Be A Student of Scripture
Father, teach me what you would have me to learn.
Show me what you would have me to do.
Deuteronomy 4:1-2
Listen to the statutes and the rules that I am teaching you, and do them, that you may live...
You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you.
Deuteronomy 32:46b-47 (Similar Leviticus 18:5, Psalm 16:11, Psalm 119:25, Ezekiel 20:11, Nehemiah 9:29)
Take to heart all the words of this law...they are not just idle words for you - they are your life.
Psalm 119 "teach me your decrees/statutes/laws"
Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law.
Let me understand the teaching of your precepts.
Teach me knowledge and good judgment.
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.
Your statutes are my heritage forever; they are the joy of my heart.
The teaching of your word gives light.
Give me understanding that I may live.
Proverbs 4:20b-22
Listen closely to my words...for they are life and health to a man's whole body.
Proverbs 22:17-19
Pay attention and turn your ear to the sayings of the wise; apply your heart to what I teach, for it is pleasing when you keep them in your heart and have all of them ready on your lips. So that your trust may be in the LORD, I teach you today, even you.
Jeremiah 15:16
When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart's delight, for I bear your name, Lord God Almighty.
Ezra 7:10
Ezra had devoted himself to the study and observance of the Law of the LORD, and to teaching its decrees and laws in Israel.
(ESV) Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the Lord, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel.
Acts 17:11
(ESV) The Bereans...received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.
(NLT) The Bereans...listened eagerly to Paul’s message (and) searched the Scriptures day after day to see if Paul and Silas
were teaching the truth.
Romans 15:4
Everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.
1 Corinthians 2:12
We have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.
2 Timothy 2:15, 23 (KJV)
Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that need not to be ashamed, rightly dividing (correctly handling) the word of truth. But avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife.
1 Peter 1:10-12
Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care… It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.
2 Peter 1:5
Make every effort (giving all diligence) to add to your faith...knowledge...
Lectio Divina: Lectio ("Read"); Meditatio ("Meditate"); Oratio ("Pray");
Contemplatio ("Contemplate")
Thomas Cranmer The 1549 Book of Common Prayer
Blessed Lord, who hast caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning; grant that we may in such wise hear them, read, mark (pay attention to and remember), learn, and inwardly digest them...
Qumran (Essene) Manual of Discipline
In the place where the ten are (beyt t'fila, 'house of prayer'; shul), let there not lack a man who studies the Law (Torah, 'instruction') night and day, continually, concerning the duties of each toward the other.
William Tyndale The Obedience of a Christian Man, 1528
Now the Scripture giveth record to itself, and ever expoundeth itself by another open text.
(Scripture interprets Scripture.)
The last words of A.W. Pink before his death July 15, 1952 "The Scriptures explain themselves."
John Robinson, pastor of the Pilgrims, in his farewell address upon their departure from Holland, 1620
https://pilgrimhall.org/pdf/John_Robinson_Farewell_Sermon.pdf
I exhort you to take heed what you receive as truth; examine and compare it and weigh it with other Scriptures of truth, before you do receive it.
Westminster Confession of Faith
The whole counsel of God concerning all things necessary for His own glory, man's salvation, faith and life, is either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture: unto which nothing at any time is to be added, whether by new revelations of the Spirit, or traditions of men.
Thomas a’ Kempis The Imitation of Christ
Be studious for the mortification of thy sins; for this will profit thee more than the knowledge of many difficult questions.
Richard Baxter, A Christian Directory
https://books.google.com/books?id=7XcAAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA150&lpg
Make careful choice of the books you read, and let Holy Scripture always have the preeminence. Scripture is better than any other book whatever to convey the Holy Spirit in power to make us spiritual by imprinting itself upon our hearts! It will acquaint us more with God and bring us nearer to him, and make the reader more reverent, serious, and divine.
William Gurnall The Christian in Complete Armour
To help thee in thy search for the sense and meaning of the word, these directions, I hope, may stand thee in some stead.
