Scripture is far more important than most people realize. Even those who read the Scriptures do not necessarily grasp the depth the Lord calls them to enter into. This is not an agnostic opinion claiming that only a few can possess true knowledge. It’s just that so few people understand the importance of Scripture nowadays that it has become a sort of “open secret.” We need to tap into the greatest resource God has given us: His Word!
My Personal Journey with Scripture
Scripture in Childhood
I grew up in a devout Catholic family. We said our daily prayers, went to Mass every Sunday, prayed the Rosary and the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, and took our faith seriously. From an early age I knew that God was the most important part of my life.
But despite all this, once in a while I would hear someone quote St. Jerome, who says: “Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ,” and I would squirm. Now, St. Jerome should know, as he was a famous biblical scholar whose translation of the Scriptures into Latin became the official translation of the Catholic Church. His short statement made me uncomfortable because, like most Catholics, I did not have a particularly deep knowledge of the Scriptures. Sure, I heard the readings at Mass and even read a lot of the Psalms by praying the Liturgy of the Hours, but I rarely, if ever, sat down to pray with the Scriptures by myself.
Was I doing something wrong? Could this be a sin of omission? The thought made me worry quite a bit sometimes. I ended up reasoning to myself that I knew the Scriptures better than I thought I did, since we hear them so frequently at Mass. Often I found that a verse would come to mind when dealing with a situation, so surely I was not ignorant? Besides, people in the old days couldn’t even read. St. Jerome wasn’t condemning them to Hell just because they were too illiterate to have their own personal Bible, was he? Thus I would reassure myself and move on.
Scripture in College
Later, my undergraduate theological studies required me to read and study many areas of Scripture in depth, some of which I had never touched before. I spent time with Job, Ecclesiastes, Tobit, Numbers, Leviticus, Romans, Corinthians, Ephesians, and more. I felt better about myself, thinking that now St. Jerome would be happy with me.
But I was wrong. While I was reading and studying more Scripture passages than I had ever read before, there was something missing. I knew more about the Scriptures, but I still didn’t know the Scriptures. Now, I don’t mean I had to have the entire Bible memorized before I could say I “knew” the Scriptures. What I mean is that I didn’t have the right kind of knowledge. More on that later.
Scripture in Adulthood
Fast forward a little bit. I graduated from college, got married, we had our first child, and we moved back to my home state of Wisconsin. I picked up work building houses in cooperation with a team of contractors, and there my experience of the Scriptures changed dramatically.
This team had a custom of praying with the Scriptures during lunch every day. They would take their break, take turns reading passages while they ate, and then share the thoughts and inspirations each one received from the Holy Spirit. I quickly found that these discussions were profound, thought-provoking, and uplifting. Often, one could sense the spiritual life flowing among the members of the group. After only a few meetings I was thirsting for more.
God has blessed me with this experience for two years, and I have grown immeasurably as a result. There have been so many lessons I have learned from this that I think the best way to share them will be to use a sort of FAQ format below. If there are any questions you have that I do not address here, feel free to share them in the comments!
What does it really mean to know the Scriptures?
Well, for a start, the knowledge we are seeking is not quantitative. Otherwise it would merely be a matter of memorizing as much of the Bible as possible. God does not require everyone to commit lengthy passages to memory.
Further, knowledge of the Scriptures should not be purely intellectual or academic. No amount of studying can guarantee true knowledge of the Scriptures. If it could, we should all be going into graduate programs for Scriptural theology. But God does not require everyone to be a scholar.
True knowledge of the Scriptures is not something you can obtain by your own efforts. It is a gift from God. “No one can come to Me,” Jesus the Incarnate Word says, “unless it is granted him by My Father” (John 6:65). We can and should ask for this gift, but acquiring the knowledge is not our own doing.
Why is this? Because the knowledge God wants to give us is personal. He wants to reveal Himself to us. You cannot come to know a person intimately unless they choose to share their life with you. This is exactly what God is doing: offering to share His life with us through His Holy Word. This is the real reason for reading Scripture. Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ because true knowledge of Scripture is actually personal knowledge of Christ.
This type of knowledge is clear, certain, and life-changing. The moments may be few and far between at first, but when you make the effort to spend time with Scripture and God gives you a deeper knowledge of Himself, there is no question about it. You know that you know, because it was not you that caused it. God gave it to you.
