Tools for Original Bible Study
In order to accomplish the best results, every workman, whether farmer, smith, carpenter, dentist, or surgeon, must have the proper equipment for his work. So also with the teacher, the preacher, and the Bible student.
What constitutes the proper equipment for the student to use in original Bible study? In answering this question, a principle for the student to follow in choosing "aids" or "helps" for original Bible study may be stated thus: Let the student allow himself no helps (such as books, outlines, pamphlets, periodicals, or treatises) of any sort that are of the nature of exposition or interpretation, until he has fully completed his first-hand research, and rounded out his efforts into what constitutes his own prayerful, thoughtful, and honest conclusions upon a given subject or phase of Bible study.
This principle, or rule, applies to all Standard Version, so as to be able to compare them.
methods and fields of Bible study, except that which takes the Bible as it comes filtered through the minds of other men. In no method, however, is this rule to be more strictly observed than in the topical study of the Scriptures. No one who neglects this principle can achieve the results of original Bible study.
The First Necessary Equipment
The student who would do original work in Bible study must of necessity have two items in his equipment aside from a general education sufficient to enable him to read and write and apply himself in study. The first of these is a good Bible, one having a durable binding and good, clear type. Heavy-faced types are not to be recommended. Red-lettered Bibles are more of a fad than an advantage, and those having a thumb index will not prove an added convenience for one who is familiar with the location of the books of the Bible. If the student uses the Authorized Version in his study, he will do well to provide himself with a copy of the American Standard Version, so as to be able to compare them.
The second thing needed is a good concordance. Young's Analytical Concordance is perhaps surpassed by none. Strong's Exhaustive Concordance is also excellent.
With these two necessary items of equipment, the student is ready to begin his work. The Bible is the mine. The student is the miner who, in dependence upon Him who provided the mine, works reverently, diligently, and untiringly to uncover the gold of unadulterated truth. The concordance is a tool which enables the workman to dig out certain materials more easily and quickly than would be otherwise possible. This tool does not provide explanations or interpretations or treatises on various kinds of ore found in the mine, any more than does the pick or spade which the miner on the mountain side uses in digging for gold.
Further Tools
If the student has, or is willing to, put forth the effort to acquire a working knowledge of Hebrew and New Testament Greek, he may include in his outfit for original Bible study a Hebrew Bible, a New Testament in Greek, a Hebrew lexicon, a Greek lexicon, Hebrew grammars, and grammars of the Greek New Testament.
A good dictionary of the English language is almost indispensable in any study. Reliable reference works on ancient, medieval, and modern history are also to be admitted as valuable in arriving at facts.
A good reference work on the geography of Bible lands will also prove helpful. ("The Historical Geography of the Holy Land," by George Adam Smith, Doran Company, New York, is perhaps one of the best books available in this field. The author is of the liberal school of thought so far as his interpretation of Scripture teaching is concerned. Little exception, however, can be taken to his treatment of the geography, climate, and people of the Holy Land.) If the student will be judicious in the use of it, not depending too much upon the interpretative and expositional features, a good Bible encyclopedia is useful. Such works should be consulted only to learn facts concerning peoples, persons, places, events, and the like. (The "International Standard Bible Encyclopedia," Howard-Severance Company, Chicago, can be recommended as one of the most reliable.)
But the student should beware lest he find himself leaning to such works as these for guidance in matters of teaching and interpretation. The student should let the Bible be its own interpreter, and allow nothing to color that interpretation, so far as his original study effort is concerned.
After the student feels that he has gone as far as he can in his own original research, and has arrived at his own conclusions to the full extent of his ability, then he may feel prepared, with constant trust in God for the guidance of His Spirit, critically to investigate the commentaries and other literature bearing on the topic of his study. But up to this point the student should confine himself solely to the writings of the Old and New Testaments, with only such helps as will aid him in ascertaining facts about the meaning and use of Scripture words and phrases, and about the places, persons, peoples, and happenings therein described.
The Spirit of Prophecy and Other Literature
When the student is ready to turn from the direct, original study of the Scripture content to the writings of others on the subject in hand, the works of Mrs. E. G. White should of course take the first place. No writings of any kind should be allowed to take precedence over these which we are accustomed to call the "Spirit of prophecy." Not one among the multitude of writers on. Biblical themes has voiced the deep truths of the Bible more accurately, marked out the path of Scripture interpretation and explanation more faithfully, or set forth the spirit of fellowship with the Master in life and service more truly, than she. The unbiased, unselfish, honest, and humble seeker after truth will by thoughtfully reading her works discover that hers was an inspiration akin to that which moved the Biblical writers themselves. So, after completing his first-hand study of any Bible subject, the student should next read what is said on the matter in the writings of Mrs. White.
The next step for the student to take, in order to check the accuracy and correct the faults of his own conclusions, is to read the other literature of our own denomination on the subject of his study. From the very beginning of this movement, we have had men of integrity, honest of heart, pure in purpose, led by the Spirit of God, who have delved into the hidden treasures of the word, and brought out things new and old. We have no apologies to make for them or for their writings. Wonderful was the light they found, and they bore witness to the truth with power. They were scholars in fact if not in fame. We are admonished to advance in the light. The fathers in this message neither found all the light, nor have their sons who have followed them. But the truth they did find we can never set aside, and still be right. We have now to continue to build upon that truth. Our study is by no means complete until we have carefully checked our results with their findings.
The Wheat From the Chaff
When the student has carried his effort through these various steps, and in the order here set forth (but not before), he may be prepared to investigate the writings of men of other persuasions. There are grains of wheat that can be gleaned from the bulk of chaff contained in the world's religious writings. It is not, however, in what these writers actually have to say or teach that we find the greatest value of their works; but in our reading of their writings we are confronted with new avenues of thought, new fields for study, new applications of Scripture teaching. We cannot take these teachings for the last word in the settlement of disputed questions. They are helpful to us only as we take them as challenges for further Bible study. To find out the truth about it all, we must return to our program, and follow the steps that make up original Bible study, taking up these new fields one by one, and faithfully searching them out.
Conclusion
Let us now sum up these steps in original Bible study:
First, take the open Bible, with such helps as a concordance, Greek Testament, Hebrew Bible, lexicons, grammars, dictionaries, and histories; then, with prayer and faith and industry, dig out the truth of Scripture teaching on the subject chosen.
Second, study carefully the writing of the Spirit of prophecy on the topic.
Third, compare results with the other writings of our denominational literature on the same topic.
Fourth, read other religious writings on the same subject, if desirous of doing so, not for the purpose of adding the last words of authority, but rather to lead to broader and more thorough research in the Scriptures to find the full truth.
Often persons have made shipwreck of their faith by beginning their study with the reading of everything they could find on the subject of their choice. Naturally they find much in these writings that appeals to their reason. Ignorant of the teaching of the word of God, they accept the reasonings of men as the truth. Then, having settled in their own minds what they will believe in regard to the questions under consideration, they never come to the Scriptures to "prove all things." Thus, contented, they are left deceived and in darkness.
If any one feels himself able to advance into the study of the world's religious literature in another order than the one here described, without at least the preparation and fortification which these steps will furnish him, let him take warning. "Take heed lest there shall be any one that maketh spoil of you through his philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ." Col. 2:8, A. B.. V.