How Can I Better Understand My Bible?
The Bible is an ancient text, full of beautiful stories of good versus evil, humanity’s battle with sin, and the Lord’s faithfulness to save us through His cosmic rescue plan. As you journey through each page, you’ll meet new characters, encounter God, and illuminate the mysteries of God. But as a book written across multiple millenia, you’ll also find words, phrases, and idioms that may not be familiar or common to our everyday lives.
If you’re struggling to read your Bible, you’re not alone. For hundreds of years, followers of God have read through and wrestled with the text found in God’s Word. One of the best pieces of advice to better understand your Bible is to stop whenever you come across a word or idea you’re confused by and learn what it means. It may feel discouraging or frustrating to stop in the middle of your readings, but the more diligent you are to really understand the words you’re reading, the more satisfied you’ll be in the truths you uncover.
Here’s a starting place to dive into some of the most important words for understanding the foundational truths of the Bible and a few notable places you’ll encounter them in the Scriptures.
1. Atonement: The making up for or reparations of wrongdoing, especially in relation to Jesus’ sacrifice for our sins.
- Isaiah 53:4-12; Romans 5:6-8
2. Baptism: The practice of being immersed in or sprinkled with water, symbolizing God washing the believer clean and raising them to new life. Often performed when someone puts their faith in Jesus. Although He is perfect, Jesus modeled our need for baptism at the start of His ministry.
- Matthew 3:13-17
3. Covenant: A binding agreement. God makes covenants with Noah, Abraham, Moses, David in the Old Testament before establishing the New Covenant through Jesus.
- Genesis 9:1-17; Genesis 12:1-3; Exodus 19:3-6; 2 Samuel 7:8-17
4. Crucifixion: Roman form of execution by nailing or tying a person to a cross. Jesus’ death was by crucifixion.
- Matthew 27:32-44; Mark 15:20-32; Luke 23:32-49; John 19:16-37
5. Disciple: A student of a teacher. Referring most often to the people who closely followed Jesus during His earthly ministry, but can be applied to any follower of Jesus, past, present, or future.
- Matthew 4:18-22
6A. Gospel (Good News): The message of God providing salvation through Jesus Christ. Jesus, the eternal Son of God, became human, lived a sinless life, died on the cross for sins, was buried, and rose again on the third day. Through faith in Him, we are forgiven, made right with God, and given eternal life.
- John 3:16; Romans 1:16; 1 Corinthians 15:1-4
6B. Gospel (Account): One of the first four books of the New Testament—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. These books are eyewitness accounts of Jesus’ life and ministry, written by men who knew and walked with Him while He was on earth or pulled from eyewitnesses who did.
- Matthew; Mark; Luke; John
7. Messiah: Messiah comes from a Hebrew word meaning “anointed one” or “chosen one.” In the Old Testament, it refers to the promised deliverer of the Hebrew people who was ultimately fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
- Isaiah 9:6-7; Zechariah 9:9; John 4:25-26
8. Parable: A story meant to represent a larger spiritual message. Jesus used many parables during His ministry.
- Matthew 13:34
9. Redemption: The act of buying back. Of salvation, God’s act of buying us back from sin and death through the blood of Jesus, who paid the ultimate price of His life on the cross to set us free and purchase us as His own.
- Romans 3:23-24, Ephesians 1:7, Colossians 1:13-14
10. Repentance: Sincere regret or remorse for an action that is in disobedience to God’s Word. It’s important to note that repentance should always be followed by a turning away from sin (see Day 6 of our New Believer Journey for more on repentance).
- Matthew 3:2; Matthew 4:17; Mark 1:15
For a longer glossary of common words and ideas in the Bible that will help you better understand the text and grow in your faith, check out our New Believer 30 Day Journey.
For a deeper dive into some of the more difficult words related to our faith that we’ll come across in the Bible, read our series “What Does It Mean? 6 Words in the Bible Everyone Should Know.”
