By Iain Murray
The attitude of a man to the Scriptures is indicative of the state of his soul before God. The language of a Christian is, “O how I love Thy Law.” He desires to Treasure the Word of God more “than thousands of gold and silver” Psalm 119, whereas the ungodly are marked out as those who have no delight in the Law of the Lord, and such “shall not stand in the judgment.” Psalm 1. Believers, like Joshua, are commanded to search and meditate in this Book day and night Joshua 1:8, but those who fail to tremble at the authority of this Word Isaiah 66:2, and carelessly despise its divine origin, “shall be destroyed.” Proverb 13:13. Judge the state of your soul by whether you have learned this fear of God, and His Word, “which is the beginning of wisdom.” But not only may the temporal and eternal condition of individuals be judged from their regard of Scripture, there is also no surer test of the state of the visible church than the prevailing attitude towards of the Bible. The prosperity of the church is invariable in proportion to her valuation of God's Word. The Reformation in the sixteenth century is clear proof that the church flourishes when the Word is exalted. Consider the Reformers' view of Scripture. Luther affirmed “That he would not take all the world for one leaf of the Bible.” And Luther proved his regard for God's Word by his knowledge of it. During his early ministry, he tells us, there was not verse in Scripture which if quoted to him he could not instantly place! Ridley knew by heart the whole of Paul's Epistles. Beza, when over 80 years of age, could relate exactly all the Psalms and the Epistles in their original. Such a hunger to know Scripture was not confined to ministers. During the reign of Henry VIII (while the possession of any portion of the Bible was punished by burning at the stake) an English farmer gave a whole cartload of hay for only one page of James' Epistle! Many of the English martyrs, though only laymen, were able at their trials mightily to use the Scripture they had memorized in answering their adversaries. How greatly did the cause of God prosper when this attitude to The Word of God prevailed!
On the other hand, when the church is in a declining, and powerless condition, the cause will always be found to be connected with an absence of true and deep knowledge of a true and deep knowledge of Gods Word . Never for four hundred years in England , perhaps, has the Bible been so little known in the church—even in evangelical church— as to-day. The direct result is that the visible church is in a desperately low condition. But as few will be prepared to accept that ignorance of Scripture is the characteristic mark of the religion of our times, let us confirm the statement by some proofs. When a low view of Scripture prevails it will always betray itself by certain definite marks. Three of these marks we will consider.
Error is regarded as comparatively harmless, and the importance of purity of doctrine is minimized.
This is sure mark of ignorance. Error, heresy, and ignorance of Scripture are soul-destroying things. “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” Hosea 4:6. “That the soul be without knowledge, it is not good.” Proverbs 19:2. It is a fearful threatening, “they shall die without Knowledge.” Job 36:12. Ignorance makes a man the object of Divine wrath. Christ shall come “in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God,” 1 Thessalonians 1:8. Eusebius records that the aged Apostle John so feared heresy, that he refused to enter a building when he learnt that the heretic Cerinthus was inside, saying “Let us depart lest the house wherein the Lord's enemy is should fall on our heads.” Where shall we go to-day to find men who have such a view of the importance of sound doctrine? Is the doctrine of men who are allowed to join in on evangelistic campaigns examined? Are converts told not to go to certain churches? Do not young men preparing for the ministry attend Colleges where the Word is not purely taught? What is all this but a disregarding of God's displeasure over error, and a failure to recognize that where error prevails there God's judicial blindness reigns. Errors are God's bullets with which He destroys gainsayers— “O stand not where God's bullets fly,” Says Gurnall. “Take heed what ye hear!” Mark 4:24, Proverbs 19:27.
Lack of desire or concern to grow in knowledge becomes evident.
Man was made a rational creature, and endowed with noble faculty of understanding in order to know God. The result of the Fall was to remove from his mind any saving knowledge of God— “There is none that understandeth.” Romans 3:11. The great purpose of redemption is nothing less than to restore men to a knowledge of God, “This is life eternal, that they might know thee” John 17:3, and only by this means is a man able to glorify and enjoy God forever. While all regenerate persons, all believers, have a desire to know God, they have it in varying degrees of strength. We can unmistakably test the measure of our desire by our diligence in studying Scripture—for by this Book alone can we increase in a true knowledge of God. Who can doubt that the seventeenth century Puritans were the greatest searchers, expositors, and preachers of God's Word our land has ever seen? The great power and force of their ministry lay in the tremendous emphasis they put on a profound understanding, of the Scripture. The biographer of the mighty Puritan Oliver Heywood (whose ministry affected much of the north of England) says, “He spent much of his time in his study. It was his custom to rise at an early hour.... he was assiduous in the pursuit of knowledge.” Heywood himself recorded in his diary, “I prize learning above all sublunary excellencies, and I might have been more useful had I improved my time better therein—Proverbs 10:14, 'Wise men lay up knowledge.'” John Cotton, the great leader of the New England Puritans , lived under conviction of that sacred precept, “Give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.” “He rose early, and commonly studied twelve hours a day, accounting that a scholar's day.” (Brook's Lives of the Puritans).
Likewise of Thomas Manton it was written, “His great delight was in his study.” The prolocutor the Westminster Assembly, William Twisse, when dying cried with his departing breath, “Now at length I shall have leisure to follow studies to all eternity!” The consuming passion of the Puritans was to know God. “To know Him,” records the historian Macaulay, “was with them the great end of existence.” They therefore unceasingly searched the Scriptures, and advanced far beyond any other generation of Englishmen in their ability to unfold their contents.
