You Don't Need a Degree to Read (and Understand) the Bible (2 Timothy 3:16-17) - Your Daily Bible Verse - January 21

Sometimes I think we make studying the Bible more complicated than it has to be.

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You Don't Need a Degree to Read (and Understand) the Bible
 By Matthew S. Harmon

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.”  - 2 Timothy 3:16-17

Anyone Can Study the Bible

Sometimes I think we make studying the Bible more complicated than it has to be.

There's a place for in-depth study and using all these remarkable resources that are available to us. But, at the end of the day, the goal is to encounter the living God.


And so as we learn to ask some basic questions of any passage, you don't need to be a biblical scholar, you don't need to have had advanced coursework, you don't even need to have been a Christian for very long. All you need is to be able to ask questions: What do we learn about God? What do we learn about people? How should I relate to God? How should I relate to others?

As we ask some of those very basic, simple questions, I believe the text starts to open up. Sometimes it actually raises even more questions. But oftentimes it quickly reveals things about God and about ourselves.

We realize that we can really benefit from reading, and it doesn't take complicated methods or techniques. It simply requires asking the right kinds of questions to point us in the right direction to relate to God and to be transformed by who God is and what he's doing in the pages of Scripture—realizing that he wants to do similar, transformative things in our own lives.


You Don't Need a Degree to Read the Bible from Crossway on Vimeo.

Matthew S. Harmon (PhD, Wheaton College) is professor of New Testament studies at Grace College and Theological Seminary in Winona Lake, Indiana. He was previously on staff with Cru for eight years and is the author of several books. Matthew and his wife, Kate, live in Warsaw, Indiana, and have two sons.

Editor’s Note: This post is adapted from “Asking the Right Questions” by Matthew S. Harmon. It originally appeared on Crossway.org; used with permission. All rights reserved.

We want to experience God through the Bible… we really do!

But our good intentions fall flat when reading the Bible just doesn’t seem to help us experience God in a real way. What should feel alive often feels confusing and boring and irrelevant. But it doesn’t have to.

In the How to Study the Bible podcast, pastor and Bible teacher Nicole Unice brings life back to reading the Bible by walking listeners through her Alive Method of Bible study, helping us personally encounter God through his Word by giving us a practical, clear road map for understanding, interpreting and applying Scripture to our lives. Just click below to start listening now!

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Christianity / Devotionals / Your Daily Bible Verse / You Don't Need a Degree to Read (and Understand) the Bible (2 Timothy 3:16-17) - Your Daily Bible Verse - January 21