Profitable Bible Study
by
R. A. Torrey
(1856-1928)
There are many profitable methods of Bible Study. There is
something, however, in Bible study more important than the best methods, that is,
the fundamental conditions of profitable study. He who meets these conditions
will get more out of the Bible, while pursuing the poorest method, than will he
who does not meet them, while pursuing the best method. Many a one who is
eagerly asking, "What method shall I pursue in my Bible study?" needs
something that goes far deeper than a new and better method.
1.
The first of the fundamental conditions of the most profitable Bible study is
that the student must be born again.
The Bible is a spiritual book, it "expresses
spiritual truths in spiritual words" (1 Corinthians 2:13), and only a
spiritual man can understand its deepest and most characteristic and most
precious teachings. "The man without the Spirit does not accept the things
that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he
cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned" (1
Corinthians 2:14). Spiritual discernment can be obtained in but one way, by
being born again. "No one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born
again" (John 3:3).
No mere knowledge of the human languages in which
the Bible was written, however extensive and accurate it may be, will qualify
one to understand and appreciate it. One must understand the divine language in
which it was written as well, the language of the Holy Spirit. A person who
understands the language of the Holy Spirit, but who does not understand a word
of Greek or Hebrew or Aramaic, will get more out of the Bible than one who
knows all about Greek and Hebrew and cognate languages, but is not born again,
and, consequently, does not understand the language of the Holy Spirit. It is a
well-demonstrated fact that many common men and women who are entirely ignorant
of any knowledge of the original tongues in which the Bible was written have a
knowledge of the real contents of the Bible, its actual teaching, in its depth
and fullness and beauty, that surpasses that of many learned professors in
theological faculties.
One of the greatest follies of the day, is to get
unregenerate men to teach the Bible because of their rare knowledge of the
human forms of speech in which the book was written. It would be as reasonable
to set a man to teach art because he had an accurate technical knowledge of
paints. It requires esthetic sense to make a man a competent teacher of art. It
requires spiritual sense to make a man a competent teacher of the Bible. The
man who has esthetic discernment but little or no technical knowledge of paint
would be a far more competent critic of works of art than a man who has a great
technical knowledge of paint but no esthetic discernment; and so the man who
has no technical knowledge of Greek and Hebrew but has spiritual discernment is
a far more competent critic of the Bible than he who has a rare technical
knowledge of Greek and Hebrew but no spiritual discernment. It is exceedingly
unfortunate that, in some quarters, more emphasis is laid on a knowledge of
Greek and Hebrew in training for the ministry than is laid on spiritual life
and its consequent spiritual discernment.
Unregenerate men should not be forbidden to study
the Bible, for the Word of God is the instrument the Holy Spirit uses in the
New Birth (1 Peter 1:23; James 1:18); but it should be distinctly understood
that, while there are teachings in the Bible that the natural man can
understand, and beauties which he can see, its most distinctive and
characteristic teachings are beyond his grasp, and its highest beauties belong
to a world in which he has no vision. The first fundamental condition of the
most profitable Bible study is, then, "You must be born again." You
cannot study the Bible to the greatest profit if you have not been born again.
Its best treasures are sealed to you.
2.
The second condition of the most profitable study is a love for the Bible.
A man who eats with an appetite will get far more
good out of his meal than one who eats from a sense of duty. It is good when a
student of the Bible can say with Job, "I have treasured the words of His
mouth more than my daily bread" (Job 23:12), or with Jeremiah, "When
your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart's delight, for I
bear your name, O LORD God Almighty" (Jeremiah 15:16). Many come to the
table God has spread in His Word with no appetite for spiritual food, and go
mincing here and there and grumbling about everything. Spiritual indigestion
lies at the bottom of much modern criticism of the Bible.
But how can one get a love for the Bible? First of
all, by being born again. Where there is life there is likely to be appetite. A
dead man never hungers. This brings us back to the first condition. But going
beyond this, the more there is of vitality, the more there is of hunger.
Abounding life means abounding hunger for the Word. Study of the Word
stimulates love for the Word. The author can well remember the time when he had
more appetite for books about the Bible than he had for the Bible itself, but
with increasing study there has come increasing love for the Book. Bearing in
mind who the author of the Book is, what its purpose is, what its power is,
what the riches of its contents are, will go far toward stimulating love and
appetite for the Book.
