How not to argue for more Bible reading

I’ve just read one of those worthy articles about how none of us read our Bibles enough because we all are living under misapprehensions.  It then throws out a number of muddled and at best partially accurate claims. 

I’m just going to deal with one of the claims here.  The author declares that we see Scripture through a medical paradigm and so are too focused on application. By contrast, Jesus talks in terms of an agricultural paradigm where the word is planted like seed to be received and grow in our lives over time.

There are three things to consider in response. First of all, when Jesus talks about seed, is he in fact setting up a paradigm for Bible reading? The answer is an obvious “No”.  He is telling stories about God’s kingdom.  The focus is on the way that the good news is heard and takes root. 

In a linked point, the author argued that we should receive the Bible as a person because it is personified in John 1 as the Son of God. Well I wish that those who tell us to read our Bibles more would read and know their’s better. John 1:1 does not personify the Bible. It introduces Jesus as himself the revelation of God and so calls him “The Word “. We do encounter a person as we read Scripture but it’s not the Bible who is the person, it’s Christ. Fortunately the author does reach this point eventually but via a convoluted route which I would suggest confuses how we read the Bible.

Secondly, does Scripture offer us just one sole paradigm for engaging with God and hearing him? Again, the answer is an obvious “No”. The medical paradigm is there, not only does Jesus identify as a physician come for the sick but God’s word cuts to your heart. The image of God’s word as a sword offers a military paradigm as we fight to mortify sin and resist temptation.  We can add more.

Of course in terms of direct paradigms for God’s word, one of the big images is of it as a light and a guide in Psalm 119.

Thirdly, Scripture itself tells us how it is to be used. If Scripture is useful for things like encouragement and rebuke, if it is there to edify then that kind of points us to the place of application.

I take the writer’s point that sometimes we need to allow time for God’s Word to do its work but that does not exclude the nowness nor the place of application.

There are a lot more things we could say about the question of how much we should be reading Scripture. However, whether we read God’s Word frequently or less so, it is important that we handle it correctly.