What the Tools Are For
For nine weeks we have filled a toolbox: comparing Scripture with Scripture, authorial intent, genre, figures of speech, word studies, sound doctrine, right application, and the common errors to avoid. Every tool matters. But a believer can use every one of them and still close his Bible unchanged. This final week asks what the tools are for.
“Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.”PSALM 119:18 · KJV
The psalmist knew his Bible. Psalm 119 is the longest chapter in Scripture, and nearly every one of its 176 verses speaks of God's word, law, statutes, or testimonies. Yet he still prays, Open thou mine eyes. His Hebrew verb, gālâ (גָּלָה), means to uncover. He does not ask God to put new things into the law. The wondrous things are already there. He asks God to uncover his eyes so that he can see them.
“For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”HEBREWS 4:12 · KJV
And the Word he studies is alive. In the King James English, quick means living, and powerful translates energēs (ἐνεργής), active and at work. The Word cuts deeper than any sword, and it is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart; the Greek kritikos (κριτικός) means able to judge. When we open the Bible, we are not only reading it. It is reading us, and all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do (Hebrews 4:13).
We study the Bible not just to know truth, but to know God.
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For Deeper Study
- The Pursuit of GodAmazon A. W. TozerA short classic (1948) on seeking God Himself, not merely truths about Him.
- Living by the BookAmazon Howard G. Hendricks and William D. HendricksA warm, practical guide to observation, interpretation, and application, grown from Hendricks's Bible study course at Dallas Theological Seminary (revised 2007).
- The Holy SpiritAmazon Charles C. RyrieA clear, dispensational treatment of the Spirit's person and work, first published in 1965 and revised in 1997.
- The Life of TrustAmazon George MüllerMüller's own narrative of faith and prayer, edited by H. L. Wayland, including his 1841 journal entry on meditating on the Word before prayer.
- Foxe's Book of MartyrsAmazon John FoxeThe classic Protestant record of those who died for the faith, from the early church to the English Reformation.
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The Work of the Spirit
The Spirit convicts the world, regenerates the believer, baptizes him into Christ's body, indwells and seals every child of God, and fills those who yield to Him.
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