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You’ve picked it up before. Maybe more than once. A Bible someone gave you, or one you bought yourself after a rough season, still has that stiff, unbent spine. You open it somewhere in the middle — Leviticus, maybe, or one of Paul’s letters — read a few verses that don’t make sense out of context, and quietly close it again. Not because you don’t want to understand it. Because you don’t know how to start reading the Bible without a plan, a class, or someone standing over your shoulder explaining it. And somewhere along the way, that confusion turned into something heavier: embarrassment. Like everyone else already got the manual and you missed the meeting.
Here’s something that might surprise you. There’s a man in the book of Acts who felt exactly that — and the Bible doesn’t hide it, correct it, or rush past it. It puts his confusion right at the center of the story.
The Official Who Couldn’t Understand What He Was Reading
Acts chapter 8 tells us about a man returning home from Jerusalem in a chariot, somewhere on the desert road that runs toward Gaza. He wasn’t a nobody. Scripture describes him as “a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure” (Acts 8:27). In modern terms, picture a nation’s treasury secretary — someone trusted with an entire kingdom’s finances, educated, respected, powerful in every way his world measured power.
He’d also just made a long, difficult journey to Jerusalem specifically to worship — a trip that likely took weeks each way. And under the law at the time, a Gentile official who was a eunuch would have stood outside the inner worship of the temple no matter how far he traveled or how sincerely he came (Deuteronomy 23:1). He was an outsider in more ways than one. Wealthy, powerful, devoted enough to travel across a continent to seek God — and still, in some very real sense, on the outside looking in.
On his way home, sitting in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah out loud, which was the common practice of the time. And an evangelist named Philip, prompted by the Spirit, ran up alongside the chariot and asked him a simple question:
“Understandest thou what thou readest?” (Acts 8:30).
The official’s answer is the part of this story worth sitting with: “How can I, except some man should guide me?” (Acts 8:31). He didn’t deflect. He didn’t pretend. A man with more education and authority than almost anyone he’d meet that year looked at a stranger on a dirt road and admitted, plainly, that he was lost in the text — and then invited Philip to come sit with him and explain it.
What the Text He Was Reading Actually Says
The passage he’d been reading was Isaiah 53 — the prophecy about a suffering servant “led as a sheep to the slaughter,” silent before his accusers, his life “taken from the earth” (Acts 8:32-33). It’s dense, poetic, and written centuries before it would make full sense to anyone reading it. The official asked Philip the most natural question in the world: “I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man?” (Acts 8:34).
And Philip didn’t hand him a study guide or tell him to keep reading until it clicked. Luke tells us simply: “Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus” (Acts 8:35). He started exactly where the man already was — in the middle of a passage he didn’t understand — and walked forward from there.
What happened next moved fast. They came to some water along the road, and the official asked, right there, “what doth hinder me to be baptized?” (Acts 8:36). He was baptized that same day, and Luke tells us he “went on his way rejoicing” (Acts 8:39) — not because he’d finally mastered the text on his own, but because someone had sat with him in his confusion long enough for it to turn into understanding.
How to Start Reading the Bible Without Waiting to Feel Ready
Here’s the part most “how to start reading the Bible” advice skips. It usually assumes you already believe, already feel at home in church language, and just need a reading plan. But this story isn’t really about a reading plan. It’s about what happens the moment someone admits — out loud, to another person — “I don’t understand this, and I need help.”
That admission is usually where we get stuck. Not because the Bible is unreadable, but because we’ve quietly decided that needing help means we’re behind. The Ethiopian official had every reason to protect his image. He was a powerful man talking to a total stranger on the side of a road. He could have nodded along and let Philip walk past. Instead, he said the true thing, and that honesty is exactly what opened the door to understanding he’d traveled thousands of miles to find.
That’s the turn worth carrying into your own Bible: you were never supposed to start by understanding everything. You were supposed to start by being honest about what you don’t. Confusion isn’t the wall standing between you and God’s word. In this story, it’s the doorway.
Do This in the Next 10 Minutes
Reading tips are easy to skim and forget. These are small enough to actually do right now, in order.
