Read Prov. 2:1-5, How to Study the Bible: Conditions

The evangelist from the early 1900’s, R. A. Torrey, used to say: Anyone can study the Bible.  Even unbelievers.  Anyone can study the Bible and go to hell.  Interesting.  We have noted that the Bible is the only Book by which a person can be saved (2 Tim. 3:15).  So what would make my study in the Bible more beneficial?  What would make it possible for the Bible to do in my life what it desires to do?  What conditions would keep me from the dead-end street of a lifeless experience with God’s Word?

For the most profitable Bible study you must:

·        Be born again, 1 Cor. 2:13.  The Bible is, at best, a book of facts to unbelievers.  It is a living book for those who have been made brand new through the gospel of Christ.  Unbelievers can and should be encouraged to read the Bible.  But they should know that there will always be an issue before them: will they bow themselves to the Lord.  Every other condition we speak of here depends on the student of the Bible being born again.

·        Have a love for the Bible, Jer. 15:16; Psalm 119:20.  A man with an appetite eats more than one who eats out of duty.  So how does one develop a love, a hunger for the Bible?  Again, being born again is essential; dead men never hunger for anything.  Then I would say we should ask the Lord to give us this hunger.  And lastly, studying the Word stimulates love for the Word.

·        Be willing to do hard work, Prov. 2:1-5; Psalm 1:2.  It is as anything in life: the best things require the most work, the greatest discipline.  Proverbs likens it to mining for precious gems.  And the blessed man is one who is in the Word day and night.

·        Have a will that is wholly surrendered to God, John 7:17.  There is not question that we must come to the Bible with a humility, a willingness to hear from God. 

·        Be obedient to the Word, James 1:22.  It is a common sense fact in life: we really only learn what we practice.  Knowledge may begin in the mind but it must make its way to the heart and that only happens when we live out the Word of God day by day.

·        Be child-like in mind, Matt. 11:25.  In other words we cannot come to the Bible in our own wisdom, seeking to prove our wisdom by Scripture.  We need to recognize our ignorance and come ready to be taught.  If you come with your pre-conceived ideas you will find them, rather than God’s ideas.

·        Study it as the Word of God, 1 Thess. 2:13.  This involves several things.  If we accept it as God’s Word, we will have an unquestioning acceptance of its teachings when we have ascertained them.  We will rely on it’s promises.  We will exercise prompt, exact obedience to its precepts.  We will study it as if we were in the very presence of God.

·        Be prayerful, Psalm 119:18.  Always come to the Lord and ask for His help in reading His Word.  That is a prayer God will always answer!

All in all we must come to the Word of God and ask God to give us a right heart.  Then it will help if we have the right tools for this task of mining the truth of God’s Word.  We will seek to pursue that matter in our next post.