1. Mastering a Book and Preparing Its Introduction
R. A. Torrey, How to Study the Bible for Greatest Profit (1896), part I, chapter II, “The Study of Individual Books”. Assigned excerpt. The interpretations are the author’s.
II.—The second work to do is to master the general contents of the book. The method of doing this is very simple. It consists in merely reading the book through without stopping and then reading it through again, and then again, say a dozen times in all, at a single sitting. To one who has never tried it, it does not seem as if that would amount to much, but any thoughtful man who has ever tried it will tell you quite differently. It is simply wonderful how a book takes on new meaning and beauty upon this sort of an acquaintance. It begins to open up. New relations between different parts of the book begin to disclose themselves. Fascinating lines of thought running through the book appear. The book is grasped as a whole, and the relation of the various parts to one another apprehended, and a foundation laid for an intelligent study of those parts in detail.
Rev. James M. Gray of Boston, a great lover of the Bible and prominent teacher of it, says that for many years of his ministry he had “an inadequate and unsatisfactory knowledge of the English Bible.” “The first practical idea which he received in the study of the English Bible was from a layman. The brother possessed an unusual serenity and joy in his Christian experience, which he attributed to his reading of the Epistle to the Ephesians. Mr. Gray asked him how he had read it, and he said he had taken a pocket copy of the Epistle into the woods one Sunday afternoon, and read it through at a single sitting, repeating the process as many as a dozen times before stopping, and when he arose he had gotten possession of the Epistle, or rather its wondrous truths had gotten possession of him. This was the secret, simple as it was, for which Mr. Gray had been waiting and praying.” From this time on Mr. Gray studied his Bible through in this way, and it became to him a new book.
III.—The third work is to prepare an introduction to the Book. Write down at the top of separate sheets of paper or cards the following questions: (1) Who wrote this book? (2) To whom did he write? (3) Where did he write it? (4) When did he write it? (5) What was the occasion of his writing? (6) What was the purpose for which he wrote? (7) What were the circumstances of the author when he wrote? (8) What were the circumstances of those to whom he wrote? (9) What glimpses does the book give into the life and character of the author? (10) What are the leading ideas of the book? (11) What is the central truth of the book? (12) What are the characteristics of the book?
Having prepared your sheets of paper with these questions at the head, lay them side by side on your study table before you, and go through the book slowly, and, as you come to an answer to any one of these questions, write it down on the appropriate sheet of paper. It may be necessary to go through the book several times to do the work thoroughly and satisfactorily, but you will be amply repaid. When you have finished your own work in this line, and not until then, it will be well, if possible, to compare your results with those reached by others. A book that will serve as a good illustration of this introductory work is “The New Testament and Its Writers,” Rev. J. A. McClymont. The introduction one prepares for himself will be worth many times more to him than any that he can procure from others. The work itself is a rare education of the faculties of perception, comparison and reasoning.
The answers to our questions will sometimes be found in some related book. For example, if we are studying one of the Pauline Epistles, the answer to our questions may be found in the Acts of the Apostles, or in the Epistle written to the place from which the one studied was written. Of course, all the questions given will not apply to every book in the Bible. If one is not willing to give the time and labor necessary, this introductory work can be omitted, but only at a great sacrifice.
Single passages in an epistle can never be correctly understood unless we know to whom they were written. Much false interpretation of the Bible arises from taking some direction manifestly intended for local application to be of universal authority. So, also, oftentimes false interpretation arises from applying to the unbeliever what was intended for the saint. Noting the occasion of writing, will clear up the meaning of a passage that would be otherwise obscure. Bearing in mind the circumstances of the author when he wrote, will frequently give new force to his words. When we remember that the jubilant epistle to the Philippians, with its oft-repeated “rejoice in the Lord” and its “in nothing be anxious; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus,” was written by a prisoner awaiting possible sentence of death, how much more meaningful it becomes.
