The mistake we make in our study of the Bible …

My first Senior Pastor position was with a church in Southern California. One particularly friendly couple who had been a part of the church for years thought they would do something to help me learn about the congregation I would be shepherding. They had taken the time to write a descriptive paragraph (or two) about every member of the church.

I kid you not!

I’m sure in their minds they were just trying to be helpful, but what I quickly learned was many of their written opinions about people in the church wouldn’t be opinions I would later share. But imagine if I had allowed myself to be influenced about church members based on what I first was supplied with by this well-meaning couple!

In a similar fashion, we routinely allow our minds to be shaped about the content of the Bible by FIRST reading the opinion of others about it.

For many people, their “study” of the Bible begins by reading a short devotional thought written by someone who shares with the reader their opinion about a text of scripture. The reader then may — or may not! — read the referred to text. What happens in most cases is the reader simply believes what the writer has written about the text. That writer has ultimate influence in the lives of many of his or her readers about what the Bible supposedly teaches.

The error in this process is in not starting by reading the text for ourselves, and allowing the Holy Spirit to illuminate the passage for us …

“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future,” John 16:13.

Once we have read the text, and studied it for ourselves, there can be benefit in reading commentary from others. But when we start with man’s opinion about scripture before even reading it ourselves, we’re placing human opinions about the Bible higher than the content of the Bible itself!

Please let me be clear, I’m not saying it’s wrong to read devotional material or biblical commentary; what I am saying is, when it comes to your personal study of the Word of God, let the Bible speak for itself first before letting people have their influence in your life regarding the Word. I think you’ll discover your taking on wrestling through scripture to right understandings of it will help you draw closer to God and grow deeper in your faith. The sound insights of others can contribute to our study — often profoundly so! — but do your own learning before opening yourself to the influence of others.

Scotty