First. Take heed thou comest not to the Scriptures with an unholy heart.
Second. Make not thy own reason the rule by which thou measurest Scripture truths.
Third. Take heed thou comest not with a judgment preengaged to any party or opinion.
Fourth. Go to God by prayer for a key to unlock the mysteries of his word.
Fifth. Compare scripture with scripture.
Sixth. Consult with thy faithful guides which God hath set over thee in his church.
Hide the word in thy heart. This was David’s preservative. ‘Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee,’ Psalm 119:11. It was not the Bible in his hand to read it; not the word on his tongue to speak of it; nor in his head to get a notional knowledge of it; but the hiding it in his heart, that he found effectual against sin.
Thomas Brooks Apples of Gold, "This Incomparable Book!", 1660
https://www.gracegems.org/2015/03/book.html
The Word of the Lord is a light to guide you, a counselor to counsel you, a comforter to comfort you, a staff to support you, a sword to defend you, and a physician to cure you. The Word is a mine to enrich you, a robe to clothe you, and a crown to crown you.
Joseph Alleine A Sure Guide to Heaven
Wade into the divine excellencies, the store of his mercies, the hiding of his power, the depths unfathomable of his all-sufficiency.
John Preston The Church's Carriage
It is a sure rule, that what the Scriptures bestow much words on, we should have much thought on; and what the Holy Ghost urgeth most, we should prize most.
John Knox "A Letter of Most Wholesome Council to His Brethren in Scotland", 1556
https://books.google.com/books?id=maRPAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA173&lpg
For as the word of God is the beginning of life, spiritual, without which all flesh is dead in God’s presence, and the lantern to our feet, without the brightness whereof all the posterity of Adam doth walk in darkness, and as it is the foundation of faith, without which no man understandeth the good will of God, so it is also the only organ and instrument which God uses to strengthen the weak, to comfort the afflicted, to reduce to mercy by repentance such as have (back)slidden, and finally to preserve and keep the very life of the soul in all assaults and temptations, and therefore if that you desire your knowledge to be increased, your faith to be confirmed, your consciences to be quieted and comforted, and finally your soul to be preserved in life, let your exercise be frequent in the law of your God.
Rules And Precepts, Harvard September 26, 1642
Let every Student be plainly instructed, and earnestly pressed to consider well, the maine end of his life and studies is, to know God and Jesus Christ which is eternal life, John 17:3 and therefore to lay Christ in the bottome, as the only foundation of all sound knowledge and Learning. And seeing the Lord only giveth wisedome, Let every one seriously set himself by prayer in secret to seeke it of him Proverbs 2, 3.
Every one shall so exercise himselfe in reading the Scriptures twice a day, that he shall be ready to give such an account of his proficiency therein, both in Theoreticall observations of Language and Logick, and in practical and spiritual truths, as his Tutor shall require, according to his ability; seeing the entrance of the word giveth light, it giveth understanding to the simple, Psalm 119:13.
Jonathan Edwards The Importance and Advantage of a Thorough Knowledge of Divine Truth
http://www.biblebb.com/files/edwards/je-divinetruth.htm
Be assiduous in reading the Holy Scriptures. This is the fountain whence all knowledge in divinity must be derived. Therefore let not this treasure lie by you neglected.
David Brainerd in Jonathan Edwards, An Account of the Life of David Brainerd, Missionary to the Indians, 1765
Give yourself to prayer, to reading and meditation on divine truths; strive to penetrate to the bottom of them and never be content with a superficial knowledge.
Daniel Webster’s Confession of Faith, to Rev. Thomas Worcester, 1807
https://books.google.com/books?id=5Cx3AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA9&lpg
I believe that the Bible is to be understood and received in the plain and obvious meaning of its passages; since I cannot persuade myself that a book intended for the instruction and conversion of the whole world should cover its true meaning in such mystery and doubt that none but critics and philosophers can discover it; and believe that the experiments and subtleties of human wisdom are more likely to obscure than to enlighten the revealed will of God, and that he is the most accomplished Christian scholar who hath been educated at the feet of Jesus, and in the College of Fishermen.
