BT-Can We Read the Word

In the religious world today, we have those that would have you to believe that it is impossible to understand God's word without him first, giving some kind of unusual power necessary to be able to do so. There is no scriptural basis for the idea of God revealing himself to someone outside of his written word, which we have in the Bible, or God having to give some kind of unusual power for someone to rightly divide his word. The mind is enlightened by the preaching of the gospel (See Pro. 2:2, 18:15, 23:12 among others). Some may use Acts 16:14, Luke 24:45, Ephesians 1:17, and James 1:9 to push this erroneous view. The case in Acts 16:14 involves Lydia, one who "worshipped God," and "heard us." The Greek for "worshipped" is "sebomene," and means "a God-fearer, or proselyte of the gate," and thus, shows her willingness to hear and obey God's word. "Whose heart the Lord opened" simply means that her mind was enlightened by the preaching of the gospel. A person's heart (biblical mind; See Pro. 23:7 among others) is said to closed up against instruction when it is unwilling to hear it or obey it (For example, see Acts 7:51-58). "To give heed" (asv 1901) is from the Greek "prosechein," and means "to hold the mind on, or to keep the mind centered on" these things that were spoken by Paul, whose words gripped her attention. In Luke 24:45, these men, having just gone through the arrest, trails, crucifixion, burial and resurrection of Jesus had these things fresh in their minds and they could now see the meaning of the Old Testament passages that they had once been slow and dull in understanding. Ephesians 1:16-17 has the same thought written in Colossians 1:9 which says "For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding." The spirit here is not just the Holy Spirit or the spirit of man, but the involved idea of the spirit of man dwelt in and moved by the Spirit of God, through the word of truth. In Matthew 13:11, Christ said that to the disciples, "it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given." The parable method hides the truth from those who do not want it, but reveals the truth to those who are ready for it and will receive it. It is not given to those who are not willing to receive it. We must always have a continuing quest for more knowledge (Hebrews 5:12-14, II Peter 3:18), but this comes, according to scripture, no other way but simply through study of God's word (Acts 17:11, II Timothy 2:15). James told the brethren in 1:2-3 to "count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience." At this point, it appears that James is asking the question, "How is it possible for me to see a blessing through difficulties? The ability to see this surely requires much greater wisdom than I possess." The answer given in James 1:5 says "But if any of you lacketh wisdom, let him ask of God." Webster says wisdom is the "ability to judge soundly and deal sagaciously with facts, esp. as they relate to life and conduct; discernment and judgment; discretion; sagacity." Knowledge, apart from wisdom is an "acquaintance with fact; hence, scope of information." Thus, knowledge is the possession of facts and wisdom is the ability of judging soundly and correctly regarding them. It is through the study of the word of truth that one acquires this wisdom. Just as in Ephesians 1:16-17 and Colossians 1:9 where the Apostle Paul prayed that they may get the "spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him" and that "ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding." James as well tells us to pray for this wisdom and spiritual understanding that only comes through study of God's word. In Acts 18:24-26 Apollos had to have the way of God EXPLAINED to him more accurately. Through this TEACHING by Priscilla and Aquila, Apollos, already "an eloquent man" and "mighty in the scriptures," was able to "powerfully confute the Jews" (Acts 18:28) and was so popular in Corinth that later a party arose in the church with the motto: "I am of Apollos" (I Cor. 3:4). In Acts 17:11-13, those noble people in Berea RECEIVED THE WORD WITH ALL READINESS OF MIND, EXAMINING THESE SCRIPTURES DAILY, WHETHER THESE THINGS WERE SO. Therefore, because of this study of God's word, "Many of them therefore believed." In verse 13 the Jews came and stirred up trouble once they had knowledge that THE WORD OF GOD WAS PROCLAIMED OF PAUL AT BEREA. In Acts 16:25-34 the Philippian jailer was converted once THE WORD OF GOD WAS PREACHED TO HIM by Paul and Silas. The jailer asked WHAT must I do to be saved? (v. 30) He was told to believe in verse 31, but believe in what? Verse 32 tells us that "they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house." After the word of God was preached to him he then was baptized for salvation. In Acts 2:14-47 we have Peter PREACHING the word of God to the Jews on the day of Pentecost. In verse 37 we are told "when they HEARD this, they were pricked in their heart," and asked Peter and the rest of the apostles what shall we do? Through Peter's preaching, these people, with their minds centered on these words that Peter spoke, were simply hearing God's word spoke to them and wanted to obey it. In Acts 8:26-39 we have the story of the Ethiopian nobleman. Philip found him reading the prophet Esaias and asked him if he understood what he