Once again, I am pleased to have the opportunity to review a book from Zondervan as part of a blog tour, this time for Michael Williams, How to Read the Bible through the Jesus Lens. Sadly, my review copy arrived after the blog tour dates were already complete, so I am a little behind the times… ah well, never mind.

This is the third in a series of “How to Read the Bible” books, joining volumes jointly written by Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart. Having benefitted greatly from the first two volumes in the series, and incorporated much of the material from the first volume into my own teaching, I was excited to read this newest addition.

In order to understand what How to Read the Bible through the Jesus Lens brings to the table above and beyond the earlier volumes, I decided to do a case study, and see what I learned about the book of Revelation from each of the three volumes. The first volume, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth (hereafter For All Its Worth) offers an overview and introduction of the methodology of Bible reading. Fee and Stuart introduce the concept ‘exegesis’ (understanding a text in its context) and argue strongly for the necessity of exegesis before moving to interpretation and application. They emphasise understanding authorial intent as a means to finding the ‘primary meaning’ of a text. They then go through each of the major genres of biblical literature, offering guidelines for how to read and interpret each. So, for example, we are enjoined to read Revelation with a view to the author’s intent (to comfort those who were facing suffering and persecution under the Romans); to use the author’s interpretation of his own images serve as a starting point for understanding other (uninterpreted) images; to read for the whole rather than allegorically pressing details; and to keep our Old Testaments open to understand John’s OT references. These guidelines assist the layperson in finding manageable starting points for understanding what is often shunned as ‘too difficult to understand’. Each is illustrated with relevant examples from Revelation.

How to Read the Bible Book by Book (hereafter Book by Book) follows up on the work done in For All Its Worth by working through the Bible book by book and applying the principles taught in the earlier volume. This is helpful where multiple books fall under one genre (i.e. one chapter in For All Its Worth), but a little redundant in the case of Revelation, which has a one-to-one mapping with the genre of apocalypse. Nevertheless, a sequential presentation of the material at a high level (approximately one or two paragraphs per chapter of Revelation) is helpful. As Fee and Stuart write in their introduction, ‘The concern of this book is to help you read the Bible as a whole, and even when the “whole” is narrowed to “whole books,” it is important for you always to be aware of how each book fits into the larger story.’ (14) To this end, in the chapter on Revelation they offer, in summary (dot-point) form comments on provenance and theological themes and emphases, followed by an overview of the structure and message of the book. They then go through the book section by section, with brief comments on how the section contributes to the message of the book, and the book to the message of the Bible.

These volumes are, in my view, a tough act to follow. For All Its Worth is my immediate recommendation to anyone who is looking to make the first steps toward structured Bible reading and study. Williams has some big shoes to fill.

How to Read the Bible through the Jesus Lens (hereafter Jesus Lens) seeks to offer an explicitly Christological (i.e. Christ-focused) reading of every book of the Bible. In his Introduction, Williams writes,

Reading the Bible through the Jesus lens is reading it the way it was intended. It keeps our reading, understanding, teaching, and preaching properly focused on God’s grand redemptive program that centers on his own Son. Seeing how each biblical book makes its own unique contribution to that redemptive focus enables us to use these diverse materials with much more confidence and accuracy. The Jesus lens ensures that our exegetical bowling balls stay within the lane and don’t go crashing over into areas where they can cause a lot of damage to the faith of believers and to our ability to use the Bible fruitfully in our service to God. (9)

If ever there were a book of the Bible where bowling balls were prone to leave lanes it is surely Revelation! So what advice does Williams offer on reading the book of Revelation ‘through the Jesus lens’?

He starts by offering a brief overview of the situation which prompted the writing of the book of Revelation (though in less detail than Book by Book). He states the theme of the Book: ‘God enables his people to stand fast against Satan and his forces until God brings about the ultimate and sure victory’ (263). The section on ‘The Jesus Lens’, where you would expect Williams to focus (no pun) his attention, is a mere 3 brief paragraphs (approximately 2/3 of a page) that effectively points out that it is the Lamb who brings about salvation, and that though appearances suggested that Jesus was overpowered by evil, Revelation overturns this false impression by depicting a God who is in control and a Lamb who, though slain, is ultimately victorious. Williams closes the chapter by offering some contemporary implications (though sin is rampant, we live with hope) and ‘hook questions’ (discussion starters, suitable for a group Bible study).

Whilst I generally try to avoid criticising a book for what it is not, in this case I feel it is warranted: for a book entitled How To… it contains very little instruction. There is no discussion of how Williams arrived at the ‘Jesus lens’, nor of how to use it. True, Williams demonstrates his own usage, thus modelling a method, but we end up with his finished product without any real insight on how he arrived at it. As a result, if asked to look at portions of Scripture smaller (or larger!) than a canonical book, the student would need to start from scratch. In addition, whilst I appreciate Williams’ desire to write ‘a book that one doesn’t need a wheelbarrow to carry around’, I fear that his brevity necessitates gross generalisations. As a summary, his chapter on Revelation offers considerably less detail than Book by Book.

The strength of Williams’ book is the way it reminds us that all the Scriptures speak of Christ (John 5:39), a reminder sorely needed today as any day. But in its current form it is hard to see that it serves any particular audience – certainly it is too brief and lacking in methodological detail to be an instructional (How To!) manual. I will continue to recommend For All Its Worth.

Bibliography

• Fee, Gordon D., and Douglas K. Stuart. How to Read the Bible Book by Book : A Guided Tour. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 2002.
• Fee, Gordon D., and Douglas K. Stuart. How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth. 3rd ed. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 2003.
• Williams, Michael James. How to Read the Bible through the Jesus Lens : A Guide to Christ-Focused Reading of Scripture. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011.