How To Study the Bible
The Bible is our foundation and our safeguard. Through the scriptures, we get to know more about God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Can we really trust that scripture is inerrant? It’s important to determine this as we learn ‘How to Study the Bible.’ People have always questioned the formation of the New Testament. The Old Testament has always been intact, nobody ever questions the books in it. The New Testament is what a lot of people try to discredit. It was not only person who came and said ‘these are the New Testament books’, but rather, many different groups throughout the world who began to hold certain books as inspired. I want to read this quote about the formation of the New Testament from Bruce Metzger. He was Professor of New Testament at Princeton Theological Seminary.
“The slowness of determining the final limits of the canon is testimony to the care and vigilance of early Christians in receiving books purporting to be apostolic. But, while the collection of the New Testament into one volume was slow, the belief in a written rule of faith was primitive and apostolic. When, toward the close of the fourth century, church synods and councils began to issue pronouncements concerning the New Testament canon, they were merely ratifying the judgment of individual Christians throughout the church who had come to perceive by intuitive insight the inherent worth of the several books. In the most basic sense neither individuals nor councils created the canon; instead, they came to perceive and acknowledge the self-authenticating quality of these writings, which imposed themselves as canonical upon the church.”
This quote explains that man is not behind the formation of the Bible, God is. I have been there myself questioning whether the books in the Bible are actually inspired by God. I struggled with this for a couple of weeks until the Lord spoke to me. He asked me if He was powerful enough to influence people to have the right books in the Bible. I instantly answered yes and since then my doubts about the Bible disappeared.
The goal of studying the Bible is simple: to know the God-head and to know what the God-head says about us. That is the sole reason for the scriptures.
To know the God-Head:
John 5:37-39, “And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form. But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe. You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of, Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.”
All the scriptures from Genesis to Revelation speak of Jesus. The Old Testament prophesied about the coming of Jesus and the New Testament proclaims the works of Jesus. If your goal of reading and studying the scriptures is to be knowledgeable then you have the wrong heart. That is how the Pharisees were. That is how Paul was before his conversion. At the time, his name was Saul. Saul knew the scriptures; he studied them all his life. And yet, he missed the point. He was so caught up in the knowledge of scripture, he forgot the heart of scripture. The purpose of reading and studying the scriptures is to grow in love with Jesus.
1 Corinthians 13:1-3, “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.”
The love he is talking about is the love that only comes from being intimate with Jesus. If you are not intimate with Jesus, your heart will grow cold and you will not walk in love, but if you are intimate with Him, you will be full of love. Verse2 tells us that if we have knowledge but not love, it is pointless. Do not be caught up in the knowledge of scripture and forget the heart of scripture. The scriptures facilitate that intimacy. The scriptures tell us who He is. The scriptures remind us of all that He has done and what He will do. Also, the scriptures protect us from wrong thinking and the lies of the enemy. There is safety in the scriptures.
What does the God-head say about us:
2 Timothy 3:16-17, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
The purpose of scripture is to equip us so that we can do the works of God. There is a standard of living that God expects out of every one of us. The day you become born again, your life completely changed. You have a new nature in you, and you are a child of God. The scriptures tell who you are in Christ and will tell you how to live it. This is the part that a lot of us don’t like because we want to do whatever we want. We need to obey the command of scripture: to make Jesus the Lord over our lives. Let Him influence us and let us obey Him.
Philippians 3:15-16, “Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you. Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us be of the same mind.”
I want to focus on verse 16. We are all at different stages in our walk with Jesus Christ. Verse 16 is telling us to walk with Jesus to the degree of revelation we have. If you have been born again for a month, I cannot come and judge you because you are not acting like me who has been born again for 10 years. The responsibility is on the mature believers to help the younger believers learn how to walk with Jesus. The one thing I do not like is when people start condemning and judging each other because someone is not as “scriptural intelligence” or as “holy” as they are. Instead of condemning, help them understand, disciple them. The scriptures give us all a base of how we should live our lives. Matthew chapters 5, 6 and 7 are the basis of how we should live our lives.
Do not be caught up in the knowledge of scripture and forget the heart of scripture. When you are studying the Bible, focus on learning about Jesus so that you can be intimate with Him; and you learn what the God-head is saying about you.
