The Special Issue provides the reader with reasons and helps for studying the Bible. It provides instructions and gives various tools and techniques; examples abound, and exercises are provided, ranging from the simple to the complex. It gives opportunity for readers not simply to receive information and ideas, but to practise their application and so develop their own study skills. The exercises can be used by individual brethren and sisters, for a study class, Bible Class or youth group; and their use is restricted to neither young nor old, neither man nor woman. But for what end?
The object of Bible study
As is clear from the introduction,1the object is not simply to make us more knowledgeable Bible students. Certainly it is not to enable us to parade our knowledge, as though that in itself were important, for, as the apostle writes, “Knowledge puffeth up” (1 Cor. 8:1). Rather it is that we shall understand the mind and purposes of the great Creator and respond to His invitation and instructions:
“For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope” (Rom. 15:4).
These words are the more powerful when we note their immediate context. The believer is instructed to make due allowance for his brethren and sisters: “We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves”, because “even Christ pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached Thee fell on me” (vv. 1-3). The knowledge of the work and example of Jesus, who pleased not himself, saying, “not my will, but Thine, be done” (Lk. 22:42), is clearly meant to be translated into a similar attitude and practical application by the believer. The point is reinforced by earlier words in this epistle: “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren” (Rom. 8:28,29).
The reader may recognise that the title of this article is taken from Ecclesiastes 12:13:
“Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep His commandments: for this is the whole duty of man”.
The context is the mortality of man. In the face of this reality, “all is vanity” (v. 8) that relies on man’s powers, intellect and activity; for these end when “the dust return[s] to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God Who gave it” (v. 7). The way of escape comes from heeding the words of the wise, words of truth.
These words “are as goads” (v. 11), to prod us in the direction we should go; such is the requirement of our nature:
“Moreover by them is Thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward” (Ps. 19:11).
They both admonish and give hope; they are given by the one Shepherd, Who sent His Son, as the Good Shepherd, to lay down his life for the sheep—not just Jewry, but Gentiles also, the “other sheep. . . not of this [Jewish] fold” (Jno. 10:16).
The Word teaches us that “All we [who are] like sheep have gone astray”, but “the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isa. 53:6). It is in the face of these acts of graciousness and love that we should be motivated to follow him:
“For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: and that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again” (2 Cor. 5:14,15).
The written Word
The value and appropriateness of the written Word has been well laid out in the article, “Why a Written Word?” (p. 183). Miraculous events are featured in the Biblical record, and, at the time, they authenticated the message of those “holy men of God [who] spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit” (2 Pet. 1:21). Once authenticated, there was no need for further miraculous activity, which has, in fact, been largely restricted to particular eras, for example, the Creation, the Exodus and the ministry of Jesus and his apostles. Thoughtful reflection on the way the Word is constructed shows the reader just as effectively as miracles that this is the Word of the living God.
Indeed, Jesus had to remind his hearers that if they did not believe Moses and the prophets then neither would resurrection from the dead change hardened hearts. Even for those contemporary with miraculous events Scripture was available, and this writer believes that it had been available from the time of Adam. In the time of Abraham, the fact that God counted his faith to him for righteousness was “written for his [Abraham’s] sake” (Rom. 4:23), being, no doubt, part of that record which constituted God’s charge, commandments, statutes and laws which Abraham kept faithfully (Gen. 26:5)
As the writer of Ecclesiastes ironically remarks: “of making many books there is no end [never truer than in the twentieth century]; and much study is a weariness of the flesh” (12:12). These activities are not an end in themselves; neither is the knowledge which is acquired by study. Rather this should focus our attention on Jesus as The Man, the central feature of God’s creation: “Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of Thy hands; Thou hast put all things under his feet” (Ps. 8:6).2
The writer to the Hebrews expounds this passage as fulfilled in Jesus: “we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. For it became Him, for Whom are all things, and by Whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren” (Heb. 2:9-11).
Knowledge brings responsibility
Jesus makes clear that knowledge brings responsibility. He said of his mission: “For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind” (Jno. 9:39). In reply to the Pharisees’ question, “Are we blind also?”, Jesus says: “If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth” (vv. 40,41). They claimed to see, that is, to know, and therefore they were responsible for their rejection of Jesus. In contrast, when the man born blind knows that Jesus is the Son of God he says: “I believe. And he worshipped him [Jesus]” (v. 38).