read. He answered Philip "How can I, except some MAN should guide me?" In verse 35 we are told that Philip began at the same scripture (See verse 32-33) and preached unto him Jesus. As they went on their way, they came unto water and the nobleman said "See, here is water, what doth hinder me to be baptized?" Philip answered him "If thou believest with all thou heart, thou mayest." As the rest of the story goes, the nobleman made the good confession of faith, which led to Philip baptizing him for salvation and thus the nobleman went on his way rejoicing. You see, through preaching of the word one understands what needs to be done and until such time, they are unenlightened. Romans 10:17 says "So belief cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." There is no knowledge of God and his will for us unless the word is preached to us by good people such as the ones in the examples above. In John 3:3-5 we have the new birth which is the begettal by the Spirit, which comes through the preaching of the word (which is the seed; Luke 8:11, I Peter 1:23, I Corinthians 2:13), then you have the water which brings forth the new birth. God is no respector of persons as Acts 10:34, Romans 2:11, Ephesians 6:9, and I Peter 1:17 show. To say that God has called someone or helped them understand in a special way, outside the preaching of the gospel, the word of God, is not only unscriptural, but makes God a respector of persons. II Thessalonians 2:11-14 tells us that when one knows the truth and refuses to obey it, he is a fit subject for following any delusion that sweeps through the land (see Isa. 66:3,4), but when one believes the truth of the gospel and then obeys it, they are called, or chosen by God. In Ephesians 3:2-4 it is understood that these in Ephesus had heard the word of God through the preaching of the gospel from Paul's earlier journey to Ephesus (Acts 18:19), in company with his faithful helpers, Aquila and Priscilla who remained there, apparentely several years. In verse 3, Paul said that the mystery of Christ's will, had been revealed to him (See Acts 26:16-18, Ephesians 1:9-10), and that when these people at Ephesus READ THIS EPISTLE, they WOULD BE ABLE TO UNDERSTAND his knowledge in the mystery of Christ (v. 4). Please note in Ephesians 3:4 that it plainly says that when they read, they would be able to understand. As an apostle of Christ, Paul got miraculous revelation from the Holy Spirit like the other apostles did on the day of Pentecost as was promised to the apostles by Christ in John 14:26 and 16:13 (See Galatians 1:11-12). These apostles were charged with going into all the word and preaching the gospel to lost mankind (See Matthew 28:16-20, Mark 16:14-16, Acts 1:5-8, Romans 10:14-15), so they were in need of miraculous ability from the Holy Spirit, so that they could be guided into all truth and remember all that Christ had said unto them. You see, in the days of the apostles, they did not have the Bible in written form, so they were in need of guidance from the Holy Spirit in order to have the correct knowledge of God's will. This was one of the spiritual gifts that is listed in I Corinthians 12 and could only be bestowed upon others through the laying on of the apostles hands, and was to be done away with when we had the complete word of God revealed (See I Corinthians 13:8-12, Ephesians 4:12-14). From these and other examples, we can clearly see that the key to knowing and understanding God's will is through diligent study of his word. Further, Paul said in I Corinthians 1:21 "...it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe." We see here that by preaching the word of God, when one believes, one is saved by being told what is necessary what to do, which seems like foolishness to some men. We are told in John 20:30-31 that faith can and will be produced by simply reading the things that are written. Hebrews 4:12 tells us that the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword. Also, one cannot assert that we are in need of further revelation from God, for in Hebrews 1:1-2 says "God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son..." From this we see that God had spoken to man in varying degrees and methods (such as directly in the Garden of Eden, dreams, visions, angels), but now has changed, and speaks exclusively by means of his Son, and not by direct contact, dreams, visions, or any other. Jesus did not tell his disciples to seek a direct communication from God, but instead said that his words that he spoke to them would guide them to life (John 6:63). As pointed out before, the noble people of Berea, when wanting to know the truth regarding the Christian religion, did not wait for God to answer their concerns, rather, they examined the scriptures daily for themselves to determine the truth of apostle's message (Acts 17:11). Paul told us in II Timothy 3:16-17 that the scriptures make one complete and thoroughly furnished unto all good works. Jude tells us that the gospel system called the faith was "once for all delivered unto the saints." "Once for all" translates the Greek hapax, which means "once for all time." It means there is no need for any further direct communication from God. From this we can conclude that simply through study of God's written word, we can have God's revealed will declared to us and we can understand.