Suffering With Joy

How to Get More from Reading the Bible

October 19, 2011

Reading the Bible

I was, unfortunately, well into my late 50s before I learned to read the Bible according to a method or structure quite evident in the writings of the early Fathers of the Church but which I had never had explained to me.  Thanks to the Catechism of the Catholic Church which explains in #115-119 the senses of Scripture, I had now a key to crack open the Bible in a more complete way.

The Holy Bible is the Word of God, the same Word who is God, Jesus Christ.  He himself said in John 8:12, “…I am the light of the world: he that followeth me, walketh not in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”  When we read the Bible, we are in a personal, intimate encounter with Christ who wishes to give us the light of life.

Getting Started

Before starting to read the Bible, it is important to remember we are in the presence of God, and to ask the Holy Spirit to enlighten us on the truths contained in it. Remove all distractions such as television, music, etc. because God does not yell at us over worldly noise, He speaks in a quiet voice ever inviting us to “Come follow me.” (Luke 18: 22)  By opening the Bible we are inviting God to be our guest and we must give Him our full attention.

The senses of Scripture

Whether we read the Old Testament or the New, we can gain considerable insight by doing it according to ancient tradition which distinguishes between two senses of Sacred Scripture, the literal meaning and the spiritual meaning. [1]

According to St. Thomas Acquinas, “All other senses of Sacred Scripture are based on the literal.” [2] The literal sense is the meaning of the words. When we read in Genesis that God created everything in six days and on the seventh He rested, the literal meaning takes the words at face value.

We can’t stop at the literal meaning, though.  We must continue with the spiritual sense, which according to ancient tradition is divided into three ways of looking at a passage:

1.  the allegorical sense,

2.  the moral sense, and

3.  the anagogical sense (Greek “anagoge” which means “leading”. Leading to our final end, that is).

This spiritual sense of the Bible is the answer to our longing to know and follow Jesus better every day of our lives so that we may join Him in heaven some day.

The allegorical sense

When thinking about the allegorical sense of a Bible passage, we can develop a much more profound understanding of it by asking the simple question, “Where is Jesus in this?”  For example, when God tells the Israelites in Exodus 12 the rules for the Passover and what He will do for them, it prefigures the sacrifice of Jesus, the Lamb of God on the cross.

The moral sense

St. Paul shows us the moral sense of Scripture when he tells us in 1 Corinthians: 10:11, after giving us a perfect example of the allegorical sense of Biblical interpretation, that these things “are written for our correction, upon whom the ends of the world are come.”

Considering the moral sense of a Scriptural reading leads us to act justly towards God and others.  Understanding that “justice” in the Christian sense means to give others their due according to their dignity as human beings and God His due as our creator and Supreme Being, we can examine our consciences to discover how to be a better person.  The Two Great Commandments are our litmus test.  The question here is, “What does Jesus want me to do now in light of this passage to behave more justly towards God and others?”.

The anagogical sense

Resurrection, 1520, Marco Basaiti (active 1496-1530 in Venice), Oil on canvas, Accademia Carrara, Bergamo

When we add the anagogical sense of interpretation to a Bible passage, we consider it within its eternal significance, how it points us toward our final heavenly destiny.  The raising of Lazarus is allegorical to the Resurrection of Christ. The Resurrection of Christ and his ascension into heaven is anagogical to our being raised up by Christ on the last day and taken up with him to our permanent home if we have been His faithful followers.  The question to ask ourselves when interpreting a Bible passage anagogically is, “How does this lead me to my final end of union with God and the saints for all eternity?”

A few more thoughts

Nearly everything in the Bible is linked.  We must take passages within context and not as isolated phrases independent of what is written before and after. This approach applies both to Bible study and to simple, prayerful reading which often leads us into mental prayer or meditation where we have a conversation with God over how He wishes us to apply His Word in our lives.

If we stop at the literal meaning of the Bible we’re missing a lot of points God is making to us.  If I were a dog, I’d be a bloodhound because I have a mania for following something to its end.  I can’t stand to have unanswered questions about the meaning of sacred scripture.  That’s why I bought the Catena Aurea by St. Thomas Aquinas. In these volumes, one for each of the Gospels, he has collected the writings of the various Fathers of the Church on each Gospel passage.  Another very valuable resource is McKenzie’s Dictionary of the Bible which I bought in the 1960s and is a fabulous work. I also use Biblos for research, especially when I want to trace the meaning and usage of Hebrew and Greek words and find the context in which they’re used. Occasionally I use the Jerome Biblical Commentary, too, and a Bible concordance.

