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Part I
Why Study The Bible?
Bible Study is to be a High Priority for Every Christian
What Place is Bible Study to have in the Life of the Christian?
What is the Difference between Bible Reading and Bible Study?
God intends for every Christian to be a Bible Student
What are the Right Purposes for Bible Study?
Introduction
Why study the Bible?
Is such study optional?
Is it not sufficient simply to read the Scriptures?
Does such study need to be intelligent, comprehensive and consistent?
What is Bible study supposed to do?
What is its purpose?
How does one go about it? This study seeks to answer these and other questions.
It further seeks to impress upon every believer the need to become a serious student of the Word of God.
The study of the Scriptures must be and remain one of the greatest priorities in the life of every Christian. The Bible is our one objective, immutable source of truth. Everything else is subjective and therefore mutable. Consider the following:
Bible Study is to be a High Priority for Every Christian
That every Christian ought to read the Scriptures is without controversy. A “prayerless” or “Bibleless” Christian would be a contradiction in terms. That every Christian must be a Bible student, however, putting the study of the Word of God as one of the greatest priorities of his life, constantly endeavoring to rightly understand, interpret and consistently apply the Scriptures, is not only controversial, it is often seen in our modern day as unnecessary! In this modern era, even with an abundance of translations, versions, “Study Bibles,” and a variety of printed,
electronic and computerized “helps,” there are relatively few who make a consistent attempt to truly become students of the Word of God. Most professing Christians in this generation are woefully ignorant of basic biblical truth.
Further, the study of the Bible is not a simple, natural, unassuming undertaking. It is a reverent act—an act of worship.
It is a sacred science, and as such, it necessitates a certain mind–set or attitude of approach, established principles, a consistent process and conclusions that are to be demonstrated in the life. It is meant to be a reverent, life–long pursuit! Finally, God did not give us his Word in a systematic arrangement, but in the form of progressive, redemptive history. The Word must be thoroughly studied and arranged in a comprehensive and systematic [non–contradictory] way to adequately come to terms with its doctrinal teaching. God created man to work, and Bible study is no exception to this principle!
How few Bible students we have in our day! This is evident by the relative ignorance of many, the seeming indifference shown to the Bible, the modern reluctance to memorize Scripture, and the modern rejection of doctrinal truth. I grew up in an age when every Christian was to be a Bible student, and I recall my father rising early each morning, long before daylight, to spend two hours in Bible study and prayer before leaving for a
long, hard day’s work. He wore out several Bibles, could quote chapter after chapter by heart, could consistently evangelize, reason from the Scriptures, and was conversant in biblical doctrine. He was not yet a preacher, only a Christian, a church member and teacher—but he and others understood that Bible study was one of the great priorities for the believer.
Although we may spend long hours in commute traffic or work late, very few experience the exhausting physical labor of those in previous generations. Yet they took the time to seriously study the Bible. For them and for us the issue is the same—a matter of priorities.
My father, Howard Downing (1917–1982), was a serious Bible student from the time of his conversion, as were many others of his generation. Only years later did he attend Bible school for a semester, and was not ordained as a gospel minister until the age of fifty–seven, after which he finally completed a degree in Bible and lived to see a
time of revival under his ministry.
What great blessings are missed because Christians do not take the Word of God seriously enough to study it, seek to understand it, and consistently apply it to their lives! This study deals with the essentials of Bible study, and seeks to promote the consistent, practical understanding, interpretation and application of the Word of God to the life and experience.
What Place is Bible Study to have in the Life of the Christian?
The study of the Scriptures must be and remain one of the greatest priorities in the life of every Christian. Together with private prayer, Bible study remains the chief means of grace and the foundation for Christian growth, maturity and usefulness.
Consider the following:
God Has given us only One Objective Standard of Truth—The Bible
The Christian life is comprised of two aspects, objective and subjective, or the objective truth of Scripture and subjective experience. Apart from Scripture, we would be left entirely with the subjective aspect. All would necessarily become relativistic (no final, authoritative word, except the strength of individual experience), empirical (all judgment would be based on experience alone), existential (completely subjective and tending toward irrationalism or emotionalism) and pragmatic (whatever seemed to work would be right). Thus, the most emotional or mystical would be the most spiritual, and the strongest personalities would determine the direction of Christianity.
Without the objective safeguard of Scripture, Christianity always tends toward ignorance, inconsistency, contradiction and irrationalism. This is the witness of both church history and our own day, with its amazing ignorance of Scripture, distaste for authoritative preaching and doctrinal truth, the tendency toward The study of Church History should never be denigrated, as it is an indicator of how the truth of God, or lack of it, has been expressed in the life of professing Christianity. irrationalism, the Charismatic Movement, the “Toronto Blessing” type of experience,
and the increasing influence of the cults.
God has given us Two Types of Divine Revelation: General and Special
General revelation is concerned with our knowledge of God through his creation. This is sometimes called “Natural Theology.” Special revelation is that direct revelation in and through the Word of God, both spoken and written. Why must we be concerned with these?
• Man misunderstands even general revelation. As a fallen being, man suffers from the noetic effects of sin (i.e., the fall has adversely affected his perception and thought–process (Rom. 1:18–20). As great as the testimony of creation is, man misinterprets it, both knowingly and unknowingly.
• Man is utterly adverse to the truth of God through either general or special revelation. He possesses an aversion to all Divine truth and is either unwilling to submit to it, or perverts it to his liking (Rom. 1:1822; 8:7–8; Matt. 15:1–9; 5:21–22, 27–2923).
• Special revelation is a necessity. Both unfallen and fallen man find general revelation insufficient and need special, distinct direct revelation from God (Gen. 2:16–17; Matt. 4:4).
Increasingly irrational, the contemporary experience has gone from “holy laughter,” to “animal noises,” to “holy vomiting”!
“hold,” kateco,ntwn (katechontōn), pres. ptc., “constantly suppressing.”Rabbinic tradition taught that only the overt form of sin was
actually sin. Our Lord began with the root and source of all sin—the human heart and thought–process.
The Scriptures are to Form The Very Context of Our Lives
Man, as created in the image and likeness of God, is an intelligent, rational, morally–responsible being fully accountable to God both now and in final judgment. No one can afford not to live by the inspired inscripturated Word of God. This is especially true of everyone who names the name of Christ. The Bible is to be our authoritative and very practical textbook for both faith [what we are to believe] and practice [how we are to
live] (Matt. 4:4; 2 Tim. 3:16–17).What is the Difference between Bible Reading and Bible Study?
Bible reading is simply what it implies—reading the Bible, which is relatively simple in that there are but two requirements:
first, possessing the Scriptures in one’s own language and second, the ability and desire to read. However, one may read and not understand—and not even understand that he does not understand!
Although Bible reading is necessary, Bible study is altogether different. The reader reads; the true student of the Scriptures, however, also seeks out the meaning of words, phrases, clauses, sentences; the theological, historical, cultural and psychological context; the significance of figurative language; he studies the customs of that day, researches parallel passages, and seeks to put all derived or resultant teaching in
alignment to the “analogy of faith,” or the consistent, inclusive teaching of Scripture.
Note: The terminology “analogy of faith” was originally based on a misunderstanding of Rom. 12:6, .”..according to the proportion of faith” (kata . th .n a vnalogi ,an th /j pi ,stewj (kata tēn analogian tēs pisteōs), i.e., the measure of personal faith—not going beyond what God has given by way of personal gifts of ministry and faith personally or individually received. The term “faith” was taken by the Church Fathers in an
objective sense as the doctrinal teaching of Scripture rather than a subjective sense of personal, experimental faith, belief or trust. They spoke of the Analogia or Regula Fidei as pertaining to the general principles of the Christian faith. Thus, the term entered into Christian theology. Thus, the “analogy of faith” came to have its present meaning. It has become an acceptable theological term,
although it was originally misappropriated from Rom. 12:6.
In short, he seeks to arrive at an understanding of the doctrinal truth contained in the Scriptures, and then seeks to consistently apply this truth to his life. For the serious Christian, nothing less than Bible study is adequate.
The Issues of an Unregenerate Mind–Set What can be said of those who read the Bible with an agenda (with a view to correcting or challenging another person, or to set aside truth that might convict or challenge their own lives), but not for their own learning and edification?
Note: An agenda might in itself seem to be God–honoring and a search for the truth, but it always tends to twist the Scripture, as witnessed throughout the history of Christianity. When one “seizes the first weapon available to defend himself,” he tends to make great mistakes. He may grab the wrong thing, or he may have the right object, but grasp in it the wrong way (e.g., taking a knife by the blade rather than the handle).
Sadly, the history of biblical interpretation is largely the history of mishandling the Scriptures for this very reason and in this very way. The early writers [Church Fathers] appropriated the allegorical approach (They “spiritualized” the Scripture and divorced it from its intended literal meaning), which they inherited from Alexandrian Judaism, which in turn had appropriated it from Greek paganism through such men as Aristobolus and Philo the Jew. This gross mishandling of Scripture would prepare the way for Romish ecclesiasticism, sacerdotalism, the Dark Ages,
Medieval Scholasticism and a host of other evils. Later misinterpretation has led to religious relativism, antinomianism, and religious irrationalism, i.e., the priority of subjective experience over objective truth.
