How to Read the Bible by Father Justin Popovich

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How to Read the Bible by Father Justin Popovich

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How to Read the Bible
by Archimandrite Justin Popovich

The Bible is in a sense a biography of God in this world. In it the Indescribable One has in a sense described Himself.

The Holy Scriptures of the New Testament are a biography of the incarnate God in this world. In them it is related how God, in order to reveal Himself to men, sent God the Logos, Who took on flesh and became man-and as man told men everything that God is, everything that God wants from this world and the people in it.

God the Logos revealed God's plan for the world and God's love for the world. God the Word spoke to men about God with the help of words insofar as human words can contain the uncontainable God.

All that is necessary for this world and the people in it--the Lord has stated in the Bible. In it He has given the answers to all questions. There is no question which can torment the human soul, and not find its answer, either directly or indirectly in the Bible.

Men cannot devise more questions than there are answers in the Bible. If you fail to find the answer to any of your questions in the Bible, it means that you have either posed a senseless question or did not know how to read the Bible and did not finish reading the answer in it.
What the Bible Contains

In the Bible God has made known:

1) what the world is; where it came from; why it exists; what it is heading for; how it will end;

2) what man is; where he comes from; where he is going; what he is made of; what his purpose is how he will end;

3) what animals and plants are; what their · purpose is what they are used for;

4) what good is; where it comes from; what it leads to; what its purpose is; how it is attained;

5) what evil is; where it comes from; how it came to exist; why it exists--how it will come to an end;

6) what the righteous are and what sinners are; how a sinner becomes righteous and how an arrogant righteous man becomes a sinner; how a man serves God and how he serves satan; the whole path from good to evil, from God to satan;

7) everything--from the beginning to the end; man's entire path from the body to God, from his conception in the womb to his resurrection from the dead;

8) what the history of the world is, the history of heaven and earth, the history of mankind; what their path, purpose, and end are.

The Beauty of the Bible

In the Bible God has said absolutely everything that was necessary to be said to men. The biography of every man--everyone without exception--is found in the Bible.

In it each of us can find himself portrayed and thoroughly described in detail; all those virtues and vices which you have and can have and cannot have.

You will find the paths on which your own soul and everyone else's journey from sin to sinlessness, and the entire path from man to God and from man to satan. You will find the means to free yourself from sin.

In short, you will find the complete history of sin and sinfulness, and the complete history of righteousness and the righteous.

If you are mournful, you will find consolation in the Bible; if you are sad, you will find joy; if you are angry--tranquility; if you are lustful--continence; if you are foolish-wisdom; if you are bad--goodness; if you are a criminal--mercy and righteousness; if you hate your fellow man--love.

In it you will find a remedy for all your vices and weak points, and nourishment for all your virtues and accomplishments.

If you are good, the Bible will teach you how to become better and best; if you are kind, it will teach you angelic tenderness; if you are intelligent, it will teach you wisdom.

If you appreciate the beauty and music of literary style, there is nothing more beautiful or more moving than what is contained in Job, Isaiah, Solomon, David, John the Theologian and the Apostle Paul. Here music--the angelic music of the eternal truth of God--is clothed in human words.

The more one reads and studies the Bible, the more he finds reasons to study it as often and as frequently as he can. According to St. John Chrysostom, it is like an aromatic root, which produces more and more aroma the more it is rubbed.

Prayerful Preparation

Just as important as knowing why we should read the Bible is knowing how we should read the Bible.

The best guides for this are the holy Fathers, headed by St. John Chrysostom who, in a manner of speaking, has written a fifth Gospel.

The holy Fathers recommend serious preparation before reading and studying the Bible; but of what does this preparation consist?

First of all in prayer. Pray to the Lord to illumine your mind--so that you may understand the words of the Bible--and to fill your heart with His grace--so that you may feel the truth and life of those words.

Be aware that these are God's words, which He is speaking and saying to you personally. Prayer, together with the other virtues found in the Gospel, is the best preparation a person can have for understanding the Bible.

How We Should Read the Bible Prayerfully and reverently, for in each word there is another drop of eternal truth, and all the words together make up the boundless ocean of the Eternal Truth.

The Bible is not a book, but life; because its words are spiritual life (John 6:63). Therefore its words can be comprehended it we study them with the spirit of its spirit, and with the life of its life.

It is a book that must be read with life-by putting it into practice. One should first live it, and then understand it.

