Introduction

Understanding the Bible requires patience, humility, a desire for the truth, and consistency. Those aren’t the staples of a good marketing campaign, but I have found that they are necessary parts of understanding the Bible.

Most people think the goal of Biblical Engagement is to understand, but that is only partly true. Part of our relationship with God is lived out through our engagement of His Word. Engaging with God’s Word is engaging with God.¹ The process of spending time with God in His Word is as important as understanding His Word.

Just ask the Ethiopian Eunuch in Acts 8.

Learning with the Ethiopian Eunuch

Philip was sent south to the road between Jerusalem and Gaza (Acts 8:26). Upon arriving, he saw a man in a chariot. This man was a court official of Queen Candace of Ethiopia (probably modern day Sudan).

Philip joined the man in his chariot and discovered the man was reading from the prophet Isaiah, so Philip asked if he understood what he was reading (Acts 8:27–30). The man responded “How can I, unless someone guides me?” (Acts 8:31, ESV).

This passage has multiple teaching points, but the one I want to emphasize here is that the man in the chariot was reading Isaiah anyway. The man didn’t understand the meaning of Isaiah’s message. Look what he says: “‘About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?’” (Acts 8:34, ESV).

His lack of understanding, however, did not keep him from engaging the Word of God. He was returning from worshipping in Jerusalem (cf. Acts 8:27–28), and he wanted to continue his life with God, so he began reading the prophet Isaiah even though he didn’t fully understand– and God sent someone to help him!

This is a great illustration of Biblical Engagement. The process of being in God’s Word is as important to your life with God as understanding the Word. Encountering the words of the Bible is to hear from God. 

What are ‘Gimmicks’?

So, here is what I wish more people knew: (1) there is no shortcut to understanding the Bible; (2) the process of encountering God through His Word is as important as understanding it. There aren’t magical keys that ‘unlock’ the Bible’s meaning. The road towards genuine life with God through His Word is not paved with gimmicks.

What do I mean by ‘gimmicks’? Here are some examples:

• “unlock the meaning of the Bible”
• “Get the key to understanding the Bible”
• Only looking for how the Bible is ‘relevant’ today
• Study practices that focus on finding yourself in the text instead of asking what the text is actually talking about²
• Discovering ‘secret’ or ‘hidden’ meanings within the Bible
• Aesthetics over process– Biblical Engagement can incorporate colors, but it doesn’t have to. I don’t have a single underline in any of my print Bibles– no underlines, no highlights, no notes in the margins. I want the text of my print Bibles to be completely undisturbed so I can focus on the text.
• Anything that seeks to fast-track the process of learning or time spent in the Bible

Conclusion

Biblical Engagement is about pressing further into God’s life. When we place our faith in Jesus, we enter into God’s household as “children of God” (John 1:10–13; 1 John 3:1) ad as adopted sons (Ephesians 1:3–6).³

Life with God is lived through the process of being with Him– through Scripture, prayer, and the community of other believers.

God has not designed life with Him to be short-circuited, so we should not seek to speed that process up simply because we feel less comfortable until we’ve ‘arrived at our destination’. That’s not how eternal life with God works. God is eternal. Participating in His life brings us into eternity even now before He renews all things. Gimmicks can only cheapen that experience.

Footnotes

1. The Bible is not God. The Bible is God’s Word. When we engage with the Bible, we are hearing from God. Thus, we are engaging with God when we are in His Word. ↩︎
2. Here, I am not referring to how you might identify which works of the flesh are most potent in your life while reading Galatians 5:16–26. Rather, I am referring to the following thought sequence: “I don’t know what this passage in the Old Testament is about; therefore, I don’t know how it is relevant for my life; if I can find a way to see myself or my circumstances within the text, then it will become relevant.” ↩︎
3. I preserve the gendered language of ‘sons’ because sonship carried significant implications in the ancient world. Women who believe in Jesus are also placed into the category of ‘sons’ within God’s household. ↩︎