Getting Theology from the Text

With a new year, we yet again try to read through our entire Bible. We have plans, strategies, apps, blogs, and even groups that assist us in making the journey through the Scriptures. Yet, we struggle. Why is that? Of course, discipline plays a major part. However, we can often get bogged down because there are parts of the Bible that puzzle us. As people often say to me, “I just don’t understand what I’m reading.”

Now what do we mean by this? To be clear, we do understand some things. We know what happened in the stories, the names in a genealogy, the descriptions within a prophecy, the processes in the sacrificial system, or the regulations within the law. We understand what the text says. That’s not our dilemma. Our dilemma is that we’re not certain why it is there. Because of this, we start skimming (or even skipping) passages we can’t figure out and eventually, we stop reading our Bibles altogether.

So sometimes we become frustrated in our devotions because we know all Scripture is profitable (cf. 2 Tim 3:16) but can’t seem to easily identify how certain texts are profitable. In the end, we are wondering, “Is there really theology in every passage of the Bible and if so, how do we find it?” That’s the key question. Read More