What of those who read only “devotionally,” to gain a subjective “peace” or to derive an irrational [existential] “comfort” by the act of reading? What of some who study with inconsistent principles of interpretation and so grossly misunderstand the Scriptures, and thus excuse sin in their lives or remain unaffected by Divine truth?
Note: Some limit the Moral Law to the Decalogue, and limit the Decalogue to national Israel in the Old Testament, and so become doctrinal and practical antinomians. E.g., those who misunderstand Rom. 6:1–23; 7:13–25 and 1 Cor. 3:1–4 and espouse the “Carnal Christian” heresy. E.g., in modern “Metropolitan Churches,” which are peopled with [sic] “homosexual Christians,” it is alleged that the sin of Sodom was inhospitality! Among the so–called “Modernists,” only what Jesus personally said or taught is authoritative, thus what Moses or Paul wrote concerning immorality or
homosexuality is insignificant!
And what of those who read and then refuse to come to terms with the truth revealed? The conclusions are ultimately only two:
(1) either such people are unregenerate and unconverted, and so blind to Divine truth and its implications (1 Cor. 2:14), or
(2) they are Christians acting out of character, in rebellion against God’s Word and therefore necessarily and inevitably subject to Divine chastening (Heb. 12:4–8). These do not need “counseling,” these need to repent—and in some cases, need to be converted!
Note: The Christian is usually referred to in Scripture as a “Believer” (Gk. o ` pi ,steuwn [ho pisteuōn], relat. pres. ptc.), i.e.,
one who constantly exercises faith, or is characterized by belief. The very basis, ground and context of this belief, faith or trust is the Scripture, opened to the understanding through the illuminating ministry of the Spirit of God. Unbelief is not neutral; unbelief is wicked disobedience.
The Necessary End of all Bible Study
We do not really understand the Bible unless we understand it doctrinally, and we do not truly understand our doctrine, unless we understand it biblically. There is a direct correspondence between spiritual growth and a knowledge of doctrinal truth.
Mark the words of Maurice Roberts, Editor of “The Banner of Truth Magazine”:
Growth in Christian grace is closely related to our growth in theological knowledge. If our progress in doctrine is poor, either because we hear poor preaching or do not care to read books on Christian doctrine, we shall hardly advance in a true knowledge of God and of his thoughts. Doctrine, after all, is just a word for God and for his works and ways as these are divinely revealed to us in holy Scripture. And ignorance of God is, of all forms of ignorance, the most serious and the most common. Conversion brings to us a true and saving knowledge of God, but it does not remove all our ignorance at a stroke. Conversion is the first knowledge of God. It is real light, but it is as yet only the peep of day. Vast increase of light and knowledge are possible to the converted man. Such increase is to be achieved as a rule only by deep and prayerful study of the Bible and the great books such as Calvin’s Institutes or the writings of the Puritans.
The end result of Bible study is doctrinal truth consistently applied to the life. This is the necessary end of all true Bible study, and any Bible study is seriously defective and even false that does not culminate in the application of doctrinal truth to the life!
All and every blessedness pertaining to the Christian life flows to us through the Scriptures by the Spirit of God. And it all comes to us through the blessedness of humble obedience to Divine truth. If we truly love God, we will love and study his Word, and if we love God and his Word, we will lovingly obey his Word. What blessings we miss, what chastening we invite and experience, and what needless suffering we experience
because we will not study, understand, apply and experience in our lives the fruit of humble submission and obedience to the Word of a loving and gracious God!
24 Maurice Roberts, Editor of The Banner of Truth Magazine, The Christian’s High Calling, Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 2000, p. 32.
God intends for Every Christian to be a Bible Student
What is God Doing?
What is God doing in the life of every single believer? What is his purpose? How can we account for or explain the great variety of Christian experience, with its trials, opposition, inconsistencies and sin, disappointments, unanswered prayer, spiritual warfare, and Divine chastening? The answer is, that God is in the process of conforming each one of us to the image of his Son, and so has foreordained us to “good works” (Rom. 8:28–30; Eph. 1:3–14; 2:8–10).
This process commences at regeneration and will only be concluded in our glorification (Rom. 8:17–23). It is in this preordained context that we must view the Christian life and experience! Whatever we think, do or say either brings us closer to this goal or necessarily puts us in the way of Divine correction and discipline (Heb. 12:4–8).
How much time has been lost, energy expended, and trials endured needlessly simply because some have ignorantly thought that salvation was conversion⎯simply an event, an experience, the work of a moment⎯or that God would overlook sin in the lives of his own, or that the Christian life was one of options!
Coming to the Lord Jesus Christ in faith and turning from a life of sin in repentance are only the beginning, the very first steps in a pilgrimage that cannot end until we stand glorified and completely redeemed⎯body, soul and spirit⎯in the very presence of God. Such truth should transform our lives, govern our thinking, sanctify our motives, mitigate our suffering, determine every human relationship, and quicken our feeble efforts to live as Christians⎯those who are being conformed to the image of Christ.The Place of Bible Study in God’s Purpose
Because of this high and glorious goal of being conformed to the image of Christ, and so being foreordained unto good works, there are certain necessary issues:
• We must be a holy or sanctified people (Eph. 1:3–5; 1 Thess. 4:3; Titus 2:11–15; 1 Pet. 2:9).
• We must grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Pet. 3:18; Phil. 1:9–11; 3:10–15).
• We must mortify sin (Psa. 119:11; Rom. 8:11–13; Col. 3:5).
• We must have a proper understanding of the Scriptures in order to interpret and apply them correctly (2 Tim. 2:15).
Note: The word translated “study” in our English Bible, which makes this the primary text for Bible study, does not necessarily convey the full significance of the Gk. The term spou ,dason (spoudason),aor. imp., denotes “give the utmost diligence with a sense of urgency and determination.”
The wording of the Gk. is that our primary diligence and obligation are God–ward, that we are to be skilled craftsmen (e vrga ,thn, ergatēn, either skilled craftsman or laborer) who have absolutely no need to be ashamed (a vnepai ,scunton, anepaischunton, an intens. term with the
a privitive and the intensive e vpi ,), correctly handling (o vrqotomou /nta) [lit: orthotomounta, cutting straight], and
so correctly interpreting the Word of truth. Paul was a skilled craftsman in cilicium, the dark goat’s hair fabric of the Roman Cilician Province. He knew the utter necessity of making a straight or correct cut. The utmost determination and skill are required in the careful and
consistent interpretation and application of Scripture.
• We must have an inclusive, and very practical grasp of the Scriptures (2 Tim. 3:16–17).Note: The first issue is that the Scriptures are the very
Word of God, and therefore have absolute authority (pa /sa grafh . qeo ,pneustoj [pasa graphē theopneustos], “every Scripture is God–breathed”).
The second issue is that every major area of life is covered in a very practical sense: doctrine, reproof, correction and instruction in righteousness.
The third issue is that through this inclusive, authoritative ministry of the Scriptures, the individual becomes symmetrically developed (i [na a ;rtioj h =| o tou /qeou / a ;nqrwpoj [hina artios ē ho tou theou anthrōpos] ), “in order that fully–limbed [symmetrically–developed] might be the man of God”(pro .j pa/n e;rgon a vgaqo.n e vxhrtisme ,noj[pros pan ergon agathon exērtismenos]), and to every good work completely out–fitted.”
• We must apply the Scripture to our own experience in a very practical and consistent manner (2 Tim. 3:16–17; Phil. 2:12–16).
Note: “Work out” (katerga ,zesqe, pres. imp., katergazesthe), “constantly seek to bring to its logical conclusion,” i.e., Christ–likeness in the life, as connoted by the context of v. 5–16 and directly taught in Rom. 8:29.
The God–ordained means of grace for all these is the inscripturated Word of God. This means that every Christian must seek to become a very serious, thorough and consistent student of the Bible! What are the Right Purposes for Bible Study?Why study the Bible? Is such study optional? Must it necessarily be intelligent and consistent? What is Bible study supposed to do? What is its purpose? The following are the main correct reasons:
To Glorify God
The first purpose for Bible study is that this is one of the primary means by which we are to glorify God (1 Cor. 10:31).
An understanding of and an alignment to the Scriptures is at the very heart of true Christianity. We cannot glorify God in any other aspect of our lives if we are defective at the point of understanding and being faithful to the Scriptures. Apart from the Bible, we would neither rightly know God nor have any idea how to live to and for the glory of God. Private, personal Bible study and prayer are the primary means of grace for the Christian. If we truly love God, we will love his Word, we will pray, and we will grow in both grace and knowledge. Those who do not love God or his Word, who do not learn his commandment to obey them are simply unconverted persons (Acts 20:32; Col. 3:16; 2 Tim. 3:15–17; 2 Pet. 3:18; 1 Jn.
