I remember some time last year that I mentioned losing years of my files because of the mistake of one student assistant in transferring my files from the external hard drive to the cloud. When I checked the folder, many of them were empty. Since I could not undo such a mistake, I just accepted it and learned a lesson that saving my files on chain is a better way.

For two days now, I have been reviewing the remaining saved files in Google Drive. Looking back at those files, I could not help but be amazed with the power of God's grace giving me insight during those years. Reaching senior years, I don't think I could do those papers again. To preserve them, I am thinking of selecting worthy files to publish here on-chain, and one of them is an article about the importance of a diligent study of the Bible.

Source

Every semester, we have this tradition of public reading of the Bible. However, unlike in old days when students took the reading of the Bible seriously, these days, the practice seems to be taken for granted.

In 2017, when the president of the student body approached me to speak during the closing service of the Bible Reading Week, I asked him, "What should I speak about and for how long?" He told me thirty minutes, and the theme is about Bible reading. That was the occasion when I first published this article.

The chosen text was 2 Timothy 3:14-17:

14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15 and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God[a] may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Introduction

Here's how I introduced my topic:

I have a quote here, but you have to supply the last word/s:
'If something is worth doing, it’s worth doing _________' (right, well, with excellence, with the best of our abilities, with passion, for God’s glory).

Do you agree with the quote? Does it apply to Bible reading?

The reason why I made such an introduction is for the students to reflect on their behavior when the Bible is being read publicly.

And then I shared my personal observation:

Let me share my personal observation about our Bible reading. I appreciate the “praise and worship” part and the prayer before the public reading. That’s something we need to continue as an institution, something worth doing with passion. I observe that you are passionate singers. Let us also be passionate readers and students of the Bible.

The difficulty with our current set-up in Bible reading is the length of time. We need to consume the entire two hours reading the Bible. That’s difficult simply because it’s contrary to the limitation of attention span, particularly in relation to today’s generation. We are not used to reading, especially that long. That bores us. Of course, PTS is a training ground. We need to have self-discipline. But discipline does not come easy. It requires time and repetition until it becomes a habit, a part of us.

If we do not address this shortcoming in our Bible reading, it will become a culture. People will keep standing and going out when they are bored. Some will keep chatting with fellow students beside them. And others will just be busy with their cell phones and even take selfies or groupies. Practices like these should be stopped, for this is a symptom that Bible reading is not really worth doing. However, we can only stop them if we do something to improve our Bible reading that is more conducive to human nature, particularly to the limitation of our attention span. So I can’t really fault you for the current way of doing Bible reading, which needs improvement in a way that demonstrates excellence and passion.

And then I mentioned the name of Ebenezer, the president of the student body, who informed me to speak for the closing service:

When Ebenezer approached me yesterday about speaking for the closing service of our Bible reading, I asked him, "What should I speak about and for how long?" He told me thirty minutes, and the theme is about Bible reading. And so I tried to recall the files in my mind, thinking about what the most suitable text in the Bible is that I can share with you this afternoon. And our text, 2 Timothy 3:14-17, does not speak merely about the Bible. reading, but a diligent study of it.

John Murray's Thought About the Importance of Bible Study

To serve as my reference to prove the importance of studying the Bible in the Reformed tradition, I shared John Murray's reasons that made the study of the Bible indispensable:

John Murray, the professor of systematic theology of Westminster Theological Seminary from 1937 to 1966, talks about the importance of the study of the Bible, and he identified three reasons for the indispensability of a sustained and diligent study of the Bible:

• We need to study the Bible diligently, for it “is God’s Word, the revealed counsel of God” (p. 4). Here, we need to be on guard against over-familiarity with the Bible, resulting in a failure to appreciate the greatness of its themes, such as God’s grace, wisdom, and love. Without the Bible, we would still be living in darkness and confusion. Without the Bible, “we would be without God and without hope. . . (ibid.). Without the Bible, we would never come to know God, the world, and ourselves truly; we will never understand “our own nature, origin, and destiny” (ibid.).

• We must diligently study the Bible if we really want “to know and understand its truth” (ibid.).

• We must diligently study the Bible, for it “is indispensable to our own thought and practice" (p. 6). Here, John Murray confronts us with the complexity of life and the fact that “we are constantly beset with baffling questions. New situations confront us daily. If the situations are not entirely new, old situations take on new color and new settings. We need to know anew what is the right thing to think and what is the right thing to do. If we are to meet these situations, we must be armed with the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, and we must be equipped with such knowledge of the Word that we shall derive from it the needed direction and strength” (ibid.). Here the greatest obstacle is indolence. Elsewhere he describes it as “mental laziness." This is the “danger of becoming static in our thinking” (ibid.).

And then I applied the above insights to our situation in the school:

I think here at PTS, the goal is not just simply to read the Bible but to study it. And reading is basic to studying. You cannot study something, especially a book, without first reading it. And so reading is a basic requirement for a diligent study of the Bible. And by studying the Bible diligently, we will be able to grasp its truth and the whole counsel of God. As a result, as Christian teachers and pastors, we will be equipped for every good work. And part of that good work is to dispel the work of darkness, with its deception and lies.

