Beyond the Page: A Guide to Studying Scripture
Written by Pastor Josh Constantine
The Bible is one of the most widely read books in the world. People read it for many reasons. Some to know God, grow in their faith, and learn how to live like Jesus, while others read it to question or challenge Christianity.
Yet it is amazing that people can read the same Bible, even the same passage, and arrive at conclusions that are as far apart as the east is from the west. Why?
Because reading Scripture and studying Scripture are not necessarily the same thing.
When the biblical writers wrote, they had a particular audience, context, and message in mind. Our responsibility is not to make Scripture say what we want it to say, but to discover what the writer intended to communicate.
Before asking, “What does this mean to me?” we must first ask, “What did this mean?”
Paul instructs Timothy to “rightly divide the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15), reminding us that Scripture can be mishandled when we fail to handle it carefully. It is possible to interpret a passage in a way that seems to be right while still missing the author’s intended meaning. Avoiding this requires more than simply reading the words on the page. It requires us to slow down, examine the text, understand its context, and faithfully apply what we discover.
We must go beyond the page, not to add meaning to Scripture, but to uncover the meaning that is already there. And that is what this guide is about.
Before we begin exploring how to study Scripture, there is another foundational principle we must understand: the Bible is one unified story.
From a Christian perspective, the Old Testament cannot be fully understood apart from the New Testament, just as the New Testament cannot be properly understood without the foundation of the Old Testament. The New Testament frequently reveals the fulfillment and significance of what was written in the Old. This does not mean that the Old Testament has no meaning apart from the New Testament, but that its fullest significance within God’s redemptive story becomes clearer as we read it alongside the New Testament.
In short, the Old Testament sets the stage, and the New Testament reveals the fulfillment of the story. Understanding this relationship is essential because one of the greatest challenges we face when studying Scripture is the distance between the world of the biblical text and the world in which we live.
And it is in these gaps that we must learn to dig deeper and go beyond the page.
So, what are the gaps that exist between the original audience of Scripture and us today? And how do we bridge them in order to better understand what the biblical writers intended to communicate? There are five important gaps we must consider when studying Scripture:
1. Language: What did the words mean?
The Bible was written primarily in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. Words, expressions, idioms, and figures of speech can lose or change meaning when translated into another language. Understanding the original language can sometimes bring clarity to what the biblical writer intended to communicate.
2. Culture: What did the people understand?
Biblical authors and audiences lived within cultures, customs, traditions, and social structures that are often very different from our own. Things that were obvious or commonly understood by the original audience may not be obvious to us today.
3. History: What was happening?
Scripture was written across centuries and within specific historical circumstances. Understanding what was happening politically, socially, religiously, and spiritually at the time can significantly affect how we understand a passage.
4. Geography: Where did it happen?
The events recorded in Scripture happened in real places. Locations, regions, distances, climates, and geographical features often carried significance for the biblical audience that may not be immediately obvious to modern readers. Understanding the geography can sometimes provide important insight into a passage.
5. Literature: How was it written?
The Bible contains different genres, including historical narrative, poetry, wisdom literature, prophecy, letters, and apocalyptic literature. Each genre communicates differently and must be read according to its literary form.
These gaps do not prevent us from understanding Scripture. They simply remind us that understanding Scripture requires us to do more than read words; we must learn to enter the world in which those words were written.
Identifying these gaps is only the beginning. The real question is: How do we bridge them?
Bridging the Gaps
The good news is that these gaps do not make Scripture inaccessible. They simply require us to become intentional students of the text. God has given us both the ability and the resources to investigate Scripture carefully. Bridging the gaps means learning to ask the right questions and using the right tools to find the answers.
When we encounter a passage that is difficult to understand, we shouldn't immediately jump to an interpretation. Instead, we should slow down and investigate.
Before reaching for outside resources, begin with the text itself. Read the entire passage, then read what comes before and after it. Pay attention to repeated words, themes, questions, commands, contrasts, and the flow of thought. Often, the Bible itself provides the first and most important clues to understanding what a passage means. But sometimes, even after carefully examining the text, we encounter things that the text assumes its original audience already understood. This is where we must begin to bridge the gaps between their world and ours.
First, bridge the language gap. Read the passage in several reliable translations. Pay attention to words that appear significant, repeated, or unusual. When necessary, consult a concordance, lexicon, or other trustworthy language resource to understand how a particular word was used in its original context. We don't need to be biblical-language scholars to benefit from understanding what lies beneath the English translation.
Next, bridge the cultural gap. Ask yourself, What would this passage have meant to the people who first heard it? Their customs, relationships, religious practices, social structures, and everyday experiences may have shaped how they understood the words. What seems strange or insignificant to us may have been immediately obvious to them.
Then, bridge the historical gap. Find out what was happening when the passage was written. Who was the author? Who was the audience? Why was this book or letter written? What circumstances surrounded it? History can provide the background necessary to understand why certain things were said and why they mattered.
We must also bridge the geographical gap. The events recorded in Scripture happened in real places. Jerusalem, Galilee, Samaria, Babylon, Corinth, Ephesus, and countless other locations were not merely names on a page. Geography can influence a passage's meaning, imagery, movement, and even the actions of the people involved. Sometimes seeing where something happened helps us understand what happened.
Finally, we must bridge the literary gap. Before interpreting a passage, determine what kind of writing you are reading. Poetry communicates differently from narrative. Proverbs are not promises. Paul's letters are not interpreted in the same way as Revelation. Recognizing the genre helps us understand how the author intended his words to be understood.
Bridging these gaps doesn't mean that studying Scripture has to become complicated. It means that we refuse to approach God's Word carelessly. We slow down. We ask questions. We investigate. We compare Scripture with Scripture. We use trustworthy resources. These tools should assist our understanding of Scripture, not replace our responsibility to engage the text itself. And most importantly, we allow the text to speak before we decide what we want it to say.
Once we have done the work of understanding the text, we can finally move toward application.
What does this mean for me?
But that question comes second, not first.
First, we ask, “What does the text say?”
Then, “What did the author mean?”
And finally, “How should I respond?”
This is the journey beyond the page: moving from observation to interpretation to application, not adding our own meaning to Scripture, but uncovering the meaning that is already there and allowing that truth to transform the way we think, believe, and live.