Why Is the Bible So Hard to Read?

The short answer: Because it isn’t really one book. It’s a library of sixty-six books, written over many centuries, in three languages and very different cultures, in many kinds of writing. It’s hard in places, but it isn’t locked; with a good place to start, a few simple questions and some help, anyone can read it with understanding.

You decide to read the Bible properly this time. You start at page one. Genesis is great: creation, floods, family drama. Exodus has plagues and a sea splitting in two. Then you hit Leviticus: skin diseases, mould and instructions for sacrifices. By chapter 13 you’ve given up and feel guilty about it.

You’re not alone. Even Peter said some of Paul’s letters were hard to understand. Here’s why the Bible can be hard, and how to make it easier.

It’s a library, not a novel

The Bible contains history, law, poetry, songs, proverbs, prophecy, biographies, letters and visions of the future. You read each kind differently, just as you read a text message differently from a poem.

Take Proverbs. It says, “Do not answer a fool according to his folly,” and in the very next verse, “Answer a fool according to his folly” (Proverbs 26:4–5). A contradiction? No. Proverbs are wise sayings for different situations, not laws of physics. Some fools you ignore, some you answer. Psalms are poems, so they use pictures and feelings. Revelation is full of symbols, not a literal photograph. Knowing what kind of writing you’re reading solves half the problems.

It’s from another world

The Bible was written two to three thousand years ago, mostly in Hebrew and Greek, to people with different customs, foods, politics and jokes. Things that were obvious to the first readers aren’t obvious to us. So ask three simple questions of any passage:

• Who wrote this, and to whom?
• What was going on for them?
• What did it mean to them, before what it means to me?

And always read the verses around a verse. A single verse pulled out of its paragraph can be made to say almost anything.

Where to start

Don’t start at Genesis and try to plough straight through. Start with Jesus. Read a Gospel: Mark is short and fast-moving, and John was written “so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God” (John 20:31). Then read Acts, to see what happened next. Then a short letter like Philippians or 1 John. Read a psalm a day alongside. After that, Genesis and the rest of the Old Testament will make far more sense.

A reading plan helps, and so does reading a little every day rather than a lot once a month. The person who is blessed is the one who meditates on God’s law “day and night” (Psalm 1:2). Little and often beats heroic and rare.

You’re allowed to get help

In Acts an official from Ethiopia was reading Isaiah in his chariot. Philip asked if he understood it. “How can I,” he said, “unless someone guides me?” (Acts 8:31). There’s no shame in that. Even in Nehemiah’s day the teachers read the Law “explaining it and giving insight, so that the people could understand what was being read” (Nehemiah 8:8).

So get a Bible in a modern translation, perhaps a study Bible with notes. Ask a youth leader. Join a group. Write down your questions and bring them to someone who knows more than you.

Ask the Author

The best help of all is the Author Himself. Before you read, pray: “Open my eyes that I may see wondrous things from Your law” (Psalm 119:18). After His resurrection, Jesus did exactly that for His disciples: “Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures” (Luke 24:45).

And remember what the whole library is about. Walking with two disciples, “beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He explained to them what was written in all the Scriptures about Himself” (Luke 24:27). When you’re lost in a hard passage, ask: how does this point me to Jesus?

You won’t understand everything, and that’s fine. “The unfolding of Your words gives light; it informs the simple” (Psalm 119:130). You don’t need to be clever. You just need to keep reading.

Think about it: What’s the hardest thing for you about reading the Bible: knowing where to start, understanding it, or making time? What’s one small step you could take this week?

Go deeper: How to Succeed in the Christian Life by R. A. Torrey — Torrey gives a young Christian plain, practical advice: set aside at least fifteen minutes a day, begin by reading John’s Gospel five times, and ask a few simple questions of every chapter, including what it teaches about Jesus Christ. Start with chapter 7, “Bible Study”.