2:3–5, 15–17, 20, 27; 4:19; 5:2–3, 10–13).
To Commune with Christ in The Scriptures
There is a very definite place for an academic approach to the Scriptures. To truly and properly understand the Bible, we must gain knowledge through other sources and develop certain necessary skills. But there is also a sanctified and proper devotional aspect that ought to be aimed for. The academic should undergird this, but not supplant it. Through the Scriptures, coupled with meditation of Divine truth and prayer, we are to commune with the Lord Jesus Christ and be refreshed in mind and spirit. It is not enough to have the mind filled if the heart and spirit are never touched with Divine truth and its implications.
The end of the study of Scripture is doctrinal truth—and that truth experientially brought home to the heart and applied to the life.
The things of God are all great and mighty things, and they should exert a great and mighty influence upon us in every way. The Bible is not a quarry for scholars to research in and nothing more. It is not a textbook for religious education only.
It is not simply a fountain of proof–texts. It is a God–given account of how he himself has taken steps to redeem us from death and hell, to translate us from darkness unto light, to lift us from sin to grace and from grace to glory at last. All of this stupendous divine plan is concentrated on the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, our beloved Savior. He is its Alpha and its Omega. He is its Yea and its Amen. Surely we cannot, dare not, must not allow ourselves to read the Bible, which speaks of him, and not also make it our regular rule and practice to
feel some of his love to us as we read it….
One of the reasons why men read the Bible and feel nothing as they read it is that they do not approach it in the right way and with the right understanding. We should see Christ in the Bible everywhere….To read the Bible with academic, critical or other interests to the forefront of our
minds is to miss the mark and to lose the blessing. We are above all to read the Bible so as to ‘meet’ Christ in it. It is because we are too often ‘fools and slow of heart’ to believe that the Scriptures all point to Jesus that we put them down without our hearts having been stirred within us.25
To Know the Will of God
The Bible reveals the general will of God and often his specific will to all men, especially the believer (Ex: 20:1–17; Eccl. 12:13–14; Matt. 22:36–39). The spiritual nature of Bible study is presupposed in knowing God’s will through the study of his Word. The end result is conformity to God’s will through the grace of the Holy Spirit. The Scriptures know nothing of a mere abstract or theoretical knowledge but only a concrete or
experiential knowledge of God’s will, i.e., the will of God is only truly known and enjoyed as we submit and conform to it (Psa.
119:11; Rom. 12:1–2)!26
To be Obedient to God
A right understanding of the Scriptures is essential for intelligently knowing the revealed will of God, which, in turn, is necessary to our complete, willful and loving obedience (Rom. 2:17–20; Eph. 5:15–17; 1 Thess. 4:3; 5:18; 1 Jn. 2:3–6). Apart from the Scriptures we would be left to our own ideas, prejudices and feelings. True Bible study is meant to bring us into faithful obedience to the Word of God.
To Grow toward Spiritual Maturity
True spirituality is primarily intellectual and then practical—not mystical, emotional or irrational. It is primarily intellectual
25 Maurice Roberts, Op. cit., pp. 147–148.
26 Rom. 12:1–2 is based upon the foregoing doctrinal content of Romans chapters 1–11. The Apostle’s reasoning is that we must
spiritually prepare and conform to God’s will in order to see how blessed it is in and for our lives.
“…read the Bible in a spirit of obedience and self–application. Sit down to the study of it with a daily determination that you will live by
its rules, rest on its statements, and act on its commands. Consider…‘How does this affect my…course of conduct?’….That Bible is read best, which is practiced most.” because we must intelligently grasp the Scriptures through which the Holy Spirit ministers grace and brings us to spiritual maturity (Acts 8:3028; Eph. 4:11–1629; Phil. 1:9–11; Col. 1:28–29; 2 Pet. 3:18). It becomes practical as the grace of the Holy Spirit works
through the Word to conform us to the image of Christ. There is a very necessary and proper place for the feelings or emotions, but this is in the context of Divine truth; conversely Divine truth has no place in the context of the emotions, i.e., we must not have to become emotional to receive or reject Divine truth. The emotions are meant to be responsive, not determinative. This balance must be emphasized in our present age of religious irrationality!
The following discussion of true spirituality, although lengthy, is to the point and stated in the simplest terms with reference to its character and results in the experience:It is hard to say what Christian spirituality is. It is not equivalent to giftedness because there are eloquent and
talented people who are full of themselves. It is not the same as theological exactness because those who are less correct in their understanding of the truth are sometimes strong in grace and love to Christ.
Spirituality is not something which can be measured by studying one aspect of a person’s life, but by taking account of all aspects. It is roughly equivalent to what we mean by ‘Christian character’. It is the measure of our spiritual renewal after the image of Christ himself.
Our assessment of our own and others’ progress in spirituality must begin with the realization that there is a basic distinction to be made between what a man has by nature and what he has by grace. One man has a naturally clear intellect, another a naturally accurate memory, a third has a naturally charming temperament. These are all valuable assets but their possession does not prove spirituality, still less spirituality of a
Philip did not ask the Ethiopian eunuch, “How do you feel about the Bible?” But rather, “Do you understand what you are reading?”
Note that spiritual maturity is not nebulous, but primarily intellectual, as it centers here not only on love, unity and spiritual growth, but also on doctrinal knowledge and maturity.high order. It proves natural charm and natural talent and nothing more. Such talent is to be found also in the unconverted.Spirituality,however, is proved by the presence in the soul of those graces which are not natural. These are such characteristics as humility, fear of offending God, delight in communion with Christ, love of souls, ambition to glorify God and to enjoy him, love towards other believers as one’s brethren, repentance for all known sin, frequent confession to God and longing for the eternal state of glory. Such things as these cannot arise out of natural inclination or temperament because they require the supernatural energies of the Holy
Spirit to produce and promote them.
There is, of course, an infinite distance between what is natural and what is supernatural…The least Christian is in a different category from the most devout non–Christian. The work of God in the most charming and respectable unbeliever is not qualitatively as excellent as the work of God in the weakest of his own true children. The lowest spark of grace in any man places him in a spiritual class far above all natural excellence. ‘That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit’ (John 3:6).
It seems to human wisdom to be offensive to say that a man cannot cultivate himself so as to be pleasing to God.
After all, man can pray and preach, read the Bible and take the Lord’s Supper, go to church services and even become an authority on some aspects of religious study. But all of this falls short of spirituality because it is not the outcome of that act of the Holy Spirit which we call the new birth and which alters a man radically in his whole nature.
To be religious and not spiritual is to be in the most dangerous state of soul possible to man in this life. Christ has the sternest warnings for such persons. He denounces their religious condition to be that of whited sepulchres (Matt. 23:27), persecutors (Luke 11:47–51), hinderers of men from salvation(Luke 11:52),hypocrites(Matt. 23:13),‘serpents’and a‘generation of vipers’, who cannot ‘escape the damnation of hell’ (Matt. 23:33).
Such language is a reminder to us that a purely nominal
religion is worse than useless. It is a fearful snare to the soul and leads away from God under the pretext of serving him. It causes ‘the light in us to be darkness’ (Matt. 6:23). It leaves us children of the devil while we imagine ourselves the children of God (John 8:41,44). It will at last shut the door of heaven forever against us even though we have convinced ourselves that we are safe (Matt. 7:2 1; 25:10–12).
Let a man become a church member without the new birth and the probability is he will be secure in his church membership till he wakes up in a lost world. Let a man become a preacher, a divinity professor, a missionary, a church historian, a moderator, an assembly clerk, a printer of
Bibles—all without the new birth—and such persons are only twofold more the heirs of hell than they would otherwise have been (Matt. 23:15). However hard it is for us to take in this doctrine, there cannot be the least doubt that it is the plain and obvious teaching of Christ in many places of the Gospels.Spirituality therefore comes first and must be put at the top of all our priorities. The preaching of our blessed Saviour is
remarkable for the emphasis it places always on the need for man to be spiritual. The beatitudes, for instance, are a word picture of the spiritual man. Then, too, the judgments Christ passes on men’s behavior and men’s attitudes show that his all–seeing eye searches after one thing in man—spirituality. When a person came to him with spirituality of soul he received commendation and blessing. When any came without it they departed much as they had come.
A lack of spirituality is the hidden cause of so many of the evils which vex the church of Christ. It accounts for a great deal of the theological and spiritual confusion to be seen on every hand. It explains how leading churchmen can deny the virgin birth and scoff at the physical resurrection of Christ. It accounts for the way in which churches subscribe to orthodox articles of faith and then ignore them in practice. It is the reason why office bearers take vows at the time of ordination and then conveniently forget them. It explains how those who are high in church office can on occasion be low in personal integrity. It accounts for the way men may hold the mystery of the faith with an uneasy conscience and with a bad reputation. It accounts for all the compromise and all the moral fudging we see in church and state.Unspirituality is a taproot ofevery sort of hypocrisy and duplicity.There is little hope that society will‘get back to basics’till it is faced up to and dealt with biblically.
