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Reading the Bible, Missing the Gospel: Recovering from (Shockingly Common) Ways We Get the Bible Wrong in our Everyday Lives
"In Reading the Bible, Missing the Gospel, pastor and author Ben Connelly shows us how to recover God's original intentions in light of the story of redemption. Connelly helps us celebrate and understand how Jesus' life, death, and resurrection are truly good news for the tangible situations in our everyday lives. Biblical misunderstandings can lead to a small view of God-but truth overturns that. It expands our hearts for God and enables us to truly love others!"--
- GenresFaith
193 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 1, 2022
14 people are currently reading
84 people want to read
About the author
Ben Connelly
8 books19 followersBen Connelly is Director of Training for Saturate and Soma, leads Plant Fort Worth, and is co-planting Salt+Light Community in 2021.
He and Jess met doing student ministry in Waco, TX, then moved to Fort Worth where they planted The City Church (Acts 29/ Soma) in 2009. Now, after over 20 years serving local churches together, they train disciple-makers and planter couples across the world, as well as churches/ organizations with a desire for sending.
They live in Fort Worth, TX with their three kids, and host short-term foster placements, each on his/her way toward reunification or adoption.
Ben has written/contributed to several books, workbooks, articles, and publications, and has also taught university and seminary classes.
He and Jess met doing student ministry in Waco, TX, then moved to Fort Worth where they planted The City Church (Acts 29/ Soma) in 2009. Now, after over 20 years serving local churches together, they train disciple-makers and planter couples across the world, as well as churches/ organizations with a desire for sending.
They live in Fort Worth, TX with their three kids, and host short-term foster placements, each on his/her way toward reunification or adoption.
Ben has written/contributed to several books, workbooks, articles, and publications, and has also taught university and seminary classes.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
May 30, 2025
“The Gospel is the turning point of history. It is the one right lens through which to read the Bible and live.” -Ben Connelly👓
Have you ever opened up your Bible to read it and feel like you’re missing the point? If so, you may be reading it wrong. In his book Reading the Bible, Missing the Gospel, Ben Connelly focuses on all the wrong ways we read God’s Word and the one right way: through the lens of the gospel. All of the Bible points to Jesus, and Connelly examines several examples of how we’ve read specific Scriptures wrongly and how reading them through a gospel lens leads us to a better interpretation and application of those Scriptures in our lives.🧡
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
A big thank you to Moody Publishers for sending me a copy of this book! All thoughts and opinions above are my own.
Have you ever opened up your Bible to read it and feel like you’re missing the point? If so, you may be reading it wrong. In his book Reading the Bible, Missing the Gospel, Ben Connelly focuses on all the wrong ways we read God’s Word and the one right way: through the lens of the gospel. All of the Bible points to Jesus, and Connelly examines several examples of how we’ve read specific Scriptures wrongly and how reading them through a gospel lens leads us to a better interpretation and application of those Scriptures in our lives.🧡
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
A big thank you to Moody Publishers for sending me a copy of this book! All thoughts and opinions above are my own.
August 13, 2023
I was almost done with my review when Goodreads crashed.
Great primer or launching point for a new Christian or someone ready to get serious about studying Scripture and take learning/study in their faith to a new level.
The author points out some unhealthy but common ways people often use or interpret scriptures. He then gives a better lens or paradigm for scripture study that is Christ-centric. His chapters on this alone make the book a good read for new believers or ready to go deeper believers.
From there he explores common themes of the gospel and popular misconceptions of Christianity using the Christ lens of scriptural interpretation. Topics like “asking forgiveness over and over”, #blessed and what that really means, heaven/hell, redemption being about people AND creation, etc.
Definitely recommend it. Great tool for small groups or beginning discipleship classes. Even comes with discussion questions and other resources online.
Great primer or launching point for a new Christian or someone ready to get serious about studying Scripture and take learning/study in their faith to a new level.
The author points out some unhealthy but common ways people often use or interpret scriptures. He then gives a better lens or paradigm for scripture study that is Christ-centric. His chapters on this alone make the book a good read for new believers or ready to go deeper believers.
From there he explores common themes of the gospel and popular misconceptions of Christianity using the Christ lens of scriptural interpretation. Topics like “asking forgiveness over and over”, #blessed and what that really means, heaven/hell, redemption being about people AND creation, etc.
Definitely recommend it. Great tool for small groups or beginning discipleship classes. Even comes with discussion questions and other resources online.
May 9, 2023
An accessible and practical overview of common misunderstandings about the Bible. The final chapter on "heaven" was excellent. The material covered in this book would make an excellent sermon series.