Here the words of the Saviour apply: Whoever, is willing to do it--will understand that this teaching is from God (John 7:17). Do it. so that you may understand it. This is the fundamental rule of Orthodox exegesis.

At first one usually reads the Bible quickly. and then more and more slowly, until finally he will begin to read not even word by word, because in each word he is discovering an everlasting truth and an ineffable mystery.

Everyday read at least one chapter from the Old and the New Testament; but side by side with this put a virtue from each into practice. Practice it until it becomes a habit to you.

Let us say, for instance, that the first virtue is forgiveness of insults. Let this be your daily obligation. And along with it pray to the Lord: "O gentle Lord, grant me love towards those who insult me!"

And when you have made this virtue into a habit, each of the other virtues after it will be easier for you, and so on until the final one.

The main thing is to read the Bible as much as possible. What the mind does not understand, the heart will feel; and if neither the mind understands nor the heart feels, read it over again, because by reading it you are sowing God's words in your soul.

And there they will not perish, but will gradually and imperceptibly pass into the nature of your soul; and there will happen to you what the Saviour said about the man who casts seed on the ground, and sleeps and rases night and day. and the seed sprouts and grows, while the man does not know it (Mark 4:26-27).

The main thing is: sow, and it is God Who causes and allows what is sown to grow (I Cor. 3:6). But do not rush success, lest you become like a man who sows today, but tomorrow already wants to reap.

Seed in Our Souls

By reading the Bible you are adding yeast to the dough of your soul and body, which gradually expands and fills the soul until it has thoroughly permeated it and makes it rise with the truth and righteousness of the Gospel.

In every instance, the Saviour's parable about the sower and the seed can be applied to every one of us. The Seed of Divine Truth is given to us in the Bible.

By reading it, we sow that seed in our own soul. It fails on the rocky and thorny ground of our soul, but a little also falls on the good soil of our heart--and bears fruit.

And when you catch sight of the fruit and taste it, the sweetness and joy will spur you to clear and plow the rocky and thorny areas of your soul and sow it with the seed of the word of God.

Do you know when a man is wise in the sight of Christ the Lord?--when he listens to His word and carries it out. The beginning of wisdom is to listen to God's word (Matt. 7:24-25).

Every word of the Saviour has the power and the might to heal both physical and spiritual ailments. Say the word and my servant will healed (Matt. 8:8). The Saviour said the word--and the centurion's servant was healed.

Just as He once did, the Lord even now ceaselessly says His words to you, to me, and to all of us. But we must pause , and immerse ourselves in them and receive them-with the centurion's faith.

And a miracle will happen to us, and our souls will be healed just as the centurion's servant was healed. For it is related in the Gospel that they brought many possessed pro-pie to Him, and He drove out the spirits with a word, and healed all the sick (Matt.8:16).

He still does this today, because the Lord Jesus is the same yesterday and today and forever, (Heb. 13:8).
Beware

Those who do not listen to God's words will be judged at the Dreadful Judgment, and it will be worse for them on the Day of Judgment than it was for Sodom and Gomorrah (Matt. 10:14-15).

Beware--at the Dreadful Judgment you will be asked to give an account for what you have done with the words of God, whether you have listened to them and kept them, whether you have rejoiced in them or been ashamed of them, the Lord will also be ashamed of you when He comes in the glory of His Father together with the holy angels (Mark 8:38).

There are few words of men that are not vain and idle. Thus there are few words for which we do not mind being judged (Matt 12:36).

In order to avoid this, we must study and learn the words of God from the Bible and make them our own; for God proclaimed them to men so that they might accept them, and by means of them also accept the Truth of God itself.

Words of the Word

Great is the mystery of the word--so great that the second Person of the Holy Trinity, Christ the Lord, is called "the Word" or "the Logos" in the Bible.

God is the Word (John 1:1). All those words which come from the eternal and absolute word are full of God, Divine Truth, Eternity, and Righteousness. If you listen to them, you are listening to God. If you read them, you are reading the direct words of God.

God the Word became flesh, became man (John 1:14), and mute, stuttering man began to proclaim the words of the eternal truth and righteousness of God.

The Grace-Filled Word

In every word of the Saviour there is much that is supernatural and full of grace; and this is what sheds grace on the soul of man when the word of Christ visits it.

Therefore the Holy Apostle calls the whole structure of the house of salvation: the word of the grace of God (Acts 20:32).

Like a living grace-filled power, the word of God has a wonder-working and life-giving effect on a man, so long as he hears it with faith and receives it with faith (I Thess. 2:13).