There are degrees of spirituality among those who are spiritual. The new birth makes all those who are the subjects of it into spiritual men. But spiritual men differ in their measure of spirituality. The difference in this case is that of the measure of their progress….
If spirituality is first in importance, it follows that it should be that which we seek first for our own souls. It involves the active and deliberate co–operation of the Christian with those processes of grace within him by which he becomes ever increasingly renewed into the likeness of Jesus Christ. In particular, it may be viewed as a bending of every part of the soul towards the one aim of living unto God in this life.
Spirituality comes to us with difficulty and it involves us in costly self–discipline. It is a discipline, however, which yields precious fruit and well repays the effort. Each faculty of the soul needs to be daily schooled to behave in a particular way.
The intellect (or mind) has to be daily trained to absorb the truths of holy Scripture till the habit of our thoughts is to judge all we hear and see by Scripture light. We cannot trust the judgment of the press or the media too far. The Christian must constantly unscramble the maze of facts which he hears, and attempt to pass all that he knows through his mind in the light of Holy Scripture.
The feelings and emotions also of a self–disciplined Christian must be trained to react appropriately. Our emotions ought to vary as we hear and read God’s Word. The promises of God are to evoke comfort, gladness and hope; the threatenings of Scripture should lead us to tremble and
respect the justice of God; the laws of God should make us strict and dutiful, and they ought to fashion our conscience till it habitually loves obedience and protests at lawlessness. The will–power of the Christian requires to be daily urged to perform each duty till it is done as well as strength and time will allow. Of course, when all is done we shall still need to remind ourselves that we have done nothing yet as we ought
to do and that we are, at best, but ‘unprofitable servants’ (Lk.17:10).
No small part of spirituality consists in our attitude to ourselves. Here is where the difference between Christian and Christian betrays itself. It is painful but essential in our progress towards true spirituality that we should mortify our natural excess of self–love. This begins with the way we think of ourselves and ends with the way we speak of ourselves.
The pattern we must follow is that of the Apostle Paul who admits to a constant warfare in his soul against his own corruptions (Rom. 7:14) and whose self–judgment is that he is ‘less than the least of all saints’ (Eph. 3:8), ‘the chief of sinners’ (1 Tim. 1:15) and ‘the least of the apostles’ (1 Cor.15:9). Such language is genuine evangelical humility. It is not the false modesty of religious formality but the realization,
which we should all heartily share, that apart from God’s grace we are nothing.
To Further Our Sanctification
Sanctification, or holiness in the life and experience, is absolutely essential to salvation (Rom. 6:14; Heb. 12:14). It is by the grace of the Holy Spirit through or in connection with Divine truth (Psa. 119:11; Jn. 17:17; Acts 20:32; Eph. 5:25–27). Apart from Scripture, our views on holiness will inevitably be traditional, false or misleading. There is hardly any faction or sect within Christendom which does not embrace a given amount of error or heresy in its view of holiness or sanctification. This demonstrates, that, even when in possession of the Scriptures,
there is a great need for consistent principles of interpretation.
To Prepare for The Ministry of The Word
Bible study prepares us to sit under the preaching ministry of the church. All preaching, except the very basic evangelistic, missionary outreach to the heathen, assumes some basic knowledge of God and his Word. There could be no possible progress in the pulpit ministry whatsoever if the hearers were in complete ignorance of the Bible. Preparation for the preaching or teaching ministry of the church must be two–fold for the hearer:
(1) biblical, and (2) spiritual (Psa. 119:18; Acts 10:33).
Note: Cornelius had gathered a congregation in his spiritual concern, had them assembled on time, and they were all present for the purpose of hearing the Word—all the Word—that God had commanded Peter to preach. What a blessed congregation and meeting!
purpose of hearing all the things commanded to you by the Lord!” Cornelius was a career military officer, and uses the terminology of assembled troops at attention, ready to receive their marching orders.
What must every believer do to be prepared for the
preaching ministry and for such a ministry to be profitable?
• He must be prepared to worship, implying a God–consciousness that derives from Bible study and prayer.
• He must be prepared to listen, implying the attitude of heart and attention of mind.
• He must be prepared to come to terms with the Divine truth that is presented in the preaching. Preaching must be experienced as well as heard.
• He must be prepared to learn, implying an earnestness and sanctified eagerness with respect to Divine truth.
• He must be prepared to apply the truth to his own life, implying a willingness to submit to God’s Word. Without such preparation of mind and heart, one will either tend toward a passive, disinterested attitude or toward a negative, critical spirit.
It is not only possible, but sadly common for many modern evangelical churches to maintain the church by the use of programs and entertainment rather than the ministry of the Word of God (a complete contradiction of Eph. 4:11–16), thereby disguising the lack of a true, scriptural ministry with mere human excitement and activity—but the end result must necessarily be spiritually disastrous.
To Understand the Purpose and Retain the Purity of the Church
The local church stands before God and the community as “the pillar and ground of the truth” (1 Tim. 3:14–15). If the pastor were the only true, serious Bible student in the assembly, or even one of the very few, and the congregation largely depended upon his studies for their knowledge of biblical truth and doctrine, the following deficiencies would exist:
(1) his ministry would largely be a failure, as he is to preach the gospel, equip the saints, edify the church, and strive to bring every member to a given degree of spiritual maturity (Mk. 16:15; Eph. 4:11–16; Col. 1:28–2931),
(2) The members would remain in disobedience to the Divine mandate to learn to individually interpret God’s Word and be able to give an intelligent answer to anyone and everyone who might ask (2 Tim. 2:15; 1 Pet. 3:15),
(3) the purity of the church would be in jeopardy, as God holds each member individually and corporately responsible for the truth (2 Tim. 3:16–17; 4:3–4).
To Edify Others
How do we edify other believers? Not necessarily through our experience, not through mere musical or instrumental skill,
not through various artistic expressions—unless these in some consistent and reverent way communicate Divine truth (Eph. 5:18–21; Col. 3:12–16). This is the acid test in the question of whether we have church worship or entertainment, testimony meetings, special music, the public reading and explanation of the Scriptures as part of public worship, and are having true fellowship or simply mundane conversation. It is the truth of
Scripture, taken and used by the Holy Spirit, which edifies the people of God. True Bible study ought to enable us to edify or minister to others in a godly, consistent manner.
To Evangelize the Unconverted
To evangelize means to declare, teach or explain the truth of the gospel (Matt. 28:18–20; Mk. 16:15). Sinners are converted through the truth of the gospel, not through personal experience, not through one’s religious ideas, not through religious philosophy, and not through existential [irrational, emotional] religious experiences. The message of the gospel must first be “…labor, striving…” (kopiw/ avgwnizo,menoj [kopiō
agōnizomenos]) denotes extreme toil, laboring to the point of exhaustion, agonizing…” 32 “Evangelize” (euvaggeli,zw, euaggelizo), “to proclaim the good news or evangel or euvagge,lion (euaggleion).intelligently presented, then intelligently received through the thought–process to reach the conscience to produce a Holy Spirit–engendered conviction of sin. Then, by the grace of God, saving faith and repentance evidence the saving reception of the truth as it is in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. The serious Bible student ought to be able to present the truth of salvation by grace, through the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, clearly, concisely and thoroughly—and, if need be, as simply as possible. This is necessarily a situation which normally calls for prayer, study, the memorization of Scripture, and an inclusive grasp of the doctrinal issues involved. One must deal from the Scriptures with such truths as regeneration, faith, repentance, justification, propitiation, reconciliation and the atonement. Study such passages as Rom. 1:16–17; 3:21–31; Acts 17:18, 22–31 or Acts 24:25–26 to examine the careful and precise language used by an inspired apostle in carefully explaining the sinfulness of man, the truth of the gospel and the utter necessity of faith and repentance!
To Intelligently Defend The Faith
Every believer without exception is called upon to be able at any given time to give a defense of his faith (1 Pet. 3:15). This is not the same as “giving one’s testimony,” “sharing one’s faith,” or “sharing how we feel about Jesus and what he’s done for us.”
Defending the faith includes both an explanation and defense of biblical doctrinal truth, and also the ability, by the grace of God, to dismantle the reasoned arguments of our opponents.
Jude 3. We are called upon to “earnestly contend [intensely agonize] for the once–for–all–delivered–unto–the–saints faith”
identifies faith as preeminently doctrinal, and makes the entire clause emphatic.
34 2 Cor. 10:3–5. “casting down imaginations”is lit: “logical arguments dismantling.”
How can anyone possibly attempt this without being an experienced, skilled Bible student—and a serious student of related subjects as well?
In order to accomplish these necessary things to any given degree, we must become serious students of Scripture. The Scriptures must, then, not only be constantly read, but seriously, comprehensively and intensely studied, and the strategic passages ought to be committed to memory
Why Study The Bible?