October 20, 2022
This is probably a great read for new believers or believers that don't study their bible. If you study your bible regularly - real study - nothing in this book will come as a surprise. It's a very quick read and highlights things culture usually says about Christians (do not judge; # blessed, etc.). This would be valuable to a new adult believer.
January 22, 2023
I loved this book. It opened my eyes and gave me a new perspective on things that, as a lifelong Christian and church-goer, I thought I knew and understood. I highly recommend this to anyone who is at any point in their journey as a Christian.
In Part 1, Ben Connelly explains that many Christians read the Bible through the wrong “lens.” So many rely on what the pastor of their church teaches them about the Bible in their sermons. While attending church regularly and learning from your pastor are both great pursuits, many churches focus on just a few topics and scripture passages, so unless church members spend personal time reading and learning from the Bible, their knowledge (and thus their spiritual growth and relationship with God) is limited. He also talks about a common approach to learning and applying the Bible – the devotion. An approach that is frequently recommended is to read one or two verses and then think about how they apply to our specific life. We should absolutely apply scriptures to our lives, but the goal should be to look outside of ourselves and toward God. Our goal should be to become closer to Him, to know Him better, to open ourselves more fully to Him. Every word of the Bible should point us to The Word – Jesus. This statement from the book communicates this idea well
“But if we read or teach the Bible without every passage overtly pointing us to Jesus, we are not reading the Bible in a ‘Christian’ way.”
In the rest of Reading the Bible, Missing the Gospel, Connelly examines several passages that are familiar to most Christians. He explains how they can be, and have been, viewed through one of the following lenses: theological, moral, historical, devotional, rule, and quick fix. He illustrates how each of these creates different results and is limited in its ability to point us to Jesus. He then shows how he believes we should read that same passage. He shows how that same passage can point us to Jesus, which is our goal as Christians. Connelly’s demonstration of how to read the Bible in a way that points us to Jesus includes the advice to consider what we read in light of Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, and reign. We should ask ourselves, he says, what every passage we read shows us about these aspects of Jesus’ life. Doing so put a whole new light on scripture I’ve read over and over.
I thoroughly enjoyed Reading the Bible, Missing the Gospel and will likely read it again. I recommend it to anyone who wants to learn about how to read the Bible in a truly Christian way.
In Part 1, Ben Connelly explains that many Christians read the Bible through the wrong “lens.” So many rely on what the pastor of their church teaches them about the Bible in their sermons. While attending church regularly and learning from your pastor are both great pursuits, many churches focus on just a few topics and scripture passages, so unless church members spend personal time reading and learning from the Bible, their knowledge (and thus their spiritual growth and relationship with God) is limited. He also talks about a common approach to learning and applying the Bible – the devotion. An approach that is frequently recommended is to read one or two verses and then think about how they apply to our specific life. We should absolutely apply scriptures to our lives, but the goal should be to look outside of ourselves and toward God. Our goal should be to become closer to Him, to know Him better, to open ourselves more fully to Him. Every word of the Bible should point us to The Word – Jesus. This statement from the book communicates this idea well
“But if we read or teach the Bible without every passage overtly pointing us to Jesus, we are not reading the Bible in a ‘Christian’ way.”
In the rest of Reading the Bible, Missing the Gospel, Connelly examines several passages that are familiar to most Christians. He explains how they can be, and have been, viewed through one of the following lenses: theological, moral, historical, devotional, rule, and quick fix. He illustrates how each of these creates different results and is limited in its ability to point us to Jesus. He then shows how he believes we should read that same passage. He shows how that same passage can point us to Jesus, which is our goal as Christians. Connelly’s demonstration of how to read the Bible in a way that points us to Jesus includes the advice to consider what we read in light of Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, and reign. We should ask ourselves, he says, what every passage we read shows us about these aspects of Jesus’ life. Doing so put a whole new light on scripture I’ve read over and over.
I thoroughly enjoyed Reading the Bible, Missing the Gospel and will likely read it again. I recommend it to anyone who wants to learn about how to read the Bible in a truly Christian way.
October 21, 2025
Overall this book is good! It is a thought provoking book on how to better read our Bibles. The reason I’ve give 4 stars instead of 5 is because I felt the first 1/2 did better in applying the principles discussed to a broader range of passages and allowing you to go and do so in your own study, while the second 1/2 was more specific sections and examples. Still a great book though and I look forward to coming back to it and using it to consider and pray about my daily readings more!
September 21, 2023
Good book, not a lot of depth though. Really just writes that we are reading the Bible wrong and then gives a few examples. He doesn’t teach how to read the entirety of scripture correctly though. I don’t think he could fit that in this book though.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews