3 Ways to Understand the Bible on a Deeper Level Today

In this article, I’m going to show you three ways to understand the Bible on a deeper level.

I once taught a lesson about the head coverings of 1 Corinthians, which included a lot of historical information as to why Paul would be telling women to pray with their heads “covered.”

I was also demonstrating biblical techniques to illustrate how it aligns with the church today.

Much of the historical and contextual information I was presenting was not directly found in the Bible, but it helped us understand the scripture in its proper context.

A couple of weeks later, someone asked me how I got all the information for the teaching.

They desired to know the “whys” and “hows” of the scripture.

I replied, “That’s going to take some time, effort, and maybe some money if you want to possess that kind of information and go that deep.”

Think about it: What if someone told you to explain a scripture that said something like, “Women everywhere should pray with head coverings.”

We see that Paul says this in 1 Corinthians, but what did he mean? How can we know?

If you’d like to go deeper in your understanding of the Bible, keep reading.

The Popular Way to Study

In Jonathan T. Pennington’s book, Reading the Gospels Wisely, he says this:

“That is, most readers—whether brand-new to the Gospels or lifelong readers—simply read the stories and take away from them whatever comes to mind, whatever stands out to them this time.”

He’s speaking primarily about the Gospels in this quote, but it applies to all scripture, in my opinion.

He calls this the “WSM Hermeneutic” (the “Whatever Strikes Me” Hermeneutic).

Most people will read any given scripture and interpret it to mean whatever they “feel” that it means, or whatever they think it means.

Some say that this meaning is “what God showed them” (and that’s quite possible).

This leads readers to extract what’s called the tropological sense of Scripture (aka the moral sense).

It is one of the traditional four senses of interpreting the Bible, referring to the ethical or moral lesson that the text teaches.

It asks, "How should I live this out?" in light of what the passage says.

The problem is that when we only read scripture this way, we miss the intended or Christ-centered meaning.

We walk away not learning anything about Christ, theology, or the Bible.

The main reason for these kinds of interpretations is really just due to one thing: they don’t venture outside of the Bible.

They don’t research the matter by consulting other sources or seeking input from other believers.

Indeed, the Bible is your primary and most trusted tool for understanding the Scriptures and your faith.

However, to delve deeper and follow the lead of the biblical authors, along with theologians, church fathers, and experts, requires more than this kind of reading.

If you want to be able to explain, properly teach, or simply just have better assurance in your knowledge, you need more.

Ways to Understand the Bible on a Deeper Level

You might not want to know everything about everything, but perhaps there is a specific topic or scripture that's bothering you, and you really want to get to the bottom of it.

Here are the “other resources” you’ll need to go deeper in the Bible and get access to knowledge and information that most others don’t have.

One thing I will not list on here are Bible “walkthroughs” or reading plans.

These are the big books you read while you’re reading through the Bible.

They’ll give you the passage you’re supposed to read for the day, then they’ll ask you questions and offer further insight about your reading.

The reason for not listing these is that, in my opinion, these are not resources to go deeper into your understanding, so they don’t fit this list.

I haven’t found any that take you deeper or will put you in a place where you can explain, teach, or know more about a scripture.

However, I will provide you with three resources that will help you go deeper!

1. Commentaries

Commentaries are aids that walk you through the books of the Bible, usually verse by verse, and explain what you’re reading.

If you read a scripture and have questions about it, you can find the area in a commentary that has this scripture and see what they say about it.

Keep in mind: These commentaries are usually going to be the opinion of the author. However, they will also generally cite other sources for their information.

In other words, it’s not just “their opinion.” They’ve researched the matter and consulted many different people.

There are free commentaries online in many places.

BibleGateway has a few, but they’re not the best. My favorite one from that list is Matthew Henry’s Commentary, which I’ve used a few times.

There are more listed on the BlueLetterBible, but some authors only cover specific books.

It probably wouldn’t be a bad idea to have one or two physical copies of commentaries around, but they’re just so much easier to access in an online setting.

2. Books

If you have a specific topic you want to learn more about, non-fiction books that explain it to you are one of the best ways to go.

For my Gospels class in school, I have a book titled What Are the Gospels?

This is an excellent book if you’re wondering exactly what the genre of a Gospel is. Is it a story? An epic? A biography?

That’s just an example of a topic—what the heck are the Gospels, and why did they write them?

You’re not going to get that answer from the Bible itself.

But knowing that information could help you better interpret the Gospels, leading to a deeper walk with God.

When I prepared for my Bible Studies on Tongues and Divorce, I read at least eight to ten books on these subjects.

The scriptures surrounding these topics can be somewhat unclear, and people use them to support numerous stances.

Therefore, it is good to read some books about them to get your brain-train going.

So, decide what you want to learn about and do a Google search: “books about _____.”

Then, fork out the money and buy the book used on Amazon for a few dollars.

Once you get the book, hopefully, it’ll be a book that cites other books. Then, you can search for those books on Amazon and get them, too.

If you read a few books about that topic, you’ll know more about it than most people on the planet.

3. Journal Articles

These are also good for topical studying.

They are smaller online articles, usually about 20 pages or so, but they are also more scholarly and advanced.

The scholars will usually talk about your topic and the study that has been done for years, and then they’ll give you their opinion from their findings.

The “head coverings topic” would be good to research with these, for example.

A good site with journal articles is JSTOR. You can create an account, and immediately, you’ll have access to thousands of articles.

Another is Academia. Again, create a free account and see tons of articles on just about any topic you want to learn about.

Logos Bible Software

I would like to mention Logos Bible Software before concluding.

This is a software you can purchase and download on your computer, and it is the GOAT for Bible learning.

Everything that we listed above is available on Logos in one place, and so much more.

For example, you can do language learning, breaking down the Greek and Hebrew with helpful linguistic tools.

The downside is that it’s pretty expensive and can cost thousands for some plans.

There are different plans, subscriptions, and routes you can go, so you should explore them if you’re serious about studying.

My suggestion is to start with Logos when you set out to study something.

I would purchase and/or download a few of their commentary add-ons.

I would do all of my Bible reading, language studying, commentary consulting, and exploration on Logos.

Then, use books and journal articles inside and outside of Logos to take your studying even deeper.

If you don’t get Logos, that’s fine! You’ll still be able to study well enough to learn the Bible on a deeper level.

Use the three resources from this list, and in the future, you might want to consider Logos.

Conclusion

These are just a few ways to understand the Bible today.

Remember, it will take some time, reading, and maybe some money.

You’ll have to go outside the Bible and do things that might not be normal for you right now.

But hear this: No one is ever “ready.”

You just have to take a leap of faith and jump right in.

Pray about your decision to go deeper in God and the Bible today.

Ask yourself, “Would God want me to go deeper?”

You never know where God can take you if you try something new.