Bible Study is to be a High Priority for Every Christian
What Place is Bible Study to have in the Life of the Christian?
What is the Difference between Bible Reading and Bible Study?
God intends for every Christian to be a Bible Student
What are the Right Purposes for Bible Study?
Introduction
Why study the Bible?
Is such study optional?
Is it not sufficient simply to read the Scriptures?
Does such study need to be intelligent, comprehensive and consistent?
What is Bible study supposed to do?
What is its purpose?
How does one go about it? This study seeks to answer these and other questions.
It further seeks to impress upon every believer the need to become a serious student of the Word of God.
The study of the Scriptures must be and remain one of the greatest priorities in the life of every Christian. The Bible is our one objective, immutable source of truth. Everything else is subjective and therefore mutable. Consider the following:
Bible Study is to be a High Priority for Every Christian
That every Christian ought to read the Scriptures is without controversy. A “prayerless” or “Bibleless” Christian would be a contradiction in terms. That every Christian must be a Bible student, however, putting the study of the Word of God as one of the greatest priorities of his life, constantly endeavoring to rightly understand, interpret and consistently apply the Scriptures, is not only controversial, it is often seen in our modern day as unnecessary! In this modern era, even with an abundance of translations, versions, “Study Bibles,” and a variety of printed,
electronic and computerized “helps,” there are relatively few who make a consistent attempt to truly become students of the Word of God. Most professing Christians in this generation are woefully ignorant of basic biblical truth.
Further, the study of the Bible is not a simple, natural, unassuming undertaking. It is a reverent act—an act of worship.
It is a sacred science, and as such, it necessitates a certain mind–set or attitude of approach, established principles, a consistent process and conclusions that are to be demonstrated in the life. It is meant to be a reverent, life–long pursuit! Finally, God did not give us his Word in a systematic arrangement, but in the form of progressive, redemptive history. The Word must be thoroughly studied and arranged in a comprehensive and systematic [non–contradictory] way to adequately come to terms with its doctrinal teaching. God created man to work, and Bible study is no exception to this principle!
How few Bible students we have in our day! This is evident by the relative ignorance of many, the seeming indifference shown to the Bible, the modern reluctance to memorize Scripture, and the modern rejection of doctrinal truth. I grew up in an age when every Christian was to be a Bible student, and I recall my father rising early each morning, long before daylight, to spend two hours in Bible study and prayer before leaving for a
long, hard day’s work. He wore out several Bibles, could quote chapter after chapter by heart, could consistently evangelize, reason from the Scriptures, and was conversant in biblical doctrine. He was not yet a preacher, only a Christian, a church member and teacher—but he and others understood that Bible study was one of the great priorities for the believer.
Although we may spend long hours in commute traffic or work late, very few experience the exhausting physical labor of those in previous generations. Yet they took the time to seriously study the Bible. For them and for us the issue is the same—a matter of priorities.
My father, Howard Downing (1917–1982), was a serious Bible student from the time of his conversion, as were many others of his generation. Only years later did he attend Bible school for a semester, and was not ordained as a gospel minister until the age of fifty–seven, after which he finally completed a degree in Bible and lived to see a
time of revival under his ministry.
What great blessings are missed because Christians do not take the Word of God seriously enough to study it, seek to understand it, and consistently apply it to their lives! This study deals with the essentials of Bible study, and seeks to promote the consistent, practical understanding, interpretation and application of the Word of God to the life and experience.
What Place is Bible Study to have in the Life of the Christian?
The study of the Scriptures must be and remain one of the greatest priorities in the life of every Christian. Together with private prayer, Bible study remains the chief means of grace and the foundation for Christian growth, maturity and usefulness.
Consider the following:
God Has given us only One Objective Standard of Truth—The Bible
The Christian life is comprised of two aspects, objective and subjective, or the objective truth of Scripture and subjective experience. Apart from Scripture, we would be left entirely with the subjective aspect. All would necessarily become relativistic (no final, authoritative word, except the strength of individual experience), empirical (all judgment would be based on experience alone), existential (completely subjective and tending toward irrationalism or emotionalism) and pragmatic (whatever seemed to work would be right). Thus, the most emotional or mystical would be the most spiritual, and the strongest personalities would determine the direction of Christianity.
Without the objective safeguard of Scripture, Christianity always tends toward ignorance, inconsistency, contradiction and irrationalism. This is the witness of both church history and our own day, with its amazing ignorance of Scripture, distaste for authoritative preaching and doctrinal truth, the tendency toward The study of Church History should never be denigrated, as it is an indicator of how the truth of God, or lack of it, has been expressed in the life of professing Christianity. irrationalism, the Charismatic Movement, the “Toronto Blessing” type of experience,
and the increasing influence of the cults.
God has given us Two Types of Divine Revelation: General and Special
General revelation is concerned with our knowledge of God through his creation. This is sometimes called “Natural Theology.” Special revelation is that direct revelation in and through the Word of God, both spoken and written. Why must we be concerned with these?
• Man misunderstands even general revelation. As a fallen being, man suffers from the noetic effects of sin (i.e., the fall has adversely affected his perception and thought–process (Rom. 1:18–20). As great as the testimony of creation is, man misinterprets it, both knowingly and unknowingly.
• Man is utterly adverse to the truth of God through either general or special revelation. He possesses an aversion to all Divine truth and is either unwilling to submit to it, or perverts it to his liking (Rom. 1:1822; 8:7–8; Matt. 15:1–9; 5:21–22, 27–2923).
• Special revelation is a necessity. Both unfallen and fallen man find general revelation insufficient and need special, distinct direct revelation from God (Gen. 2:16–17; Matt. 4:4).
Increasingly irrational, the contemporary experience has gone from “holy laughter,” to “animal noises,” to “holy vomiting”!
“hold,” kateco,ntwn (katechontōn), pres. ptc., “constantly suppressing.”Rabbinic tradition taught that only the overt form of sin was
actually sin. Our Lord began with the root and source of all sin—the human heart and thought–process.
The Scriptures are to Form The Very Context of Our Lives
Man, as created in the image and likeness of God, is an intelligent, rational, morally–responsible being fully accountable to God both now and in final judgment. No one can afford not to live by the inspired inscripturated Word of God. This is especially true of everyone who names the name of Christ. The Bible is to be our authoritative and very practical textbook for both faith [what we are to believe] and practice [how we are to
live] (Matt. 4:4; 2 Tim. 3:16–17).What is the Difference between Bible Reading and Bible Study?
Bible reading is simply what it implies—reading the Bible, which is relatively simple in that there are but two requirements:
first, possessing the Scriptures in one’s own language and second, the ability and desire to read. However, one may read and not understand—and not even understand that he does not understand!
Although Bible reading is necessary, Bible study is altogether different. The reader reads; the true student of the Scriptures, however, also seeks out the meaning of words, phrases, clauses, sentences; the theological, historical, cultural and psychological context; the significance of figurative language; he studies the customs of that day, researches parallel passages, and seeks to put all derived or resultant teaching in
alignment to the “analogy of faith,” or the consistent, inclusive teaching of Scripture.
Note: The terminology “analogy of faith” was originally based on a misunderstanding of Rom. 12:6, .”..according to the proportion of faith” (kata . th .n a vnalogi ,an th /j pi ,stewj (kata tēn analogian tēs pisteōs), i.e., the measure of personal faith—not going beyond what God has given by way of personal gifts of ministry and faith personally or individually received. The term “faith” was taken by the Church Fathers in an
objective sense as the doctrinal teaching of Scripture rather than a subjective sense of personal, experimental faith, belief or trust. They spoke of the Analogia or Regula Fidei as pertaining to the general principles of the Christian faith. Thus, the term entered into Christian theology. Thus, the “analogy of faith” came to have its present meaning. It has become an acceptable theological term,
although it was originally misappropriated from Rom. 12:6.
In short, he seeks to arrive at an understanding of the doctrinal truth contained in the Scriptures, and then seeks to consistently apply this truth to his life. For the serious Christian, nothing less than Bible study is adequate.
The Issues of an Unregenerate Mind–Set What can be said of those who read the Bible with an agenda (with a view to correcting or challenging another person, or to set aside truth that might convict or challenge their own lives), but not for their own learning and edification?
Note: An agenda might in itself seem to be God–honoring and a search for the truth, but it always tends to twist the Scripture, as witnessed throughout the history of Christianity. When one “seizes the first weapon available to defend himself,” he tends to make great mistakes. He may grab the wrong thing, or he may have the right object, but grasp in it the wrong way (e.g., taking a knife by the blade rather than the handle).
Sadly, the history of biblical interpretation is largely the history of mishandling the Scriptures for this very reason and in this very way. The early writers [Church Fathers] appropriated the allegorical approach (They “spiritualized” the Scripture and divorced it from its intended literal meaning), which they inherited from Alexandrian Judaism, which in turn had appropriated it from Greek paganism through such men as Aristobolus and Philo the Jew. This gross mishandling of Scripture would prepare the way for Romish ecclesiasticism, sacerdotalism, the Dark Ages,
Medieval Scholasticism and a host of other evils. Later misinterpretation has led to religious relativism, antinomianism, and religious irrationalism, i.e., the priority of subjective experience over objective truth.