Everything is defiled by sin, but everything is cleansed by the word of God and prayer--everything--all creation from man on down to a worm (I Tim 4:5).

By the Truth which carries in itself and by the Power which it has in itself, the word of God is sharper than any sword and pierces to the point of dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and discerns the thoughts and intentions of the heart (Heb. 4:12). Nothing remains secret before it or for it.
The Birth-Giving word

Because every word of God contains the eternal Word of God--the Logos--it has the power to give birth and regenerate men. And when a man is born of the Word, he is born of the Truth.

For this reason St. James the Apostle writes to the Christians that God the Father has brought them forth by the word of truth (I:18), and St. Peter tells them that they have been born anew…by the word of the living God, which abides forever (I Peter 1:23)

Reprinted from "The Diocesan Observer", June 6, 1980)

Justin Kissel

Post by Justin Kissel »

I hope I can truly comprehend the meaning of these words someday...

romiosini

Post by romiosini »

Then, before we read this we should ask the intercession of the holy writer of course for illumination of his writing!

Through the prayers of Saint Justin of Serbia, Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on us and save us!

Last edited by romiosini on Tue 19 October 2004 5:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Tessa »

beautiful post...i hadn't read that in a while

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Re: How to Read the Bible by Father Justin Popovich

Post by Maria »

I am responding to this thread in order to encourage reading this work by Father Justin.

Secondarily, below, I am posting the following excellent quote, which can be found at http://www.orthodoxchristianity.net/for ... msg1449658.

"If you see growing within yourself a good crop, no longer choked by the tares of the evil one; if you find that the demons have reluctantly withdrawn, convinced that it is no use making further attacks on your senses; if 'a cloud overshadows your tent' (Ex. 40:34), and 'the sun does not burn you by day, nor the moon by night' (Ps. 121:6); if you find yourself equipped to pitch your tent and keep it as God wishes--if all this has happened, then you have gained the victory with God's help, and henceforward He will Himself overshadow your tent, for it is His." (St. Isaiah the Solitary, On Guarding the Intellect: Twenty-Seven Texts)

The first reference was of a specific historical event, but is here applied as a spiritual principle as something applicable to everyone.

"As it is written, we should 'early in the morning destroy all the wicked of the earth' (Ps. 101:8), distinguishing in the light of divine knowledge' our sinful thoughts and then eradicating them completely from the earth--our hearts--in accordance with the teaching of the Lord." (St. John Cassian, On the Eight Vices: On the Demon of Unchastity and the Desire of the Flesh)

This understanding of the Psalms as meaning not militant and historical things but spiritual warfare is done frequently. Here's another example of that:

"Again, every monk will be at a loss when he sees the abyss of his evil thoughts and the swarming children of Babylon. But again Christ will resolve this doubt if we always base our mind firmly on Him. By dashing them against this rock we can repulse all the children of Babylon (Ps. 137:9), thus doing what we want with them, in accordance with the sayings: 'Whoever keeps the commandment will know no evil thing’ (Ecl. 8:5. LXX), and 'Without Me you can do nothing' (John 15:5)." (St. Hesychios the Priest, On Watchfulness and Holiness)

Another, in which the author specifically comments on giving a 'symbolical' understanding:

"Why do we abandon hope in God and rely on the strength of our own arm, ascribing the gifts of God's providence to the work of our hands? Job considered that his greatest sin was to raise his hand to his mouth and kiss it (cf Job 31:27), but we feel no qualms in doing this. For many people are accustomed to kiss their hands, saying that it is their hands which bring them prosperity. The Law refers to such people symbolically when it says: 'Whatever goes upon its paws is unclean', and 'whatever goes upon all fours or has many feet is always unclean' (Lev. 11:27, 42). Now the phrase 'goes upon its paws' indicates someone who relies on his own hands and places all his hope in them, while to 'go on all fours' is to trust in sensory things and continually to seduce one's intellect into worrying about them; and to have 'many feet' signifies clinging to material objects." (St. Neilos, The Ascetic Ascetic Discourse)

And:

"How, then, can the monk, who may be compared to the gold of Ophir (1 Kin. 10:11), allow himself to be sluggish or apathetic when singing God's praise? Just as the bush burned with fire but was not consumed (Exod. 3:2), so those who have received the gift of dispassion are not troubled or harmed, either physically or in their intellect, by the heat of their body, however ponderous or fevered it may be. For the voice of the Lord holds back the flames of nature (Ps. 29:7); God's will and His word separate what by nature is united." (St. John of Karpathos, For the Encouragement of the Monks in India who had Written to Him: One Hundred Texts)

