How do Christians combat the lack of biblical literacy within the church in a culture which doesn’t care about learning?
We begin with ourselves. Do we delve delightedly into our Bibles, memorising and meditating upon the Scriptures? I fear few believers read their whole Bibles – not necessarily reading robotically from Genesis to Revelation, but actually reading it all.
Some people seem terrified of certain portions, ending up with functionally incomplete Bibles and a failure to reckon with the whole counsel of God. That could even mean a twisted Father, a truncated Christ, a trimmed Spirit, a shallower sense of the scope and sweep of salvation.
So we must read our whole Bible, praying for understanding (Psalm 119:18; Ephesians 1:15-21). We might also use commentaries and other aids to help us grasp what we are reading in its immediate and wider biblical context.
There are other tools: biblical ‘introduction’ helps to know the origin and structure of each book, humanly speaking. Simple biblical theology and basic books on biblical interpretation help us understand how the Bible holds together as a whole and as parts.
