I recently took a free online seminary class taught by a very well-known and highly respected biblical professor. The title of the course was How to Read the Bible Like A Seminary Student. The professor began the course with this bold statement: “This book will keep you from sin or sin will keep you from this book.”
This assertion may have the appearance of truth, but if you read Scripture closely, it is in fact utterly false. Saint Paul, who was a highly respected and knowledgeable Pharisee, who had studied the Old Testament law extensively, says this regarding the list of God’s commandments in Romans 7:10-11: “I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death.” What does Saint Paul mean by this? He is basically saying that human beings by nature will desire to do just the opposite of what they are told. In fact, this is precisely what happened to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. God gave Adam and Eve one simple command to follow: do not eat of the Tree of Knowledge, the Tree of Good and Evil. And what did they do? They were given permission to eat of every other tree in the Garden. But they took that all for granted and allowed themselves to be deceived by the devil and ate from the one tree they were specifically told not to touch!
So, does studying the Bible keep us from sin? Will studiously memorizing all of God’s commands make you a more righteous person? According to Saint Paul, absolutely not! Just the opposite!
The professor also made this bold statement: “Dusty Bibles always lead to dirty lives.” My sister rarely opens a Bible but in the last few years, she has learned to put her trust in God as she never has before. She has gone through some tough times, and in those hardships, she hasn’t opened Scripture, but she has prayed to God in desperate need. She has learned to trust in His care and has come to realize that God loves her far more than she could ever know. Her faith and trust in the Father would put many biblical scholars to shame. Scripture says in Romans 1:17, “the righteous will live by faith.” It does NOT say, “The righteous will diligently study their Bibles.” There is a big difference between intellectual knowledge of God and having the faith of a child, the faith to move a person to put their trust in God and call upon him, even in the midst of suffering and hardship. Certainly, Jesus alludes to this truth when he tells his disciples in Matthew 5:20, that “unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of God.”
It is important to note that Saint Peter and probably a good number of disciples were not literate during Jesus’ day. Thus, Saint Peter likely did not spend his waking hours devouring Old Testament texts written in Hebrew or Greek. Yet, he is considered the founder of the church. So, why did Jesus choose Peter of all people? It certainly wasn’t because of his scholarly knowledge of Scripture. Was it not because of Peter’s pure heart and desire to be with God? There’s a big difference between memorizing a book about God and getting to know the real person. And in Jesus, Peter was blessed to have a very unique and special relationship with God’s only Son! Why did he have any need of a book when he had the person, the Son of God, the fullness of the Deity, standing beside him?
To the Pharisees, Jesus says this: “You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.”
What then is more important, the book or the God of whom the book describes? Isn’t it far more important and meaningful that a person comes to believe in God and place his full faith and trust in him then for that person to simply memorize a book ABOUT God?
Think of it this way. Suppose you have a favorite celebrity. You have read every article, every biography, watched every video, and follow every rumor regarding this celebrity. But you have never met this person. From all your study, you have formed certain ideas and assumptions about this person without realizing it. Then one day, you meet this celebrity in person. And the person surprises you. You thought you knew and understood this person. Yet, you realize there is so much more to the individual than you ever realized. You are humbled. You realized that although all the books and bios were true, the descriptions were just a shadow to what you experienced by being in the person’s presence. You come to realize that reading about someone is just not the same as meeting someone in person. In the case of the Pharisees, they rejected Jesus because he did not fit all the rigid assumptions they had formed in their own minds based on their own studies of the Scripture regarding the Messiah.
Reading Scripture just to avoid sin was in fact the very same trap that the Pharisees fell into. Was not the Pharisees utmost motivation for studying Scripture to live a pious life unsullied by sin? They had every commandment memorized. They strove to check every box and mind their p’s and q’s. They did everything in their power to live a righteous lifestyle. And yet what did Jesus say about them? He called them white-washed tombs! Although they appeared righteous on the outside, there was no transformation from within.
The seminary professor went on to quote Hebrews 5:11-14. In this section, the author of Hebrews talks about “spiritual milk” and “spiritual food”. The professor suggests “spiritual food” is the study of the Bible. However, in order to have an understanding of the central point the author of Hebrews is trying to make, it is important to read all of Hebrews 5 in its entirety. It is important to take the entire chapter into context. More importantly, you have to take the whole history behind the book of Hebrews into account. The book of Hebrews was written for… guess who? You guessed it. The book was written for the early Christians who came from the Hebrew faith. The Hebrews, of course, would have known Scripture well. They would have attended synagogue weekly. They would have been familiar with all the Old Testament books. So, knowledge of Scripture was NOT what they lacked. Thus, it is doubtful that this would have been the central concern of the author. The author of Hebrews quotes the Old Testament extensively throughout the book, but as he does so, he attaches to the Old Testament verses with the revealed knowledge of the identity and mission of Jesus Christ. In this way, he brilliantly points out all the many ways the Old Testament points to Jesus. It is thus much more likely that the point the author is trying to make is that some of the Hebrews were failing to see these connections even though it should have been obvious to them. Their understanding of the Old Testament Scriptures had not deepened, nor had it been enhanced by the new revelation of Christ Jesus and the New Covenant Christians enjoy. And we see a modern-day corollary today. Today, there are people who call themselves Christian but have only a superficial understanding of Scripture. And, sadly, they appear content to stay that way. These are people who may have read and know Scripture, but their desire to discover a deep understanding of it is limited and superficial at best. Their understanding barely scratches the surface. But there is spiritual food of a different sort. It is when one seeks spiritual maturity. The author of Hebrews was admonishing his listeners of their complacency and their lack of interest in maturing spiritually. To grow spiritually, you must want to grow in spiritual wisdom. You will not grow automatically. You must first have the desire. Second of all, you must accept that such wisdom does not come from you, your own intelligence or brain power. The wisdom of spiritual maturity comes from God alone. James says this: “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.” If you seek to know the deeper things of God, and grow in spiritual maturity, then you need only ask God. But you must ask him. You will not attain wisdom on your own efforts. You will miss the deeper knowledge and wisdom the Scriptures testify to if God has not given you the gift of discerning His Word.