C.H. Spurgeon, “The Bible”, a sermon delivered March 18, 1855
https://www.ccel.org/ccel/spurgeon/sermons01.xiv.html
This Bible is God’s Bible; and when I see it, I seem to hear a voice springing up from it, saying, “I am the Book of God. Man, read me. I am God’s writing. Study my pages, for I was penned by God. Love me, for He is my Author, and you will see Him visible and manifest everywhere.”
Archibald Brown “The Teaching of the Holy Spirit”, a sermon delivered in the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington, London September 6, 1891
Let us lay the word of God perpetually open before us, and then let us look up and say, ‘Lord, we plead the promise that thy blessed Spirit shall guide us into all the truth. Oh, Spirit of God, lead us into all parts of thy truth. Let us be instructed of thee. Then shall we be able to stand in the evil day, and having done all to stand.’ (Ephesians 6:13)
Octavius Winslow Daily Walking With God on Psalm 119:18
To the question often earnestly propounded- “What is the best method of reading, so as to understand the Scriptures?” I would reply “Read them with the one desire and end of learning more of Christ, and with earnest prayer for the teaching of the Spirit, that Christ may be unfolded in the Word.”
Search the Scriptures, my reader, with a view of seeing and knowing more of your Redeemer, compared with whom nothing else is worth knowing or making known. Love your Bible, because it testifies of Jesus; because it unfolds a great Savior, an almighty Redeemer; because it reveals the glory of a sin-pardoning God, in the person of Jesus Christ.
F.B. Meyer “The Blessed Life”
https://www.gracegems.org/SERMONS/blessed_life.htm
The whole of Christian living, in my opinion, hinges on the way in which Christian people read the Bible for themselves. All sermons and addresses, all Bible readings and classes, all religious magazines and books, can never take the place of our own quiet study of God's precious Word. We may measure our growth in grace by the growth of our love for private Bible study. And we may be sure there is something seriously wrong when we lose our appetite for the Bread of Life. Perhaps we have been eating too many sweets, or taking too little exercise, or breathing too briefly in the bracing air, which sweeps over the uplands of spiritual communion with God.
The more you read the Bible, the more you will want to read it. It is an appetite which grows as it is fed. And you will be well repaid.
It is well, often times, to stop reading, and seriously ask, What does the Holy Spirit mean ME to learn by this? What bearing should this have on MY life? How can I work this into the fabric of MY character?
John L. Dagg
The study of religious truth ought to be undertaken and prosecuted from a sense of duty, and with a view of the improvement of the heart. When learned, it ought not to be laid on the shelf, as an object of speculation; but it should be deposited deep in the heart, where its sanctifying power ought to be felt. To study theology, for the purpose of gratifying curiosity, or preparing for a profession, is an abuse and profanation of what ought to be regarded as most holy. To learn things pertaining to God, merely for the sake of amusement, or secular advantage, or to gratify the mere love of knowledge, is to treat the Most High with contempt.
Sinclair Ferguson From the Mouth of God: Trusting, Reading, and Applying the Bible
Everything I need to learn in order to live to the glory of God and enjoy him forever I will find in the application of Scripture.
D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
“The Call To Battle” on Ephesians 6:10-13
https://www.monergism.com/call-battle
You should be careful that the devil in his wiliness does not come in and make you content with a mere mechanical reading of the Scriptures without really looking at them, and meditating upon them without realizing what they are saying, and without drawing lessons for yourself, and praying about the exercise. It takes time to read Scripture properly. It is very easy to read a number of verses and rush off to catch your bus or train. That is not reading the Scriptures; that may be quite useless. You must stop and look and think.
