What Questions to Ask When Reading the Bible: A Jewish, Christian, and Islamic Perspective

In Jewish tradition, reading Torah is itself a sacred act, but it's never meant to be passive. The king in Deuteronomy is commanded to keep the scroll with him and read it daily — not merely for information, but so that he might "learn to fear the LORD his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes" Deuteronomy 17:19. The first question a Jewish reader is therefore encouraged to ask is: What does this text demand of me in practice? Halakhic (legal) application is always in view.

A second essential question is: Is this interpretation true and certain? Deuteronomy 13:14 instructs the community to "enquire, and make search, and ask diligently" before acting on a religious claim Deuteronomy 13:14. Rabbi Akiva and later Talmudic scholars institutionalized this spirit of rigorous cross-examination into the very structure of the Talmud. Every claim is interrogated, every ruling challenged. Isaiah reinforces this by urging readers to "seek out of the book of the LORD, and read" with confidence that nothing in it shall fail Isaiah 34:16.

A third question flows from Proverbs: What does this passage teach me about the fear of the LORD? Proverbs 2:5 promises that diligent seeking leads to understanding "the fear of the LORD" and finding "the knowledge of God" Proverbs 2:5. For Jewish readers, this isn't mere piety — it's the telos of all scriptural engagement. The questions aren't just academic; they're covenantal.

Christian hermeneutics — the art of biblical interpretation — has always centered on a Christological question: How does this text point to Jesus? Paul explicitly tells his readers in Ephesians that when they read, they "may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ" Ephesians 3:4. This means every passage, even from the Old Testament, is read through the lens of Christ's person and work. Origen (3rd century) and later Martin Luther (16th century) both insisted that failing to ask this question produces a fundamentally incomplete reading.

Jesus himself modeled the second key question: What do the scriptures testify? In John 5:39, he challenges his opponents directly — "Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me" John 5:39. This is both an invitation and a rebuke. The question isn't just what does this say, but what does this witness to? Good Bible readers ask about the passage's testimony, not just its surface content.

A third question, often neglected, is the one Jesus posed to the scribes in Mark 9:16 — essentially, What are you debating, and with whom? Mark 9:16 Identifying the conflict or tension in a passage — who is speaking, who is being addressed, and what's at stake — is a cornerstone of responsible exegesis. Scholars like Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart (in How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth, 1981) built entire methodologies around this kind of contextual questioning.

Islam's relationship with the Bible is complex. Muslims believe the original Tawrat (Torah) and Injil (Gospel) were genuine revelations, but hold that the texts as currently preserved have been altered. Consequently, when a Muslim engages with the Bible, the primary question is: What has the LORD actually spoken and answered? — a question Jeremiah himself frames pointedly: "What hath the LORD answered thee? and, What hath the LORD spoken?" Jeremiah 23:37. Islamic scholars like Ibn Hazm (11th century) and, more recently, Ahmed Deedat, applied precisely this interrogative framework to distinguish what they considered authentic divine speech from later human additions.

A second question Islamic tradition encourages is one of critical discernment: Is this claim true and certain? The Deuteronomic command to "enquire, and make search, and ask diligently" before accepting a religious claim Deuteronomy 13:14 resonates strongly with the Islamic concept of tahqiq (verification). The Quran itself repeatedly calls believers to verify information before acting on it (Surah 49:6), and this principle is applied retroactively to biblical texts as well.

Despite these critical stances, Islamic tradition does not dismiss scriptural reading as worthless. The Jeremiah passage asking "What is the burden of the LORD?" Jeremiah 23:33 reflects a genuine prophetic concern for authentic divine communication — a concern Islam shares deeply. The question Muslims bring to the Bible is ultimately: Where does this align with, or diverge from, the final and preserved revelation of the Quran? That comparative question shapes every other inquiry.