A Teaching on Reading God’s Word Aright for Spiritual Formation and Leadership
By Oyewole O. Sarumi
My beloved colleagues in leadership, fellow shepherds of God’s flock, and dear friends who carry the weighty responsibility of guiding others into spiritual maturity. For over four decades, I have had the privilege of teaching the sacred Scriptures to men and women who now lead churches and seminaries across continents.
I have watched with joy as the Word of God took root in their hearts and transformed them into faithful expositors of divine truth. But I have also witnessed something deeply troubling, a growing confusion among God’s people about how to read, understand, and apply the Bible. The landscape of Christian leadership today is littered with those who have wandered from the ancient paths, seduced by novel interpretations, distracted by charismatic personalities, or simply too busy to open the Book that alone contains words of eternal life.
The remedy, I have come to believe with increasing conviction, can be distilled into three simple words: Context, Christ, and Canon (or Setting, Saviour, and Scriptures). Ignore one, and confusion follows. Embrace all three, and you will find your way through every interpretive challenge that arises.
The Crisis of Biblical Literacy in Our Time
Let us begin by facing an uncomfortable truth. The American Bible Society’s 2026 State of the Bible report reveals that while 25 percent of Americans are considered active Bible users, a staggering 62 percent do not read Scripture at all. Nearly half of weekly church attenders, 46 percent, are not regularly engaging with Scripture on their own. When researchers asked why, the answers were painfully simple: not enough time, and not knowing where to start. This is not merely a statistical curiosity; it is a spiritual emergency of the highest order.
The Center for Bible Engagement, after surveying over 400,000 persons across 24 countries and 75 denominations, made a discovery that should shake every leader to the core: the lives of believers who do not engage the Bible are statistically the same as non-believers.
Think about that for a moment. The very thing that distinguishes us as followers of Christ, our engagement with His Word, is precisely what we are neglecting. Those who read Scripture four or more times a week are 59 percent less likely to view pornography, 30 percent less likely to struggle with loneliness, 228 percent more likely to share their faith, and 231 percent more likely to disciple others. The evidence could not be clearer: regular biblical intake makes a profound difference in every dimension of the Christian life.
Yet there is a paradoxical trend emerging. While weekly Bible reading among U.S. adults climbed to 42 percent in 2025, a rebound from a 15-year low, fewer Americans believe the Bible is 100 percent accurate. Only 36 percent of Americans now hold that the Bible is completely accurate, down from 43 percent in 2000. This reveals a troubling gap between curiosity and conviction. People are opening their Bibles, but they are not sure what to do with what they find. They lack the hermeneutical tools to read faithfully. This is where we, as leaders, must step in.
The First Pillar: Context or Setting
Every text has a context or setting. This seems obvious, yet it is the principle most frequently violated in the practice of biblical interpretation. I have watched gifted preachers lift verses from their setting like flowers plucked from a garden, only to watch them wilt and die in the hands of their hearers. The Apostle Paul wrote letters to specific churches facing specific challenges. The prophets spoke to specific nations in specific historical moments. The Psalms were sung in specific liturgical settings. To ignore this is to invite confusion.
Nicholas G. Piotrowski, in his accessible introduction to biblical hermeneutics, presents an approach that explores three layers of context: literary, historical, and christological. The literary context asks: What comes before and after this passage? The historical context asks: What was happening when these words were written? The christological context asks: How does this passage point to Christ? All three are essential.
I recall a young pastor who came to me years ago, deeply troubled. He had been preaching from a passage in the Old Testament and had interpreted it in a way that left his congregation bewildered. When I asked him about the historical context, he admitted he had not studied it. When I asked about the literary context, he confessed he had not read the surrounding chapters. He had treated the Bible as a collection of isolated sayings rather than a unified narrative. We sat together and worked through the passage in its proper context, and I watched his eyes light up with understanding. The confusion lifted. The Word came alive. He had been reading the Bible to prove a point; he had not been reading it to know Christ.
The Puritan writer Thomas Watson once observed that many people read Scripture and merely admire the miracles they find there, yet they do not similarly trust God for themselves. This is the tragedy of reading without context. We admire the mighty acts of God in the past but fail to see how those acts reveal His character and His purposes for us today. Context connects the ancient text to our present reality. It grounds our interpretation in the soil of God’s redemptive history.