What of those who read only “devotionally,” to gain a subjective “peace” or to derive an irrational [existential] “comfort” by the act of reading? What of some who study with inconsistent principles of interpretation and so grossly misunderstand the Scriptures, and thus excuse sin in their lives or remain unaffected by Divine truth?
Note: Some limit the Moral Law to the Decalogue, and limit the Decalogue to national Israel in the Old Testament, and so become doctrinal and practical antinomians. E.g., those who misunderstand Rom. 6:1–23; 7:13–25 and 1 Cor. 3:1–4 and espouse the “Carnal Christian” heresy. E.g., in modern “Metropolitan Churches,” which are peopled with [sic] “homosexual Christians,” it is alleged that the sin of Sodom was inhospitality! Among the so–called “Modernists,” only what Jesus personally said or taught is authoritative, thus what Moses or Paul wrote concerning immorality or
homosexuality is insignificant!
And what of those who read and then refuse to come to terms with the truth revealed? The conclusions are ultimately only two:
(1) either such people are unregenerate and unconverted, and so blind to Divine truth and its implications (1 Cor. 2:14), or
(2) they are Christians acting out of character, in rebellion against God’s Word and therefore necessarily and inevitably subject to Divine chastening (Heb. 12:4–8). These do not need “counseling,” these need to repent—and in some cases, need to be converted!
Note: The Christian is usually referred to in Scripture as a “Believer” (Gk. o ` pi ,steuwn [ho pisteuōn], relat. pres. ptc.), i.e.,
one who constantly exercises faith, or is characterized by belief. The very basis, ground and context of this belief, faith or trust is the Scripture, opened to the understanding through the illuminating ministry of the Spirit of God. Unbelief is not neutral; unbelief is wicked disobedience.
The Necessary End of all Bible Study
We do not really understand the Bible unless we understand it doctrinally, and we do not truly understand our doctrine, unless we understand it biblically. There is a direct correspondence between spiritual growth and a knowledge of doctrinal truth.
Mark the words of Maurice Roberts, Editor of “The Banner of Truth Magazine”:
Growth in Christian grace is closely related to our growth in theological knowledge. If our progress in doctrine is poor, either because we hear poor preaching or do not care to read books on Christian doctrine, we shall hardly advance in a true knowledge of God and of his thoughts. Doctrine, after all, is just a word for God and for his works and ways as these are divinely revealed to us in holy Scripture. And ignorance of God is, of all forms of ignorance, the most serious and the most common. Conversion brings to us a true and saving knowledge of God, but it does not remove all our ignorance at a stroke. Conversion is the first knowledge of God. It is real light, but it is as yet only the peep of day. Vast increase of light and knowledge are possible to the converted man. Such increase is to be achieved as a rule only by deep and prayerful study of the Bible and the great books such as Calvin’s Institutes or the writings of the Puritans.
The end result of Bible study is doctrinal truth consistently applied to the life. This is the necessary end of all true Bible study, and any Bible study is seriously defective and even false that does not culminate in the application of doctrinal truth to the life!
All and every blessedness pertaining to the Christian life flows to us through the Scriptures by the Spirit of God. And it all comes to us through the blessedness of humble obedience to Divine truth. If we truly love God, we will love and study his Word, and if we love God and his Word, we will lovingly obey his Word. What blessings we miss, what chastening we invite and experience, and what needless suffering we experience
because we will not study, understand, apply and experience in our lives the fruit of humble submission and obedience to the Word of a loving and gracious God!
24 Maurice Roberts, Editor of The Banner of Truth Magazine, The Christian’s High Calling, Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 2000, p. 32.
God intends for Every Christian to be a Bible Student
What is God Doing?
What is God doing in the life of every single believer? What is his purpose? How can we account for or explain the great variety of Christian experience, with its trials, opposition, inconsistencies and sin, disappointments, unanswered prayer, spiritual warfare, and Divine chastening? The answer is, that God is in the process of conforming each one of us to the image of his Son, and so has foreordained us to “good works” (Rom. 8:28–30; Eph. 1:3–14; 2:8–10).
This process commences at regeneration and will only be concluded in our glorification (Rom. 8:17–23). It is in this preordained context that we must view the Christian life and experience! Whatever we think, do or say either brings us closer to this goal or necessarily puts us in the way of Divine correction and discipline (Heb. 12:4–8).
How much time has been lost, energy expended, and trials endured needlessly simply because some have ignorantly thought that salvation was conversion⎯simply an event, an experience, the work of a moment⎯or that God would overlook sin in the lives of his own, or that the Christian life was one of options!
Coming to the Lord Jesus Christ in faith and turning from a life of sin in repentance are only the beginning, the very first steps in a pilgrimage that cannot end until we stand glorified and completely redeemed⎯body, soul and spirit⎯in the very presence of God. Such truth should transform our lives, govern our thinking, sanctify our motives, mitigate our suffering, determine every human relationship, and quicken our feeble efforts to live as Christians⎯those who are being conformed to the image of Christ.The Place of Bible Study in God’s Purpose
Because of this high and glorious goal of being conformed to the image of Christ, and so being foreordained unto good works, there are certain necessary issues:
• We must be a holy or sanctified people (Eph. 1:3–5; 1 Thess. 4:3; Titus 2:11–15; 1 Pet. 2:9).
• We must grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Pet. 3:18; Phil. 1:9–11; 3:10–15).
• We must mortify sin (Psa. 119:11; Rom. 8:11–13; Col. 3:5).
• We must have a proper understanding of the Scriptures in order to interpret and apply them correctly (2 Tim. 2:15).
Note: The word translated “study” in our English Bible, which makes this the primary text for Bible study, does not necessarily convey the full significance of the Gk. The term spou ,dason (spoudason),aor. imp., denotes “give the utmost diligence with a sense of urgency and determination.”
The wording of the Gk. is that our primary diligence and obligation are God–ward, that we are to be skilled craftsmen (e vrga ,thn, ergatēn, either skilled craftsman or laborer) who have absolutely no need to be ashamed (a vnepai ,scunton, anepaischunton, an intens. term with the
a privitive and the intensive e vpi ,), correctly handling (o vrqotomou /nta) [lit: orthotomounta, cutting straight], and
so correctly interpreting the Word of truth. Paul was a skilled craftsman in cilicium, the dark goat’s hair fabric of the Roman Cilician Province. He knew the utter necessity of making a straight or correct cut. The utmost determination and skill are required in the careful and
consistent interpretation and application of Scripture.
• We must have an inclusive, and very practical grasp of the Scriptures (2 Tim. 3:16–17).Note: The first issue is that the Scriptures are the very
Word of God, and therefore have absolute authority (pa /sa grafh . qeo ,pneustoj [pasa graphē theopneustos], “every Scripture is God–breathed”).
The second issue is that every major area of life is covered in a very practical sense: doctrine, reproof, correction and instruction in righteousness.
The third issue is that through this inclusive, authoritative ministry of the Scriptures, the individual becomes symmetrically developed (i [na a ;rtioj h =| o tou /qeou / a ;nqrwpoj [hina artios ē ho tou theou anthrōpos] ), “in order that fully–limbed [symmetrically–developed] might be the man of God”(pro .j pa/n e;rgon a vgaqo.n e vxhrtisme ,noj[pros pan ergon agathon exērtismenos]), and to every good work completely out–fitted.”
• We must apply the Scripture to our own experience in a very practical and consistent manner (2 Tim. 3:16–17; Phil. 2:12–16).
Note: “Work out” (katerga ,zesqe, pres. imp., katergazesthe), “constantly seek to bring to its logical conclusion,” i.e., Christ–likeness in the life, as connoted by the context of v. 5–16 and directly taught in Rom. 8:29.
The God–ordained means of grace for all these is the inscripturated Word of God. This means that every Christian must seek to become a very serious, thorough and consistent student of the Bible! What are the Right Purposes for Bible Study?Why study the Bible? Is such study optional? Must it necessarily be intelligent and consistent? What is Bible study supposed to do? What is its purpose? The following are the main correct reasons:
To Glorify God
The first purpose for Bible study is that this is one of the primary means by which we are to glorify God (1 Cor. 10:31).
An understanding of and an alignment to the Scriptures is at the very heart of true Christianity. We cannot glorify God in any other aspect of our lives if we are defective at the point of understanding and being faithful to the Scriptures. Apart from the Bible, we would neither rightly know God nor have any idea how to live to and for the glory of God. Private, personal Bible study and prayer are the primary means of grace for the Christian. If we truly love God, we will love his Word, we will pray, and we will grow in both grace and knowledge. Those who do not love God or his Word, who do not learn his commandment to obey them are simply unconverted persons (Acts 20:32; Col. 3:16; 2 Tim. 3:15–17; 2 Pet. 3:18; 1 Jn.