Most people won’t want to go to the lengths I do for various reasons.  A book of meditations on the liturgical year may be a better option, such as Divine Intimacy by Father Gabriel of St. Mary Magdalene, O.C.D., and Dom Prosper Guéranger, O.S.B.’s The Liturgical Year.

And you can’t go wrong by reading the writings of the saints on biblical passages.  Saints Augustine and John Chrysostom, both Fathers and Doctors of the Church, and St. Bernard, a Doctor of the Church come to mind.

Smaller Manhattans

I want to plug a blog that is a great example of linking Biblical passages to Church teaching – one from which I’ve learned a great deal.  Christian at Smaller Manhattans teaches catechism to sixth graders and often blogs the lessons.  They are always entertaining and thought provoking.  For example, he’s opened my eyes more than once to specific links between Scripture and Tradition, such as the one between Moses on the mountain, the Pope, and the Church structure we have of bishops and priests in A Royal Priesthood. Plus, you get a lot of Catholic/Christian culture from him.

How Christian approaches catechesis is also another way to understand what God is showing us in the Bible without necessarily using specific words such as “contraception”, “abortion”, “purgatory”, etc.  We can learn a lot about the spiritual meaning of passages with his approach.

When all is said and done, our final goal is eternal friendship with Christ. Reading the Holy Bible according to its spiritual senses is an important way to know, love, and serve Him better to achieve that goal.

[1] Catechism of the Catholic Church #115-118

[2] Summa Theologica, I, 1,10, ad 1

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V. Praised be Jesus Christ!

R. Now and forever. Amen.

(Click on the link above to read why I am ending my posts with this.)

Tags: Bible, Catholic Church, liturgical year, sacred scripture

12 Comments to How to Get More from Reading the Bible

1. 

   Barb,
   This is an excellent post on how to read the Bible properly. You’ve given us a lot of good tips and resources here. Thank you!
   Mary recently posted..Hey! I’ve got a bit of time on my hands…
Mary on October 19th, 2011
2. 

   Thank you for this. I like the breakdown of the different senses.
   Daily Grace recently posted..Medjugorje: Souha’s Most Beautiful Confession
Daily Grace on October 19th, 2011
3. 

   Great article Barb!! Thank you so much!
   Colleen recently posted..Thankful for Blessings- God is So Good!
Colleen on October 19th, 2011
4. 

   You made my day with this gracious plug!

   I’d like to add that most of my Bible reading is very random, unless I’m doing lesson planning; and I rarely read a whole book of the Bible all the way through. In general I aim for breadth of knowledge, and only worry about depth in particular cases.

   While I’m not fond of all its translation choices, I like the NAB for its great footnotes.
   Christian recently posted..American Heroes
Christian on October 21st, 2011
5. 

   Good to know about those footnotes in the NAB. I don’t have a copy of that Bible. My Bible reading coincides with the sacred liturgy of the day most of the time. I’m looking for both breadth and depth on certain topics.
barb on October 21st, 2011
6. 

   Really enjoyed this post!

   God Bless
michael on October 22nd, 2011
7. 

   Great post, Barb! I appreciate how you brought out the three spiritual senses of the bible.

   P.S. I enjoy reading Smaller Manhattans, too. He is teaching 6th graders, and yet I get a lot out of his catechetcal posts, as well!)
Carol@simple_catholic on October 22nd, 2011
8. 

   That catechetical blog looks very interesting! I will check it out. We have been reading a book called “And God Said What?” by Margaret Nutting Ralph. Although the choice to avoid the male pronoun is annoying, the information in the book has been so terrific–an easy to read, compact way to look at the literary forms and answer the question you posed (where is Jesus in this?) in a little different way: what is this illuminating about God? It’s so liberating not to feel like we have to justify things based on the literal words, which are often contradictory.
   Kathleen Basi recently posted..Sunday Snippets
Kathleen Basi on October 23rd, 2011
9. 

   Yes, Kathleen, the literal words can really trip us up. We always have to be ready to dig deeper.
barb on October 23rd, 2011
10. 

    Carol, maybe we are 6th graders at heart and that’s why we enjoy Christian’s posts.
barb on October 23rd, 2011
11. 

    Thanks Barb for posting this. It is really a great post that is very helpful to me. This year I made a commitment to read the Bible more often and the methods in the article will certainly give more meaning and God willing improve my relationship with the Lord.
Helen on October 30th, 2011
12. 

    Thanks, Helen, for the feedback and the visit.
barb on October 30th, 2011