The Second Pillar: Christ or Saviour
If context or setting is the soil, Christ or Saviour is the seed. The entire Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, is a book about Jesus. He Himself declared, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me” (John 5:39). The Emmaus road narrative makes this explicit: “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:27). To read the Bible without seeing Christ is to read it without its central subject.
I have spent many years teaching biblical theology to seminary students, and I never tire of showing them how the threads of redemption run through every book of the Old Testament, finding their culmination in the person and work of Jesus Christ. The Passover lamb points to the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. The tabernacle points to the One who tabernacled among us. The priesthood points to our Great High Priest. The sacrifices point to the once-for-all sacrifice. The prophets point to the Prophet who is the Word made flesh. The kings point to the King of Kings.
One of my former students, now leading a seminary in Africa, wrote to me recently describing how this Christ-centered approach transformed his preaching. “For years,” he said, “I preached moralistic sermons from the Old Testament. I told people to be like David, to be brave like Joshua, to be faithful like Daniel. But I never showed them how these figures pointed to a greater David, a greater Joshua, a greater Daniel. When I began to read the Bible with Christ at the center, everything changed. People began to see Jesus on every page, and their love for Him grew exponentially.”
This is the heart of faithful interpretation. As one theologian has written, “To see the text in relation to Christ is to see it in its larger context, the context of God’s purpose in revelation”. Every passage finds its ultimate meaning in relation to the One who is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. We must always ask: How does this text point to Christ? How does it reveal His person? How does it advance His work? When we read with Christ-centered eyes, the scattered pieces of Scripture come together into a glorious mosaic of redemption.
The Third Pillar: Canon or Scripture
The third pillar is the Canon or Scripture itself, the authoritative, inspired, sufficient Word of God. This may sound redundant, but it is a principle that bears repeating in an age when human opinions, cultural trends, and personal experiences are elevated to the level of divine revelation. We must remember that Scripture is our final authority, not our favorite preacher, not our preferred tradition, not our subjective feelings.
The Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy: “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Notice the comprehensive scope of Scripture’s sufficiency. It equips us for every good work. We do not need to supplement it with extra-biblical revelations or novel interpretations. It is complete.
The early church fathers understood this. Ignatius of Antioch, writing in the early second century, exhorted believers to hold fast to the teaching of the apostles, which was preserved in the Scriptures. The Apostolic Fathers consistently pointed to the written Word as the foundation of faith and practice. They did not elevate their own opinions above the sacred text.
I have watched with grief as some of my contemporaries have abandoned the authority of Scripture in favour of cultural accommodation denominational doctrines. They have traded the unchanging truth of God for the shifting sands of popular opinion. They have exchanged the Word of God for the words of men. This is not faithfulness; it is betrayal. The Bible became alive for me when I stopped reading it only to prove people wrong and started reading it to know Christ. But let me be clear: knowing Christ does not mean abandoning the authority of His Word. The two are inseparable.
A leader’s primary responsibility is to point people to the Canon or Scripture, not to dependence on themselves or their church doctrines most of which are extra biblical. Your favorite preacher should never replace your Bible. Faithful teachers point you to Scripture; they do not create dependency on themselves. I have often told my students: If my teaching does not send you back to your Bible with renewed hunger, I have failed as a teacher. The goal of all preaching and teaching is to make the hearer more reliant on the Word and less reliant on the preacher.
The Three Diagnostic Questions
Before believing any teaching, I have trained my students to ask three questions. Does it honour Christ or the Saviour? Does it agree with the Canon Scripture? Does it produce godliness? These three questions form a theological filter that protects against error and cultivates discernment.
The first question, Does it honor Christ?, is christological. Any teaching that diminishes the glory of Christ, that obscures His unique role as Savior and Lord, or that substitutes something else for His preeminence must be rejected. The Apostle Paul warned against those who preach “another Jesus” (2 Corinthians 11:4). We must be vigilant. The Jesus of Scripture is fully God and fully man, the only mediator between God and humanity, the Lamb who was slain and who reigns. Any teaching that departs from this portrait of Christ dishonors Him and leads people astray.
