Have you ever struggled with a Bible reading plan? Perhaps you may find yourself reading whatever you feel like reading when you wake up in the morning or before you go to bed. Or maybe you do have a Bible reading plan, but would like to read the Bible with someone else in order to built godly relationships with your fellow man. Well, if you fall underneath one of those categories, this will be a good book to read. It really is a simple guide for every Christian. This is a short read that should not be a problem for many. And yes, even if you have a short attention span, I think you could get through this book with no trouble. Drink some coffee or do some push-ups; and you will get through this book in no time.
The book is broken down into two major components. Part 1 of the book deals with who to read the Bible with. He narrows it down to unbelievers, new believers, and mature believers. The goal of reading the Bible with an unbeliever is salvation, the goal of reading the Bible with a new believer is maturity, and the goal of the reading the Bible with a mature believer is ministry training. Now that he establishes that, Helm goes on to recommend what books to cover with one of those three people. For an unbeliever, the book of Mark would be an asset because Mark covers the humanity and divinity of Christ in raw details. Explicit details about Christ would be a great benefit to the unbeliever who has questions about Christ. Genesis would also be a good book to go through with an unbeliever because Genesis will take him to the origin of life, sin, etc. As for new believers, Colossians would be great because the glories of Christ is echoed and the emphasis on components related to salvation such as reconciliation, redemption, election, and forgiveness, are critical for the new believer’s spiritual walk. As for mature Christians, he suggests going through the book of Romans. Romans is filled with deep doctrines that will shake the core of the mature believer. It will humble one because the book of Romans, requires an extensive amount of time to mine through.
Part 2 deals with Bible interpretation and the importance of implementing proper hermeneutics when engaging different genres of the Bible. Helm provides two simple frameworks for basic Bible reading and interpretation: Swedish Method and the COMA Method. The Swedish method looks for anything that stands out; it asks questions, and it applies the truth to the reader’s life. The COMA method requires that the reader takes into account the context, observations, which leads up the right meaning. The last point is to implement application.
Another component of this book that I appreciated were the questions that were involved for the different categories. They are all questions that could be used during the Bible reading discipleship. The questions will cause the reader to make careful observations of the passages and observations about their condition before their Holy God.
I recommend this book to anyone who desires to make disciples and to anyone who is struggling to find a Bible reading plan.
The Domain for Truth 