Deep or Wide? How Should We Read the Bible?

Deep or wide?

For those who want to read and understand the Bible, deep study of the text seems like the most desirable course. Maybe even the starting point. If we want to know what the Bible means and teaches, we naturally want to dig deeply into every verse we study. Deep seems better.

But how do we go deep? I argue that to truly read the text deeply, we must start by reading it widely.

Deep or Off the Deep End

First, I will share a story that illustrates how not to go deep.

I will never forget the day we started a new small group Bible study with a group of friends at our church plant. One person who was new to our church saw a promotion for the study and arrived at the study carrying a large bag. He sat down and unloaded book after book that he believed he would need for the study. He had a Bible dictionary, a Bible handbook, a commentary, and a lexicon. As soon as I read the first verse of the epistle we were studying, he grabbed one of the books and began searching for the meaning of a word or name (though he had no training in hermeneutics or the original languages). This was a simple word. A word we all knew. He interrupted again and again during that first session to share something from one of the books. We learned a few facts, but none of it was particularly helpful even though he had good intentions. Afterward, I kindly asked him not to do that at our next meeting, and he did not come back. While this is an extreme example, it hits on a common desire. People want to mine out deep insights from the Bible. This purposeless pursuit of facts was his idea of “deep” study.

How did we get here

I argue (without proof) that ideas about deep reading gained favor along with the rise of exegetical, verse-by-verse preaching. Let me be clear: I am a huge proponent of exegetical preaching. I believe that congregants who realize the power and beauty of exegetical preaching try to emulate exegetical approaches in their personal Bible study. However, many do so without emulating the best practices that exegetical pastors utilize in their preparation.

We miss the mark whenever we pursue the right idea with the wrong approach. If proper care is not given to the task, many will get lost in the minute details and fail to realize how the smaller portion of text fits into the grand narrative of scripture. Without careful safeguards and procedures, we can get so focused on individual words and sentences that we can diminish the overall message of a book or epistle.

A Better Way – the Wide to Deep Approach

I contend that we can and should utilize sustainable deep reading strategies while exploring a wide swath of Biblical text. To do so, we must change the way we read.

As a biblical archaeologist, I love looking at the minute details on a tel. Each excavation is literally a deep dig into a place and the lives of past individuals. But we do not begin our excavations by digging a deep hole in a random spot. We learn as much about the site as possible before the dig. We walk across the whole site, collecting the items we see. We then move to the lab to study the items collected during the site survey. It is all about establishing the context before we begin digging. Throughout the dig, we discover new and unexpected insights even though we have done thorough prep work before the excavation. Still, our understanding of the context anchors our approach and helps ensure grounded interpretation. It is a wide-to-deep approach.

In some ways, I bring the same approach to my study of Scripture. I love to look at the history, the language, the minute details, the material culture and geography mentioned, and social interaction witnessed in the text. Then I “take a walk” across a larger chunk of the text.

For narrative passages, we must begin with the immediate context of the story. We must find the edges of the narrative we want to study, and we find out what is happening before and after the story in question. We should, at a bare minimum, read all of this before taking a deep dive into the verses. Jumping to the middle of the story without context can lead to faulty conclusions. In addition, it is best if we seek to understand the background of the narrative: what is the socio-political background, when it was written, who wrote it, who was the intended audience, what is the basic outline, and what is the overall message of the book. This is essential pre-work when reading Exodus, Judges, Kings, one of the Gospels, or Acts. Once we understand these macro-level items, we can probe the language and meaning of the text through close reading and exegetical tools. Reading the prophets requires all the contextual study listed above plus an understanding of the religious environment that led to the prophet’s ministry.

For New Testament letters, I encourage readers to employ all the contextual items above. In addition, I argue that before you attempt to study a letter closely, you should read it in one sitting. That is the way it was meant to be read. Paul sent Romans to the church at Rome with the understanding it would be read to the church – all at once. We need to be acquainted with the overall narrative of this compact, meaning-infused letter before attempting to exegete its contents.

In the end, it is this type of contextualized “wide to deep” reading that ultimately helps us to understand Scripture. We need to gain a wide understanding of the overall biblical message and a wide understanding of the individual biblical book or letter to go deep on a verse-by-verse basis.

Now go forth and read widely … and then read deeply!