The second question Does it agree with Scripture?, is canonical. This is the principle of sola Scriptura, the conviction that Scripture alone is the final authority in matters of faith and practice. I have seen too many believers led astray by teachings that sound plausible but have no biblical foundation. They are seduced by eloquent speakers, impressed by confident assertions, and captivated by novel ideas. But the Bereans were commended because they “examined the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so” (Acts 17:11). We must follow their example.
The third question, Does it produce godliness?, is ethical and practical. Jesus said, “You will recognize them by their fruits” (Matthew 7:16). A teaching may sound orthodox and may even quote Scripture, but if it does not produce righteousness, humility, love, and holiness in the lives of those who embrace it, something is wrong. True doctrine always leads to true devotion. The Puritans understood this profoundly. One of them wrote: “We should especially apply to ourselves any command we read in Scripture, as if God directly commanded us, or personally sent a message from heaven to us”. Doctrine without application is dead. Theology without transformation is empty.
The Myth of Feelings and the Truth of God’s Word
One of the great myths of our time is the belief that if something makes me feel good, it must be from God. This is a dangerous deception. God’s truth often comforts and corrects at the same time. It brings peace, but it also brings conviction. It offers grace, but it also demands obedience. It assures us of our adoption, but it also calls us to holiness.
I have counseled many believers who were led astray by teachings that made them feel good but did not make them holy. They embraced messages of prosperity without sacrifice, grace without repentance, love without truth. They were told that God wants them to be happy, but they were not told that God wants them to be holy. They were assured of their identity in Christ, but they were not called to take up their cross and follow Him.
The Puritan Richard Baxter warned that many people read the Bible and are moved emotionally but never transformed practically. They weep at the sufferings of Christ but do not weep over their own sin. They marvel at His grace but do not extend grace to others. They sing of His love but do not love their neighbors. This is the danger of a feelings-based faith. The emotions are stirred, but the character is unchanged.
We must remember that the Bible is not a self-help book designed to make us feel better about ourselves. It is a divine revelation that exposes our sin, reveals our Savior, and transforms our lives. It comforts the afflicted, but it also afflicts the comfortable. It offers hope to the hopeless, but it also confronts the proud. It is a double-edged sword that cuts both ways.
Read to Know Christ, Not to Win Arguments
I have spent many years in theological debates, and I can tell you with certainty that arguments rarely change hearts. The Bible became alive for me when I stopped reading it only to prove people wrong and started reading it to know Christ. This was a watershed moment in my spiritual journey. For years, I approached Scripture as a weapon to wield against my opponents. I searched for verses that would support my positions and refute theirs. I read to win, not to worship. And I found that my knowledge increased while my love diminished.
But everything changed when I began to read the Bible for a different purpose. I stopped asking, “What can I get out of this text to use against someone else?” and started asking, “What does this text reveal about Jesus?” I stopped reading to accumulate information and started reading to encounter a Person. I stopped treating the Bible as a textbook and started treating it as a love letter. And in that shift, the Word came alive in ways I had never experienced before.
Robert Mulholland, in his book Shaped by the Word, distinguishes between informational reading and formational reading. Informational reading is reading to be informed, to accumulate knowledge, to master the text. Formational reading is reading to be formed, to be transformed, to allow the text to master us. The difference is profound. Informational reading keeps us in control; we are the subjects, and the text is the object. Formational reading releases control; we become the object, and the text becomes the subject, shaping us through the work of the Holy Spirit.
This is the kind of reading that leads to spiritual formation. It is not passive; it is active. It requires discipline, attention, and humility. But it also requires surrender. We must come to the text not as masters but as servants, not as judges but as disciples, not as critics but as worshipers.
Confusion Grows Where Scripture Is Ignored
There is a direct correlation between biblical ignorance and theological confusion. The less we know God’s Word, the easier every opinion sounds like truth. I have seen this play out repeatedly in my pastoral ministry. Believers who do not read their Bibles are tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine. They are impressed by eloquent speakers, swayed by persuasive arguments, and confused by contradictory claims. They lack the discernment to distinguish truth from error because they have not immersed themselves in the source of truth.