"With Him in the Glory" on John 17:24
I have increasingly come to the conclusion that our trouble lies in the fact that we do not read our Scriptures properly; that is, we tend to read them without meditating upon them, without taking a firm grip of them and grasping them for ourselves, and realizing that these truths are truths about us.
Prayer Before Study
A Book of Common Worship "Liturgy of St. Mark"
O God of Light, Father of Life, Giver of Wisdom, Benefactor of our souls; Who hast brought us up from the depths of darkness to light, who hast given us life from death, who hast graciously bestowed upon us freedom from slavery, and who hast scattered the darkness of sin within us; do Thou now also enlighten the eyes of our understanding, and sanctify us wholly in soul, body, and spirit.
St. Thomas Aquinas
Creator of all things, true source of light and wisdom, origin of all being, graciously let a ray of your light penetrate the darkness of my understanding. Take from me the double darkness in which I have been born, an obscurity of sin and ignorance. Give me a keen understanding, a retentive memory, and the ability to grasp things correctly and fundamentally. Grant me the talent of being exact in my explanations and the ability to express myself with thoroughness and charm. Point out the beginning, direct the progress, and help in the completion. I ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
John Henry Newman Meditations and Devotions, “The Forty Days’ Teaching”
I need Thee to teach me day by day, according to each day’s opportunities and needs. Give me, O my Lord, that purity of conscience which alone can receive, which alone can improve Thy inspirations. My ears are dull, so that I cannot hear Thy voice. My eyes are dim, so that I cannot see thy tokens. Thou alone canst quicken my hearing, and purge my sight, and cleanse and renew my heart.
Teach me to sit at Thy feet, and to hear Thy word.
"Holy Bible, Book Divine" by John Burton Sr. in Youth’s Monitor in Verse, a Series of Little Tales, Emblems, Poems and Songs, 1803
Holy Bible, Book divine,
Precious treasure, thou art mine;
Mine to tell me whence I came;
Mine to teach me what I am.
Mine to chide me when I rove;
Mine to show a Saviour’s love;
Mine thou art to guide and guard;
Mine to punish or reward.
Mine to comfort in distress;
Suffering in this wilderness;
Mine to show, by living faith,
Man can triumph over death.
Mine to tell of joys to come,
And the rebel sinner’s doom;
O thou holy Book divine,
Precious treasure, thou art mine.
Sir John Bowring Matins and Vespers, 1824
How sweet to meditate, O Lord!
On Thy great name, Thy glorious word,
In Thy blest presence to rejoice,
To Thy blest praise attune my voice,
And from Thy cup to drink the stream
Of gladness and of joy supreme!
John Wesley, Preface to Sermons on Several Occasions, 1825
I am a creature of a day, passing through life as an arrow through the air. I want to know one thing: the way to heaven; how to land safe on that happy shore. God himself has condescended to teach that way; for this very end he came down from heaven. He has written it down in a book! O give me that book! At any price, Give me the Book of God! I have it: here is knowledge enough for me. Let me be, ‘a man of one book’.
Richard Baxter Pastoral Ministry
Study hard, for the well is deep and the brains are shallow.
C.H. Spurgeon The Treasury of David on Psalm 99:5
May the good Lord bring back His people to reverence His Word,
and then will He also have respect unto the voice of their cry.
F.B Meyer on Psalm 1:1-2
Open to me, I pray Thee, O Spirit of Truth, the treasures of Thy Word, that my soul may be continually enriched, and that I may abound in every good word and work, to Thy honour and glory.
CAUTION I
Ecclesiasticus (Apocrypha: Sirach) 3:21(KJV)
Seek not out things that are too hard for thee, neither search the things that are above thy strength. But what is commanded thee, think thereupon with reverence, for it is not needful for thee to see with thine eyes the things that are in secret. Be not curious in unnecessary matters: for more things are shewed unto thee than men understand. For many are deceived by their own vain opinion; and an evil suspicion hath overthrown their judgment.
