Why Is the Bible so Hard to Understand?

Why is the Bible so hard to understand? If you’ve wondered this, you’re not alone. Here are some of the most difficult aspects of reading the Bible, as well as solutions to the problem.

Bible Reading Challenges

Without doubt, there are some difficulties for first-time Bible readers. Have you ever experienced one of these six difficulties?

Some people were never taught the structure of the Bible. When they see random names and numbers mixed together (like 2 Peter 3:1), they wonder what sort of a strange numeric code this is, and they are daunted by the prospect of reading a book that requires this complicated system.

Others are intimidated by the lists and genealogies. The first genealogy occurs just four chapters in, and the Bible also contains land boundaries, building descriptions, and legal codes. This can be difficult for a first-time Bible reader to wade through.

The most recent sections of the Bible were written almost 2000 years ago, and much of it was written long before that. This results in an unfamiliar style of writing. Unlike a modern western book, the Bible isn’t structured with clear points and subpoints, western logic, or rhyming poetry. The Middle-Eastern background contains cultural references that many are unfamiliar with.

We live in a culture that says that the meaning of the Bible is fluid – it means different things to different people. This sounds good at first, but it makes it harder to understand the Bible. What if you read other books this way? Imagine a math class where the textbook doesn’t have a single meaning, but each student should understand it the way they want to. Will that make it easier or more difficult for the students to understand the textbook?

There is no doubt that the Bible sometimes brings conviction. Have you ever experienced that? You read the Bible, and one of the verses jumps out. It’s talking about you, your problem! When that happens, we often experience an urge to close the book and put it back on the shelf.

While the Bible is one book, it is also composed of 66 individual books. These books were written in three different languages by at least 35 men, over a period of 1600 years. With such diversity, some people miss the underlying unity of the Bible; they can’t understand how the pieces of the puzzle fit together.

Bible Reading Solutions

Let’s work through the six Bible reading challenges, so that they don’t prevent you from digging into God’s Word!

The basic structure of the Bible is simple. It is composed of two ‘testaments’ – the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament talks about what happened before the time of Jesus; the New Testament talks about what happened during and after the time of Jesus. Each testament contains multiple books – the Old Testament has 39, and the New Testament has 27. These books are divided into chapters, and each chapter is divided into verses. When you see that numeric code (example: 2 Peter 3:1), the first part is always the name of the book (2 Peter); the next number refers to the chapter (it is always before the colon – in this case, ‘3’), and what comes after the colon refers to the verse (verse 1). Now that isn’t too hard, is it?

Most of the lists and genealogies in the Bible are found in the Old Testament. This means that if you start reading the Bible in the New Testament, you avoid almost all the genealogies. In fact, the first four books of the New Testament (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) are four biographies of the life of Jesus, so if you start with them, you can get straight to the heart of the New Testament, and you can bypass the genealogies for the present.

The style of writing in the Bible is different, but that doesn’t mean you can’t make sense of it. Ultimately, the Bible is a book about God and humans. God is not limited to one culture, and we are all humans, so there is plenty of the Bible that you can understand.

While many people think that the Bible’s meaning depends on what each person thinks, the Bible has one very simple meaning – the meaning that the author had in mind when he was writing! Imagine that you find an old letter that says, ‘Meet me at the burger shop at 6.’ You don’t imagine that the letter means anything you want it to mean. You understand that it refers to one and only one burger shop, at one specific time of day on a certain day. You may not know what burger shop or which day, but the meaning isn’t up to you to decide. It means what the author meant. Similarly, Bible readers make sense of the Bible by trying to understand it in terms of its original meaning.

Feeling guilty or convicted is one of the best reasons to read the Bible! If the Bible didn’t bring conviction, it wouldn’t be nearly as valuable. What if you knew that there was a big chance you had cancer, but you decided not to see the doctor because you didn’t want to be diagnosed? The diagnosis isn’t the problem; it’s the first step in the solution. When you feel conviction, keep reading – the Bible contains more than the diagnosis, it also contains the remedy!

The diversity of the Bible only highlights its remarkable unity. Every part of the Bible leads to the grand theme of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This just means the good news of Jesus, who is the Chosen One. Basically, the Bible describes our great problem – sin, causing separation from the good, righteous, and just God who created us. We can’t find a solution to this problem, but God provided one – He promised that He would send His Chosen One, and that is His Son, Jesus.

Jesus reconciles humans to God. We can’t do anything to help the process, but those who follow Jesus experience a radical change of life. No longer do they live for themselves; instead, their entire lives pivot to God. They give up their own lives and lifestyles, realizing that nothing on earth is comparable to the treasure of God’s friendship.