Master Classes

Beloved, I want  to share an article from one of my favorite study Bibles, the Reformation Heritage KJV Study Bible. It is a very helpful article and I hope it blesses you.

Reading the Bible Experientially

To read the Bible experientially simply means to read it with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. That is how the Bible is intended to be read. The reason we even have to use the word “experientially” is simply because people imagine they are reading the Bible when they are only reading the Bible in a superficial way. 

For instance, many people read the Bible only for tidbits of information, or to gain more head-knowledge. They are interested in facts, history, or even doctrine, but their study of the Bible stops at that level. Sometimes such people read just to confirm what they already know or believe. They read only certain sections of the Bible or if they read through the Bible, they pick out what they find interesting, relevant, or helpful.

Other people read the Bible in order to walk away with an emotional feeling of well-being. They want an emotional fix or shot in the arm to help them through another day or week. Again, others read the Bible simply because they want to do something. They want practical tips or directives to guide them in their every day life, or as vision for their church or organization. Each of these groups are marked by this significant flaw: They are not reading the Bible on its own terms. They are not reading the Bible as the revelation of God, His truth, His Word, in all its breadth, depth, and height.

A test as to whether you are reading the Bible experientially is whether in the process of reading the Bible, the Bible reads you. No doubt, this will sound like a peculiar way of thinking. “How can a passage read me?” you might wonder. “Words on a page have neither eyes nor a mind that they could read me. Besides, I am not a book full of pages with words to be read.”

Admittedly, we do not typically think or talk like this. Yet, we miss something important as a result. Think of what happened when the prophet Nathan came to David the king with the parable of the young lamb (2 Sam. 12:1-6). It ended up revealing the sin in David’s life that, until that point, he had not seen as he should have. Nathan’s parable acted as a searchlight on David’s heart and uncovered something that David had been concealing beneath layers of excuses and attempts to suppress his guilt. David grasped the Word of God that day. But, more importantly, the Word of God grasped him.

Without a doubt, the Holy Spirit was working in David to produce accurate self-knowledge. But the word that Nathan brought was the means God used to that end. It should be no surprise that the Spirit loves to use the Word that way. After all, He has inspired it (2 Peter 1:21). He is pleased to use it to bring sinners to a true and saving knowledge of themselves and of God (John 16:8-14). Yet, many today are content to read the Bible in a way in which the Word of God is subject to them, rather than that they are subject to the Word. They study the Bible—so they think—but do not realize that the Bible needs to study us. We need to search the Scriptures, but it is a blessing when we discover that the Scriptures are searching us, teaching us both how matters should go in our lives and how they often do go, which always falls short of how they should go (Rom. 7:14-25).

When God uses His Word to search and change us, we have what theologians have called the experiential approach to the Scriptures. In fact, when you come to Scripture truly believing it to be what it claims to be—the Word of God—and submitting to its scrutiny of all of your life, then you are reading the Word experientially. In its entirely Psalm 119 is one glorious expression of experiential reading, and verse 130 states it succinctly: “The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding to the simple.”

By nature everything is out of order in our lives. We do not see things as they truly are. Sin has drawn a veil over our hearts, and we love this darkness rather than the light (John 3:19). We have lost the sense of being subject to God and accountable to him. Actually, it is even worse than that. We actively rebel against His authority and transgress His laws (Rom. 8:7). We imagine we can make God submit to us. We make His Word the object of our scrutiny, rather than submitting ourselves to its scrutiny. Many Bible students and teachers think they understand the Bible, and yet they do not subject their lives to it. As we read in the Word: “The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God” (1 Cor. 2:14).

Sometimes people will tell you that reading the Bible experientially means superimposing something on Scripture. They imagine it as an “extra” that comes from mystically inclined minds, those who are not content with the plain meaning of Scripture. Admittedly, there has been a stream of interpreters throughout the centuries who have done a lot to give credence to this charge. But the abuse of experiential interpretation does not mean it is not necessary or useful when done properly.

How can I read the Bible experientially? Prayerfully consider the following biblical pointers. Respect the Bible as the single and complete authority over your whole life. Isaiah says it like this: “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them” (Isa. 8:20). That means we cannot depart even ever so little from the Bible. We are not the judges of whether the Bible is valid or relevant at some point. Nor can any other books or human traditions share the authority over our lives with the Bible. Do not doubt that the Bible is accurate at every point. David says in Psalm 19:7: “The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.” David believed it with his whole heart. What it says is wrong or lacking, is truly wrong or lacking. What it says God hates, God truly does hate. What it says God loves, God truly does love. Submit your heart and life fully to thescrutiny of the Bible. Psalm 119:80 say, “Let my heart be sound in thy statutes: that I be not ashamed.” For the Psalmist to say this, he does not hold back anything from the Word of God. Prayerfully meditate on the truth of Scripture, carrying it with you wherever you go and whatever you do. The Bible frequently stresses meditation as an essential part of living godly in this world (Josh. 1:8; Ps. 1:2; Eph. 4:17-18). Never forget that it is God who is speaking to you through His Word. Throughout His Word, God reminds us frequently of His majestic character and speech (Gen. 1:1; Ex. 20:1; Ps. 50:1-6). The Scriptures speak to us like a father to his children and like a revered friend writing a letter to us. Gather with God’s people for worship to hear God’s Word faithfully preached. Private Bible reading and study, important though it is, is not substitute for the official and faithful proclamation of the Word of God by His servants. In Ps. 87:2 we read: “The Lord loveth the gates ofZion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.” That means that the place where God’s people meet for corporate worship and the exposition of God’s truth is more precious to the Lord than all the separate dwellings of the people of God, where we are to worship God in our families. Hebrews 10:25 makes the same point. We will be immensely helped when we are companions of others of those who fear the Lord and keep His precepts (Ps. 119:63). Depend absolutely on grace so that your heart may profit from the Word of God. To read the Bible experientially means that we receive the Word with meekness. We need humble hearts. Pride keeps us from receiving the Word as we should. Of course, we cannot cure ourselves of pride, but we need earnestly to seek the Holy Spirit to make us teachable. Remember, God’s Word is what God uses to save sinners by uniting them to Christ (James 1:20). Look to the triune God to transcribe God’s truth on your heart. Paul rejoiced that he could say of those Christians hepastored: “Ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart” (2 Cor. 3:3). Do not be content to simply “hear” the Word; be by grace a doer of the Word. James is emphatic: “But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and contineth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed” (James 1:25). Be ready to sing the Word of God. Singing helps solidify truth in our minds and hearts (Deut. 31:19). For example, when we sing the Psalms, the God-given book of praise, we help give voice to our desires in a way that, with God’s blessing, endears the Word to us even further. David says in Psalm 108:7: “God hath spoken in his holiness: I will rejoice.” Ask yourself which of the Psalms echoes what you are reading or gives you a way to respond to what you are reading, and then sing it.