- Open the Gospel of Mark, chapter 1, right now. Search “Mark chapter 1” in your phone’s Bible app or a quick web search, and read just that one chapter. Mark moves fast and tells the story of Jesus in plain, direct scenes — it’s one of the easiest places in the whole Bible to start.
- Write down one real question, not a polished one. Open your Notes app and type the one thing in that chapter you genuinely didn’t understand — a phrase, a name, a moment that confused you. Not what you think you should ask. The real one.
- Say that question out loud to one actual person today. Text it to a friend, bring it to a small group chat, ask a pastor, or type it into a Bible app’s community or commentary feature. Don’t just Google it silently and move on — let another person be your Philip, the way scripture says it’s supposed to work.
Journal It Out
If you want to go a little deeper before you close this out, sit with these for a few minutes:
- When was the last time you felt embarrassed about not understanding something in your faith? What did you do with that feeling — hide it, or bring it to someone?
- If you had full permission to ask any Bible question without being judged for it, what would you actually ask first?
- Who in your life could be your “Philip” — someone patient enough to explain, not correct? Have you ever actually asked them?
A Prayer for Where You’re Starting From
God, I don’t always understand what I’m reading, and if I’m honest, I’ve felt embarrassed about that more than once. I don’t want to keep pretending I have it figured out when I don’t. Would You send me someone — a person, a resource, even just a quiet moment of clarity — the way You sent Philip to that man on the road? I don’t need to understand everything today. I just want to keep asking, and keep showing up to the page. Amen.
Tell Us What You Think
What’s one part of the Bible you’ve always wanted someone to just explain to you in plain language, no judgment attached? Tell us in the comments below.
Share This
- “I used to think everyone else already understood the Bible and I was the only one lost. Turns out a man reading it out loud 2,000 years ago needed someone to explain it too. Maybe confusion isn’t the problem. Maybe it’s the invitation.”
- “You don’t need to understand the whole Bible today. You just need one honest question and one person willing to sit with you in it.”
- “Confused by the Bible? So was the guy in Acts 8. God didn’t send him a study guide — He sent him a person.”
Common Questions
Where should I start reading the Bible if I’ve never really read it before?
Many people start with the Gospel of Mark. It’s the shortest Gospel, moves quickly, and tells the story of Jesus’ life in a direct, action-focused way that’s easier to follow than some of Paul’s more theological letters.
Is it normal to not understand what I’m reading in the Bible?
Yes. In Acts 8, a well-educated, high-ranking official openly admitted he couldn’t understand Isaiah without someone explaining it to him — and scripture doesn’t treat that as a failure. It’s the starting point of his story, not the end of it.
Who was the Ethiopian official in Acts 8?
He was a real historical figure — a high-ranking treasury official serving Candace, the queen of Ethiopia. He had traveled a long distance to Jerusalem to worship, and was reading the prophet Isaiah aloud in his chariot when Philip approached him.
Do I need a pastor or expert to understand the Bible?
Not necessarily an expert, but you don’t have to go it alone either. The story in Acts 8 treats guidance — whether from a person, a study Bible, or a trusted resource — as a normal, even God-directed, part of understanding scripture, not a shortcut for people who “can’t do it themselves.”
What’s the fastest way to actually start understanding the Bible?
Start small: pick one short chapter, read it slowly, and write down the one question you don’t understand instead of skimming past it. Then bring that question to a real person or resource instead of carrying it alone.
Keep Reading
If this is the season you’re finally starting to read the Bible for yourself, a few more places worth a look: How Do I Know God’s Will for My Life? What Proverbs 3:5-6 Actually Says digs into another moment where the Bible rewards asking instead of assuming. If you run into unfamiliar words as you read, Hebrew Word for Spirit: What Does “Ruach” Really Mean? is a good example of how much depth sits underneath ordinary-sounding words. And if a phrase like “born again” ever left you nodding along without really understanding it, What Did Jesus Actually Mean by “Born Again”? is written for exactly that kind of honest confusion.