There is nothing worse or more embarrassing than a well-known seminary professor taking Scripture out of context to defend his argument This is the danger of placing your own agenda before considering God’s agenda. God’s agenda is simply to entice people to come to him. The Bible is just one way in which God reaches people. God also uses songs, testimonies, good works, religious books, and so much more, to reveal himself and his glory to his people.
Please do not misunderstand what I am saying! I am not saying a person shouldn’t read the Bible! What I am saying is that all the reasons the professor pointed out were WRONG! And of all the people who should be pointing out the right posture in reading Scripture, it should be someone of his fame and scholarly caliber. He is setting a very poor example to his students by advocating misguided motives for studying Scripture.
The professor postulates that most people avoid reading Scripture because they do not know how to read Scripture.
Again, this is ridiculous. If you know how to read, you can read the Bible. I started reading Scripture at the age of seven. I was given the King James Version to read, and I read it avidly. My motives for reading the Bible may have been unique. I came from a highly dysfunctional family. My parents were unpredictably harsh. From a very young age, I often felt rejected, neglected, and unloved. But as I went to church and read the Bible, I learned of a God who loved me unconditionally, a God whose Son gave His life for me. I learned of a divine Savior who wasn’t ashamed to sit with small children. I soaked it all up like a sponge, like the love-starved child that I was. I longed to know this amazing God! And the more I read about him, the more I admired him. I absolutely adored this God whose bottomless love surpassed all forms and expressions of human love. And I saw the words of Scripture as I longed to know God more literally jump off the page!
It is important to note that the Bible was written to teach us primarily of the person, character, achievements and glory of God, and the sometimes rocky relationship he has had with the human race, which has been recorded over the course of human history. The author of Scriptures, according to Saint Paul, was the Holy Spirit. The human beings who wrote things down were just instruments of the Spirit. Notice how few of the human authors of the books of the Bible refer to themselves in the first person. It is as if they considered themselves a minor character within God’s cosmic plan. Like a writer picking up a pen to express his thoughts, God used specifically chosen human beings as his instruments to record all manner of historical events, circumstances, songs of praise and lament, poems, prophesies, and words of wisdom, that God deemed important to pass on to others. In the mind of Saint Paul, God wrote the Scriptures and human beings were mere instruments in the writing of Scriptures. Thus, it is never a good idea to get too caught up in the historical and cultural backdrops, or to imagine the motives and personalities of each of the human beings described. God isn’t terribly interested in any of these things. God can use any type of person he chooses to write down what he wishes to say. And as far as history is concerned, if one has studied history extensively, one comes to realize that history repeats itself. Wars, plagues, pandemics, floods, earthquakes, death, suffering, injustice, cruelty, barbarism, slavery, jealousy and strife between siblings and family members, murder, oppression of the poor and needy, have always existed throughout the ages, and we still deal with the same issues today. As it is said in Ecclesiastes, “Nothing is new under the sun.” That is, no circumstance or event that is happening now is something that does not have a corollary to something that has happened before at some point in the past. Certainly, there was a reason why God chose certain historical events to be recorded. The question one should be asking is why. Why did God choose this particular event to be recorded? What universal truth can be learned from this? How is this event or circumstance similar to events and circumstances happening today? What deeper spiritual truth is God attempting to express through these verses? And even more importantly, if you believe the Bible can speak to you in your present-day circumstances, ask what is God trying to say to you now through these words of Scripture?
Always ask yourself, what does God seem to care about? What things make him pleased and happy? What makes him grieved and angry? What attributes of God make you uncomfortable? Do any of God’s actions described in the Bible trouble you or even make you angry? Are there certain characteristics of God described in the Bible hard for you to accept?
Please, do read the Bible. But read the Bible so that you may get to know the God of the universe. It is for no other reason than this that you should approach Scriptures. Pray to God and ask him to open your eyes and provide you the spiritual wisdom to discern a deep knowledge of the Word. And after you have read about God, do not stop there. Get on your knees and give him your devotion. Approach him directly. Accept what was spoken about him in the Bible and give him your trust, obedience, and praise. Then, and only then, will you be transformed.