2. Context and Parallel Passages
R. A. Torrey, How to Study the Bible for Greatest Profit (1896), part I, chapter II, “The Study of Individual Books”. Assigned excerpt. The interpretations are the author’s.
b. The second step in ascertaining the meaning of a verse is to carefully notice the context (what goes before and what comes after). Many verses, if they stood alone, might be capable of several interpretations, but when what goes before and what comes after is considered, all the interpretations but one are seen to be impossible. Take for example Jno. xiv: 18, “I will not leave you desolate: I come unto you.” (R. V.) To what does Jesus refer when He says “I come unto you”? One commentator says, He refers to His reappearance to His disciples after His resurrection to comfort them. Another says that He refers to His second coming, as it is called. Another says He refers to His coming through the Holy Spirit’s work to manifest Himself to His disciples and make His abode with them. Which does He mean? When “doctors disagree,” can an ordinary layman decide? Yes, very often. Surely in this case. If any one will carefully note what Jesus is talking about in the verses immediately preceding (verses 15-17) and in the verses immediately following (verses 19-26), he will have no doubt as to what coming Jesus refers to in this passage. You can see this by trying it for yourself.
A very large proportion of the vexed questions of Biblical interpretation, can be settled by this very simple method of noticing what goes before and what comes after. Many of the sermons one hears, become very absurd when one takes the trouble to notice the setting of the preacher’s text and how utterly foreign the thought of the sermon is to the thought of the text, regarded in the light of the context.
c. The third step in ascertaining the correct and precise meaning of a verse, is the examination of parallel passages, i. e., passages that treat the same subject—passages, for example, that give another account of the same address or event, or passages that are evidently intended as a commentary on the passage in hand. Very often, after having carefully studied the words used and the context, we will still be in doubt as to which of two or three possible interpretations of a verse is the one intended by the writer or speaker. In such a case there is always somewhere else in the Bible a passage that will settle this question.
Take for example, Jno. xiv: 3, “I come again and will receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” (R. V.) A careful consideration of the words used in their relation to one another, will go far in determining the meaning of this passage, but still we find among commentators whose opinion ought to have some weight, these four interpretations: First, the coming here referred to is Christ’s coming at death to receive the believer unto himself, as in the case of Stephen. Second, the coming again at the resurrection. Third, the coming again through the Holy Spirit. Fourth, the coming again of Christ when He returns personally and gloriously at the end of the age. Which of these four interpretations is the correct one? What has already been said about verse 18 might seem to settle the question, but it does not; for it is not at all clear that the coming in verse 3 is the same as in verse 18, for what is said in connection with the two comings is altogether different. In the one case it is a coming of Christ to “receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also”; in the other case it is a coming of Christ to manifest Himself unto us and make His abode with us. But fortunately there is a verse that settles the question, an inspired commentary on the words of Jesus. This is found in I Thess. iv: 16, 17. This will be seen clearly if we arrange the two passages in parallel columns.
Jno. xiv: 3. I come again and will receive you unto myself that where I am there ye may be also.
I Thess. iv: 16, 17. The Lord himself shall descend . . . we . . . shall be caught up . . . to meet the Lord . . . so shall we ever be with the Lord.
The two passages manifestly match exactly in the three facts stated, and beyond a doubt refer to the same event. But if any one will look at all closely at I Thess. iv: 16, 17, there can be no doubt as to what coming of our Lord is referred to there. “The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge” will be of great assistance in finding parallel passages.
These are the three steps that lead us into the meaning of a verse. They require work, but it is work that any one can do, and when the meaning of a verse is thus settled we arrive at conclusions that are correct and fixed. After taking these steps it is well to consult commentaries, and see how our conclusions agree with those of others.
3. The Topical Method and Its Dangers
R. A. Torrey, How to Study the Bible for Greatest Profit (1896), part I, chapter III, “Topical Study”. Assigned excerpt. The interpretations are the author’s.
A second method of Bible study is the Topical Method. This consists in searching through the Bible to find out what its teaching is on various topics. It is perhaps the most fascinating method of Bible study. It yields the largest immediate results, though not the largest ultimate results. It has advantages. The only way to master any topic, is to go through the Bible, and find what it has to teach on that topic. Almost any great subject will take a remarkable hold upon the heart of a Christian man, if he will take time to go through the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, and note what it has to say on that topic. He will have a more full and more correct understanding of that topic than he ever had before.
It is said of Mr. Moody, that many years ago he took up the study of “Grace” in this way. Day after day he went through the Bible, studying what it had to say about “grace.” As the Bible doctrine unfolded before his mind his heart began to burn, until at last, full of the subject and on fire with the subject, he ran out on to the street, and, taking hold of the first man he met, he said: “Do you know grace?” “Grace who?” was the reply. “The grace of God that bringeth salvation.” Then he just poured out his soul on that subject. If any child of God will study “Grace,” or “Love,” or “Faith,” or “Prayer,” or any other great Bible doctrine, in that way, his soul too will become full of it. Jesus evidently studied the Old Testament scriptures in this way, for we read that “beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning Himself.” (Luke xxiv: 27.) This method of study made the hearts of the two who walked with Him to burn within them. (Luke xxiv: 32.) Paul seems to have followed his Master in this method of study and teaching. (Acts xvii: 2, 3.)