I also connected them to biblical theology:

Remembering our first parents in the Garden of Eden, Satan deceived Eve first by planting doubt into her mind as to the command of God not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Eve's response shows a misinterpretation of what God actually said. Satan then advanced by filling Eve's mind with doubt as to the truthfulness of what God had said. Satan denies God‘s statement. He represents God as a liar.

And applied that ancient deception to modern time:

From the story in Eden, we learned that Satan attacks God and His people by attacking the word of God. He tried to discredit, distort, misrepresent, or tell a direct lie to deceive the people of God. If successful, God's people would have lost their moral standard to distinguish right from wrong.

In today's moral climate, the word of God has already been replaced with the word of man based on human reason, experience, community, conscience, and the state. The Bible as the norm is dismissed as "outdated, ignorant, unreasonable, prejudicial, undemocratic, and impractical" (Greg Bahnsen).

The apostle Paul confirmed Bahnsen's observation, or it is more appropriate to say that Bahnsen got this conviction from the apostle Paul:

The apostle Paul spoke of a day of deception where "evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving, and being deceived" (2 Timothy 3:13). Such a description is also appropriate for our time. Lies and deception are widespread. People no longer believe in the Bible as the word of God. The only remedy to this evil is to continue in what we have learned in the holy scriptures (vs. 14-15), to study the Bible diligently.

And then to call the attention of the students to the chosen text, I asked them these two questions:

Why is it that the continuous study of the Bible is the only antidote to widespread deception? What are the qualities of the Bible that will equip you in exposing such deception?

From hereon, I will just cite my exposition of the text when I first delivered it.

All Scripture Can Make You Wise, (verses 14-15)

The kind of wisdom that the Bible provides is related to salvation and faith in Christ. The Bible does not give us knowledge of academic subjects like mathematics, physics, and engineering. That is not the purpose for which the Bible was given. It has something to do with our salvation and the way to obtain such salvation, which is by faith in Christ.

Since the Bible provides wisdom related to salvation and faith in Christ, this tells us that without this wisdom, man is lost. This further shows us that sin and eternal punishment are real. They are not just human inventions. We need to be saved from them through faith in Christ.

Unfortunately, due to the influence of humanism, there is a trend these days wanting to legislate that anyone who teaches children about the reality of sin and hell will be considered child abuse. Such an idea is dangerous simply because it denies the plain teaching of God's word. In a way, such a trend is saying that the Bible is full of lies. It is the same old tactic Satan made that deceived Eve.

The only remedy to fight such deception is to continually study the Bible. Continuous study of the Bible assumes that basic knowledge of it has already been laid down. It assumes that something has already been learned. It further assumes that the student of the Bible is already convinced of something. And such conviction is founded on the knowledge of the character of the teacher and a long history of familiarity with the Holy Scriptures—Paul said, "from infancy."

In our days, to be convinced of a biblical truth is considered arrogance. "Uncertainty" and "tentativeness" are the popular words of the day. "Certainty" and "conviction" are unforgivable. Perhaps what is allowed is the certainty that you are in doubt.

Popular deceptions today include the replacement of the Bible with church tradition and "new revelations." Another form of deception is in the name of scholarship, popularly known as "higher criticism." This form of critical scholarship actually started in the 17th century and gained popular recognition in the 19th and 20th centuries and is still creating destruction in the 21st century. Gary North describes the goal of higher criticism as disproving that the Bible is the revealed word of God. Instead, it teaches that the Bible is simply a fragmented "collection of misleading documents, deliberately revised and rewritten by 'redactors' and editors years or even centuries later than the texts initially appear to have been written. The Bible, in short, is a hoax." In other words, everything we believe about the Bible is a lie.

For so long, such a belief concerning the Bible has been common in academic circles. And I suspect that many evangelicals have already been infected by such deception. And whenever such deception has been embraced, the ruling opinion will be one of "inherently skeptical, doubt-filled, and relativistic."

Relativism is incapable of sustaining a civilization. It cannot be a foundation of any civilization. And so we are witnessing in our days the collapse of such humanistic ideas that began more than 300 years ago.

The question of Prophet Elijah applies to our time: "How long halt ye between two opinions? If the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him" (I Kings 18:21). To rephrase the question: "How long will our generation doubt the existence of God and His word? If God does not really exist and does not really speak, follow humanism. But if God does exist and speak, follow him."

As Christians, we cannot escape this question of ultimate sovereignty. To do so is equivalent to living in a fantasy world. In the real world, man's answer to that question will determine our future; we cannot avoid the consequences of the wrong answer to that question.

As Christians, we need to regain our faith in God's Word. And I agree with North that an important step in the recovery of such confidence is the acknowledgment that higher criticism is a hoax.