2:3–5, 15–17, 20, 27; 4:19; 5:2–3, 10–13).
To Commune with Christ in The Scriptures
There is a very definite place for an academic approach to the Scriptures. To truly and properly understand the Bible, we must gain knowledge through other sources and develop certain necessary skills. But there is also a sanctified and proper devotional aspect that ought to be aimed for. The academic should undergird this, but not supplant it. Through the Scriptures, coupled with meditation of Divine truth and prayer, we are to commune with the Lord Jesus Christ and be refreshed in mind and spirit. It is not enough to have the mind filled if the heart and spirit are never touched with Divine truth and its implications.
The end of the study of Scripture is doctrinal truth—and that truth experientially brought home to the heart and applied to the life.
The things of God are all great and mighty things, and they should exert a great and mighty influence upon us in every way. The Bible is not a quarry for scholars to research in and nothing more. It is not a textbook for religious education only.
It is not simply a fountain of proof–texts. It is a God–given account of how he himself has taken steps to redeem us from death and hell, to translate us from darkness unto light, to lift us from sin to grace and from grace to glory at last. All of this stupendous divine plan is concentrated on the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, our beloved Savior. He is its Alpha and its Omega. He is its Yea and its Amen. Surely we cannot, dare not, must not allow ourselves to read the Bible, which speaks of him, and not also make it our regular rule and practice to
feel some of his love to us as we read it….
One of the reasons why men read the Bible and feel nothing as they read it is that they do not approach it in the right way and with the right understanding. We should see Christ in the Bible everywhere….To read the Bible with academic, critical or other interests to the forefront of our
minds is to miss the mark and to lose the blessing. We are above all to read the Bible so as to ‘meet’ Christ in it. It is because we are too often ‘fools and slow of heart’ to believe that the Scriptures all point to Jesus that we put them down without our hearts having been stirred within us.25
To Know the Will of God
The Bible reveals the general will of God and often his specific will to all men, especially the believer (Ex: 20:1–17; Eccl. 12:13–14; Matt. 22:36–39). The spiritual nature of Bible study is presupposed in knowing God’s will through the study of his Word. The end result is conformity to God’s will through the grace of the Holy Spirit. The Scriptures know nothing of a mere abstract or theoretical knowledge but only a concrete or
experiential knowledge of God’s will, i.e., the will of God is only truly known and enjoyed as we submit and conform to it (Psa.
119:11; Rom. 12:1–2)!26
To be Obedient to God
A right understanding of the Scriptures is essential for intelligently knowing the revealed will of God, which, in turn, is necessary to our complete, willful and loving obedience (Rom. 2:17–20; Eph. 5:15–17; 1 Thess. 4:3; 5:18; 1 Jn. 2:3–6). Apart from the Scriptures we would be left to our own ideas, prejudices and feelings. True Bible study is meant to bring us into faithful obedience to the Word of God.
To Grow toward Spiritual Maturity
True spirituality is primarily intellectual and then practical—not mystical, emotional or irrational. It is primarily intellectual
25 Maurice Roberts, Op. cit., pp. 147–148.
26 Rom. 12:1–2 is based upon the foregoing doctrinal content of Romans chapters 1–11. The Apostle’s reasoning is that we must
spiritually prepare and conform to God’s will in order to see how blessed it is in and for our lives.
“…read the Bible in a spirit of obedience and self–application. Sit down to the study of it with a daily determination that you will live by
its rules, rest on its statements, and act on its commands. Consider…‘How does this affect my…course of conduct?’….That Bible is read best, which is practiced most.” because we must intelligently grasp the Scriptures through which the Holy Spirit ministers grace and brings us to spiritual maturity (Acts 8:3028; Eph. 4:11–1629; Phil. 1:9–11; Col. 1:28–29; 2 Pet. 3:18). It becomes practical as the grace of the Holy Spirit works
through the Word to conform us to the image of Christ. There is a very necessary and proper place for the feelings or emotions, but this is in the context of Divine truth; conversely Divine truth has no place in the context of the emotions, i.e., we must not have to become emotional to receive or reject Divine truth. The emotions are meant to be responsive, not determinative. This balance must be emphasized in our present age of religious irrationality!
The following discussion of true spirituality, although lengthy, is to the point and stated in the simplest terms with reference to its character and results in the experience:It is hard to say what Christian spirituality is. It is not equivalent to giftedness because there are eloquent and
talented people who are full of themselves. It is not the same as theological exactness because those who are less correct in their understanding of the truth are sometimes strong in grace and love to Christ.
Spirituality is not something which can be measured by studying one aspect of a person’s life, but by taking account of all aspects. It is roughly equivalent to what we mean by ‘Christian character’. It is the measure of our spiritual renewal after the image of Christ himself.
Our assessment of our own and others’ progress in spirituality must begin with the realization that there is a basic distinction to be made between what a man has by nature and what he has by grace. One man has a naturally clear intellect, another a naturally accurate memory, a third has a naturally charming temperament. These are all valuable assets but their possession does not prove spirituality, still less spirituality of a
Philip did not ask the Ethiopian eunuch, “How do you feel about the Bible?” But rather, “Do you understand what you are reading?”
Note that spiritual maturity is not nebulous, but primarily intellectual, as it centers here not only on love, unity and spiritual growth, but also on doctrinal knowledge and maturity.high order. It proves natural charm and natural talent and nothing more. Such talent is to be found also in the unconverted.Spirituality,however, is proved by the presence in the soul of those graces which are not natural. These are such characteristics as humility, fear of offending God, delight in communion with Christ, love of souls, ambition to glorify God and to enjoy him, love towards other believers as one’s brethren, repentance for all known sin, frequent confession to God and longing for the eternal state of glory. Such things as these cannot arise out of natural inclination or temperament because they require the supernatural energies of the Holy
Spirit to produce and promote them.
There is, of course, an infinite distance between what is natural and what is supernatural…The least Christian is in a different category from the most devout non–Christian. The work of God in the most charming and respectable unbeliever is not qualitatively as excellent as the work of God in the weakest of his own true children. The lowest spark of grace in any man places him in a spiritual class far above all natural excellence. ‘That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit’ (John 3:6).
It seems to human wisdom to be offensive to say that a man cannot cultivate himself so as to be pleasing to God.
After all, man can pray and preach, read the Bible and take the Lord’s Supper, go to church services and even become an authority on some aspects of religious study. But all of this falls short of spirituality because it is not the outcome of that act of the Holy Spirit which we call the new birth and which alters a man radically in his whole nature.
To be religious and not spiritual is to be in the most dangerous state of soul possible to man in this life. Christ has the sternest warnings for such persons. He denounces their religious condition to be that of whited sepulchres (Matt. 23:27), persecutors (Luke 11:47–51), hinderers of men from salvation(Luke 11:52),hypocrites(Matt. 23:13),‘serpents’and a‘generation of vipers’, who cannot ‘escape the damnation of hell’ (Matt. 23:33).
Such language is a reminder to us that a purely nominal
religion is worse than useless. It is a fearful snare to the soul and leads away from God under the pretext of serving him. It causes ‘the light in us to be darkness’ (Matt. 6:23). It leaves us children of the devil while we imagine ourselves the children of God (John 8:41,44). It will at last shut the door of heaven forever against us even though we have convinced ourselves that we are safe (Matt. 7:2 1; 25:10–12).
Let a man become a church member without the new birth and the probability is he will be secure in his church membership till he wakes up in a lost world. Let a man become a preacher, a divinity professor, a missionary, a church historian, a moderator, an assembly clerk, a printer of
Bibles—all without the new birth—and such persons are only twofold more the heirs of hell than they would otherwise have been (Matt. 23:15). However hard it is for us to take in this doctrine, there cannot be the least doubt that it is the plain and obvious teaching of Christ in many places of the Gospels.Spirituality therefore comes first and must be put at the top of all our priorities. The preaching of our blessed Saviour is
remarkable for the emphasis it places always on the need for man to be spiritual. The beatitudes, for instance, are a word picture of the spiritual man. Then, too, the judgments Christ passes on men’s behavior and men’s attitudes show that his all–seeing eye searches after one thing in man—spirituality. When a person came to him with spirituality of soul he received commendation and blessing. When any came without it they departed much as they had come.
A lack of spirituality is the hidden cause of so many of the evils which vex the church of Christ. It accounts for a great deal of the theological and spiritual confusion to be seen on every hand. It explains how leading churchmen can deny the virgin birth and scoff at the physical resurrection of Christ. It accounts for the way in which churches subscribe to orthodox articles of faith and then ignore them in practice. It is the reason why office bearers take vows at the time of ordination and then conveniently forget them. It explains how those who are high in church office can on occasion be low in personal integrity. It accounts for the way men may hold the mystery of the faith with an uneasy conscience and with a bad reputation. It accounts for all the compromise and all the moral fudging we see in church and state.Unspirituality is a taproot ofevery sort of hypocrisy and duplicity.There is little hope that society will‘get back to basics’till it is faced up to and dealt with biblically.