The duty of giving all diligence to add knowledge to faith, is laid by God upon all believers. 2 Peter 1:5. Listen to Jonathan Edwards exhorting his hearers—“We should make growing in knowledge a great part of the business of our lives...There is no doctrine of divinity whatever, which doth not some way or other concern the eternal interest of every christian. The Scriptures were written that they might be understood: otherwise they are not instructions... we can receive benefit by no more of the Scriptures than we understand... You all have by you a large treasure of Divine knowledge, in that you have the Bible in your hands; therefore be not content in possessing but little of this treasure. God hath spoken much to you in Scripture: labor to understand as much of what he saith as you can.”
A concern such as this to grow in knowledge is markedly absent amongst the generality of professing believers to-day. Superficiality abounds in every direction. Shallowness is excused as simplicity. Sermons that require no diligent preparation suit the taste of congregations that are not accustomed to girding up the loins of congregations that are not accustomed to girding up the lions of their minds. It is presumed that the contents of Scripture concerning God, His simple, the whole revelation of Scripture concerning God, His Being, Attributes, and Purposes, is a subject that the minds of prophets and angels can only “search” and “look into,” 1 Peter 1:11-13; a subject that staggered the understanding of the Apostle Paul so that he could only cry out, “O the depth” Romans 11:33, and call the Gospel a “great mystery” 1 Timothy 3:16. This attitude towards Scripture always prevails amongst those who are no longer babes in the truth. “Religion itself is a deep mystery,” says Richard Sibbes, “it requires a great deal of learning.” Listen again to one of the greatest Puritans, John Owen—“ Do not suppose that you have leaned anything of God in Christ, of the mystery of His grace, unless you see therein such evidence of infinite wisdom, goodness, holiness, love, in all things so suited unto the eternal glory of God and advantage of your own souls, as that you may admire, adore, delight in them, and cleave unto them with a holy, prevalent, unconquerable love. When you do so, then will you be established in the truth.”
3. The Lack of praise and spiritual joy becomes apparent.
When believers are little acquainted with Scripture this mark is always manifested. The Word of God is the ground and foundation of true joy and praise— “These things write we unto you that your joy may be full.” 1 John 1:4. The Word was written for a purpose. There is no such thing as joy in the Holy Ghost apart from the knowledge and belief of God's Word— “Believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.” 1 Peter 1:8. The only way for a believer to be established in a joyful assurance is to know his privileges and exalted position to which God as raised him in Jesus Christ. Satan's constant work is to keep us ignorant, or make us forget the dignity and strength that we have. Truly, Sibbes says, “A Christian is a more excellent creature than he thinks.” “Unacquaintedness with our mercies, and our privileges, is our sin as well as our trouble,” writes John Owen. “We hearken not to the voice of the Spirit which is given to us 'that we may know the things that are freely given to us of God.' 1 Corinthians 2:12. This makes us go heavily, when we might rejoice.”
Let us then ask how much spiritual joy is to be seen to-day and we shall immediately be able to judge how much or little the Scriptures are known. Oh, who is not aware that in most evangelical circles, carnal mirth, frivolity, “foolish talking and jesting” Ephesians 5:4, are accepted as signs of a healthy Christian life, and have replaced joy in the Holy Ghost! We read recently in a well known Christian newspaper the report of a campaign meeting o a man who is now being acclaimed as a leading evangelist— “He pummeled the audience into warmth and enthusiasm. He cracked jokes about the Cup ties. More singing....more jokes about the Cup ties. Everybody singing and laughing...” How could such 'evangelism' as this flourish except amongst people who are grossly ignorant of Scripture! True spiritual joy is accompanied by deep seriousness. The soul is overpowered by eternal realities and walks in the fear of God. That this work of the Spirit is rarely to be seen is a sure mark of the neglect of Scripture.
We have thus far been largely considering some evidences of the ignorance of Scripture that abounds in our times. We could summarize the conclusion to be drawn in such words as these— “Not one in a hundred read their Bibles to be called reading.” The subject could be much enlarged, but what we have said is sufficient to establish in our minds that the first requisite to a diligent study of the Bible is this:— We must be convinced of the necessity of searching the Scriptures. And this conviction will not be impressed upon us until we seethe perils of ignorance, and the desirability of knowledge— “Blessed is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding.” Proverbs 3:13-14. We must aroused to walk contrary to the spirit of our times and fear to be infected by the prevailing attitude to the Scriptures. It is hard to live in the midst of a plague and be kept unaffected.
A brief application remains. We can draw from the solemnity of our days arguments to increase our diligence in the Scriptures. Just as Egypt was made to know the worth of light by the want of it Exodus 10:21-24, and just as a sick man learns the value of health by the absence of it, so God makes men value His word by sending a famine for it. Contempt of the Word is punished by judicial blindness, so that though men may still possess the Scriptures and read them (as the Pharisees and Sadducees did at the time of Christ), they are given over to blindness and a true understanding is removed from them. John 12:39-40. The famine is a famine “of hearing the words of the Lord.” Amos 8:11, that is God removes those who truly expound it. Unless God in mercy reverses His present sentence against us, there are surely awful judgments ahead. “How guilty (in neglect of Scripture) our English nation is, is too manifest to write, and what we have cause to expect for it, I tremble to write.” Three centuries of God's longsuffering have passed over the land since Elnathan Parr wrote those words. It may be that now our guilt has reach its limit. “I have written to him the great things of my law, but they were counted as a strange thing...Now will He remember their iniquity, and visit their sins.” Hosea 8:12-13. But the children of God need not fear the future, “For wisdom is a defense.” Ecclesiastes 7:12. They who have let the Word of Christ dwell in them richly in all wisdom Colossians 3:16 will be like Joseph who while there was time and opportunity laid up stores for the time of need. Believers shall overcome the world and the devil, “By the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony.”
