Imagine a one-room home with seven windows in random places on each of the walls and the roof. Looking in each window, you would have a slightly different view of what’s in the house. These “windows” illustrate one way to consider the various “lenses” that we use to interpret the Bible. There are too many different lenses to count, each with potential benefits and perils. Overall, the more windows you observe, the better chance you’ll understand what is in the room!

1. Literal or “Plain Language”—Based on the concept that the Bible was written to be easily understood without complicated theological exercises, this lens looks for the most straightforward understanding of the text that helps us to know and follow God. Most Christians use this lens as a starting place.
2. Blueprint or Pattern—This window looks for commands, examples, or necessary inferences to identify biblical patterns that should be replicated as authoritative in today’s church. Common in Restoration churches who are trying to create a “New Testament Church” using the slogan, “speak where the Bible speaks, be silent where the Bible is silent” or a more permissive version, “speak where the Bible is silent, be silent where the Bible speaks.” This window can help us identify practices we can follow today.
3. Literary—This window identifies the literary genre that the scripture is written in. For example, recognizing poetry, narrative, prophecy, letter, or apocalyptic genres will help you consider the use of metaphor, similes, parables, or hyperbole rather than treating every text as a literal recording of the facts in a more “scientific” or historically precise way. This lens may include comparing the Bible to other similar literature from the same culture or time period.
4. Systematic—This window interprets scripture based on a prescribed set of theological principals. The result is a set of doctrines that define what you believe about topics such as the Bible (Bibliology), Christ (Christology), the church (ecclesiology), end times (eschatology), and salvation (soteriology). For example, today’s Protestant / Reformed churches are strongly influenced by John Calvin’s “five points,” summarized by the acronym, TULIP. It could be argued that every church has some “system” they use to interpret the Bible. There is an opportunity here to identify and understand what system your group typically uses!
5. Social or Cultural—This lens recognizes that there are different cultural mores/norms that are assumed rather than stated outright. Using this lens helps us more humbly consider the distance between our culture/society today and the culture/society of the authors and audience of each book of the Bible. One simplified approach is to consider both “eastern” AND “western” thinking to gain a more complete understanding of what the authors and original audiences intended.
6. Jewish—This window considers the Hebrew worldview, typically looking to understand the perspective of a first century Jew. This lens studies rabbinical teaching methods (for example, the Mishnah) to interpret scripture such as PaRDeS, which is an acronym for Pshat (traditional, direct meaning), Remez (symbolic or allegorical meaning), Drush (using comparative OT references), and Sod (finding the hidden meaning). The Bema podcast frequently uses this lens to try to ask better questions.
7. Jesus or Messianic—This window assumes that all scripture is about Jesus (Luke 24:27/44, John 5:39). Therefore, when we are reading the OT, we should try to understand what it teaches us about Christ and/or how the scripture fits into the overall unified story of Jesus. An example of this lens would be the Bible Project’s aim to “help people experience the Bible as a unified story that leads to Jesus.”

Careful bible study can be compared to examining the home through multiple windows to get a more complete understanding of the full meaning of scripture. Each lens has strengths and weaknesses and may result in different insights.