's just one more reason to be thankful for God's grace.  As important as it is to read & know God's Word, nowhere does He command us to read through the Bible in a year.  (Although Psalm 1 would seem to encourage us to meditate on it day & night.)

Whether or not you read the Bible consistently, or have read through the whole Bible in a year, I want to encourage you to do what you can to making reading the Bible a consistent pattern of your life.  In a moment I'll share a few different types of reading plans that may fit your personality & schedule.  But first I wanted to share the following.  I've used a few different reading plans, and with each one I have had times where I was just reading to get it done, and paid little attention to what I actually read.  (Although even those times have helped build it into my schedule, providing many opportunities where I did indeed have fruitful times of reading.)  A few years ago, somebody shared with me some advice from John Piper about praying before reading:

In chapter nine of When I Don’t Desire God, John Piper introduces a memorable and helpful acronym for what to pray before reading Scripture — I. O. U. S.

• Incline my heart to you, not to prideful gain or any false motive. (Psalm 119:36)

• Open my eyes to behold wonderful things in your Word. (Psalm 119:18)

• Unite my heart to fear your name. (Psalm 86:11)

• Satisfy me with your steadfast love. (Psalm 90:14)

An unfortunate side effect of repeatedly praying the same prayer is that, over a period of time, it can lose its sense of pertinence. One way to keep it fresh is to unpack the content with language that expresses what you mean in a new way. 

For example, here’s an amplification of the I. O. U. S. prayer:

• Incline my heart to you, not to prideful gain or any false motive. That is, focus my affections and desires upon you, and eradicate everything in me that would oppose such a focus.

• Open my eyes to behold wonderful things in your Word. That is, let your light shine and show me what you have willed to communicate through the biblical authors.

• Unite my heart to fear your name. That is, enthrall me with who you are.

• Satisfy me with your steadfast love. That is, fulfill me with the fact that your covenant love has been poured out on me through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ

On to the reading plans.  First, some I've used:

• The Discipleship Journal Bible Reading Plan from NavPress.  I really like this one, because there are only 25 readings for each month, giving you extra days to catch up or go back and read/study things again.
• A reading program for Slackers and Shirkers.  This one's not actually a "read through the Bible in a year" plan, so if you find yourself getting discouraged when you can't keep to a strict plan, you may want to check this plan out.  Pastor Andy Perry explains the plan and why he recommends it here.
• D.A. Carson's For the Love of God (volumes 1 and 2).  This is what I've done this year and will probably do again next year.  Carson slightly modified Robert Murray M'Cheyne's plan, and offers comments & reflections on the passages for each day, generally on one passage in Volume 1, and another passage in Volume 2.  The reading plan takes you through the New Testament and Psalms twice in the year, and the rest of the Old Testament once.  Each days readings can generally be done in 15-20 minutes.  There are PDF versions of Carson's books available for FREE: Volume 1 and Volume 2.  (And if you have an e-reader like a Kindle or Nook, you can use Calibre to convert the PDF to the native format for your reader.)  Carson's writings have really helped me to read carefully and thoughtfully.
• I've also used The Daily Bible, which takes you through a chronological/historical reading of the whole Bible, with some notes & comments along the way.  There are plenty of different kinds of daily/one year Bibles.

And some more plans that I haven't tried for myself:

• A Chronological Bible Reading Plan by George Guthrie.
• A Two-Year Reading Plan by Stephen Witmer, who writes about the plan and expresses some potential weaknesses of some traditional one-year plans here.
• Crossway has a whole list of different reading plans and different formats in which to get them.
• A For the Love of God blog.  This blog features a daily reading from the previously mentioned books by D.A. Carson.  You can subscribe to the blog and get a daily email with a reference to the Biblical passages along with Carson's writing.

There are plans all over the place.  I got some of these from looking at prior year's posts from Justin Taylor.  He and the other guys at the Gospel Coalition blogs are bound to be posting similar recommendations in the next week or so.  And I'm sure there will be countless other places to find a reading plan that fits you.

One more idea that I found may be great for those of you who have done the daily reading plans before and for whom it may have become tedious or repetitive or if you're just looking for a different way to read and get to know your Bible and the God who gave us His Word.  This isn't a yearly plan at all, but a method taken from James Gray's How to Master the English Bible.  Joe Carter and Fred Sanders both write about Gray and share this basic method.  From Carter:

...for the one or two people who will find this useful, the four steps that will transform your worldview are: 

1. Choose a book of the Bible.
2. Read it in its entirety.
3. Repeat step #2 twenty times.
4. Repeat this process for all books of the Bible.

Carter also shares some suggestions (& expands on each of these) for putting this method into practice:

1. Choose shorter books and work up to longer ones.
2. Read at your normal pace.
3. Skip the commentaries.
4. Stick with the process.
5. Choose an appropriate version.
6. Pray.
7. Begin today.

Sanders shares some extended quotes from Gray as well as this set of pointers:

1. Begin at the Beginning.
2. Read the Book.
3. Read it Continuously.
4. Read it Repeatedly.
5. Read it Independently.
6. Read it Prayerfully.

I hope & pray that you all have a very blessed Christmas, and that you will take advantage of every opportunity to worship Christ and glorify Him in your celebrations.