In this second session of our series on How to Read Scripture Like the Ancient Church, we move from theory to practice. After revisiting the Early Church’s fourfold approach to interpretation—historical, Christological, moral, and eschatological—we begin working through an example together: Proverbs 31.
Rather than treating the passage as a simple checklist or moral measuring stick, we slow down and ask first how it would have been heard in its original context within the Ketuvim (the “Writings”) of the Hebrew Scriptures. From there, we explore how Proverbs speaks Christologically—how it points to Jesus as the true King and Wisdom of God—and how that reading reshapes both the moral and eschatological dimensions of the text.
The result is a richer, more expansive way of reading: one that resists flattening Scripture into isolated rules and instead sees the whole Bible revolving around Christ. In the weeks ahead, we will continue practicing this fourfold approach together, trusting that reading with the Church helps us encounter the living God more deeply.