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A low
condition of bodily health is produced by inattention to the laws of
nature as to suitable diet. As this leads to the "drug habit," or to the
immoderate use of stimulants in the natural sphere, so it is in the
spiritual sphere. A low condition of spiritual health is produced by
improper feeding or the neglect of necessary food, which is the Word of
God; and the end is a resort to all the many modern fashions and novel
methods and widely advertised nostrums in the Religious world in the
attempt to remedy the inevitable results.
The
Root of all the evils which abound in the spiritual sphere at the present
day lies in the fact that the Word and the words of God are not fed upon,
digested, and assimilated, as they ought to
be.
If we ask the question, Why is this the
case? the answer is, The Bible is not enjoyed because the Bible is not
understood. The methods and rules by which alone such an understanding
may be gained are not known or followed; hence the Bible is a neglected
book.
The question Philip addressed to the
Eunuch (Acts 8:30,31) is still greatly
needed:
Understandeth thou what thou
readest?
And the Eunuch's answer is only too true
to-day:
How can I, except some man should
guide me?
The following pages are written
with the object of furnishing this "guide." Certain canons or principles
are laid down, and each is illustrated by applying them to certain
passages by way of examples. These are intended to be taken only as
examples; and the principles involved are intended to be used for the
elucidation of other passages in the course of Bible
study.
The Word of God is inexhaustible. It
is, therefore, neither useful, nor indeed practicable to extend these
examples beyond certain limits.
By the aid of
these twelve simple canons or rules, other passages and subjects may be
taken up and pursued both with pleasure and profit -- subjects which are
even yet matters of controversy and of
conflict.
We have to remember that the Bible
is not a book of pure Science on the one hand, nor is it a book of
Theology on the other. Yet all its science is not only true, but its
statements are the foundation of all true
science.
And, it is Theology itself; for it
contains all that we can ever know about God.
The cloud that now rests over its intelligent study arises from the fact
that it is with us to-day as with the Jews of old -- "The Word of God has
been made of none effect by the traditions of men" (Matt.
15:1-9).
Hence it is that on some of the most
important questions, especially such as Biblical Psychology, we are,
still, in what the great Lord Bacon calls "a desert." He alludes to those
"deserts" in history, where discovery or research comes to a stand-still,
and we get schoolmen instead of philosophers; and clerics instead of
discoverers.
The Reformation came as an oasis
after one of these deserts. Men were sent from the stagnant pools of
tradition to the fountain-head of truth. But within two or three
generations the Church entered the desert again; Creeds, Confessions, and
Catechisms took the place of the open Bible; the inductive method of Bible
study was abandoned, and to-day it is scarcely
understood.
One party abides by "Catholic
consent" or the "Voice of the Church." Other parties in the same way abide
by the dicta of some who had stronger minds. Augustine, Luther, Calvin,
Darby, and Newton would be surprised to-day to find that those who
question what they believed are treated as guilty of presumption, and of a
sin to be visited with excommunication!
These
good men little thought that the inferences which they drew from the Bible
would be raised to a position of almost equality with the Bible
itself.
The result of all this is too
painfully evident. Controversies, bitterness, strifes have been
engendered. These have taken the place of simple Bible study. If studied
at all it has been too much with the view of finding support for one or
other of the two sides of these controversies, instead of with the object
of discovering what God has really revealed and written for our
learning.
Failing to understand the Scriptures
we cease to feed on them; then as a natural consequence, and in inverse
proportion, we lean on and submit to "the doctrines of men," and finally
reach a theological desert.
Bishop Butler has
pointed out the way back to the land of plenty and of delight. He has
shown that the only way to study the Word of God is the way in which
physical science is studied. He says: "As it is owned, the whole scheme of
Scripture is not yet understood, so if it ever comes to be understood
before the restitution of all things, and without miraculous
interpositions, it must be in the same way as natural knowledge is
come at, by the continuance and progress of learning and liberty, and by
particular persons attending to, comparing, and pursuing intimations
scattered up and down it, and which are overlooked and disregarded by the
generality of the world" (Analogy, Part II., ch.
