Profitless Bible Study
by H. E. Phillips

There is an urgent need for members of the church to study the Bible because there are so many who know so little about it. However, the usual zealous response to such a study is generally to the opposite extreme. This means the tedious research into the etymology of each word and the various shades of meaning that could be found in the text; the grammatical structure of each sentence and its relationship to every word in every sentence. Then, of course, the thorough study of the various theological views espoused on each word. Very little Bible study results, because this approach causes both the student and the teacher to completely lose sight of the text and its obvious sense. They turn from the full message to the mechanics by which it is delivered. I do not suggest that there are not times when a thorough study of a word in a sentence or context is not necessary. When serious controversy reigns in doctrinal issues, it is necessary to learn the true meaning of key words in the dispute to resolve the differences. But generally in class study such detailed analysis of each word does not edify the class.
Certainly words are important, and sentence structure is very significant, because each word is inspired of God and the Holy Spirit knows the “deep things of God” and reveals them in words (1 Cor. 2:10). There is no attempt to minimize any serious effort to in-depth study of the scriptures. The criticism here is not directed against the thorough study of each verse and word in the Bible, but it is against the theory-building; the “fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith: so do” (1 Tim. 1:4); the “profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness” (2 Tim. 2:16). I am against the creed-making. nit-picking, and mishandling of scripture by the unlearned and unstable as they wrest the scriptures to their own destruction (2 Pet. 3:16). The cesspool of religious modernism and liberalism is made up of the matriculation of skeptics, fanatics, and worldly wisdom-seekers, who treat the word of God as something to be analyzed and tested, much as a scientist would view some specimen in his research.
The Bible will stand every test of any investigation, and will prove to be true and accurate to every sincere seeker of truth. But even the Bible can be abused and made to appear to teach what it does not teach. The expert deceiver and the stubborn, self-willed egotist will never do sincere, in depth study of the word, but rather will spend his time studying ABOUT the Bible or some theory he or some other has developed. He will then search for verses which seem to support his views, as he skillfully tries to indoctrinate as many as he can persuade to listen to his palaver regarding his new-found spiritual formula. This is the way of the modernist and liberal. It is also the way of the student of the Bible who has the wrong attitude toward its message and approaches the study of it in the wrong way.
Another obvious fault in seriously studying the Bible is to buy or borrow books written by uninspired men, many of them good men and good scholars, and to place one’s entire faith in what these books say, rather than what can be proved by the Bible itself. Again, I want to emphasize that I am not opposing the use of good reference books in the search for the truth of God’s word, but I do oppose believing these books and their conclusions at the expenses of Bible truth. This is generally what happens.
Radically extreme positions have resulted from a false theory that had to be founded on perverted scriptures, passages out of context, or no scripture at all. One obsessed with such a theory will pursue almost any course to, establish his ungodly position. This is the number one reason why we have so many false positions held by so many brethren.
We must study the word with a pure mind that is willing to be changed when the truth demands it. “But the truth and sell it not” (Prov. 23:23). Pay any price for the truth, and when you learn it, do not sell it for any price. The truth must reign in your life to have any real meaning to you.

- Preacher of the Word, March 10, 1996