3.
The third condition is willingness to do hard work.
Solomon has given a graphic picture of the Bible
student who gets the most profit out of his study, "My son, if you accept
my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and
applying your heart to understanding, and if you call out for insight and cry
aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it
as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find
the knowledge of God" (Proverbs 2:1-5). Now, seeking for silver and
searching for hidden treasure means hard work, and he who wishes to get not
only the silver but the gold as well out of the Bible, and find its
"hidden treasure," must make up his mind to dig. It is not glancing
at the Word, or reading the Word, but studying the Word, meditating on the
Word, pondering the Word, that brings the richest yields.
The reason why many get so little out of their
Bible reading is simply because they are not willing to think. Intellectual
laziness lies at the bottom of a large percent of fruitless Bible reading.
People are constantly crying for new methods of Bible study, but what many of
them wish is simply some method of Bible study by which they can get all the
good out of the Bible without work. If someone could tell lazy Christians some
method of Bible study whereby they could put the sleepiest ten minutes of the
day, just before they go to bed, into Bible study, and get the profit out of it
that God intends His children shall get out of the study of His Word, that
would be just what they desire. But it can't be done. Men must be willing to work,
and work hard, if they wish to dig out the treasures of infinite wisdom and
knowledge and blessing which God has stored up in His Word.
A business friend once asked me in a hurried call
to tell him "in a word" how to study his Bible. I replied,
"Think." The Psalmist pronounces that man "blessed" whose
"delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and
night" (Psalm 1:2). The Lord commanded Joshua to meditate on it day and
night, and assured him that as a result of this meditation, "you will be
prosperous and successful" (Joshua 1:8).
Of Mary, the mother of Jesus, we read, "Mary
treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart" (Luke 2:19).
In this way alone can one study the Bible to the greatest profit. One pound of
beef well chewed and digested and assimilated will give more strength than tons
of beef merely glanced at; and one verse of Scripture chewed and digested and
assimilated will give more strength than whole chapters simply skimmed. Weigh
every word you read in the Bible. Look at it. Turn it over and over. The most
familiar passages get a new meaning in this way. Spend fifteen minutes on each
word in Psalm 23:1 ("The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in
want."), or Philippians 4:19 ("My God will meet all your needs
according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus."), and see if it is not
so.
4.
The fourth condition is a will wholly surrendered to God.
Jesus said, "If anyone chooses to do God's
will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on
my own" (John 7:17). A surrendered will gives that clearness of spiritual
vision which is necessary to understand God's Book. Many of the difficulties
and obscurities of the Bible rise wholly from the fact that the will of the
student is not surrendered to the will of the author of the Book. It is
remarkable how clear and simple and beautiful passages that once puzzled us
become when we are brought to that place where we say to God, "I surrender
my will unconditionally to You. I have no will but Yours. Teach me Your
will." A surrendered will will do more to make the Bible an open book than
a university education. It is simply impossible to get the largest profit out
of your Bible study until you do surrender your will to God. You must be very
definite about this.
There are many who say, "Oh, yes, my will, I
think, is surrendered to God," and yet it is not. They have never gotten
alone with God and said intelligently and definitely to him, "O God, I
here and now give myself up to You, for You to command me, and lead me, and
shape me, and send me, and do with me, absolutely as You will." Such an
act is a wonderful key to unlock the treasure house of God's Word. The Bible
becomes a new book when a man does that. Doing that brought a complete transformation
in the author's theology and life and ministry.
5.
The fifth condition is very closely related to the fourth. The student of the
Bible who would get the greatest profit out of his studies must be obedient to
its teachings as soon as he sees them.
It was good advice James gave to early Christians,
and to us, "Do not merely listen to the Word, and so deceive yourselves.
Do what it says" (James 1:22). There are a good many who consider
themselves Bible students who are deceiving themselves in this way today. They
see what the Bible teaches, but they do not follow it, and they soon lose their
power to see it. Truth obeyed leads to more truth. Truth disobeyed destroys the
capacity for discovering truth. There must be not only a general surrender of
the will, but specific, practical obedience to each new Word of God discovered.
There is no place where the law, "Whoever has will be given more, and he
will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken
from him," is more gloriously certain on the one hand and more sternly
unavoidable on the other than in the matter of using or refusing the truth
revealed in the Bible.
Use, and you get more; refuse, and you lose all. Do
not study the Bible for the mere gratification of intellectual curiosity, but
to find out how to live and please God. Whatever duty you find commanded in the
Bible, do it at once. Whatever good you see in any Bible character, imitate it
immediately. Whatever mistake you note in the actions of Bible men and women,
scrutinize your own life to see if you are making the same mistake, and if you
find you are, correct it immediately. James compares the Bible to a mirror
(James 1:23, 24). The chief good of a mirror is to show you if there is
anything out of order about you; if you find there is, you can set it right.
Use the Bible in that way. Obeying the truth you already see will solve the
mysteries in the verses you do not yet understand. Disobeying the truth you see
darkens the whole world of truth. This is the secret of much of the skepticism
and error of the day. Men see the truth, but do not follow it--then it is gone.
I knew a bright and promising young minister. He
made rapid advancement in the truth. He took very advanced ground on one point
especially, and the storm came. One day he said to his wife, "It is very
nice to believe this, but we need not speak too much about it." They
began, or he, at least, to hide their testimony. The wife died and he drifted.
The Bible became to him a sealed book. Faith reeled. He publicly renounced his
faith in some of the fundamental truths of the Bible. He seemed to lose his
grip even on the doctrine of immortality. What was the cause of it all? Truth
not lived and stood for flees. Today that man is much admired and applauded by
some, but daylight has given place to darkness in his soul.
6.
The sixth condition is a childlike mind.
God reveals His deepest truths to babes. No age
needs more than our own to lay to heart the words of Jesus, "I praise you,
Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the
wise and learned, and revealed them to little children" (Matthew 11:25).
We must be babes if God is to reveal His truth to us, and we are to understand
His Word. A child is not full of its own wisdom. It recognizes its ignorance
and is ready to be taught. It does not oppose the ideas of its teachers to
those of its own. It is in that spirit we should come to the Bible if we are to
get the most profit out of our study.
Do not come to the Bible full of your own ideas,
and seeking from it a confirmation of them. Come rather to find out what are
God's ideas as He has revealed them there. Come not to find a confirmation of
your own opinion, but to be taught what God may be pleased to teach. If a man
comes to the Bible just to find his ideas taught there, he will find them; but
if he comes recognizing his own ignorance, just as a little child to be taught,
he will find something infinitely better than his own ideas, even the mind of
God. We see why it is that many persons cannot see things which are plainly
taught in the Bible. The doctrine taught is not their idea, of which they are
so full that there is no room left for that which the Bible actually teaches.
We have an illustration of this in the apostles
themselves at one stage in their training. In Mark 9:31, we read, "He was
teaching his disciples. He said to them, 'The Son of Man is going to be
betrayed into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he
will rise.'" Now, that is as plain and definite as language can make it,
but it was utterly contrary to the ideas of the apostles as to what was to
happen to the Christ. So we read in the next verse, "But they did not
understand what he meant." Isn't that amazing? But is it any more amazing
than our own inability to comprehend plain statements in the Bible when they
run counter to our preconceived ideas?
Problems many Christians find with portions of the
Sermon on the Mount would be plain enough if we just came to Christ like a
child to be taught what to believe and do, rather than coming as full-grown men
who already know it all, and who must find some interpretations of Christ's
words that will fit into our mature and infallible philosophy. Many a man is so
full of an unbiblical theology he has been taught that it takes him a lifetime
to get rid of it and understand the clear teaching of the Bible.
"Oh, what can this verse mean?" many a
bewildered man cries. Why, it means what it plainly says; but what you are
after is not the meaning God has manifestly put into it, but the meaning you
can by some ingenious trick of exegesis twist out of it and make it fit into
your scheme. Don't come to the Bible to find out what you can make it mean, but
to find out what God intended it to mean. Men often miss the real truth of a
verse by saying, "But that can be interpreted this way." Oh, yes, so
it can, but is that the way God intended it to be interpreted? We all need to
pray often if we would get the most profit out of our Bible study, "Oh, God,
make me a little child. Empty me of my own ideas. Teach me Your own mind. Make
me ready like a little child to receive all that You have to say, no matter how
contrary it is to what I have thought before." How the Bible opens up to
one who approaches it in that way! How it closes up to the wise fool, who
thinks he knows everything, and imagines he can give points to Peter and Paul,
and even to Jesus Christ and to God Himself! Someone has well said the best
method of Bible study is "the baby method."
I was once talking with a minister friend about
what seemed to be the clear teaching of a certain passage. "Yes," he
replied, "but that doesn't agree with my philosophy." This man was
sincere, yet he did not have the childlike spirit, which is an essential
condition of the most profitable Bible study. But there are many who approach
the Bible in the same way. It is a great point gained in Bible study when we
are brought to realize that an infinite God knows more than we, that, indeed,
our highest wisdom is less than the knowledge of the most ignorant babe
compared with His. But we so easily and so constantly forget this that every
time we open our Bibles we would do well to get down humbly before God and say,
"Father, I am but a child, teach me."
7.
The seventh condition of studying the Bible to the greatest profit is that we
study it as the Word of God.
The Apostle Paul, in writing to the Church of the
Thessalonians, thanked God without ceasing that when they received the Word of
God they "accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the
Word of God" (1 Thessalonians 2:13). Well might he thank God for that, and
well may we thank God when we get to the place where we receive the Word of God
as the Word of God. Not that one who does not believe the Bible is the Word of
God should be discouraged from studying it. Indeed, one of the best things that
one who does not believe that the Bible is the Word of God can do, if he is
honest, is to study it. The author of this book once doubted utterly that the
Bible was the Word of God, and the firm confidence that he has today that the
Bible is the Word of God has come more from the study of the Book itself than
from anything else. Those who doubt it are more usually those who study about
the Book, than those who dig into the actual teachings of the Book itself. But
while the best book of Christian evidences is the Bible, and while the most
utter skeptic should be encouraged to study it, we will not get the largest
measure of profit out of that study until we reach the point where we become
convinced that the Bible is God's Word, and when we study it as such.
There is a great difference between believing
theoretically that the Bible is God's Word and studying it as God's Word.
Thousands would tell you that they believe the Bible is God's Word who do not
study it as God's Word. Studying the Bible as the Word of God involves four
things.
(1) First, it involves the
unquestioning acceptance of its teachings when definitely ascertained, even
when they may appear unreasonable or impossible.
Reason demands that we submit our judgment and
reasonings to the statements of infinite wisdom. There is nothing more
irrational than rationalism, which makes the finite wisdom the test of infinite
wisdom, and submits the teachings of God's omniscience to the approval of man's
judgment. It is the sublimest and absurdest conceit that says, "This
cannot be true, though God says it, for it does not agree with my reason."
"But who are you, O man, to talk back to God?" (Romans 9:20). Real
human wisdom, when it finds infinite wisdom, bows before it and says,
"Speak what You will and I will believe." When we have once become
convinced that the Bible is God's Word its teachings must be the end of all
controversy and discussion. A "thus says the Lord" will settle every
question. Yet there are many who profess to believe that the Bible is the Word
of God, and if you show them what the Bible clearly teaches on some disputed
point, they will shake their heads and say, "Yes, but I think so and
so," or "Doctor -----, or Professor this, our church doesn't teach
that way." There is little profit in that sort of Bible study.
(2) Studying the Bible as the
Word of God involves, in the second place, absolute reliance on all its
promises in all their length and breadth.
He who studies the Bible as the Word of God will
not discount any one of its promises one iota. He who studies the Bible as the
Word of God will say, "God, who cannot lie, has promised," and will
not attempt to make God a liar by trying to make one of His promises mean less
than it says. He who studies the Bible as the Word of God will be on the
lookout for promises, and as soon as he finds one he will seek to ascertain
just what it means, and as soon as he discovers what it means, he will step
right out on that promise and risk everything on its full meaning. That is one
of the secrets of profitable Bible study.
Search for promises and appropriate them as fast as
you find them, which is done by meeting the conditions and risking all on them.
That is the way to make your own all the fullness of blessing God has for you.
This is the key to all the treasures of God's grace. Happy is the man who has
so learned to study the Bible as God's Word that he is ready to claim for
himself every new promise as it appears, and to risk everything on it.
(3) Studying the Bible as the
Word of God involves, in the third place, obedience--prompt, exact obedience,
without asking any questions to its every precept.
