Thirty Days to a Vibrant Spiritual Life of Literary Understanding: Scripture as Layered Literature

The first volume of the Spiritual Growth Workbook series introduced the literary aspect of scripture through lessons that contained examples of chiasmus, inclusio, Hebrew poetry, naming, ellipsis, aposiopesis, and 1st century hymns used in the New Testament.

In Volume II we explore the layers of meaning contained in scripture through identifying literary devices, structure, and utilizing multiple lenses for reading. It is through the use of multiple lenses that we are aided in producing genre identification of scripture's individual books.

The lens through which we read is determinative for how we interpret scripture. You are learning to read in an informed, spiritually intelligent and intellectually driven manner that liberates your heart and mind to grow in wisdom and understanding so that your spiritual life is consistent with scripture. Remember that we are called to love God with our minds. Remember that according to the writer of Hebrews a person unskilled in scripture is unable to discern good from evil.

Hebrews 5:13,14

...for everyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is unskilled in the word of righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, for those whose faculties have been trained by practice to distinguish good from evil.

The scripture is a wealth of wisdom to be mined and the theological instruction of each book of the Bible is layered so that its lessons encompass multiple fields such as theology, history, anthropology, psychology, and religious studies. The finest education is produced through learning how to read the Bible.