3).
On this another writer (Rev. J. B. Heard,
M.A., Tripartite Nature of Man, p. 358) has remarked, "Thus, the way of
discovery still lies open to us in Divine things if we have only the moral
courage to go to the fountain-head of truth, instead of filling our vessel
out of this or that doctor's compendium of truth... Were Bishop Butler's
method of inductive research into Scripture more common than it is we
should not have stood still so long, as if spell-bound by the shadow of a
few great names. 'It is not at all incredible,' Bishop Butler adds, 'that
a book which has been so long in the possession of mankind should contain
many truths as yet undiscovered.' Such a saying is worthy of Butler. It is
only a philosopher who can allow for time and prescription. The majority
of mankind think that they think; they acquiesce, and suppose that they
argue; they flatter themselves that they are holding their own, when they
have actually grown up to manhood, with scarcely a conviction that they
can call their own. So it always was, and so it will ever be. The Divine
things of the Word are no exception, but rather an instance. The more
difficult the subject, and the more serious the consequences of error, the
more averse the majority are to what is called 'unsettling men's minds';
as if truth could be held on any other tenure than the knight's fee of
holding its own against all comers. Protestantism has brought us no relief
against this torpid state of mind, for, as the error is as deep as the
nature of man, we cannot expect any deliverance from it so long as the
nature of man continues the same, and his natural love of truth almost as
depraved as his natural love of holiness."
But
the way of discovery, as Bishop Butler has pointed out, still lies open
before us; and it is our object in this work to enter on that way, and
study the Bible from within and not merely from
without.
We believe that only thus we shall be
furnishing just that help which Bible students
need.
It may be the work of others to explore
Geography, History, Natural History, Chronology; the antiquities of
Assyria, Palestine, Egypt, and Babylon; all these are legitimate subjects
of systematic research which cannot but help us in understanding more of
the Word of God.
But our object is to "Open
the book"; to let it speak; to hear its voice; to study it from within
itself; and have regard to other objects and subjects, only from what
it teaches about them.
The method of the
"Higher" criticism is to discredit a Book, or a passage on internal
evidence. Our method is to establish and accredit Holy Scripture on
internal evidence also, and thus to derive and provide, from its own
pharmacopoeia, an antidote to that subtle and malignant
poison.
This method of study will reveal more
convincing and "infallible proof" of inspiration than can be adduced from
all the reasonings and arguments of men.
Like
Ezra of old, our desire is to
"Open the Book"and let it speak for itself, with
the full conviction that if this can be done it can speak more loudly, and
more effectively for itself, than any man can speak on its
behalf.
May the Lord deign to use these pages,
and make them to be that "guide" to a better understanding and a greater
enjoyment of His own Word.
E W. B.
London,
September, 1907.
How to Enjoy the Bible:
or, The "Word," and the
"Words": How to Study Them
IntroductoryA revelation in writing must necessarily be
given in "words." The separate words, therefore, in which it is given must
have the same importance and authority as the revelation as a whole. If we
accept the Bible as a revelation from God, and receive it as inspired by
God, we cannot separate the words of which that inspired revelation is
made up, or admit the assertion "that the Bible contains the Word of God,
but is not the Word of God." The position conveyed by such an expression
is both illogical and impossible.
As we design
this work for those who accept the Scriptures as the Word of God, we do
not propose to offer any arguments in proof of its
inspiration.
The Bible is its own best proof
of its inspiration. It claims to be "the Word of God;" and if it be not
what it claims to be, then it is not only not a "good book," but is
unworthy of our further attention.
We cannot
understand the position of those who assert and believe that many of its
parts are myths and forgeries, while at the same time they continue to
write commentaries upon it, and accept their emoluments and dignities for
preaching or lecturing about it.
If we were
told and believed that a bank-note in our possession is a forgery, we
certainly should take no further interest in it, beyond mourning the loss
which we had sustained. Our action would thus be consistent with our
belief.
We write, therefore, for those who,
receiving the claims of the Scriptures as being the Word of God, desire to
study it so as to understand it and enjoy it.
