Your Top Priority When Studying the Bible

Motivational speaker Zig Ziglar used to say, “If you aim at nothing, you’ll hit it every time.” The divinely inspired sage of Israel likewise cautioned against such aimlessness: “He who observes the wind will not sow, and he who regards the clouds will not reap” (Eccl 11:4). So what should our goals be when we come to study the Bible? How do we avoid hitting nothing?

Ultimate Goals and Instrumental Goals

Before I identify a particular goal that should be our top priority, let me first distinguish between ultimate goals and instrumental goals. An ultimate goal addresses why you do what you do, and an instrumental goal addresses how you do what you do.

For example, ultimate goals when pursuing marriage could be:

To picture Christ’s relationship with the church.
To form a lifelong partnership for the glory of God and good of society.
To unite in covenant with the companion of my youth.

But instrumental goals along the way toward marriage could be:

To secure the first date.
To secure the second date (often a greater challenge than the first-date goal!).
To figure out together, and before God, whether marriage is a good idea for us.
To execute a delightful and memorable proposal.
To learn how to transition from singleness into marriage.
To plan a wedding without going bankrupt.
To honor our families over the course of our union.

Now with respect to Bible study, our ultimate goal is to know God through his Son Jesus Christ. I’ve written about that ultimate goal here, as well as in chapter 1 of Knowable Word and chapter 1 of Sowable Word. I’m not going back on anything I’ve said in those places.

But when I talk about “your top priority,” I’m referring to your instrumental goals. That is, when you actually sit down to study the Bible—because you’d like to know God better through his Son, Jesus Christ—what should you aim for? What should you prioritize in your method to help you get where you want to go?

Subordinate Priorities

Sometimes we can mistake a good thing for the best thing, so here are some examples of priorities or practices that are good but inferior to the highest priority.

To learn something.
To find something I’ve never observed or thought before.
To answer a question I have about a word, a theological point, or a cultural hot topic.
To clarify a confusing verse or thorny text.
To obtain something practical for my life today.

Sometimes we come to our Bible study with such priorities. And such priorities are generally not bad priorities. They are well-intentioned and can produce beneficial results. But each of these priorities should remain subordinate to the highest priority.

Your Top Priority

Your top priority when studying the Bible ought to be to grasp the author’s main point in the passage. This is the measuring rod for your study, such that a failure to grasp the author’s main point is seen as a failure to effectively study the text.

Now to be clear, the “author’s main point” is not some secret code-phrase that must be unlocked or revealed through mystical arts. It is very rare to have a single correct way to phrase the main point. The author’s main point is more like a diamond with many facets. It can be viewed from a variety of angles and worded in different ways by different readers. But just as a diamond is an altogether different substance than quartz, so also it is possible to be altogether wrong about the main point.

Sadly, it is also possible—and quite common—to simply miss or ignore the main point in favor of something more “interesting,” more “clever,” or more immediately “practical.”

This top priority, this chief instrumental goal for Bible study, has some surprising implications. It means that everything I do in the observation and interpretation phase of study is driving toward that purpose of determining the author’s main point. It means that my application ought to flow from the main point. It means that some verses or sentences are more significant, i.e. carry more argumentative weight, than others.

An Example

To give one clear example: In epistles or speeches, independent clauses carry more weight than dependent clauses. And even among independent clauses, an argument’s conclusion carries more weight than an argument’s premises.

For example, in Hebrews 1:1-4, the main (independent) clause is “God has spoken by his Son.” Everything else in the paragraph matters. It is all there for a reason. But the reason for every other clause is to support that main clause so we might know and trust God’s communication to us by his Son. Not incidentally, that happens to be the main point of the entire book (which is a transcribed sermon), since the author/preacher is stating his thesis right at the beginning. This is why the ideas of who speaks and who you give your attention to constantly recur through the book’s application sections (Heb 2:1-5, 3:5, 4:8, 5:11, 6:9, 11:4). It climaxes in the claim that Jesus’ blood speaks a better word than that of Abel (Heb 12:24) and the command to “see that you do not refuse him who is speaking” (Heb 12:25). It is further applied in remembrance of those leaders who “spoke to you the word of God” (Heb 13:7).

Hebrews has incredible, rich theology in it. Much is clear (that Jesus is better than the Old Testament liturgical system) and some is unclear (such as the nature of sabbath rest or of falling away from one’s taste of the heavenly gift). But our top priority should be to grasp the main point, which is not obscure but saturates the book from the first paragraph to the last. Everything else in the book is supporting the idea that God has spoke by his Son, so we might be sure to listen to him!

As you study your Bible, don’t lose sight of your top priority.