Obedience may seem hard, it may seem impossible,
but God has commanded it and I have nothing to do but to obey and leave the
results with God. If you would get the very most profit out of your Bible study
resolve that from this time you will claim every clear promise and obey every
plain command, and that as to the promises and commands whose intent is not yet
clear you will try to get their meaning made clear.
(4) Studying the Bible as the
Word of God involves, in the fourth place, studying it in God's presence.
When you read a verse of Scripture hear the voice
of the living God speaking directly to you in these written words. There is new
power and attractiveness in the Bible when you have learned to hear a living,
present Person, God our Father, Himself talking directly to you in these words.
One of the most fascinating and inspiring statements in the Bible is,
"Enoch walked with God" (Genesis 5:24). We can have God's glorious
companionship any moment we please by simply opening His Word and letting the
living and ever-present God speak to us through it. With what holy awe and
strange and unutterable joy one studies the Bible if he studies it in this way!
It is heaven come down to earth.
8.
The eighth and last condition of the most profitable Bible study is prayerfulness.
The Psalmist prayed, "Open my eyes that I may
see wonderful things in your law" (Psalm 119:18). Every one who desires to
get the greatest profit out of his Bible study needs to offer that or a similar
prayer every time he undertakes the study of the Word. Few keys open so many
strong boxes that contain hidden treasure as prayer. Few clues unravel so many
difficulties. Few microscopes will disclose so many beauties hidden from the
eye of the ordinary observer. What new light often shines from an old familiar
text as you bend over it in prayer! I believe in studying the Bible a good deal
on your knees. When one reads an entire book through on his knees--and this is
easily done--that book has a new meaning and becomes a new book. One ought
never to open the Bible to read it without at least lifting the heart to God in
silent prayer that He will interpret it, illumine its pages by the light of His
Spirit.
It is a rare privilege to study any book under the
immediate guidance and instruction of its author, and this is the privilege of
us all in studying the Bible. When one comes to a passage that is difficult to
understand or difficult to interpret, instead of giving it up, or rushing to
some learned friend, or to some commentary, he should lay that passage before
God, and ask Him to explain it to him, pleading God's promise, "If any of
you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without
finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe
and not doubt" (James 1:5-6). It is simply wonderful how the seemingly
most difficult passages become plain by this treatment.
Harry Morehouse, one of the most remarkable Bible
scholars among unlearned men, used to say that whenever he came to a passage in
the Bible which he could not understand, he would search through the Bible for
some other passage that threw light on it, and lay it before God in prayer, and
that he had never found a passage that did not yield to this treatment. The
author of this book has had a quite similar experience. Some years ago,
accompanied by a friend, I was making a tour of Franconian Switzerland, and
visiting some of the more famous zoolithic caves. One day a rural letter
carrier stopped us and asked if we would like to see a cave of rare beauty and
interest, away from the beaten tracks of travel. Of course, we said, yes. He
led us through the woods and underbrush to the mouth of the cave, and we
entered. All was dark and uncanny. He discussed greatly on the beauty of the
cave, telling us of altars and fantastic formations, but we could see
absolutely nothing. Now and then lie uttered a note to warn us to have a care,
as near our feet lay a gulf the bottom of which had never been discovered. We
began to fear that we might be the first discoverers of the bottom. There was
nothing pleasant about the whole affair.
But as soon as a magnesium taper was lighted, all became different. There were the stalagmites rising from the floor to meet the stalactites as they came down from the ceiling. There were the beautiful and fantastic formations on every hand, and all glistening in fairy like beauty in the brilliant light. So I have often thought it was with many a passage of Scripture. Others tell you of its beauty, but you cannot see it. It looks dark and intricate and forbidding and dangerous, but when God's own light is kindled there by prayer how different all becomes in an instant. You see a beauty that language cannot express, and that only those can appreciate who have stood there in the same light. He who would understand and love his Bible must be much in prayer. Prayer will do more than a college education to make the Bible an open and a glorious book. Perhaps the best lesson I learned in a German university, where I had the privilege of receiving the instruction of one of the most noted and most gifted Bible teachers of any age, was that which came through the statement of one who knew him that Professor Dehtzsch worked out much of his teaching on his knees.