“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” 2 Timothy 2:15
We must not throw a “monkey wrench” into our spiritual lives by violating God’s basic rule for a true understanding of His Word. Study, as God prescribes it, is from where true Christian knowledge, understanding, and wisdom develops.
We must first study the Word, rather than what someone else says about the Word. Psalm 1:2-3: “But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.”
In all good, honest, and truthful studies, the text is first studied to get the full and complete message of what is really being said. In judicial matters, the judge does not go by what some “experts” say about the law, but by the context of what the law reads. We must believe in and uphold God’s law regarding His inspired Word: “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.” 2 Peter 1:20 It should be carefully noted that a person will not get the wrong understanding about Christianity by having only God’s input!!!
Someone may say, “Why should I go through the struggle of studying the Bible itself, when there are so many ‘good’ Bible study courses and books available?” But is that not like saying, “Why should we concern ourselves with the constitution, and/or the written laws since there are so many ‘good’ lawyers and legal commentaries available?”
Yes, you can go for the “ready-made” so-called Bible studies. They are geared to be interesting to human intellect. They seem to advance one beyond the labors of one’s own study of the Bible only. Today, ministers are avoiding what must be endured to study the Bible verse by verse, and instead are presenting so-called Bible studies that give people “an interesting overview” of the scriptures in a short amount of time. People are “oohing” and “aahing” at what they are learning so fast from these studies, which are presented on the intellectual level.
If we go to the ready made study, what do we really have? We have nothing more than man’s interpretation of the way he wants us to perceive the scriptures. This is the means that all man made religions use to derive their doctrines from the Bible.
Faith is not developed from the intellectual discourses set forth by men, but from direct study of the Bible, Romans 10:17. The whole counsel of God comes from the direct study of all of God’s Word, without the prejudice or omission of the study courses of men.
SHARING
