When autumn arrives, many people call it “the season of reading.” We try to draw closer to books, wandering through bookstores in search of popular new releases. The cool breeze that slips in during the mornings and evenings, and the leaves slowly turning color, seem to offer us the perfect opportunity to look into the depths of our own hearts. This is the season that makes us ask: What should I read?

There are hundreds, even thousands of books, and the English philosopher Francis Bacon once said, “Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.” Today, I want to encourage you to read the Bible this autumn—read it deeply, and truly digest it, for it becomes our eternal nourishment. Even if we spend our whole lives reading and studying Scripture, we can never exhaust its depth or mystery. To help us understand and draw closer to the Bible, let us take a moment to reflect on how this Scripture came to us.

The Bible is often called “the Holy Book.” In the United States, you can find it in nearly every hotel room, usually placed in the bedside drawer. There are testimonies of people who, in moments of despair or even contemplating suicide, opened that Bible and found new hope—choosing life instead of death. Why does reading the Bible bring such change? Because, as 2 Timothy 3:16 says, “All Scripture is God‑breathed.” That is why the Bible cannot be read like a novel—finished in one night with full understanding. Some say that reading the Bible helps them fall asleep. Of course, God grants sleep to those He loves, but if we read Scripture lying down or with sleepy eyes, we cannot truly hear the powerful message flowing through it.

When we read the Bible, even a passage we read yesterday can feel new today. Its mystery awakens our minds and clarifies the flow of our souls. That is why Scripture is often compared to a mirror or a window.

Today, we can easily obtain Bibles—one for each family member, or a new version whenever a new translation is released. But in ancient times, Scripture was not written down; it was passed down orally. The Hebrew people expressed their relationship with God through stories. In ancient societies, storytellers and poets were highly respected, almost like priests. Through the stories of their ancestors—stories of the past and present—they confirmed their identity in God. They remembered the past, and they passed down the truth that victory, peace, and blessing followed when they faithfully kept God’s covenant. This oral tradition shaped their strong sense of communal responsibility, which remains among Jewish communities today. They seek to live responsibly in the world through their faith community.

We, however, often read the Bible only as individuals. Because we do not read it with a communal mindset, we sometimes hold prejudices or distorted views of others. Without a sense of community, we cannot fully grasp Scripture’s message.

Later, when writing systems developed and ancient documents on clay tablets, papyrus, and parchment were discovered, scholars gathered and edited these texts. The Old Testament was written in Hebrew, and so it is sometimes called the Hebrew Bible. In the early church, some Christians believed they should accept the New Testament but reject the Old. But ignoring the Old Testament—when Jesus came to fulfill it—would make Christianity an empty religion, denying its power to transform lives. The Old Testament formed the vessel; the New Testament filled that vessel with God’s grace.

When we read the Old Testament, we sometimes encounter passages that are difficult to understand. This is because ancient Middle Eastern people had a limited worldview. They believed the world was a flat tent supported by pillars, surrounded by water, and divided into three layers. The highest layer was the realm of the eternal gods; the middle layer was where fragile humans lived; and the sun traveled across the tent, disappearing into the underworld at night before rising again. This worldview appears in Psalm 19:

“In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun. It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, like a champion rejoicing to run his course. It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other; nothing is deprived of its warmth.” (Psalm 19:4–6)

Knowing the cultural and scientific limitations of the ancient world helps us read Scripture with greater understanding and interest.

Today, we have such easy access to the Bible that we sometimes forget its importance. But for centuries, the church taught that ordinary people should not read Scripture. Translating a single Bible took years and required many scholars, so the church worked hard to protect it.

In 1536, William Tyndale was condemned as a heretic and burned alive for translating the Bible into English. Yet a few generations later, his translation became the foundation of the King James Version, completed in 1611 by order of the English king.

Three hundred fifty years later, when the Revised Standard Version (RSV) was first published by the National Council of Churches in the United States, some Christians burned it. People fear what is new. Even in Korean churches, when a new translation appeared, many resisted, quoting the verse, “Do not remove a single stroke of the law.”

But the reason new translations continue to appear is that languages change, and cultures shift. Translators try to recover lost meanings or refine earlier translations, and inevitably their knowledge, experience, and theology influence their work. The Hebrew word shalom means “peace, harmony, health, wholeness, justice”—a range of meanings no single English or Korean word can fully capture.

The Bible has also reached us through music, sculpture, art, film, and video. In art museums, most European masterpieces are based on Scripture. In 1996, at the United Methodist General Conference, First Lady Hillary Clinton recalled the picture of Jesus the Good Shepherd that hung in her childhood Sunday school classroom. She said, “How could a child who grows up with such an image not be shaped by it?” Many of us grew up seeing Jesus’ story through paintings and sculptures.

The first Korean translation of the New Testament was published in 1887 in Manchuria as Yesu Seonggyo Jeonseo. It was translated by Scottish Presbyterian missionary John Ross, his colleague McIntyre, and several young Koreans from Uiju. Later, in 1887, Methodist missionary Appenzeller and Presbyterian missionary Underwood led a translation committee with Allen, Heron, and Scranton. They initially planned to revise the Ross translation, but because Korean spelling was not standardized, they began a new translation. The New Testament was published in 1900, and the Old Testament in 1911. Appenzeller, the first Methodist missionary to Korea, died in 1902 in a shipwreck on his way to a translation meeting in Mokpo.

After many hardships, the Bible was finally published in 1911 by the British and Foreign Bible Society—two volumes for the Old Testament and one for the New. Printing technology and paper quality were poor at the time.

Later, various translations followed. The joint Catholic‑Protestant translation of the Psalms and Prophets was praised for its beauty and fidelity to the original languages, though it was not widely used in Korean Protestant churches. In 1983, Protestant denominations requested a new translation, leading to the New Korean Revised Version.

The beautiful Bible we hold today came to us through thousands of years of God’s faithfulness and the sacrifices of His covenant people. Yet sometimes we read only our favorite verses, or focus on a single passage, losing sight of Scripture’s full flow.

“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any double‑edged sword. It penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12)

This autumn, the Bible is waiting for us. Through the centuries, it has given life, transformation, and healing. It will be the source of life for our descendants as well. May the sound of turning Bible pages rise in every home this season.

— WanHee Yoon, September 21, 1998