But the method has its dangers. Its very fascination is a danger. Many are drawn by the fascination of this method of study to give up all other methods of study, and this is a great misfortune. A well-rounded, thorough-going knowledge of the Bible is not possible by this method of study. No one method of study will answer, if one desires to be a well-rounded and well-balanced Bible student. But the greatest danger lies in this, that every man is almost certain to have some line of topics in which he is especially interested, and if he studies his Bible topically, unless he is warned, he is more than likely to go over certain topics, again and again, and be very strong in this line of truth, but other topics of equal importance he neglects, and thus becomes a one-sided man. We never know one truth correctly until we know it in its proper relations to other truths.
I know of people, for example, who are interested in the great doctrine of the Lord’s Second Coming, and pretty much all their Bible studies are on that line. Now this is a precious doctrine, but there are other doctrines in the Bible which a man needs to know, and it is folly to study this doctrine alone. I know others whose whole interest and study seems to center in the subject of “Divine Healing.” It is related of one man that he confided to a friend that he had devoted his time for years to the study of the number “seven” in the Bible. This last is doubtless an extreme case, but it illustrates the danger in Topical Study. It is certain that we will never master the whole range of Bible truth if we pursue the Topical Method alone.
A few rules concerning topical study will probably be helpful to most of the readers of this book.
I. Be systematic. Do not follow your fancy in the choice of topics. Do not take up any topic that happens to suggest itself. Make a list of all the subjects that you can think of that are touched upon in the Bible. Make it as comprehensive and complete as possible. Then take these topics up one by one in logical order.
4. A Child-like Mind
R. A. Torrey, How to Study the Bible for Greatest Profit (1896), part II, chapter I, “The Fundamental Conditions of the Most Profitable Bible Study”. Assigned excerpt. The interpretations are the author’s.
6. The sixth condition is a child-like mind. God reveals His deepest truths to babes. No age needs more than our own to lay to heart the words of Jesus, “I thank thee, O Father, Lord of Heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and has revealed them unto babes.” (Matt. xi: 25.) Wherein must we be babes if God is to reveal His truth unto us, and we are to understand His Word? A child is not full of its own wisdom. It recognizes its ignorance and is ready to be taught. It does not oppose its own notions and ideas to those of its teachers. It is in that spirit we should come to the Bible, if we are to get the most profit out of our study.
Do not come to the Bible full of your own ideas, and seeking from it a confirmation of them. Come rather to find out what are God’s ideas as He has revealed them there. Come not to find a confirmation of your own opinion, but to be taught what God may be pleased to teach. If a man comes to the Bible just to find his notions taught there, he will find them; but if he comes, recognizing his own ignorance, just as a little child, to be taught, he will find something infinitely better than his own notions, even the mind of God.
We see why it is that many persons cannot see things which are plainly taught in the Bible. The doctrine taught is not their notion, of which they are so full that there is no room left for that which the Bible actually teaches. We have an illustration of this in the apostles themselves at one stage in their training. In Mark ix: 31 we read “he taught his disciples, and said unto them, The Son of man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill Him; and after that he is killed, he shall rise the third day.” Now, that is as plain and definite as language can make it, but it was utterly contrary to the notions of the apostles as to what was to happen to the Christ. So we read in the next verse “they understood not that saying.” Is not that wonderful? But is it any more wonderful than our own inability to comprehend plain statements in the Bible when they run counter to our preconceived notions?
What trouble many Christians find with portions of the Sermon on the Mount, that would be plain enough, if we just came to Christ like a child to be taught what to believe and do, rather than coming as full grown men, who already know it all, and who must find some interpretations of Christ’s words that will fit into our mature and infallible philosophy. Many a man is so full of an unbiblical theology he has been taught, that it takes him a lifetime to get rid of it, and understand the clear teaching of the Bible. “Oh, what can this verse mean?” many a bewildered man cries. Why, it means what it plainly says; but what you are after is not the meaning God has manifestly put into it, but the meaning you can by some ingenious trick of exegesis twist out of it, and make it fit into your scheme. Don’t come to the Bible to find out what you can make it mean, but to find out what God intended it to mean. Men often miss the real truth of a verse by saying, “But that can be interpreted this way.” Oh, yes, so it can, but is that the way God intended it to be interpreted?
