| How You Must Not Read the Bible – 1 Bible Reading: Ephesians 3
I once scored 68 in a computer science course I took when I was in the university. As soon as I saw my score on the notice board, I immediately became sad and started lamenting. To my greatest surprise, I saw a friend who scored 42 and he was seriously jubilating. To quench my curiosity, I went to him to inquire the reason for his celebration. After chatting with him for sometime, I realized that what led to the difference between my reaction and that of my friend was our motive for reading. My friend’s dad already had a ready-made company waiting for him to come and occupy, and so his father just wanted him to have the ‘school experience’. My motive for reading was to be much grounded in the subject and also prove that by having a distinction in the course. No wonder what I defined as ‘poison’ would be gladly celebrated as ‘meat’ to my friend.
In a similar manner, there are millions of Christians reading the bible regularly, but one thing that distinguishes the effect it has in their lives is their motive for reading. This motive is usually defined unconsciously and it becomes the driver whenever they pick up their bibles. I have noticed several motives why Christians read their bibles and I will share some of them with you. To be candid, I lived like a bad Christian for over 10 years after I became born-again, but my life changed drastically the year I decided to read the New Testament with the right motive. I could not believe the change because I had tried many things to make me grow and gave up along the way, but this particular change I experienced came effortlessly. So bible reading is very good and can lead to rapid spiritual growth if you do it with the right motive.
Why do you read your bible? For many Christians, the reason is simple – to fulfill all righteousness. Bible reading is just seen as “one of the things a good Christian should do”. Therefore, in order to run away from a guilty conscience or not be identified with bad Christians, they read their bibles. They want to identify with the fact that ‘I have observed my quiet time today’. Some of my friends who live in bustling cities like Lagosand London have confessed to me that because they have to leave their homes very early in order to get to work by 8am, they just flip through their bible with sleepy eyes every morning. They do this day in day out and it is becoming obvious that their lives are getting worn out. I strongly believe that a Christian who reads his bible for 30 minutes with the right motive will experience spiritual growth more that someone who has been reading the same bible for 30 years in order to fulfill all righteousness. Your location or work schedule does not matter much like your motive whenever you decide to read your bible.
I know some people who also think they are pleasing God and making him happy by reading the bible. You hear them make statements like “God has been so good to me; I just have to appreciate him by giving him thanks and reading my bible”. Does a good student study his books in order to develop or help his lecturer? Then when we pick up our Bibles to read, we should remember that it is time to enrich ourselves and not a time to thrill the father; it is primarily for our own good.
I Samuel 16:7 – “… man takes note of the outer form, but the Lord sees the heart”. Beloved, let us not focus on having a form of godliness; let’s embrace the power that is experienced in reading the bible with the right motive.
– tope aladenusi
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I have come to realize bible reading is much more than reading to be able to parrot back. But bible reading involves a study of the bible with a heart ready to receive and be instructed in what the Word says we are. We can’t truly have made a study when we walk in contradiction to what we have read. There must be a saving of the souls in accordance with the word. There must be an awakening unto transformation in line with the word. This is the will of God.
It should be hard for us to see what the word says about us and walk contrary. We should find it difficult to lay hold on hate when the word says we ought to love.
We should find it hard to live sinfully knowing that we have received the very nature of God. This awareness comes to bear on us from a proper study of the bible.
Just as a man finds it difficult to wear bra and put on lipsticks so also we should not be comfortable discovering who we are in Christ and walking in opposition to it. A walk outside of who we have been made in Christ is a walk out of reality.
Learn to read your bible with a view to walking as God as made you. “… And if you will read what I have written, you can learn about my understanding of the secret of Christ”. (Eph 3:4 – Good News Bible)
– Dr bolaji akanni
The term canon of scripture means the complete collection of books which are regarded as of Divine authority. The word canon in Greek means a straight rod, rule or measure. As applied to the Bible it means the rules by which certain books were declared as inspired and accepted as such. It should be noted that before the books of the Bible as we have it today were compiled, many books in circulation were purportedly divine and inspired. The Fathers of faith therefore found it necessary to separate the wheat from the chaff; hence, very stringent rules were employed to ascertain the books that were divine. The books of the Bible we have today was the result of their work.
Why does the believer need a canon of scripture? Why were the various portion of the divinely inspired word of God collected and bound into a Book called “The Holy Bible”? There are four main reasons why there was a need for the canon.
- So that believers in every generation might have the complete revelation from God.
- So that believers might have God’s word in writing. If the contents of the Scriptures were still being transmitted orally, a lot of distortions would have come into it.
- There was a need for the preservation and circulation of the sacred writings.
- That the people might know which writings have the authority of God.
FORMATION OF OT CANON
The generally accepted date for the completion of the OT canon was the year 425 or 424 BC. The Septuagint (LXX), was the first translation of the OT carried out by Ptolemy Philadephus (285 -247 BC) in Egypt. By that time there were many Jews living in Egypt who could no longer read or write Hebrew having been influenced by Greek culture and adopted the Hellenistic Greek of Egypt as their language. This translation was done by a group of seventy scholars hence the name Septuagint and Roman numeral LXX.
