Beef Up Your Bible Reading 5

You’ve worked out where it fits in the big story of the Bible, you’ve looked at what comes before it and what comes after it, you’ve sorted out what all the words mean, you’ve thought about how the words fit together, now you know what it means. You’ve worked out what the person who wrote your passage intended to say to the people he wrote it for, but you're not finished yet. Your Bible reading must go beyond understanding to application, and before you can get to that you’ve got to dig a little deeper and find the answer to another question. Why did he say it?

You have to work out the purpose of your passage: the writer’s intended purpose. And just like every passage has only one meaning, every passage has only one purpose.

Working out what that purpose is is not as hard as it might sound. Mostly all it takes is a little thought. Try writing it down in one crisp sentence. “The purpose of this passage is…”

It might help to remember that there are three broad purposes; one or more of them will apply to every passage.

To inform, or teach something: what did the writer intend to teach his readers?

To convince: what did the writer intend to convince his readers of?

To motivate: what did the writer intend to motivate his readers to do?

If you’ve tried to answer those questions and you're still struggling, look around for some clues.

Has the writer actually said what his purpose is, either in the passage itself (eg Luke 15:1 – 3) or somewhere else in the same book? Look out for verses like John 20:31, 1 Thessalonians 4:13 or 1 John 5:13.

Maybe the writer doesn’t state his purpose specifically but does he say anything anywhere about issues he means to address?

Look for themes or subjects that are emphasised or repeated in the book.

Try to follow the flow or logic of the book you’re reading from. Look at how it’s story progresses: how it’s argument develops. If you’ve understood the purpose of your passage correctly it will fit smoothly into that flow.

Why is the writer’s purpose important? Because if you use a Bible passage for any purpose other than the purpose the writer intended you will be misusing it.