The knowledge that comes from study is the basis of wisdom: “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding” (Prov. 9:10). This wisdom will be developed by meditation on the Word and then applying this to following Jesus’s example: “If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them” (Jno. 13:17).3Those who hear his words and do them are like “a wise man, which built his house upon a rock. . . and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock” (Mt. 7:24,25).
Meditation is important. Its practice is not made easy in an era when there is much pressure on time, but without it we are in danger of failing to understand the Divine viewpoint and then substituting human wisdom in its place. Such is evident in the history of both Israel and Christianity, where “in vain do they worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Mk. 7:7).
The contrast between God and man is clearly shown in Isaiah 55, which calls to those who hunger and thirst for that which man cannot provide: contentment. Money and labour are so often expended on things which fail to satisfy. What God provides freely, “without money and without price”, will bring life: “your soul shall live” (vv. 1,3). The process by which this life-giving spiritual food and drink are obtained is:
- “hearken diligently unto Me” (v. 2)
- “Incline your ear, and come unto Me” (v. 3)
- “hear, and your soul shall live” (v. 3).
Life is the consequence of the everlasting covenant, “the sure mercies of David” (v. 3), which is made with those who hear. Paul quotes this passage to convince the hearers at Antioch in Pisidia that Jesus was “raised. . . from the dead, now no more to return to corruption” (Acts 13:34). The covenant to David is the offer of immortality, which is thus available to all who share a part in this covenant.
The appeal, “Seek ye the LORD”, is followed by a clear reminder that we cannot apply our thinking and our natural inclinations as a yardstick by which to judge the Almighty. The hearer is called to forsake ‘wicked ways’ and ‘unrighteous thoughts’ to return to the Lord, Who is merciful, to “our God, [Who] will abundantly pardon. For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts” (Isa. 55: 6-9).
Learning and doing
The Word of God is breathed forth to “give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater”. It cannot fail. God says: “it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it” (vv. 10,11). For those who are willing to hear and digest the Word of God there will be joy and peace. But it is a lesson that we learn slowly, and the practice of humbling ourselves to walk with God is something that does not come easily. Yet the very patience and long-suffering of the Father should encourage our persistence in learning and doing.
The failure of the Jewish leaders in Jesus’s day to understand, despite considerable knowledge of the Old Testament and regular study of it, has already been cited as a warning for us.4 They failed to see the spirit of the Law, with the consequence that they rejected their Messiah. The contrast between their thinking and that of Jesus appears frequently in the Gospels; for example: “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone” (Mt. 23:23); and: “But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless” (12:7).
Such was the wisdom of God that, even in their opposition and rejection, they fulfilled what was written: “For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets which are read every sabbath day, they have fulfilled them in condemning him. And though they found no cause of death in him, yet desired they Pilate that he should be slain. And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree, and laid him in a sepulchre. But God raised him from the dead” (Acts 13:27-30). These sad facts should warn us against complacency over our knowledge and understanding of Scripture.
The foolishness of God is wiser than man
The history of mankind has largely been one of deafness to the Word of God and blindness to the evidences of His power and activity in creation. Yet the Almighty has chosen, in His wisdom, to call men and women by word. Our response to it depends on how we see it, our perspective: “For the word of the cross is to them that are perishing foolishness; but unto us which are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Cor. 1:18, RV). This “word” (RV), or “preaching” (AV), is the chosen method designed to challenge human thinking: “For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching [the thing preached, RV mg.] to save them that believe” (v. 21).
His way does not appeal to fleshly pride, and is designed specifically so that “no flesh should glory in His presence” (v. 29). The consequence is that “not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble” (v. 26) are numbered among the believers; but we look for the outworking of the purpose when “things which are not”, God’s unrecognized working behind the scenes, and Jesus waiting in heaven till his enemies be made his footstool, will “bring to nought things that are”, the things of this present age.
Believers, although counted among the foolish and base, are provided for in Christ Jesus, “who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: that, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord” (vv. 30,31). This, as Jeremiah explains, means understanding that “I am the LORD Which exercise loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD” (Jer. 9:23,24).
Such characteristics were seen too in Jesus, who, as the Word made flesh, is full of grace and truth (Jno. 1:14). Our calling is to follow him to whom all the Scriptures testify: “because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps” (1 Pet. 2:21).
Reflections on the Potter and the Clay