The Bible is complicated. Half the time I don’t even know what’s going on. Do I need a Ph.D. in Scripture Studies to do this?
Absolutely not. While the Bible is complicated enough to keep even the most erudite scholars guessing at times, that is not its purpose. The Bible’s purpose is to bring God’s Good News to every one of us, and if that is the case, the fundamentals can’t be too hard to grasp! No, the difficulty is actually quite different from what we would expect. Our biggest problem with Scripture isn’t that it is too long, too hard to read, or too boring. Our biggest problem is just that we don’t spend enough time with it!
There is another reason graduate degrees are not required—and can even be a hindrance in some cases. We have to be careful to understand that interpreting the Scriptures is not actually up to us. Rather, we make ourselves available to God and let Him show us what He is saying through the Scriptures. Is it helpful to know the original Greek words the Gospel writers used? Sometimes. But what matters most is that God speaks to you—even more than you speaking to God. After all, if reading the Scriptures is about coming to know God, we are going to learn much more about Him by listening than by speaking to Him, aren’t we?
I’m Catholic and I hear the Scriptures at Mass. That’s enough, isn’t it?
It’s a good start, but it is far from enough. Reading Scripture ought to be part of our daily routine. It ought to be done personally, privately, persistently, and peacefully. The Readings at Mass are indeed a wonderful and important exposure to the Scriptures, but unless we spend additional time before or after Mass to reflect prayerfully on what we heard, we are not likely to retain much of what God has to offer us in those verses.
Think of it this way. If you are in love, you want to spend every spare moment of your time and more with your beloved. We are meant to fall in love with God. To do this, we have to choose to spend time with Him, and lots of it! If the only attention we give Him is one hour a week at Mass, that’s a poor foundation for a relationship.
You might object that you spend other times in prayer. All well and good, but the key here is that we cannot always be speaking. Most other forms of prayer consist mainly of speaking to God. We also need to listen. Attentive reading of Scripture is an excellent way to listen to God. His written word is there for us to ponder, and His living Word can speak to us directly through those pages.
I’ve tried reading the Scriptures before and it’s just too boring. Can’t I read a good Christian novel instead?
If you think the Scriptures are boring, you are missing the point. The Scriptures were not given to us for entertainment value (although, at certain points, they can be massively entertaining!). On the other hand, they are not just a collection of textbook rules meant to instruct us, either. They are meant to be personal. If we dive into the Scriptures for any other reason than coming to know God, we will find them dry, boring, and in a word, useless. If, however, we immerse ourselves in Scripture solely to hear God speak to us about Himself, it will become a true source of living water that refreshes the soul.
The fact is that the Scriptures are, in a very real way, love letters from God to each one of us. If you were to read a love letter with no personal connection to the persons involved, you might have a detached interest or you might find it totally uninteresting, since it has nothing to do with you. But if it were a love letter written explicitly to you, then it would be touching, attractive, exciting! It is when we choose to take God’s love letters personally that they become real.
If I’m just reading the Scriptures by myself, won’t I make mistakes about its meaning? Will I end up going down the wrong road?
As long as we’re honest about our intentions, reading the Scriptures is not only safe: it’s necessary. We need to read God’s Word to hear His Truth and treasure it in our hearts. Keeping away from the Scriptures for fear of misunderstanding them is a trick of the devil. God seeks to bring us close to Himself. If we should start to go astray, He is more than capable of guiding us back.
If you are worried about “getting the wrong message,” there is a simple test. Christ says: “By their fruits you shall know them. . . . A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a rotten tree bear good fruit” (Matthew 7:16, 18). And in case it is not clear what “good fruit” means, Galatians 5:22-23 states that “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” So, if the lessons you draw from Scripture produce these fruits, you can be confident you are on the right track! And if not, seek the advice of others you trust and pray for God to enlighten you. As I said before, He will not let anyone who seeks Him remain lost.
Conclusion
The Scriptures are meant for every one of us. They can heal our wounds, strengthen our souls, and guide our steps. But they are only effective if they become personal. I encourage you to take them personally! Invite God to speak to you. Then listen. He will lead you to Himself.
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