Companion to the Old Testament

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“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice 
is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 
The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; 
yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 
But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice 
is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 
The rains came down, the streams rose, 
and the winds blew and beat against that house, 
and it fell with a great crash.” 
- Matthew 7.24-27 (NRSV) 


An Approach to the Bible 

Jesus was a Jewish rabbi, or teacher. He learned the art of storytelling from rabbis and others in his native Galilee. The story above is from a part of Matthew that is known as Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount.” Jesus also was a carpenter, a trade that worked with both wood and stone. As an apprentice with his father Joseph and later on his own, Jesus would have worked in many small Galilean villages. He would have learned stories that were unique to each village’s memory, as well as each village’s oral version of the Jewish scriptures. (Think of Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof, pouring milk for the villagers of Anetevka while he told his version of the biblical stories!) 

In Matthew 7.24-27, this carpenter-turned-rabbi offers a saying that is a bit more than a proverb but not quite a parable. It is a simple lesson about life. An experienced carpenter would have encountered many types of building projects or repair jobs. Surely he had seen houses that were built on solid foundations, as well as those that were constructed hastily on less than solid foundations. He could have cited examples and named names. Thus, perhaps, this teaching may have been literally true! But, to focus on exactly who had built wisely and who had built foolishly would be to miss the point of the story. These words of Jesus make a point about the way we live. It is a teaching about the foundation we choose for our lives. These words invite us to reflect on our values, our priorities, about how we choose to invest our time, money and energy. You can apply this principle to family relationships, the workplace, the social order, as well as your devotional life, personal ethics, physical exercise and a host of other life issues. 

With these words of Jesus in mind, reflect for a moment about your approach to Bible study. Some of us expect the Bible to fit into our agenda rather than allowing our agendas to be shaped by the biblical texts. We may look to the Bible for justification for our attitudes, prejudices, politics and lifestyles, rather than submitting our lives to the authority of the biblical message. We may see the Bible as an answer book for the questions we have about life rather than a book that asks us questions about the way we are living our lives. Has your approach to the Bible, the way you have gone about studying the Bible or relating to the Bible, provided a solid spiritual foundation for you, or has it created a foundation that is more sandy than solid? 

The way you approach the Bible will, to a large extent, determine what you get out of the Bible. What you get out of the Bible will, to some degree, shape your attitude toward life, relationships and mortality. The purpose of this book is to enhance your reading of the Bible, and to offer an approach to the Bible that may help you discover and enjoy the Bible’s abundant resources for living, relating and dying. 

When you approach a modern automotive vehicle, you have certain expectations. These would include how to enter the vehicle (via a key or a “keyless entry system”) and how to start or “crank” the vehicle (the archaic term “crank” refers to an earlier era when one actually cranked the motor). You have certain assumptions about various components the vehicle will have, which might include an air conditioner, a restraint system with a seat belt and shoulder harness, a radio (perhaps with satellite reception), a global positioning system to help navigate the vehicle, as well as indicators regarding the engine’s temperature, revolutions per minute and the inside and outside temperature. 

It would be unrealistic and unfair for you to approach a 1951 Buick with the same expectations. That model required you to put the ignition switch in the “on” position and then press the gas pedal to start the engine. There were no seat belts. The “global positioning system” was a map in the glove box. Heaters (but not oil filters!) usually were installed in the factory by 1951, but the “air conditioning” system included side vent windows you could open, ventilator knobs on the dashboard, and windows that could be rolled down. Likewise, we sometimes approach the Bible with unrealistic and unfair expectations of the biblical text. 
Step 1: Respect the Texts 

The first step in approaching the Bible is to respect the texts. This means an immediate and ongoing recognition that these are ancient stories and sayings. We approach them as sacred texts, or scripture. Thus, we affirm their validity for helping us live life today. There is within us an implicit belief that these ancient texts are contemporary in some sense. This accounts for the mysterious way we find the Bible to be “eternally relevant” to our life issues. Yet, the texts’ amazing relevance does not diminish their antiquity. 

We approach the Bible knowing that we are modern people who view reality through 21st Century “lenses.” We view life differently from the way our grandparents did. We view life differently from the way people did 500 years ago, or 1,000 years ago, or 3,000 years ago. Our grandchildren will view life differently from the way we do, too! Just as in some cultures you take off your shoes to enter a house, when we engage in serious Bible study, we occasionally will find ourselves intentionally taking off our 21st Century lenses so we can more clearly see the biblical texts in their original context and setting. This is a matter of respect, of trying to understand what the original writers were trying to say and what the original hearers or readers would have heard or read.