How to Study the Bible

By the Rev. Prof. John Saleska

Christ is the secret. He is the Key that unlocks the Bible. In John 5:39, Jesus says, "Search the Scriptures; for in them you think you have eternal life: and they are they which testify of Me." As we read and study the Bible, Christ reminds us that we are to look for Him. He is the theme and substance of every part of the Scriptures. Jesus Himself asserts that the Bible is the revelation of Himself. He is unveiled there in the word pictures presented by the holy writers. Following are a few quotations by Luther to underscore this idea: "It is beyond a doubt that the entire Scripture points to Christ alone." "All Scripture is pure Christ, God and Mary's Son." "When Christ is not known, it is impossible to have any understanding in the Scriptures, for He is the sun and the truth in the Scriptures."

Christ himself teaches us how to study the Bible as He conducts a class for the two disciples, as well as for us, on the road to Emmaus, and He permits us to view the Old Testament through His eyes when He says, "... O fools and slow of heart to believe-all that the prophets have spoken: ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into His glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself." Later in the evening in the upper room "He opened their understanding (gave them eyes, if you will) that they might understand the Scriptures, and said unto them, thus it is written and thus it behooved Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day." Our Lord is there instructing His disciples that the way to study Scripture is to look for one simple yet profound message: The Death and Resurrection of the Messiah. The theology of the Cross is the theology of all of Scripture. Luther says: "Christ crucified is found everywhere in the Scripture." The center piece for the study of both Old and New Testament is Jesus Christ and Him crucified. This is Christ's own approach. He is commending it to us in Luke 24.

Now that we know that Christ crucified is the object of the search, you might want to know why.

To anyone whose eyes have been opened, the answer is evident. This entire universe is in disarray. The effects of the Fall are apparent everywhere. Pain, heartache, disease and finally death need to be dealt with in order for the world to be restored to its former state of perfection. The cross is where God Himself took on the effects of the Fall, soaked them up into His person like a sponge, and went to death with them, and having dealt with them, came back alive. This is how He has, in effect, put this dying universe back together again. Restored it. It is evident, then, that any study of the Bible would have the cross as its guiding principle: This the Truth to which all Scripture points. It is the gold to be mined as you study the Bible.

As you read portions of the Scriptures, it might be helpful to ask yourself the following questions:

1. Which parts of the event, story, etc., either directly or by example show our sin and need of a Savior?
2. Which parts show God's kindness either directly or by example, which is bound together with Christ's finished work?
3. Which parts of the Scripture invite us to faith in Christ's work either directly or by example, and, also, thus to praise, thanksgiving and works of love?

The Rev. Prof. John W. Saleska is an Associate Professor of Pastoral Ministry and Missions at Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Indiana.