5 Tips for Reading Familiar Bible Passages

Familiar Bible passages are a bit like old friends. Because we’ve known them so long and are so comfortable around them, we don’t expect to find anything new or different when we’re with them. And if there was something about them we didn’t know, we might miss it simply because we aren’t looking. 

Some passages in Scripture are so familiar to us we might think there’s nothing more to be learned from them. After all, we’ve read them countless times. We’ve heard sermons on these passages. We’ve done Bible studies on them. But if we think we know everything about even the most familiar passages, we would be wrong! We will never be able to plumb the depths of God’s Word. 

One of my examples

I thought about this recently when I read 1 Corinthians 13, the “love chapter.” I’ve read this passage dozens and maybe even hundreds of times. I’ve highlighted, underlined, and made notes. I’ve identified spiritual truths and timeless principles. But that day it impacted me in a new way. God gave me a greater understanding of the relationship between love and the spiritual gifts He gives us. God also called me to repentance for not always using the gifts He gave me in a truly loving way.

Just a word of caution here. We can only learn something “new” from a passage in that it’s new to us. Every verse in the Bible has just one meaning, the one God originally gave it. The truths are eternally the same. We will NEVER find something “new” that wasn’t there before. But God can teach us things we weren’t previously ready to understand.

Every time we study Scripture we continue to build our knowledge and understanding of God, His will, and His ways. There are some things we can’t understand before we’ve learned something else. And every time we return to a previously studied passage, we are in the middle of different life circumstances. God will then apply the same spiritual truths to our life in a different way. 

5 tips for reading familiar Bible passages: 

1. Read it from a different translation – Some passages are so familiar we almost have them memorized without even trying. But, if we read the passage from a less familiar translation, our minds won’t get ahead of our reading. We will begin to notice things we hadn’t seen before. Also, if you read from a translation that falls in a different translation category than your usual one, it will add even more benefit. (For more on this, see “Why Are There So Many Bible Translations?”)
2. Pretend you’ve never read it before – First, set aside any preconceived ideas so the Holy Spirit can teach you. Then, even if you’ve studied this passage countless times, do it again like it’s the first time. Don’t skip any steps. (Also see “What is Inductive Bible Study?” and “4 R Bible Study for Everyday Use.”)
3. Don’t hurry – It’s oh so easy to rush through familiar tasks. And it’s tempting to skim passages we feel we know well. But when we hurry, we don’t allow any space for the Holy Spirit to teach us, to speak to us. 
4. Observe it – Ask it questions. Mark it up. Look for something you haven’t noticed before. (Also see “10 Observation Tips for Better Bible Study” and “Do You Mark in Your Bible? Reasons You Should.”)
5. Look for new application – Every passage may have just one meaning, but those truths have endless applications for our lives. Our circumstances change. We change as we grow older and grow spiritually. God can take a truth you learned 30 years ago and hit you upside the head with it in a totally different way. So, even if you don’t technically learn a principle or truth you didn’t know before, ask God how he wants to apply those long-known things to your current circumstances. (Also see “4 Ways to Apply Scripture to Your Life.”)

What are some passage that fall into this familiar category for you?