Reading Scripture Is Not the Same as Understanding Scripture

There is something I believe can become very dangerous in our study of the Bible:

We can read Scripture and assume that because we understood the words we read, we automatically understood what Scripture meant.

I want to be very clear about what I am saying.

I am not saying it is dangerous to read the Bible for yourself. Quite the opposite. Every believer should read Scripture, study Scripture, meditate on Scripture, and allow the Word of God to shape how they live.

The problem isn't reading Scripture.

The problem is assuming that reading automatically equals understanding.

There is a difference between knowing what a passage says and understanding what the writer was communicating.

Context Is Bigger Than the Verses Around It

We've probably all heard someone say:

“You have to read that verse in context.”

That's absolutely true.

But sometimes we think context simply means reading five verses before it and five verses after it.

That's part of context, but biblical context goes much deeper.

When we study a passage, we should also be asking:

Who wrote this?

Who were they writing to?

Why were they writing it?

What was happening historically when they wrote it?

Was there a particular problem being addressed?

What would the original audience have already understood?

What was happening culturally?

What did these words mean in their original language?

Is the writer referencing another part of Scripture?

Is there Old Testament imagery behind what is being said?

How would the original audience have understood this statement?

Context isn't just the words surrounding a verse. Context is the world surrounding the words.

That matters tremendously.

We Naturally Read the Bible Through Our Own World

Most of us don't intentionally misinterpret Scripture.

The problem is that we naturally bring our own experiences into what we're reading.

As Americans living in the twenty-first century, we read words through twenty-first-century American definitions. We understand family, marriage, government, religion, money, work, justice, love, freedom, slavery, worship, church, and countless other ideas through the world in which we live.

But the Bible wasn't originally written to twenty-first-century Americans.

That doesn't make Scripture any less applicable to us.

It means we have to do some work to understand what was originally being communicated before deciding how it applies to us.

That order matters:

What did it mean then?

Then:

How does that truth apply now?

When we reverse those questions, we can accidentally make Scripture say what makes sense to us rather than discovering what Scripture was actually saying.

Even Simple Words Can Carry More Meaning

Consider something as familiar as the word love.

We read the English word “love” and immediately bring our understanding of love into the passage.

But biblical languages can express distinctions that aren't always obvious once everything has been translated into English. Greek, for example, has different vocabulary that can communicate different expressions and dimensions of love depending on the passage.

That doesn't mean your English Bible is bad.

It means translation requires taking something communicated in one language and expressing it through another.

Sometimes there simply isn't a perfect one-to-one English word that carries every shade of meaning the original audience would have recognized.

So we need humility.

Instead of saying:

“I know what that word means.”

Sometimes we need to ask:

“What did that word mean when this was written?”

That's a very different approach to studying Scripture.

This Is Why We Can Argue About Paul

We see this problem constantly when people discuss Paul's letters.

Someone quotes one sentence and says:

“Paul clearly said this.”

Someone else quotes another passage and says:

“No, Paul clearly said this.”

But before building an entire doctrine around one sentence, shouldn't we first understand why Paul wrote it?

Who was he writing to?

What was happening in that church?

Was he correcting a particular behavior?

Was he answering a particular controversy?

Was he quoting something his readers already knew?

Was he drawing from the Old Testament?

What did the surrounding argument say?

How does the teaching fit with Paul's other writings?

And most importantly, how does it fit within the larger testimony of Scripture?

Those questions don't weaken Scripture.

They help us take Scripture more seriously.

We're saying that instead of forcing Paul's words into our world and asking what they mean to us, we first want to understand what Paul was actually communicating.

Scripture Interprets Scripture

Another important part of context is recognizing that biblical writers constantly draw from earlier Scripture.

This is especially important when reading the New Testament.

The apostles didn't suddenly appear without a biblical foundation. Their thinking was deeply rooted in the Scriptures they already knew.

Sometimes a New Testament writer can use a word, phrase, image, title, or idea that would immediately remind the original audience of an Old Testament passage.

