Book Review: Reading the Bible Supernaturally

Title: How to Read the Bible Supernaturally

Author: John Piper

Published by: Crossway

Overview

How to Read the Bible Supernaturally  is a work by John Piper to help readers to read the Bible at a deeper level.  He calls it reading the Bible supernaturally.  This is not something mystical but rather a reading of the text with the intentions of getting all that the author(s) intended in writing it.  The book is laid out in three “parts” or sections.  Each section is broken down into chapters that cover points.  The work is summed up in a conclusion.

Thoughts

Reading the Bible is one of the most important works that a person can do.  The Bible tells us that faith comes into one’s life as they hear the word of God (Romans 10:17).  What that person does with that faith is on them, but without the word of God, there is no hope for that faith to be present.  I appreciate John Piper’s work on helping readers to look at the Bible in a new (yet older) way.  Piper does not share some mystical way of reading God’s word.  He simply points the reader to apply normal reading rules that will help the reader to see all that is present in the text.

I did think that the first half of the book was somewhat slow and detached from the rest of the work a little.  I get (and appreciate) the proposed goal of reading the Bible:

That God’s infinite worth and beauty would be exalted in the everlasting, white-hot worship of the blood-bought bride of Christ from every people, language, tribe, and nation (p 48).

A good portion of the first two parts of the book are explaining certain things before getting to some practical points in part 3.  I think part 3 (the final fourteen chapters of the book) is the real work of the book.

Recommendation

I believe that reading the Bible is one of the most important things that a person can do.  I believe that Reading the Bible Supernaturally is a book that would help someone who is starting to read the Bible or one that has become bored with reading the Bible.  There is not anything majorly new in what Piper shares in this book, but it is some good reminders to go back to some basic tools in order to get the most out of one’s reading of the Bible.

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Rewind: 06.29.13

Here are some of the interesting articles that I came across this week.  (Due to my sporadic reading lately, some articles are older than this week.)

• Church Identity: How Your Church Must Be Unique - Eric Geiger


• Audio from the Christ-Centered Teaching Panel Discussion from the SBC


• Five Dangers of Unaligned Small Groups - Thom Rainer


• Don't Pack Too Much In Your Sermon - Erik Raymond


• Dr. Russell Moore on Sam-Sex Marriage - Baptist21


• When Christians Fire Christians - Thom Rainer

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Starting Well

As 2013 begins, I know that there will be many who are trying their hardest to get it started off right. A good start is a key to doing well for the entirety of the journey.

I'm sure that many will be working the "resolutions" they have made for this year. I lean more towards goals instead of resolutions, but that's another post for another time.

One key thing that I believe would do all people well in 2013 is to get into God's word, the Bible, seriously. As a pastor, I challenged our members to read through the Bible chronologically this year.

As a Christian, I firmly believe that the Bible is God's word and therefore, vitally important. I believe that it is important for those who know God, those who are seeking, those who are far from God.

Psalm 119:105 - "Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light on my path."

I encourage you to check out the reading plans at the following sites and get 2013 off to a good start - in God's word!

YouVersion

One Year Bible

Discipleship Journal

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What English Translation of the Bible Do You Use?.

This was a question that was posed to me by one of the sweet people in the congregation where I serve as pastor. It's a good question. I knew that coming into this position that there would be various English translations used by different members of our congregation. My assumptions were correct. I've seen that some translations used by the congregation are: KJV, NIV, NLT, NASB, NKJV.

I love the fact that we have a translation of the Scriptures in our language where we can see what God's Word says to us. I am so thankful to the Reformers of old who fought so hard to get the Bible into the language of the common people. Today, we have numerous English translations... sometimes it seems like too many.

I thought that I would share here the main translations that I use and why.

• The Holman Christian Standard. This is the primary translation I have been using for the past year now. I use it for personal study and to preach from. It is one of the newest English translations, but it has some great things about it. It uses a "word for word" type translation from the original languages, but where it is difficult to do that clearly, it uses a thought for thought. It combines the best of both translation types. It is very easy to read. One little thing that I appreciate about it is that it capitalizes any and every reference to God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). This helps sometimes when pronouns are used to distinguish whom each is talking about in the text. It does word some of the texts that one may have memorized from another translation differently than those previous ones, but the true meaning of the text is not changed but clarified.


• The New American Standard. I really like this translation because it is probably the most literal of all English translations. This was a giant crutch to me as I was studying Greek in seminary. One drawback to this translation because it is so literal (word-for-word from the original languages) is that sometimes the sentence structure is strange. It is definitely not the easiest to just read throughout. If you are looking for the closest to what the original authors wrote, this is your translation.


• The New Living Translation. I came across this translation while working in student ministry and found it to be the best for those who may have never read the Bible before. It uses a "thought-for-thought" format of translation to provide a much easier readable translation than "word-for-word". This is one that I will often switch to for my personal devotions when I do not want to necessarily dig deep, but just hear the Word clearly.

There are other translations that I have used and recommended to people such as the English Standard Version (ESV), NKJV, and NIV 1984 edition (though this edition is no longer being printed). The important thing that we must see is that people are diving in and reading God's Word. Does the translation matter? I say yes. One must examine the translation and make sure that it is accurate to the original text or else they can be led to believe that the Bible says things it never has.

What translation of the Bible do you read and why?

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Know the Word

As 2011 comes to a close, many people will be looking forward and making "new year's resolutions." These resolutions cause great frustration for many. One of the resolutions that I've heard before from Christians is that they are going to finally read through the Bible this year.

Over the past couple of years this resolution has grown stranger to me. Why is it that Christians will say that they believe and trust the Bible yet they don't know what it says? How do they know what God says and desires if they do not take the time to use the most plain revelation of Himself?

I have tried to make it a top priority to read through the entire Bible each year over the past few years. I have used different methods at different times. One of the best ways I've found is to read through the Bible chronologically. One of the best tools I have found to help with this is the One Year Bible Plan. They have two great plans: one that is chronological an another that is just passages from different genres of the Bible. There are also great plans that can be found at YouVersion.com.

I would encourage every Christian to read through the Bible this year, not as a resolution but as a way to know the heart of God more intimately.

What plan do you use to read through the Scriptures?

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Good Read

Just wanted to let everyone know about a new page that I've created here on NSSA.  It's labeled "Reading" and can be found at the top of the page.  On this page you will find some of the books that I have read or I'm currently reading that I think are worth checking out.  If you're looking for a good read, check out this new page and browse the great reads listed there.

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Top 100 Church Blogs

No, my blog has not broken into this category (nor do I look for it to).  I just came across this from another blog that I was reading and thought that it would be good to help others find some great thoughts from some great people.  You can go to churchrelevance.com and see that they have put together a great list of blogs.  I would encourage you to check some of them out and be encouraged in your reading.

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