When this claim is admitted, and a course of study is undertaken in this
spirit, we shall be at once overwhelmed with proofs as to its truth; and
on almost every page find abundant confirmation of our
faith.
The Bible simply claims to be the Word
of God. It does not attempt to establish its claim, or seek to prove it.
It merely assumes it and asserts it. It is for us to believe it or to
leave it.
Hence we do not now attempt to prove
or establish that claim; but, believing it, our aim is to seek to
understand what God has thus written for our
learning.
Nor do we attempt to explain the
phenomena connected with Inspiration. We have no theories to offer, or
suggestions to make, respecting it.
We have
the Divine explanation in Acts 3:18, where we
read:
"Those things which God before had showed
by the mouth of all his prophets ... he hath so
fulfilled."
The particular "things" referred
to here are "that Christ should suffer;" but the assertion is
comprehensive and includes all other things "showed" by
God.
Note, that it was God who, before, had
showed them. It was the same God who had fulfilled them. The "mouth" was
the mouth of "all His prophets," but they were not the prophets' words.
They were the words of God.
Hence, concerning
other words, it is written:
"This Scripture
must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost, by the mouth of
David, spake before concerning Judas" (Acts
1:16).
It was David's "mouth," and David's
pen, David's vocal organs, and David's hand; but they were not David's
words. They were the words "which the Holy Ghost spake before concerning
Judas." David knew nothing about Judas, David could not possibly have
spoken anything about Judas. David's "mouth" spake concerning Ahithophel;
but they were the words " which the Holy Ghost spake concerning
Judas."
David was "a prophet": and, being a
prophet, he " spake as he was moved by the Holy Ghost " (II Pet. 1:21).
Hence, in Psalm 16, he spake concerning the resurrection of the Lord Jesus
(Acts 2:30,31). In the same way he "spake before concerning
Judas."
In like manner, in the Book of Exodus
Moses wrote about the Tabernacle, but he himself did not and could not
know what "the Holy Ghost signified" (Heb.
9:8).
Here, then, we have all that God
condescends to tell us about the inspiration of the "Word" and the
"words."
This is the Divine explanation of it;
and this is all that can be known about it.
It
is not for us to explain this explanation, but to receive it and believe
it; and there leave it. It is enough for us that God speaks to us; and
that He says "Thus saith Jehovah." We do not question the fact; we believe
it; and only seek to understand it.
We desire
to be in the position of those Thessalonian saints who, in this, "were
ensamples to all that believe," and to whom it was written: "For this
cause thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of
God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it
is in truth, the Word of God, which effectually worketh in you that
believe " (I Thess. 2:13).
The Word of God is
thus for those "that believe." The "Word" as a whole; and the
"words" of which it is made up. They cannot be
separated.
It is Jeremiah who says (Jer.
15:16):
"Thy words were found,
[1] and I did eat them; And Thy Word was unto me the joy and
rejoicing of my heart:
For I am called by Thy name, O Jehovah Elohim
of hosts."
Here again, it is those who are
called by Jehovah's name who feed upon His "Word," and rejoice in His
"words."
The same distinction is made in the
New Testament by the Lord Jesus in John 17:
"I
have given unto them the words which thou gavest me" (v.
8).
"I have given them thy Word" (v.
14).
Those who are referred to in the word
"them" are described seven times over, as having been "given" to
Christ by the Father.(see verses 2, 8, 8, 9,11, l2,
24).
These had "received" the words; these had
"known surely"; these had "believed" (v. 8).
It is for such as these we now write, who receive, believe, read, and
desire to feed upon the "words" of God; that the "word" of
God may become "a joy, and the rejoicing" of the heart (Jer. 15:16,
R.V.).
True, this joy within will be tempered
by trouble without. Jeremiah prefaces the statement, quoted above, with
the words immediately preceding it in verse 15:
"For Thy sake I have suffered rebuke."
("Cherpah",. reproach; and so nearly always
rendered).