The Apostle Paul warned Timothy that “the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths” (2 Timothy 4:3-4). That time has come. We are living in an age of spiritual confusion, where false teachers abound and sound doctrine is increasingly despised. The only antidote is a deep, sustained, and prayerful engagement with the Word of God.
I have often told my students that the most important thing they can do as leaders is to model a life of biblical faithfulness. You cannot lead others where you have not gone yourself. You cannot teach what you have not learned. You cannot proclaim what you have not experienced. If you want your congregation to love the Bible, you must love it first. If you want them to read it, you must read it. If you want them to obey it, you must obey it. Leadership is not about position; it is about example.
A Call to Spiritual Formation through Scripture
The ultimate purpose of reading Scripture is not knowledge but transformation. We do not study the Bible merely to acquire information; we study it to be conformed to the image of Christ. This is the heart of spiritual formation. It is the process by which the Holy Spirit uses the Word of God to reshape our character, renew our minds, and redirect our lives. Today, rather than teach the true Word of God, most of our churches using Bible through proof-texting to construct and build denominational monuments and doctrinal edifices that glorify the setman and not Christ. For instance, before starting to write this article, I just finished a discussion with one of my secondary school classmates whose orientation has been coloured and polluted by the Word of Faith doctrinal teachings. My insistence on the 3Cs nearly ruffled the beginning of our reunion, but I have to use wisdom to lower the bar, and postpone it to another day.
The Puritan emphasis on the practical application of Scripture is a gift to the church. They did not separate doctrine from devotion, theology from piety, or knowledge from holiness. For them, the goal of all study was godliness. They read the Bible not to become scholars but to become saints. They memorized Scripture not to win arguments but to fight sin. They meditated on the Word not to impress others but to draw near to God.
I have seen the power of this kind of reading in the lives of countless believers. I have watched as the Word of God transformed marriages, healed broken relationships, restored wayward children, and brought hope to the despairing. I have seen it break chains of addiction, shatter walls of bitterness, and ignite flames of love. The Bible is not a dead book; it is a living Word. “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).
Building on the Three Pillars
As I conclude this piece and reflect on over four decades of ministry, I am more convinced than ever that the three words, Context, (Setting), Christ (Saviour) Canon (Scripture) are essential for faithful biblical interpretation and spiritual formation. They are not abstract principles; they are practical tools for everyday discipleship. They protect us from error, guide us into truth, and shape us into the likeness of Christ.
Context or Setting reminds us that every text has a setting. We cannot rip verses from their historical, literary, and theological contexts and expect to understand them correctly. We must read each passage in light of the whole counsel of God.
Christ or Saviour reminds us that every text points to Jesus. The Bible is not a collection of moral lessons or religious advice; it is the revelation of God’s redemptive plan centered on the person and work of His Son. To miss Christ is to miss everything.
Canon or Scripture reminds us that the written Word is our final authority. We do not bow to the opinions of men, the trends of culture, or the whispers of our feelings. We bow to the Word of God. It is sufficient for all we need for life and godliness.
My dear colleagues, I urge you: Read your Bibles. Read them in context. Read them with Christ at the centre. Read them as the authoritative Word of God. And read them not to win arguments but to know the One who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. The confusion of our age will not be resolved by better programmes or more eloquent speakers which are in abundant today. It will be resolved by a generation of leaders who know the Word, love the Word, and live the Word.
Whether using the three “C”s or the three “S”s, the unchanging truth they guard remains gloriously intact. Stand before the people and declare, “We hold to Context, Christ, and Canon,” or plead, “Return to Setting, Saviour, and Scriptures.” Either way, a life-giving compass is being given. The words change slightly, but the eternal truth they project stands firm forever.
May God grant us the grace to be such leaders. May He give us hungry hearts that long for His Word like a deer longs for flowing streams. May He open our eyes to see the wonders of His law. And may He conform us to the image of His Son, through the transforming power of His Spirit, as we meditate on His Word day and night. To Him be the glory, both now and forevermore. Amen.
Maranatha!!!
Prof. Sarumi, a pastor and teacher of the Word, writes from Lagos. Tel. 08033041421, Email:oyewolethecoach@gmail.com