A modern reader may completely miss it.

We've seen this repeatedly while studying Revelation.

John uses images that can sound strange if Revelation is read in isolation. But when we recognize the Old Testament imagery behind those images, suddenly much more of what John is communicating begins to make sense.

The words didn't change.

Our understanding of their context did.

That's why knowing the whole Bible matters.

This Is Also Why Teachers Matter

This brings us to something that I believe our modern culture sometimes struggles with.

If every Christian should read Scripture for themselves, why do we need pastors and teachers?

Because reading Scripture for yourself and learning from someone who has spent significant time studying Scripture are not opposites.

They should work together.

Paul writes that Christ gave the church apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers “for the perfecting of the saints” and “for the work of the ministry” (Ephesians 4:11–12 KJV).

A good teacher isn't supposed to replace your Bible.

A good teacher should help you understand your Bible.

A pastor isn't automatically correct because he is a pastor.

A preacher can misunderstand Scripture.

A theologian can be wrong.

A scholar can be wrong.

I can be wrong.

That's exactly why everything we teach should remain accountable to Scripture.

But there is another side to that humility.

We shouldn't automatically assume someone who has spent years studying a subject knows less than we do because we read the passage once and came to a different conclusion.

Maybe they have studied the language.

Maybe they have studied the culture.

Maybe they have studied the historical circumstances.

Maybe they have traced the Old Testament references.

Maybe they have compared dozens of passages dealing with the same subject.

That doesn't mean we blindly accept their conclusion.

It means we listen, study, test, and remain teachable.

Acts 17:11 gives us a wonderful picture of this. The Bereans received what they were being taught and then searched the Scriptures daily to determine whether those things were so.

Notice the balance.

They listened.

And they searched.

They didn't blindly accept teaching.

But they didn't refuse teaching either.

The Danger of “That's What It Means to Me”

There is a phrase we need to be very careful with when studying Scripture:

“Well, that's what it means to me.”

Application can certainly be personal.

God can use the same passage to convict me about something different from what He is dealing with in your life.

But the original meaning of Scripture isn't determined by us.

A passage cannot mean one thing because I want it to and the opposite because someone else wants it to.

Before asking:

“What does this mean to me?”

We should ask:

“What was the writer actually communicating?”

Then we can ask:

“God, how should this truth change me?”

That's the difference between allowing Scripture to shape us and shaping Scripture around ourselves.

Humility Is Essential to Biblical Study

One of the greatest things we can bring to Scripture is humility.

Not:

“I read it, so I know what it means.”

But:

“Lord, teach me what You are saying.”

That may require reading the verses around it.

It may require comparing other Scriptures.

It may require studying history.

It may require looking at Greek or Hebrew.

It may require understanding ancient culture.

It may require listening to a pastor.

It may require reading a scholar.

It may require listening to another believer who sees something we missed.

And sometimes it requires admitting:

“I've understood this passage incorrectly for years.”

That isn't failure.

That's growth.

If our goal is actually truth, we shouldn't be afraid when deeper study challenges something we previously believed.

Read Your Bible—But Don't Stop at Reading

Please read your Bible.

Read it often.

Study it.

Underline it.

Ask questions.

Compare passages.

Listen to good teachers.

Research the historical setting.

Learn about the original audience.

Look at the original languages when it matters.

Trace the Old Testament references.

Pray.

Ask the Holy Spirit for wisdom.

And remain humble enough to recognize that there may always be something more for us to learn.

We should never surrender the responsibility of knowing Scripture to someone else.

But we also shouldn't become so confident in our own understanding that nobody can teach us anything.

Reading Scripture is not always the same as understanding Scripture.

The Bible is the authority.

Our first interpretation of the Bible is not.

So don't stop reading.

Go deeper.

Because the goal isn't simply to know what the Bible says.

The goal is to understand what God has communicated through His Word—and then allow that truth to transform the way we live.

Pastor Scott