And the Lord Jesus after saying
(John 17:14):
"I have given them Thy
Word"
immediately adds,
"And the
world hath hated them."
Those who thus feed
upon and rejoice in God's Word will soon realize their isolated position;
but, in spite of the "reproach" and "hatred" of the world, there will
always be the "joy and rejoicing" of the
heart.
It was so on another occasion when the
neglected Word of God was brought forth,
"and
Ezra opened the book,"
the people were assured that "the joy of the
Lord was their strength" (Neh. 8:5,10,12,17). And we are told:
"So they read in the book in the law of God
distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading"
(v. 8).
It must be the same with us if that
"Word " and those "words" are to be the cause of our joy and rejoicing.
And this is our object in writing now. We do not write for casual readers,
or for those who read a daily portion of the Word merely as the
performance of a duty and as a matter of form, but for those who "search
the Scriptures," and who seek, in them, for Him of whom the Scriptures
testify (John 5:39).
Such a one was the eunuch
who went up to Jerusalem from Ethiopia in Acts 8. He sought the Saviour,
but he did not find Him in Jerusalem. He found "religion" there, and
plenty of it; but he did not find that Blessed One; for He had been
rejected, "crucified, and slain." So the eunuch was returning, and was
still seeking for the Living Word in the Written Word; "and,
sitting in his chariot, read Isaiah the
prophet."
Being directed by the Divine
Angel-messenger, Philip "ran thither to him and heard him reading the
prophet Isaiah, and said
'Understandeth
thou what thou readest?'
And he
said:
'How can I except some man should
guide me?' And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him"
(Acts 8:27-31).
Philip's question (v. 30)
implies (in the Greek) a doubt on Philip's part as to whether the eunuch
did really understand. And the eunuch's reply (v. 31) implies a negative
answer. It begins with the word "for," which is not translated either in
the A.V. or R.V. If we supply the ellipsis of the negative which is so
clearly implied we can then translate the word gar, "for"; thus;
"[No]: for how should I be able unless some
one should guide me."
Of course, the Holy
Spirit Himself is the guide and teacher of His own Word. But sometimes, as
in this case, He sends a messenger, and uses human instruments and
agencies.
The word "to guide" is hodegeo,
to lead or guide in the way. [2] It is this guidance which the
ordinary reader stands in need of to-day; and never more than to-day, when
so many would-be guides are "blind leaders of the blind." On all hands
there are so many attractions to draw readers out of "the way" altogether;
and so many "good" books and "helps" to lead them
astray.
We cannot pretend to be a Philip, or
to have his special commission. But, without assuming to teach others on
such an important subject we may at least tell them what lines of study we
have ourselves found helpful; and what principles we have found useful in
our own searchings of God's Word.
But these
will be useless unless we are first prepared to
unlearn.
If any think they know all, or
that they have exhausted the Divine Word; or that what they set out to
learn is only to be in addition to what they already know, instead
of sometimes in substitution for it, then we shall be of little service to
them: and they need not follow us any further.
When we come to ask ourselves, and say, "Where did I learn this? " "How
did I get this?" "Who taught me this?" it is astonishing to find how much
we have imbibed from man, and from tradition; and not directly and
for ourselves, from the Word of God.
All that
we have learned from our youth up must be tested and proved by the Word of
God. Where we find it is true we must learn it over again, from
God. And where it will not stand the test of His Word we must be not
only content, but thankful to give it up; and receive Divine
revelation in the place of man's imagination.
Footnotes:
- matza, to discover. Gen. 2:20. Here referring to the historic
fact (II Kings 22:8, II Chron. 34:14,15) of the finding of the book of
the law by Hilkiah in the reign of Josiah.
- From hodos, a way; and hegeomai, to lead. It occurs
only in Matt. 15:14, Luke 6:39, John 16:13, Acts 8:31, and Rev. 7:17. It
is used both in its literal or proper sense (Exod. 13:17; 32:34,. Num.
24:8; Deut. 1:33); and in a Tropical sense (Ps 5:8; 23:3; 25:5,9; 77:20,
etc.).
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http://www.posword.org/
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