A Brief History of Scripture Reading

The reading of Scripture has been a significant part of both Jewish and Christian worship, an appropriate liturgical priority for a religion that is based on God’s revelation. This article traces the history of the reading of Scripture in worship throughout the history of the church.

So Moses wrote down this law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to all the elders of Israel. Then Moses commanded them: “At the end of every seven years … during the Feast of Tabernacles when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God at the place he will choose, you shall read this law before them in their hearing. Assemble the people—men, women and children, and the aliens living in your towns—so they can listen and learn to fear the Lord your God.… ” (Deut. 31:9–12)

These verses formally introduce the institution of Scripture reading in the history of Judeo-Christian worship. No longer binding his communication to the ephemeral thunderings on Sinai, the spatially confined burning bush, or the fleeting prophetic pronouncement, God now commands the repetition of a text as his immanent and permanent voice incarnate. Thus, reading the Word of God becomes the very core of worship, affording each hearer an opportunity for a personal encounter with the divine (J. Edward Lantz, Reading the Bible Aloud [New York: Macmillan, 1959], 43).

The homage reserved for presenting God’s recorded Word is evident in the honored position the reading of Scripture has held in the liturgy, doctrine, and history of the Christian church. The verses quoted above from Deuteronomy introduce that portion of its suzerainty structure where the arrangements of the covenant between God and his people are scheduled for public review (R. K. Harrison, “Deuteronomy,” in New Bible Commentary Revised, ed. D. Guthrie and J. A. Motyer [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1970], 202; Meredith Kline, “Dynastic Covenant,” The Westminster Theological Journal 23 [1960]: 13, 15). Thus, as early as the writings of the Pentateuch, oral reading of Scripture became a normative worship practice. Because these books laid the foundation for the Jewish concept of covenantal worship, this practice of public reading assumed seminal significance for later developments in Christian worship (Richard G. Moulton, The Literary Study of the Bible [Boston: D. C. Heath, 1906], 268).

As the Jewish worship traditions developed, standards emerged for the habitual reading of various Scriptures in the synagogue. The liturgy essentially consisted of two readings: the first came from the Law (i.e., the books of Moses) and the second from the prophets (see Luke 16:16; Acts 13:15) (Pius Parsch, The Liturgy of the Mass, 3d. ed., trans. H. E. Winstone [St. Louis: B. Herder, 1957], 72).

While Scripture reading was required in synagogue worship, preaching was optional (Luke 4:16–20) (Arthur T. Pierson, How to Read the Word of God Effectively [Chicago: Moody Bible Institute, 1925], 3-4; Lantz, Reading Aloud, 3). Preaching naturally developed in ordinary worship services as an exposition or hortatory application of what was read, but sermons were based on the readings (Edwin C. Dargan, A History of Preaching, vol. 1 [New York: Hodder and Stoughton, 1905], 39). Further, as was demonstrated annually in the Passover observances of individual families, worship of the highest order could always be oriented around the Word and prayer without sermonic exposition (Joseph A. Jungman, The Mass of the Roman Rite, German rev. ed., trans. Francis Brunner [New York: Benzinger Bros., 1950], 8; The Union Hagadah, rev. ed., [New York: the Central Conference of American Rabbis, 1923]). The Christian church did not revoke this aspect of its Jewish worship heritage nor subordinate the importance of Scripture readings. Instead, the readings were expanded.

New Testament worship services echoed the Jewish synagogue patterns for prayers, readings, and exposition; but apostolic writings were added to the canonical materials (cf. 1 Thess. 2:13; J. H. Srawley, The Early History of the Liturgy, The Cambridge Handbooks of Liturgical Study, 2d ed. [Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1958], 188; Dargan, History of Preaching, 39). As the Old Testament prophets arranged for the perpetuation of their message in the readings of the temple, the New Testament messengers created literature for repeated use in the church (Acts 15:23–31; 2 Cor. 3:1–3; 1 Thess. 5:27). In his Colossian letter, Paul commands, “After this letter has been read to you, see that it is also read in the church of the Laodiceans and that you, in turn, read the letter from Laodicea” (Col. 4:16). The Scripture poem of Philippians 2:6–11 is apparently intended for liturgical use, and Paul specifically commands his protege, Timothy, “Devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching” (1 Tim. 4:13).

Readings of the newer writings did not replace the Old Testament readings but augmented them. That the apostolic writings were being read in the churches along with the ancient Scriptures is apparent from Peter’s commentary on Paul (2 Pet. 3:16), and Paul’s own commands for the continued use of the Psalms (Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16). Further, the reading of the New Testament gospels and epistles, with their many Old Testament quotations and analogies, would necessarily keep both testaments echoing in the church.

