The Core and the Means, Part 2

 Yesterday, we looked at what drives this blog, the centrality and necessity of diligently engaging in the Word of God.  The bottom line is that all ministry, all leadership, is the overflow of the Word of God from one’s life into the life of another.  We saw how 2 Timothy (Here at Bible Gateway) validated that truth.

But there is more.

John 8:31-32, emphasizes this, here Jesus says:
31 So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, you are truly disciples of Mine;
32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” 

Note that the word translated “continue” in 31 is the same word that is translated “abide” in John 15:1-16 (Here at Bible Gateway) and other places.  The point here is that continuing, abiding in God’s Word is the mark of a true disciple.

A couple of observations about this may be helpful, note that the passage does not say that we are to continue, abide in the notes in our study Bibles.  Nor does it say that we are to continue or abide in books about the Bible or commentaries on the Bible.  While the notes, the books, and the commentaries have their place, that is not where we are to abide.  We are to abide in the text.  The text is inspired, remember yesterday, 2 Timothy 3:16 – 17 (Here at Bible Gateway), the notes and the commentaries are written by men, not inspired.  By definition, the notes and the commentaries will have errors in them.  I have an extensive library.  There are over 5,400 books in my Bible program, Logos.  I have over 2,000 physical books.  I have profited from many of them.  However, they cannot be, and they are not, my primary source.  That has to be the Word of God.

Unfortunately, many believers do not have confidence that they can understand the Bible on their own.  There are several possibilities why this may be true in a believer’s life.  It may be that they have sat under a teacher or a pastor that has used the Bible as a springboard.  That is, the teacher or pastor reads a passage and then springs off that into sharing their own ideas that has little or no connection to what they have just read.  That leaves the one listening puzzled how the teacher or pastor derived what they are sharing out of the passage.  That may result in the listener concluding that they cannot understand the text without the help of the teacher or pastor.  I have experienced teachers, pastors, and Bible study leaders doing this in sermons, Sunday school classes, small group Bible studies, and one on one conversations.  

Just after I became a Christian, I was in a Bible study with several others who were in Undergraduate Pilot Training in the U.S. Air Force.  Several of them had the Scofield Reference Bible.  Many times, during the study, while we were discussing what a passage said, meant, or applied to our lives, one would say something like, “The note in my Bible says...” and that, would pretty much end the discussion.  It communicated that all of us needed that Bible to really understand the Scripture.

At about that same time, I learned something about commentaries.  We had moved on from fill in the blank studies to verse and chapter analysis studies.  Some of those studies I was leading.  At times I would struggle with understanding or applying a passage and would have a question to which I could not figure out and answer.  I had a few general commentaries on the Bible and would turn to those works to get answers.  What I discovered was the commentaries did not address the questions with which I was struggling.

So, what do we do?  If we are not to drop down into the notes in our study Bibles and we should not bounce out of the text into a commentary, how do we answer questions with which we or others in our studies or community are struggling?  John 8:31 – 32, tells us that if we continue, abide, we will know the truth, but if we are struggling, how?  

Great question.  We will look at an answer in tomorrow’s post.