A.W. Tozer The Next Chapter After the Last
Confessed ignorance becomes us better. Human curiosity and pride often combine to drive us to try to understand that which is plainly outside the field of human understanding.
2 Peter 3:15b-18a (NLT)
Paul wrote to you with the wisdom God gave him...Some of his comments are hard to understand, and those who are ignorant and unstable have twisted his letters to mean something quite different, just as they do with other parts of Scripture. And this will result in their destruction. So be on guard; then you will not be carried away by the errors of these wicked people and lose your own secure footing. Rather, you must grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
CAUTION II
Athanasius "The Incarnation of the Word of God"
But for the searching of the Scriptures and true knowledge of them, an honorable life is needed, and a pure soul, and that virtue which is according to Christ; so that the intellect guiding its path by it, may be able to attain what it desires, and to comprehend it, in so far as it is accessible to human nature to learn concerning the word of God. For without a pure mind and a modeling of the life after the saints, a man could not possibly comprehend the words of the saints. . . . He that would comprehend the mind of those who speak of God needs begin by washing and cleansing his soul.
Wisdom of Solomon 1:4-5 (Apocrypha )
For into a malicious soul wisdom will not enter; nor dwell in the body that is subject unto sin. For the holy spirit of discipline will flee deceit, and remove from thoughts that are without understanding, and will not abide when unrighteousness cometh in.
Thomas à Kempis The Imitation of Christ
What is the profit of high argument on the Trinity if you lack the humility and are offensive to the Trinity? Great words assuredly make no man holy and righteous, but by virtuous living he becomes dear to God. Far better feel compulsion than have skill in defining it. Though you know the whole Bible and all the sayings of the philosophers, what would it advantage you without God’s love and grace? It is natural to man to desire knowledge; but knowledge without the fear of God—of what avail is it?
Because men are more solicitous to learn much than to live well, they fall into error, and receive little benefit from their studies. In the approaching day of universal judgment it will not be inquired what we have read, but what we have done, not how eloquently we have spoken, but how holily we have lived. He is truly learned who has learned to abandon his own will, and do the will of God.
T.J. Crawford The Mysteries of Christianity, “Cautions Against Prying Into Matters That Are Unrevealed” on John 21:22 "...what is that to thee? Follow thou me."
A disposition to intrude into matters which God has not thought fit to disclose to us at all, or to push our inquiries respecting matters which he has revealed farther than we have the light of Scripture to direct us, prevails to no small extent among professing Christians. The word of God is too frequently regarded by them in a speculative rather than in a practical point of view; and in the study of it they seek, not so much the strengthening of their faith and improvement of their practice, as the mere expansion of their intellect, or increase of their knowledge, or gratification of their curiosity.
‘How can these things be?’ is the inquiry which such persons are ever and anon proposing, instead of being content to take it on God’s unerring word that things are as he declares them to be.
Inquiries are too often found occupying the time and engrossing the attention which would be much more profitably employed in seriously pondering such questions as the following:
‘What shall I do to be saved?’ (Acts 16:30)
‘How shall I escape if I neglect so great salvation?’ (Hebrews 2:3)
‘What shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?’ (1 Peter 4:17)
‘What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits?’ (Psalm 116:12)
‘Who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth?’ (Malachi 3:2)
‘What is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?’ (Matthew 16:26)
The peculiar doctrines set forth in Holy Scripture, we must remember, are not discoveries of man, but revelations of God. They are things of which we can know nothing, and never could have known anything, but for the revelation of them which God hath given us. And even as we have no knowledge of them without revelation, so we can have no sure knowledge of them beyond it. The light from above is our only safe guide. So far as this light leads us we may boldly go; but so soon as it ceases to shine upon our onward path, all farther advances must be uncertain and precarious.
Christopher Nesse Christ, A Christian's Life, 1691
That you have the Word of God to read and hear, you must prize as a precious privilege, and praise the Lord for it with your heart, lips, and life.