Josephus Flavius, a famous Jewish historian of the 1st Century A.D stated in one of his treatise that the canon of his time consisted of 22 books, namely the Pentateuch, thirteen books of the prophets and four of hymns and practical precepts. Although Josephus did not give a concise list, scholars believes that the book of the prophets included Joshua, Judges, Ruth; Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Isaiah, Jeremiah- Lamentation, Ezekiel, Daniel, The Twelve Minor Prophets and possibly Job (or Canticles). The hymns and precepts would be made up of Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Canticles (or Job).
CRITERIA FOR A CANONICITY (Four Criteria were applied)
Inspiration:- Was the author an acknowledged messenger of God, commissioned by God to make known His will” 2 Pet 1:21 . Books by such people were accepted.
The Principle of internal evidence:- Deut 31: 24 -26; Judges 3:4. The books which were read in other places in the Bible were accepted since those who read such passages must have accepted them as canonical. Daniel must have read Jer. 25: 11-12 and 29: 10.
Documentation by quotation:- Books from which Jesus Christ or other apostles quoted from were accepted Mt. 22:29, John 10:35
The law of Public Official action:- This is an historical law which required that public action be taken to solemnly declare a portion of the scripture to be the word of God ; Neh. 8:5 .
Jesus Christ’s Endorsement:- Mat 23:35; Luke11:51 this statement by the Lord is believed to be an endorsement of the OT from Gen 4 to 2 Chro 24: 20-21. In fact, He endorsed the whole OT here because Chronicles was the last book in the Hebrew OT Canon.
– gabriel ajibade
INTRODUCTION:- The first Psalm describes a person who has strength of character, who delights in the Lord and who walks with God as being “like a tree planted by the rivers of water, which yields its fruits in due season.”(Ps.1 vs 3). What is it that gives a tree stability? Where is its major source of nourishment? In its roots; those deep tough tentacles which clutch the ground.
Christians who stand firm, who resist the childish tendency of being swept off their feet by the winds of false teachings are those who have strong doctrinal roots. They know what they believe, why they believe and whom they believe. They refuse to be uprooted. So great can be its impact that Jesus Christ compared an understanding of its truths to being set free from slavery (John 8:31-32). Doctrinal ignorance is the breeding ground for fear, prejudice, superstition, failure and spiritual defeat. Paul’s advice to Timothy – II Time 215
SIX BENEFITS OF BEING SPIRITUALLY INFORMED
- Knowledge give substance to faith:- Faith is trust; before we place our trust in something we need to have good reason to believe that it is trustworthy. Nobody will sit on a chair that will collapse. Rom 1017
- Knowledge stabilizes us during times of testing: Feelings fluctuate, moods change, opinions vary but Biblical truth stands forever. Mat. 7:24-25. many times we face situations that only the knowledge of God can give us insight and wisdom to know what to do. Without sound biblical knowledge, we are at a disadvantage in such situations.
- Knowledge Enable us to handle the Biblical accurately:- A sound understanding of Christian doctrine will help us to interpret and apply God’s word intelligently, correctly and wisely, without a good foundation in theological knowledge, we run the risk of being like children Eph. 4:14.
- Knowledge equips us to detect and confront errors: The best way to detect counterfeit money is to learn what real money looks like. If you have never seen the American dollar bill, you cannot detect a fake bill. Knowledge equips us with the ability to identify false teaching because we know what the truth is.
- Knowledge makes us confident in our daily walk with God: the more we sit at God’s table and partake of His food, the stronger we will become in our spiritual lives. Knowledge helps us understand how God relates with us and our eternal position in Him and this helps to build our confidence in Him even in times of trouble.
- Knowledge provides a grid that filters our fears and superstitions: Ignorance is the workshop from which fear, doubt and heresy are manufactured. An understanding of Biblical theology helps us to filter away the flow of false teachings that may threaten to drive us away from divine truth.
DANGERS TO AVOID
- Knowledge can be dangerous when it lacks intelligent Biblical support: Unless we sift all our knowledge through the grid of the scriptures, we run a high risk of mixing error with truth, wrong with right.
- Our knowledge must be a means to Godliness. Knowledge alone tends to puff up our egos but scriptural knowledge helps us become humble, transparent and compassionate. Knowledge is not designed to give us any factor of superiority over others.
- Our knowledge must be balanced with love and grace. Knowledge alone without the fruit of love and grace will make us intolerance, divisive and arrogant.
- Our knowledge must not keep us from becoming preys to false teachers. We need to consistently apply it to our lives if we are to experience genuine spiritual growth and strength.
Conclusion: The Bible commands us to love the Lord our God with all our heart, all our soul and with ALL OUR MIND (Mat. 22:37-38). If we really love the Lord, we will commit ourselves to serving Him. not only with our heart and soul, but with our intellect as well. And that involves discovering, studying and applying sound Christian doctrine. Not only will this help us to grow in our faith, but it will possible for us to aid those who are weaker in the faith to stand firm against the torrents of false teachings and the bombardments of false teachers.
Christ Lifeline is going to provide you with sound doctrinal teaching following the syllabus of renowned theological school. It will be in layman’s language to make you a theologian with small “t” not capital “T”.
The materials you will access include topics like Soteriology, Pneumatology, Anthropology, Christian Ethics etc. We shall begin a survey of the Old Testament in the next study.
Adapted from Growing Deep in the Christian Life by Charles Swindoll
– Gabriel Ajibade