to the Bible
The Bible is God’s revelation to man. Its words are living,
effective, and clear. Differing methods for reading, memorizing, and studying
Scripture each have their own merits. There is need to both dive deep into study
of the Word and to simply let ourselves get immersed in the story.
Here
are five central benefits to reading entire books of the Bible in one sitting.
1. Gain unique
perspective.
By taking in a larger swath of Scripture uninterrupted, you
can more easily see themes or patterns in the writing, the narrative’s flow, and
the context of each verse. Reading this way can be likened to getting an aerial
perspective on a city as compared to your viewpoint from a single address on the
map.
Uninterrupted reading allows
you to think, interpret, and let the Holy Spirit speak through the Word without
additional insight from study notes or a commentary. It can be helpful to simply
read the Bible rather than attempt to dissect the minutia of the text.
Imagine picking up a novel and just
reading sentences from various chapters and books. Much like a novel, the Bible
was ultimately written by one author — who Christians know to be Divine. Reading
with this in mind allows you to track with the overall structure and form of the
Bible as a singular story.
You may be surprised how quickly you can read an
entire book of the Bible. Depending on your speed, it’s likely you complete the
book of Daniel in about half an hour, James in less than 10 minutes, or an
epistle in just under 20 minutes.
There are benefits to both
in-depth study and uninterrupted reading. No matter which comes first, each
method of reading can expand your understanding. In combination, each lend
themselves toward a more holistic comprehension of the Bible’s
message.
Reader’s editions — such as the ESV Reader’s Letters of Paul,
the ESV Reader’s Bible, Six-Volume Set, and the ESV Reader’s Gospels — are great
for this purpose, as they are more similar to the original manuscripts, lacking
headings, verse numbers, and chapter numbers. Without these relatively recent
(within the last 500 years) conventions, we can read larger portions of the text
without distraction.
This way, according to Dr. Dane Ortlund, Crossway’s
Vice President of Bible Publishing, “the reader absorbs that book as it was
meant to be read, and sees connections and resonances that become difficult to
discern when reading the Bible a few verses at a time. The Bible is not meant
merely to be ‘applied to my life.’ It is meant to become the new mental universe
in which we live and move and think throughout the day. Only deep reading — the
absorption of Scripture at length — accomplishes this.”
