In order to study the Bible well, we need to acquaint ourselves with three things related to the Holy Spirit. This is particularly true in reading the New Testament, which has much to do with these three things.
First, the Holy Spirit desires that we enter into His thoughts. In order to understand the words of the Holy Spirit, we must direct our thoughts to the thoughts of the Holy Spirit. This is particularly true in the case of the Epistles. We have to acquaint ourselves with the thoughts of the Holy Spirit before we can understand these writings.
Second, the Holy Spirit has recorded many facts in the Bible. We have to get into these basic facts. If we cannot get into these facts, we cannot understand God’s Word. In particular, the Holy Spirit has to open to us the many facts recorded in the four Gospels and Acts.
Third, in our reading, the Holy Spirit will guide us to touch another thing-the spirit. In many instances, it is not enough to know the thoughts; we must get into the spirit behind the thoughts. We must not only know the facts but also must get into the spirit behind the facts. We can find such examples in the Gospels, the book of Acts, as well as the Epistles.
Every Bible reader must get into these three things. Yet only those who have been trained and disciplined can truly know them. We cannot consider them as methods of studying the Bible, for they relate to the very person who reads the Bible. The person must go through some basic training; this is what these issues are all about.
Let us now consider how one can get into these three things.
In writing the Scriptures, the Holy Spirit had His own purpose and thoughts. A reader of the Bible has to learn not only to read the words and memorize them but also to touch the purpose of the Holy Spirit’s writing of the book at the time that He wrote it. The first thing about the study of the Bible is not to busy ourselves with exegesis but to know the intention of the Holy Spirit at the time He wrote the books. We must remember that the value of the words lies not in the words themselves but in the meaning which they convey. The Lord said to the Sadducees, “You err, not knowing the Scriptures” (Matt. 22:29). The Sadducees read God’s Word, yet they could not understand it. In reading God’s Word, we have to find the reason the Holy Spirit spoke such a word. This leads to another point: Our mind must be well-disciplined.
Those who read the Bible must be objective. They must not rely on their own mind. The Holy Spirit has a thought, and our thought has to get into His thought and merge with it. When the Holy Spirit thinks a certain way, we have to think the same way. The two have to flow like two currents in a river, the Holy Spirit being the main current, while we are the subsidiary current. The Holy Spirit is like a big river, while we are like a little stream. The stream has to merge into the river. When the river flows to the east, the stream also flows to the east. The stream may be small, but as long as it flows with the river, it will reach the wide ocean.
Some portions of the Bible focus on facts, others on the spirit, or on thoughts. Those whose focus is on the thoughts are not without spirit and facts. Those whose focus is on the facts are not without spirit and thoughts. Those whose focus is on the spirit are not without facts and thoughts. As we touch the thoughts of the Holy Spirit, we have to be very objective; our whole being should follow the thoughts carried forth by Him. Yet some cannot do this. At the most their thoughts can latch on to the Holy Spirit’s thought for ten minutes. They can barely catch up with the Holy Spirit for ten minutes, after which their own thoughts begin to wander off. Such subjective persons can never read the Bible well. The basic requirement for a man to be able to read the Bible is for him to be dealt with in his very person.
It is true that when a man reads the Bible, he needs to exercise his mind. Yet his mind must follow the same direction and flow along the same line as the mind of the Holy Spirit. Wherever the Holy Spirit goes, he should follow. He should find out the Holy Spirit’s thought in a sentence, a passage, a chapter, or a book. His entire mind has to be attuned to the Holy Spirit. He has to find out what the Spirit is saying in a passage, what He is thinking, and what His main thoughts and subsidiary thoughts are. The first question we should ask when we read a portion of the Scripture is what is the Spirit’s intention in writing this portion. If we do not know the intention of the Holy Spirit behind a portion, we are liable to make a mistake in quoting it at a later time; we may even twist the original meaning of the Holy Spirit. It is not enough for us to merely read the letters or remember the words, memorize the words, or study their meaning in an isolated way. When we read the Bible, we should sense what the Holy Spirit was thinking at the time He was writing it. Putting it in another way, we should sense the thoughts of Paul, Peter, John, and the others when the Holy Spirit spoke through them. Our thoughts must merge with the Spirit’s thoughts before we can understand the Bible.
A story was told of a believer who took a journey through the forty-two stations that the Israelites passed through from Egypt to Palestine. Where the Israelites turned, he turned. Where they detoured, he detoured. He went through the entire journey this way. Later he wrote a book recounting the journey. He did not choose his path; he took Moses’ path. This is the way we should read our Bible. We must not determine the direction ourselves; we have to go where the Spirit is going. Paul went down to Jerusalem, and we should go down with him to Jerusalem. He felt a certain way and thought a certain way, and we should feel and think the same way. We should not have our own independent direction. We must follow the direction of the writers of the Bible. In other words, we must follow the direction of the Spirit. The thoughts of the writers of the Scripture should be the thoughts of the readers of the Scripture today. The writers of the Bible were inspired by the Holy Spirit to think a certain way. The readers of the Bible should also be inspired by the Holy Spirit to think the same way. If our thoughts can closely follow the thoughts the Spirit bore at the time of the writing of the Scriptures, we will understand what the Bible is saying.
Home | First | Prev | Next