Sensing the continued respect of the apostolic writers for the older Scriptures, the church continued reading publicly from both testaments in the early centuries of the Christian era. By the end of the fourth century, the dominant liturgical pattern included three readings: one from the Old Testament and two from the New—an epistle and a gospel. The last reading was always the gospel, and the people stood during this reading (James D. Robertson, Minister’s Worship Handbook [Grand Rapids: Baker, 1974], 52).

As with most key features of Christian worship, the reading of Scripture has also occasionally been the focus of abuse and controversy. In Elizabethan England, debates boiled between Puritans and the established church over John Whitgift’s rhetorical question, “Is not the word of God as effectual when it is read as when it is preached? Or is not reading preaching?” (Donald J. McGinn, The Admonition Controversy [New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers Univ. Press, 1949], 176. The great debate between Whitgift and Cartwright is conveniently abridged in this most helpful work that topically arranges the original arguments of Cartwright’s Admonition, 1572, Whitgift’s Answere, 1572, Cartwright’s Replie, 1573, Whitgift’s Defense, 1574, and Cartwright’s Second replie, 1575, and The rest of the second replie, 1577). The divergent viewpoints were argued expertly and expansively by Whitgift when he was Bishop of Worcester, and also by the Puritan scholar Thomas Cartwright (Edwin Hall, The Puritans and their Principles, 2d ed. [New York: Baker and Scribner, 1846], 108; McGinn, Admonition Controversy, 145–147).

Whitgift’s insistence on the sufficiency of readings, though argued on theological grounds, was a political necessity. In order to suppress Puritan teachings and provide services in parishes whose ministers had been removed (i.e., defrocked, imprisoned, or executed), a series of approved readings and homilies were prepared for reading in the churches (Hall, Puritans, 110–112). Approved clergymen made the rounds through the rebel churches presenting nothing but these readings (Ibid., 109).

Cartwright argued for the Puritans, “It may be that God doth work faith by reading only, especially where preaching cannot be, and so he doth sometimes without reading by a wonderful work of his Spirit; but the ordinary ways whereby God regenerateth his children is the Word of God which is preached.”

Whitgift adroitly replied, “Did not St. Paul preach to the Romans when he writ to them? … Was not the reading of Deuteronomy to the people a preaching?” (McGinn, Admonition Controversy, 186–187)

The argument progressed with increasing vehemence. Cartwright eventually concluded that “reading [i.e., dictated homilies and Scriptures] is not feeding, but it is as evil as playing upon a stage, and worse too” (Ibid., 189–191). While the harsh words of Cartwright and the harsh measures of Whitgift’s church may tempt the modern reader to take sides in the ancient debate, there are more fruitful conclusions to draw. The fact thrown into historical relief by the Elizabethan controversy is that Scripture reading is an inherent and indispensable feature of Christian worship.

Even when events were so exceptional as to cause the merits of reading Scripture to be weighed against preaching, no one argued for excising Scripture from worship. The Puritan preachers insisted that preaching be an exposition of Scripture (Irvonwy Morgan, The Godly Preachers of the Elizabethan Church [London: Epworth, 1965], 25). While they vigorously opposed “bare readings,” they never argued for bare preaching (i.e., preaching apart from Scripture reading). Cartwright might argue, “The word of God is not so effectual read as preached” (McGinn, Admonition Controversy, 176). But he would conclude, “[M]en’s works ought to be kept in and nothing else but the voice of God and Holy Scriptures, in which only are contained all fullness and sufficiency to decide controversies, must sound in his church.… ” (Ibid., 169) Thus, at the very time in the history of the church when events and passions would seem poised for the denigration of Scripture reading in certain worship traditions, all factions continued to treasure the practice.

Since the Reformation, divergent commitments to fixed forms of worship exemplified in conflicts between English Puritan and established church leaders have influenced Scripture reading practices in Protestantism. Traditions valuing nonprescribed forms of worship tend to deemphasize Scripture “reading,” viewing “interpretation” of the Word in preaching as the focus of worship. Traditions maintaining a high regard for ritual often organize worship around Scripture “readings” in liturgical forms, while giving less attention to formal exposition of those texts.

Recent movements in a number of denominations have sought to unite the strengths of the Word of God, which is promoted both by its reading and preaching. Musical and dramaturgical influences have also added new creativity and power to the way Scripture is “read” in both regular and special services. The force of these movements stems from the ancient ethic—confirmed throughout the church’s liturgy, theology, and history—that the public reading of Scripture is a touchstone of authentic worship.