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Thought #015

Words of advice from

E J Waggoner

Study book pages 15-16

ROM.01-091

Let us not forget that it is from the very words of the Bible that one is to learn. All the real help that any teacher can be to any one in the study of the Bible is to show him how to fix his mind more clearly upon the exact words of the sacred text. Therefore, first of all, read the text over many times.

Do not do this hastily, but carefully, paying particular attention to every statement.

Do not waste one moment in speculating as to the possible meaning of the text. There is nothing worse than guessing the meaning of a text of Scripture, unless it is the acceptance of somebody else's guess.

Nobody can know any more of the Bible than the Bible itself tells; and the Bible is just as ready to tell its story to one person as to another....

Question the text closely. Probe it again and again, always in a reverent, prayerful spirit, to make it reveal itself.

Do not be discouraged if you do not at once see all that there is in the text. Remember that it is the word of God, and that it is infinite in its depth, and that you can never exhaust it.

When you come across a difficult statement, go back and consider it in connection with what precedes. Do not think that you can ever get at the full meaning of any text apart from its connection.

By constant application to the words of the text, in order to be sure that you know exactly what it says, you will soon have them constantly in your mind; and it is then that you will begin to reap some of the rich fruits of Bible study; for at unexpected times new light will flash from them, and through them from other scriptures as you read.

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