Reading the Bible for a Change, Second Edition: Understanding and Responding to God's Word

Discourse: Discourse is a text that presents a logical sequence of ideas.

Psalm: A psalm is a poetic song, found in many places besides just the biblical book of Psalms.

A genre is a recognizable category of writing that follows conventional rules or patterns.

Epistle: The epistles are letters written by leaders of the early church to churches or individuals.

the Bible—a book made up of many books—contains many different styles of writing, so we must properly recognize the literary categories of each passage we read in order to understand it correctly.

Story: Stories record an event or series of events that have taken place.

For believers to “follow Jesus” implies, among other things, adopting the same attitude toward God’s Word as he had. Becoming like Christ involves accepting his example as one who reads the Bible. It means defining ourselves and our purpose in life in light of the Bible. Following Christ also means practicing what the Bible says. Simply put, we can

the value of the Bible lies in its theological truths, rather than the ancient world that produced it.

In a symbiotic way, understanding enables growth, and growth enables further understanding.