Covenant Connection: We Read the Bible Communally
Taken from the Covenant resource, “Exploring God’s Word” written by Nancy Gordon and adapted by Steve Burger.
By the very nature of Covenant life, we read the Bible communally. Interpretation of Scripture is not a task we do in isolation (2 Peter 1:20-21). None of us has the breadth of experience, intellectual skill, social sensitivity, or spiritual depth to interpret the Scriptures alone. Our reading is informed by our identity and experiences, including our gender, economic status, and culture. None of us has experience sufficiently broad so that we may grasp all about which Scripture speaks. The Holy Spirit, the same Spirit that inspired the text, helps us in our reading and discussion, and the community of faith—both past and present—provides assistance in hearing the text. The Holy Spirit and the community of faith work in concert with each other to guide the task of reading and listening well.
