Hello Reader,
Do you ever feel intimidated to read the Bible?
One of my passions is to help people learn how to approach the Bible with anticipation and joy, rather than anxiety and fear.
I still remember a conversation from almost ten years ago that sparked the idea for The Sinews of Scripture and Count the Stars. I was preaching a series on Genesis 1-11, which we called "Roots." I had just given a sermon on Genesis 10 and was shaking hands at the back of the sanctuary. A man named Larry came up, grasped my hand, and said, "Pastor, I learned a lot this morning, but I could never read the Bible like that." I don't remember what I said that morning, but his comment has stuck with me for years.
"...I could never read the Bible like that."
Why not?
I started looking more closely and how I taught and read the Bible. Was I doing it in such a way that made the Bible seem harder or easier to understand? Were the insights I was sharing from commentaries and the original languages drawing people nearer to the Word or keeping them at arms' length?
What I discovered was that the basic way that I read the Bible was something that I believe that any faithful Christian could do. In fact, it was the way that many Christians have read it throughout the ages.
I give a fuller explanation of this approach to reading the Bible in The Sinews of Scripture and Count the Stars (coming soon! more info below), but you will be most of the way there if you can learn to ask one simple question while reading the Bible:
"Where else have I seen that in the Bible?"
There are sixty-six different books in the Bible. Each author, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, writes differently, in a different context, and to a different original audience. Yet, because the ultimate author of Scripture is God and God does not contradict himself, the Bible is fundamentally coherent.
Thus, we can listen for connections across the Bible, which will help make sense of details that otherwise seem confusing.
In this issue of Theological Footnotes, I want to take you through several examples of how asking, "Where else have I seen that in the Bible?" can open up some Bible passages in ways we might not expect.
Vengeance & Forgiveness
"Daddy, what does 'avenge' mean?"
I was supposed to be telling my eight-year-old daughter a bedtime story — making up something with kittens, pigs, and unicorns. But then this question popped up.
"Where did you hear that?"
"I was reading through Genesis and I saw that word," she opened her Bible to read, "If Cain was avenged seven times, Lamech seventy-seven times." (She is reading Genesis 4).
It was a beautiful and honest question. I talked with her about revenge and payback and thought about how to tell her that this is not the way of Jesus. Instead of telling, I asked a simple question:
"Where else in the Bible do we hear about something happening seven or seventy-seven times?"
She thought for a few moments. Then her eyes lit up.
"Well, I remember Jesus saying that we should forgive seventy- seven times."
This launched into a short, but powerful, conversation about choosing forgiveness over revenge because we belong to Jesus.
Non-Consuming Fire
I was teaching about Pentecost to a bunch of grade school children when one of them said excitedly, "The fire came down and they weren't burned up!" It was like a lightbulb went on and my brain went into overdrive, but I paused and asked a question, "Where else is something on fire but doesn't get burned up in the Bible?"
Immediately, one kid said, "the three men who stood in the furnace, but there was a fourth person there and it was Jesus."
Almost right on top of them, another kid said, "It's like the burning bush. It was on fire and it didn't burn up!"
(I ask this kind of question regularly, so there minds were already making connections)
So then I asked, "What do these stories have in common?"
There was a pause as a seven year old pondered the question. "God spoke through the bush and God spoke at Pentecost. Also, God was there."
Thus, our Bible lesson on Pentecost incorporated these two other stories of the Bible to talk about God speaking and how God is with us and what his presence is like in our lives.
There was nothing in this teaching that wasn't already in the Pentecost story, but it came alive in a new way as we saw connections across the Bible.
Preparing a Table
Psalm 23:5 says, "You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies."
Growing up and hearing this Psalm, this always seemed like a curious phrase to me. Why would I want this? I had an image of God throwing a party and I get to sit down and the table and fill my stomach, while my enemies have to watch and be hungry. It had always seemed like a part of the prayer that delighted in the misery of my enemies.
Once, I was part of a study on Psalm 23 and learned that there is a meal of reconciliation common in Middle Eastern cultures, where two enemies would sit down and eat together as a sign of forgiveness and reconciliation. As I heard that, multiple Bible passages that I had studied or preached came to mind and connections were everywhere.
In 1 Kings 8, the king of Aram is on the hunt for the prophet Elisha. Eventually, the Aramean army surrounds Elisha at Dothan. Elisha's servant is terrified and God opens the servant's eyes to God's protection (in the form of horses and chariots of fire) and God strikes the entire Aramean army blind and Elisha brings them to the king of Israel. But then something curious happens:
As soon as they entered Samaria, Elisha said, “O Lord, open the eyes of these men so that they may see.” The Lord opened their eyes, and they saw that they were inside Samaria. When the king of Israel saw them he said to Elisha, “Father, shall I kill them? Shall I kill them?” He answered, “No! Did you capture with your sword and your bow those whom you want to kill? Set food and water before them so that they may eat and drink; and let them go to their master.” So he prepared for them a great feast; after they ate and drank, he sent them on their way, and they went to their master. And the Arameans no longer came raiding into the land of Israel.
"You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies." In a world that constantly says, “Father, shall I kill them? Shall I kill them?” The man of God says, “No! Set food and water before them.”
Then I thought of another story, this time a parable from Jesus in Luke 15, where a man had two sons and one was lost. When the lost son returns, what happens?
Then the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly, bring out a robe—the best one—and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’ And they began to celebrate.
"You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies."
One last story. This time, it's about Jesus and his disciples -- Jesus and us.
The Lord Jesus, on the night in which he was betrayed, took bread, and after he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples saying, ‘take, eat, this is my body, which is given for you, do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same manner, after they had eaten supper, Jesus took the cup, and after giving thanks, he gave it to his disciples saying, “this cup is the new covenant in my blood, as often as you drink it, do this in remembrance of me.”
"You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies."
One simple question opened up all these passages to connect in powerful ways: Where else have I seen that in the Bible?
By asking this question when you come across curious details in the Bible, you will hopefully find, like me, that you more and more approach the Bible with anticipation and joy, rather than anxiety and fear.
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The Sinews of Scripture: A Handbook on Biblical Genealogies
Biblical genealogies do not have to be intimidating.
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Writing Updates
I just turned Count the Stars: A Handbook on Biblical Numbers for publication on October 29. This book explores the kind of method of reading the Bible I showed above, but specifically with the different numbers in the Bible.
We will be waiting for proofs in the next couple days and then expect an email with a full announcement and how to pre-order. The book will release on March 10, 2026. This is the first time we are trying a full book launch campaign, so please help us out by telling your friends about the book.
I continue to work away on my translation of Zacharius Ursinus' The Body of Doctrine, and I have also read and reviewed several books on YouTube in this past month, and made one video teaching through basic doctrine through the Heidelberg Catechism.
Thank You
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From the desk of
Stephen C. Shaffer
Author, Pastor-Theologian
www.penielpress.com
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