All Scripture is God-breathed, verse 16.

Before I explain the meaning of "God-breathed," remember that when Paul said that "every scripture is inspired by God," the New Testament was not yet completed at that time. Paul's direct reference was to the Old Testament scriptures and indirectly to the New Testament.

Now, the main point of the apostle Paul in saying that "All Scripture is God-breathed" is that he ascribes divine origin to the Bible. The idea is that the scriptures are “breathed out by God,” which means that the Scripture is a “product of the creative breath of God.”

This position has been the firm belief of the church since ancient times up to the present. Both Jesus and the New Testament writers believe that the Bible is a “divine book, created by divine energy, speaking with divine authority to the heart of the readers.” This doctrine is an important part of the life of the church and was proven through the official confessions produced in history. This doctrine is the foundation of the Christian mind and Christian life.

Benjamin B. Warfield, the American reformed theologian of Old Princeton, claimed that the inclination among modern scholars in their view of the Bible is to see “less of God’s truth and more of human errors.” These scholars agree to oppose a higher view of the inspiration of the Bible, ending with confused alternatives. It is true that much difficulty in believing Bible doctrines remains. However, denial of the truth that the Bible is a product of God's breath would result in far greater difficulty, for it would mean a denial of Christian heritage stored for many centuries to the peril of our souls.

The reformed position is that the Bible is not an ordinary book. It comes from God. It is the book where God speaks with authority. What we have with us in the Bible is a wonderful treasure and gift from God; we have in our possession the very words of God. Accepting this in faith results in many blessings in Christian life.

All Scripture is Useful, verses 16-17.

This time, our emphasis is on the usefulness of the Bible. The fact that the Bible comes from God guarantees its usefulness. The apostle Paul identifies that the Bible "is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness."

"For teaching"—Other translations say "for instruction." Here we understand that teaching is the primary use of the Bible, which will be the basis for other uses, particularly "rebuking" and "correcting." "Rebuking" is done when a child of God sways from the right path, and "correcting" follows by bringing him back to the right path. "Training in righteousness" means learning the rules in living a godly life.

The apostle Paul said that the goal of these "uses" of the Bible is "so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." Notice here that the usefulness and the equipping of the man of God depend on the totality of the Scriptures—"all." In other words, the whole Bible is sufficient to attain this goal. It therefore follows that those who subtract from the Bible or ignore its sufficiency assume that they are wiser than the Bible. This will have negative consequences.

Ignoring any portion of the Bible and cherry-picking the things we like will not achieve what God wants for us—to be thoroughly equipped for every good work. If we either ignore certain requirements laid down by the Lord in the Bible or add something to it, our instruction in righteousness will be incomplete. The apostle Paul says that every single scripture is useful.

The entire Bible is our moral standard today. Every part of it is the word of the eternal, unchanging God. Failure to follow all Scripture will result in a defective life. It is like measuring morality today with a broken measurement. No wonder people today find it hard to distinguish between right and wrong. What was considered wrong in the past is now considered "wise" and "broad-minded." And what was considered righteous in the past is now thought of as "judgmental" and "narrow-minded." And there are no illustrations more appropriate than the present moral issues surrounding abortion, same-sex marriage, homosexuality, and LGBT rights. Many Christians do not know where to stand on these issues. They just choose to keep silent. They don't want to take the word of God, providing the moral rule to measure current moral issues, either.

James tells us that if a person lives by and keeps every precept or teaching of God's law, and yet he or she disregards or violates it in one single point, that person is actually guilty of disobeying the whole (James 2:10). Therefore, we must take the whole Bible as our standard of morality, including every point of God's Old Testament law. Not one word that proceeds from God's mouth can be invalidated and made inoperative, even as the Lord declared with the giving of His law: "Whatever I command you, you shall be careful to do; you shall not add to nor take away from it" (Deut. 12:32). The entire Bible is our ethical standard today, from cover to cover. Our emphasis today should be on "Tota Scriptura," the total Scripture, all Scripture.

Conclusion:

The continuous and diligent study of the Bible is the only solution to widespread deception and lies in our days. The whole Bible can equip you for this task, for it is God-breathed and able to make you wise and useful.

Returning to John Murray, I would like to end this message with a quote from him showing his passion to see the students of Westminster Theological Seminary become diligent students of the Bible. Likewise, this is what I pray to see also among students of PTS. John Murray said:

But what I am going to stress is the necessity for diligent and persevering searching of the Scriptures: study whereby we shall turn and turn again the pages of Scripture; the study of prolonged thought and meditation by which our hearts and minds may become soaked with the truth of the Bible and by which the deepest springs of thought, feeling, and action may be stirred and directed; the study by which the Word of God will grip us, bind us, hold us, pull us, drive us, raise us from the dunghill, bring us down from our high conceits, and make us its bondservants in all of thought, life, and conduct” (Collected Writings of John Murray, Volume 1, 1976, p. 3).

Grace and peace!