Another:

"Our first struggle is this: to reduce the passions and to conquer them entirely. Our second task is to acquire the virtues, and not allow our soul to be empty and idle. The third stage of the spiritual journey is watchfully to preserve the fruits of our virtues and our labors. For we have been commanded not only to work diligently, but also to preserve vigilantly (Gen. 2:15)". (St. Theodoros the Great Ascetic, A Century of Spiritual Texts)

And finally, one from St. Maximus:

"'Shun evil and do good' (Ps. 34:14), that is to say, fight the enemy in order to diminish the passions, and then be vigilant lest they increase once more. Again, fight to acquire the virtues and then be vigilant in order to keep them. This is the meaning of ‘cultivating’ and ‘keeping’ (Gen. 2:15)". (St. Maximus the Confessor, Four Hundred Texts on Love, 2.11)

NOTE: The Philokalia is a wonderful resource that helps to elucidate the Holy Scriptures. For example, the use of violence in the Old Testament can be applied to our own struggles in the spiritual warfare. We battle against demonic spirits, and it is truly a battle unto death. Either we do battle enlisting the help of the angels and saints and gain heaven, or we cease struggling, succumb to the devil and his hordes, and lose our salvation. The choice is ultimately ours.

St. Paul instructed us to fight the good fight and win the race. St. Peter taught us to resist the devil who goes about the world seeking whom he may devour. These are battle words. We must not be afraid to fight using as our weapons unceasing prayer and fasting.

O Lord save Thy people and protect Thine inheritance. ... by the power of Thy Holy Cross.

Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me a sinner.

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Re: How to Read the Bible by Father Justin Popovich

Post by Maria »

Another post that is worth copying:

I am often amazed how not just infamous allegory-promoting figures like Origen, but even beloved true-orthodox like St. Maximus the Confessor, and supposedly literalist people like St. John Chrysostom, can turn the most literal-seeming passage into something quite symbolic/allegorical/spiritual. Admittedly, if anyone did the same tuff today, they would be mocked for making the passage say something it never was meant to, or for committing the sin of eisegesis. For all their talk of merely 'passing on' things and being copyists rather than innovators, in some ways the ancients were much more imaginative and open to new things than most of us moderns.

http://www.orthodoxchristianity.net/for ... msg1449654

The ancient Christians relied on the art of unceasing prayer and lectio divina, which is a form of meditating on the Holy Scriptures. Instead of being misled by uncontrolled thoughts and passions, the ancient Christians sought the wilderness, especially the forests and deserts, where they could find peace and quiet, and learn to pray and meditate unceasingly even while they slept.

Lectio divina is a way of praying where Christians slowly "chew" the Holy Scriptures and allow the Light of Christ to guide them. This ancient way of prayer was the prayer rule of all true ancient Christians. It did not involve the imagination, but started with the unceasing prayer of the mind which was brought into the heart to focus on God and His Word.

A VERY ANCIENT art, practiced at one time by all Christians, is the technique known as lectio divina - a slow, contemplative praying of the Scriptures which enables the Bible, the Word of God, to become a means of union with God. This ancient practice has been kept alive in the Christian monastic tradition ... THE ART of lectio divina begins with cultivating the ability to listen deeply, to hear “with the ear of our hearts” as St. Benedict encourages us in the Prologue to the Rule. When we read the Scriptures we should try to imitate the prophet Elijah. We should allow ourselves to become women and men who are able to listen for the still, small voice of God (I Kings 19:12); the “faint murmuring sound” which is God's word for us, God's voice touching our hearts. This gentle listening is an “atunement” to the presence of God in that special part of God's creation which is the Scriptures.

http://www.saintandrewsabbey.com/Lectio_Divina_s/35.htm

When we hear with the ear of our hearts, then our every heart beat is enlivened by God's Word, and the steady rhythm of our enlivened heart beat will calm us and free us from disturbing thoughts and nightmares. Then we will be able to focus our thoughts on God's Holy Word in the Holy Scripture and learn the important meanings from these scriptural passages.

Read The Way of the Pilgrim and its sequel for more information. I preferred the translation by Olga as it contains the important passages from the Philokalia and the Holy Bible, which speak of unceasing prayer and its benefits.

Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me a sinner.

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