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

In Jewish tradition, reading scripture is never a passive exercise. The rabbis developed a rich culture of she'elot (questions), and the Talmud itself is structured as an ongoing argument. When a Jew opens the Torah, the first question to ask is: What does this text require of me? Deuteronomy makes this obligation explicit — the king himself was commanded to keep a personal copy of the Torah and read it daily, so that he might learn to fear God and keep every statute Deuteronomy 17:19.

A second essential question is: Do I understand what this passage truly means? The tradition of drash (deep inquiry) is rooted in texts like Deuteronomy 13:14, which commands the community to 'enquire, and make search, and ask diligently' before drawing conclusions Deuteronomy 13:14. Rashi (1040–1105 CE) and Maimonides (1135–1204 CE) both insisted that intellectual rigor and honest questioning are acts of piety, not rebellion. A third question worth asking is: What does this reveal about the character of God? Proverbs 2:5 promises that diligent seeking leads to understanding 'the fear of the LORD' and finding 'the knowledge of God' Proverbs 2:5.

Jewish readers are also encouraged to ask: How does this passage connect to the rest of Torah? The intertextual method, central to midrashic literature, treats every verse as in conversation with every other verse. Isaiah 40:21 captures this spirit perfectly, rhetorically asking whether the reader has truly understood 'from the foundations of the earth' — implying that the whole sweep of revelation must be held in mind Isaiah 40:21.

Christian hermeneutics has always placed the act of questioning at the heart of Bible reading. The apostle Paul wrote to the Ephesians that reading his letter with attention would allow them to 'understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ' Ephesians 3:4 — implying that comprehension requires deliberate mental engagement, not mere recitation. The first and most important question a Christian reader can ask is: How does this passage point to Jesus? This Christological lens is foundational across nearly every tradition, from the early church fathers to Reformation theologians like John Calvin (1509–1564).

Jesus himself modeled active questioning of scripture. In John 5:39, he challenged his audience: 'Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me' John 5:39. The Greek word ereunate (search) carries the sense of thorough investigation. So a second key question is: What does this text testify about Christ? A third question worth asking is: What does this passage demand of my life? — connecting intellectual understanding to moral transformation.

Protestant scholars like Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart (in their 1981 classic How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth) emphasize asking questions of genre, context, and original audience before applying a text. Isaiah 40:21 — 'Have ye not known? have ye not heard? hath it not been told you from the beginning?' Isaiah 40:21 — is often cited in Christian devotional literature as a rebuke to lazy, surface-level reading. The text assumes the reader will wrestle with it.

Islam's relationship to the Bible is complex: Muslims revere the original Torah (Tawrat) and Gospel (Injil) as genuine revelations but hold that the texts available today have been altered. Nevertheless, the Quran's own approach to scripture reading is deeply instructive for how Muslims engage with any sacred text. Quran 17:14 presents a striking image of self-accountability: 'Read your record. Sufficient is yourself against you this Day as accountant' Quran 17:14. This verse frames reading as an act of honest self-examination — a question directed inward: What does this text reveal about me?

Classical Islamic scholars like Ibn Kathir (1301–1373 CE) and Al-Tabari (839–923 CE) developed the science of tafsir (Quranic exegesis), which insists that a reader must ask: What was the context of revelation (asbab al-nuzul)? and What is the plain linguistic meaning? before moving to deeper interpretation. While these scholars focused on the Quran, the same disciplined questioning is applied when Muslims engage with biblical texts in comparative or apologetic contexts.

A Muslim reading the Bible would also ask: Does this passage align with or diverge from the Quran's account? — since the Quran is considered the final, preserved criterion (furqan). The spirit of diligent inquiry reflected in Deuteronomy 13:14 — 'enquire, and make search, and ask diligently' Deuteronomy 13:14 — resonates with the Islamic intellectual tradition, even if the object of that inquiry differs. Proverbs 2:5's promise that seeking leads to 'the knowledge of God' Proverbs 2:5 also finds a strong echo in Islamic tafakkur (contemplative reflection).