D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
It is perilously close to being sinful for any person to learn doctrine for doctrine’s sake. Doctrine is always best when it is incarnated in the lives of godly men and women.
Eric Liddell, “The Flying Scotsman”, 400m Gold Medalist at the 1924 Paris Olympics and (Congregationalist) London Missionary Society missionary to Tianjin and Xiaozhang, China. The Disciplines of The Christian Life
Obedience to God's will is the secret of spiritual knowledge and insight. It is not willingness to know, but willingness to DO (obey) God's will that brings certainty.
CAUTION III
Hannah More, Hints Toward Forming the Character of a Young Princess, “On the importance of forming the Mind”, 1805
https://books.google.com/books?id=qLtIAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA561
It is not so important to know everything, as to know the exact value of everything, to appreciate what we learn, and to arrange what we know.
A.W. Tozer The Divine Conquest
May not the inadequacy of much of our spiritual experience be traced back to our habit of skipping through the corridors of the Kingdom like children through the marketplace, chattering about everything, but pausing to learn the true value of nothing?
CAUTIONS from A.W. Tozer
The Size of the Soul
Epictetus was not impressed by eloquence or learning. It was a waste of time for the student to recite the list of books he had read. “What has your reading done for you?” he asked his students, and looked not to their words but to their lives for the answer. He required of the young men who sought him out that they bring their lives into immediate harmony with the Stoic doctrines. “If you don’t intend to live like a philosopher, don’t come back,” he told them bluntly. He drew a sharp distinction between a philosopher in fact and a student of philosophy, and would have nothing to do with the mere student.
It will help us to locate ourselves spiritually if we face up to the rather ungracious question: “Are you a Christian in fact or merely a student of Christianity?”
From a sermon “Response to the Word” and published in Renewed Day by Day The Bible demands immediate action, faith, surrender, committal. Until it has secured these, it has done nothing positive for the reader, but it has increased his responsibility and deepened the judgment that must follow. The Bible is the voice of God calling men home from the wilds of sin; it is a road map for returning prodigals. It is instruction in righteousness, light in darkness, information about God and man and life and death and heaven and hell. The destiny of each individual depends upon the response to that Voice in the Word!
The Divine Conquest
In religion more than in any other field of human experience a sharp distinction must always be made between knowing about and knowing. The distinction is the same as between knowing about food and actually eating it. A man can die of starvation knowing all about bread, and a man can remain spiritually dead while knowing all the historic facts of Christianity. "This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." (John 17:3)
Jesus, Our Man In Glory
As Christian believers, we have learned to trust the divine wisdom and the leading of the Holy Spirit of God. The Spirit knows that we do not quickly apprehend divine truth. We must read or hear it more than once. God's method of instruction is "Do and do, do and do, rule on rule, rule on rule; a little here, a little there." (Isaiah 28:10) - until we have received and learned and benefited.
The difficulty we modern Christians face is not misunderstanding the Bible, but persuading our untamed hearts to accept its plain instructions.
CAUTION from D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Joy Unspeakable
Perhaps the greatest danger of all for Christian people is the danger of understanding the Scriptures in the light of their own experiences. We should not interpret Scripture in the light of our experiences, but we should examine our experiences in the light of the teaching of the Scriptures.
But there is a second danger and it is equally important; the exact opposite of the first…being satisfied with something very much less than what is offered in the Scripture…and reducing its teaching to the level of what we know and experience.
I would lay down this fundamental proposition – that everything must be tested by the teaching of the Scripture.
Luke 8:18
Consider carefully/pay attention to how you hear...
WARNING
A.W. Pink The Attributes of God
A spiritual and saving knowledge of God is the greatest need of every human creature.
D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones "Do You Know God?" a sermon on John 8:19
https://www.mljtrust.org/sermons/book-of-john/do-you-know-god/
Knowing about God is not knowing God.
A.W. Tozer The Size of the Soul
Are you a Christian in fact or merely a student of Christianity?