We all need to pray often, if we would get the most profit out of our Bible study, “Oh, God, make me a little child. Empty me of my own notions. Teach me thine own mind. Make me ready like a little child to receive all that thou hast to say, no matter how contrary it is to what I have thought hitherto.” How the Bible opens up to one who approaches it in that way! How it closes up to the wise fool, who thinks he knows everything, and imagines he can give points to Peter and Paul, and even to Jesus Christ and to God Himself! Some one has well said the best method of Bible study is “the baby method.”
I was once talking with a ministerial friend about what seemed to be the clear teaching of a certain passage. “Yes,” he replied, “but that doesn’t agree with my philosophy.” Alas! But this man was sincere, yet he did not have the child-like spirit, which is an essential condition of the most profitable Bible study. But there are many who approach the Bible in the same way.
5. Daily Study and Looking for Christ
R. A. Torrey, How to Study the Bible for Greatest Profit (1896), part II, chapter II, “Final Suggestions”. Assigned excerpt. The interpretations are the author’s.
There are some suggestions that remain, to be given before we close this book.
1. Study the Bible daily. Regularity counts for more in Bible study than most people fancy. The spasmodic student, who at certain seasons gives a great deal of time to the study of the Word, and at other seasons quite neglects it, even for days at a time, does not achieve the results that he does who plods on regularly day by day. The Bereans were wise as well as “noble” in that they “searched the scriptures daily.” (Acts xvii: 11; see also R. V.)
A man who is well known among the Christian college students of America, once remarked at a student convention, that he had been at many conventions and had received great blessings from them, but the greatest blessing he had ever received was from a convention where there were only four persons gathered together. The blessing had come to him in this way. These four had covenanted together to spend a certain portion of every day in Bible study. Since that day much of his time had been spent on the cars or in hotels and at conventions, but he had tried to keep that covenant, and the greatest blessing that had come to him in his Christian life had come through this daily study of the Word.
No one who has not tried it realizes how much can be accomplished by setting apart a fixed portion of each day, (it may not be more than fifteen or thirty minutes, but it surely should be an hour) for Bible study, and keeping it sacredly for that purpose under all circumstances. Many will say I cannot spare the time. It will be time saved. Lord Cairnes, one of the busiest as well as most eminent men of his day, before his death testified, that the first two hours of every day were given to the study of the Bible and prayer, and he attributed the great achievements of his life to that fact. It will not do to study the Bible only when we feel like it. It will not do to study the Bible only when we have leisure. We must have fixed principles and habits in this matter, if we are to study the Bible to the greatest profit. Nothing that we do will be more important than our Bible study, and it cannot give way to other less important things. What regularity in eating is to physical life, regularity in Bible study is to spiritual life. Fix upon some time, even if it is no more than fifteen minutes to start with, and hold to it until you are ready to set a longer period.
2. Select for your Bible study the best portion of the day that you can give to it. Do not put your Bible study off until nearly bed-time, when the mind is drowsy. It is well to take a parting verse for the day when one retires for the night, but this is not the time for study. No study demands all that there is in a man as Bible study does. Do not take the time immediately after a heavy meal. The mind is more or less torpid after a heavy meal, and it is unwise to put it on the stretch then. It is almost the unanimous opinion of those who have given this subject careful attention, that the early hours of the day are the best for Bible study, if they can be secured free from interruption. It is well, wherever possible, to lock yourself in and lock the world out, when you are about to give yourself up to the study of the Bible.
3. In all your Bible study look for Christ in the passage under examination. We read of Jesus that “beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.” (Luke xxiv: 27.) Jesus Christ is the subject of the whole Bible and the subject pervades the book. Some of the seemingly driest portions of the Bible became instinct with a new life when we learn to see Christ in them. I remember in my early reading of the Bible what a stupid book Leviticus seemed, but it all became different when I learned to see Jesus in the various offerings and sacrifices, in the high-priest and his garments, in the tabernacle and its furniture, indeed everywhere. Look for Christ in every verse you study, and even the genealogies and catalogues of the names of towns will begin to have beauty and power.