There are degrees of spirituality among those who are spiritual. The new birth makes all those who are the subjects of it into spiritual men. But spiritual men differ in their measure of spirituality. The difference in this case is that of the measure of their progress….
If spirituality is first in importance, it follows that it should be that which we seek first for our own souls. It involves the active and deliberate co–operation of the Christian with those processes of grace within him by which he becomes ever increasingly renewed into the likeness of Jesus Christ. In particular, it may be viewed as a bending of every part of the soul towards the one aim of living unto God in this life.
Spirituality comes to us with difficulty and it involves us in costly self–discipline. It is a discipline, however, which yields precious fruit and well repays the effort. Each faculty of the soul needs to be daily schooled to behave in a particular way.
The intellect (or mind) has to be daily trained to absorb the truths of holy Scripture till the habit of our thoughts is to judge all we hear and see by Scripture light. We cannot trust the judgment of the press or the media too far. The Christian must constantly unscramble the maze of facts which he hears, and attempt to pass all that he knows through his mind in the light of Holy Scripture.
The feelings and emotions also of a self–disciplined Christian must be trained to react appropriately. Our emotions ought to vary as we hear and read God’s Word. The promises of God are to evoke comfort, gladness and hope; the threatenings of Scripture should lead us to tremble and
respect the justice of God; the laws of God should make us strict and dutiful, and they ought to fashion our conscience till it habitually loves obedience and protests at lawlessness. The will–power of the Christian requires to be daily urged to perform each duty till it is done as well as strength and time will allow. Of course, when all is done we shall still need to remind ourselves that we have done nothing yet as we ought
to do and that we are, at best, but ‘unprofitable servants’ (Lk.17:10).
No small part of spirituality consists in our attitude to ourselves. Here is where the difference between Christian and Christian betrays itself. It is painful but essential in our progress towards true spirituality that we should mortify our natural excess of self–love. This begins with the way we think of ourselves and ends with the way we speak of ourselves.
The pattern we must follow is that of the Apostle Paul who admits to a constant warfare in his soul against his own corruptions (Rom. 7:14) and whose self–judgment is that he is ‘less than the least of all saints’ (Eph. 3:8), ‘the chief of sinners’ (1 Tim. 1:15) and ‘the least of the apostles’ (1 Cor.15:9). Such language is genuine evangelical humility. It is not the false modesty of religious formality but the realization,
which we should all heartily share, that apart from God’s grace we are nothing.
To Further Our Sanctification
Sanctification, or holiness in the life and experience, is absolutely essential to salvation (Rom. 6:14; Heb. 12:14). It is by the grace of the Holy Spirit through or in connection with Divine truth (Psa. 119:11; Jn. 17:17; Acts 20:32; Eph. 5:25–27). Apart from Scripture, our views on holiness will inevitably be traditional, false or misleading. There is hardly any faction or sect within Christendom which does not embrace a given amount of error or heresy in its view of holiness or sanctification. This demonstrates, that, even when in possession of the Scriptures,
there is a great need for consistent principles of interpretation.
To Prepare for The Ministry of The Word
Bible study prepares us to sit under the preaching ministry of the church. All preaching, except the very basic evangelistic, missionary outreach to the heathen, assumes some basic knowledge of God and his Word. There could be no possible progress in the pulpit ministry whatsoever if the hearers were in complete ignorance of the Bible. Preparation for the preaching or teaching ministry of the church must be two–fold for the hearer:
(1) biblical, and (2) spiritual (Psa. 119:18; Acts 10:33).
Note: Cornelius had gathered a congregation in his spiritual concern, had them assembled on time, and they were all present for the purpose of hearing the Word—all the Word—that God had commanded Peter to preach. What a blessed congregation and meeting!
purpose of hearing all the things commanded to you by the Lord!” Cornelius was a career military officer, and uses the terminology of assembled troops at attention, ready to receive their marching orders.
What must every believer do to be prepared for the
preaching ministry and for such a ministry to be profitable?
• He must be prepared to worship, implying a God–consciousness that derives from Bible study and prayer.
• He must be prepared to listen, implying the attitude of heart and attention of mind.
• He must be prepared to come to terms with the Divine truth that is presented in the preaching. Preaching must be experienced as well as heard.
• He must be prepared to learn, implying an earnestness and sanctified eagerness with respect to Divine truth.
• He must be prepared to apply the truth to his own life, implying a willingness to submit to God’s Word. Without such preparation of mind and heart, one will either tend toward a passive, disinterested attitude or toward a negative, critical spirit.
It is not only possible, but sadly common for many modern evangelical churches to maintain the church by the use of programs and entertainment rather than the ministry of the Word of God (a complete contradiction of Eph. 4:11–16), thereby disguising the lack of a true, scriptural ministry with mere human excitement and activity—but the end result must necessarily be spiritually disastrous.
To Understand the Purpose and Retain the Purity of the Church
The local church stands before God and the community as “the pillar and ground of the truth” (1 Tim. 3:14–15). If the pastor were the only true, serious Bible student in the assembly, or even one of the very few, and the congregation largely depended upon his studies for their knowledge of biblical truth and doctrine, the following deficiencies would exist:
(1) his ministry would largely be a failure, as he is to preach the gospel, equip the saints, edify the church, and strive to bring every member to a given degree of spiritual maturity (Mk. 16:15; Eph. 4:11–16; Col. 1:28–2931),
(2) The members would remain in disobedience to the Divine mandate to learn to individually interpret God’s Word and be able to give an intelligent answer to anyone and everyone who might ask (2 Tim. 2:15; 1 Pet. 3:15),
(3) the purity of the church would be in jeopardy, as God holds each member individually and corporately responsible for the truth (2 Tim. 3:16–17; 4:3–4).
To Edify Others
How do we edify other believers? Not necessarily through our experience, not through mere musical or instrumental skill,
not through various artistic expressions—unless these in some consistent and reverent way communicate Divine truth (Eph. 5:18–21; Col. 3:12–16). This is the acid test in the question of whether we have church worship or entertainment, testimony meetings, special music, the public reading and explanation of the Scriptures as part of public worship, and are having true fellowship or simply mundane conversation. It is the truth of
Scripture, taken and used by the Holy Spirit, which edifies the people of God. True Bible study ought to enable us to edify or minister to others in a godly, consistent manner.
To Evangelize the Unconverted
To evangelize means to declare, teach or explain the truth of the gospel (Matt. 28:18–20; Mk. 16:15). Sinners are converted through the truth of the gospel, not through personal experience, not through one’s religious ideas, not through religious philosophy, and not through existential [irrational, emotional] religious experiences. The message of the gospel must first be “…labor, striving…” (kopiw/ avgwnizo,menoj [kopiō
agōnizomenos]) denotes extreme toil, laboring to the point of exhaustion, agonizing…” 32 “Evangelize” (euvaggeli,zw, euaggelizo), “to proclaim the good news or evangel or euvagge,lion (euaggleion).intelligently presented, then intelligently received through the thought–process to reach the conscience to produce a Holy Spirit–engendered conviction of sin. Then, by the grace of God, saving faith and repentance evidence the saving reception of the truth as it is in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. The serious Bible student ought to be able to present the truth of salvation by grace, through the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, clearly, concisely and thoroughly—and, if need be, as simply as possible. This is necessarily a situation which normally calls for prayer, study, the memorization of Scripture, and an inclusive grasp of the doctrinal issues involved. One must deal from the Scriptures with such truths as regeneration, faith, repentance, justification, propitiation, reconciliation and the atonement. Study such passages as Rom. 1:16–17; 3:21–31; Acts 17:18, 22–31 or Acts 24:25–26 to examine the careful and precise language used by an inspired apostle in carefully explaining the sinfulness of man, the truth of the gospel and the utter necessity of faith and repentance!
To Intelligently Defend The Faith
Every believer without exception is called upon to be able at any given time to give a defense of his faith (1 Pet. 3:15). This is not the same as “giving one’s testimony,” “sharing one’s faith,” or “sharing how we feel about Jesus and what he’s done for us.”
Defending the faith includes both an explanation and defense of biblical doctrinal truth, and also the ability, by the grace of God, to dismantle the reasoned arguments of our opponents.
Jude 3. We are called upon to “earnestly contend [intensely agonize] for the once–for–all–delivered–unto–the–saints faith”
identifies faith as preeminently doctrinal, and makes the entire clause emphatic.
34 2 Cor. 10:3–5. “casting down imaginations”is lit: “logical arguments dismantling.”
How can anyone possibly attempt this without being an experienced, skilled Bible student—and a serious student of related subjects as well?
In order to accomplish these necessary things to any given degree, we must become serious students of Scripture. The Scriptures must, then, not only be constantly read, but seriously, comprehensively and intensely studied, and the strategic passages ought to be committed to memory