David Pawson speaking on how to read the Bible as a library of books each written for a particular purpose and for a specific audience.

David begins with a challenge: ‘Do you believe that the Bible is the Word of God? Then, do you believe that it is the most important book anyone could ever read? Next, have you read it – not bits of it, all of it? Now, have you read any other book through?’

David advocates treating the Bible as a library of 66 books, each with its own context and purpose, and reading it “a whole book at a time”, just as we would read other books in their entirety and not dip in and out randomly. This is particularly important given the culture and time gap between the time of writing each book of the Bible and the present day. It means we will not be hampered by the artificial divisions of chapters, and especially verses.

The Bible contains “the truth, and it is the truth that brings wisdom”. It tells “the truth about God and the truth about the world in which we live”. Reading the whole of it (not just bits), teaches us what God is like so that we avoid getting a “distorted view” of him. We learn about his righteousness, which is crucial, as we need to know him as he is and not as we would like him to be or as we think he is. Reading the whole Bible also tells us the truth about ourselves, which is “not always comfortable”, but it will tell us what we can be through Christ.

The Bible tells “the truth about how you will relate to God” and “how you can become a son or daughter in his family”, “how you can be saved from yourself”. Reading the entire Bible gives us the whole picture of God and we learn how he thinks and feels, “his intentions, his will”.

Uniquely, the Bible “will tell you the truth about this world, where it came from, why it came, why we are here”; it will reveal to you “how history will finish”, and “how it is all going to end – with a new beginning in which we can take part”.

A free to download PDF booklet called ‘Studying the Bible’ that accompanies this video can be downloaded from www.explainingbiblicaltruth.global

Free resources and a library of Davids teachings are available from www.davidpawson.org

©️David Pawson Ministry CIO 2011

0:00 Introduction : why finding your way in the Bible is so uneasy
06:45 Which kind of book are we dealing with ?
12:05 Core principles : consider each book as a whole, read one book at a time
17:06 Getting the most from the Bible : errors to avoid
22:09 Sticking to the core principles : consider each book as a whole, read one book at a time
23:48 Chapters and verses numbers : when and how did they appear ?
33:24 Chapter/Verse : the iconic example of John 3:16
42:10 More core principles : what kind of book ? why was it written ?
44:14 Illustration : the books written by Solomon (Proverbs, Song of Solomon, Ecclesiastes)
01:00:34 Why so many repetitions in the Bible ?
01:04:30 Repetitions : the example of the four Gospels
01:10:30 Dealing with letters
01:14:03 Why study the Bible ?