By Olatokunbo Odunuga
It is high time we recognize the need to continuously pray a very valid and timely prayer to the effect of being inspired with passion for Bible Study and a disposition towards extensive biblical scholarship.
We are in an essentially shallow generation where interestingly many regard any effort towards extensive studies as an enhancement of head knowledge. The term ” letter killeth” is often misunderstood to mean that scholarship has negative spiritual implications. Whereas letter that kills as mentioned in 2 Corinthians 3: 6 is about the legal codes of the Law on tablets of stones, which only put demands on men but does not supply life and thus kills because of man’s impotence to fulfil the requirements of the law as against the New Testament Law of the Spirit of life engraved on the hearts of believers.
Watchman Nee expressed that the only person to have ever lived out Matthew Chapters 5 to 7 was Jesus Christ because Kingdom principles can only be lived by the Spirit, not by natural exertion.
Different interpretations
Why do we have divergent, say up to six or more interpretations by scholars and teachers on the same text, which over the years had evolved denominationalism? Logic tells us that only one can be correct, and the others must be partial truth or outrightly wrong.
I perceive the reason may partly be attributed to provincialism and narrowness in the place of study. For instance, the four diverse viewpoints on Eschatology is a matter that I expect our foremost scholars ought to have resolved long ago, if not centuries ago.
The various denominations aligning with Dispensational Premillennialism, Historical Premillennialism, Post Millennialism, or Amillenialism cannot all be simultaneously correct Yet all claims to be led by the same Holy Spirit!
Generally, an average believer sincerely desires to appropriate what he reads in scriptures. But many would not endeavor to verify if the particular verse in that particular Bible version is in tandem with the mood, content and context of the totality of scriptures.
Command ye me, binding and losing, decreeing and declaring
An example is Isaiah 45: 11, with the “Command Ye Me……” in KJV that I have once discussed extensively. Now let us consider “Whatever You Bind On Earth Will Be Bound In Heaven…… “; Other versions state, “Whatever You Bind On Earth Must Be What Is Already Bound In Heaven…..”. I align with these latter versions.
How would one bind what had not already been bound in Heaven by God in His sovereignty. Otherwise, there will be utter chaos and confusion in the universe when everyone is binding at will according to individual desire! Hence the new “craze” of declaring and decreeing.
In Genesis 1:1, KJV reads, “In The Beginning, God Created The Heaven (singular)…..”NKJV and several others read, “In The Beginning God Created The Heavens (plural)…..”. Come to think of it, if Heaven should be singular, how come Paul spoke of third Heaven, and the Bible itself made mention of Heaven of heavens. How would someone with only one version of the bible encounter these variables and be able to ponder or meditate on them accurately?
Scholars
Now can such anomalies above easily escape the observation of someone like saintly Adam Clarke or Robert Dick Wilson, who read his Bible not just in diverse versions but in nine different languages. Scholars who were perfectly at home in over 40 semitic languages! Such were men who indeed studied to show themselves “approved unto God….. rightly dividing the word of truth.
“We should grow steadily beyond the level of typing Amen on Facebook in response to casual, carnal, selfish prayers and typing ‘ I receive it ‘ to shallow “prophetic” declarations that are not essentially scriptural.
After about 34 years of unparalleled anointed ministry, chained in stocks in an underground prison at Philippi, Paul was still calling for his books and his parchments, the pre-canon hand-written scriptures-[2 Timothy 4: 13]. If Paul was like many of us in this generation and not a scholar per excellence, Governor Festus would not have cried out as highlighted below in Acts 26 :24. To drive home the vividness and the intensity of the alarm of Festus, I will highlight it in diverse instructive versions.
¶ “Paul, thou art mad. Much scholarship is driving thee into madness” (ACV),
¶ “Paul, you are crazy. All your education is driving you insane!” (AUTNT),
¶ “Paul, you are off your head; your great learning has made you unbalanced” (BBE),
¶ “You are mad, Paul! Much scripture is deranging you to madness” (CLV),
¶ “Paul, you’re crazy! Too much education is driving you mad” (GW),
¶ “Paul, you’re crazy! You have read too many books, spent too much time staring off into space” (MSG),
¶ “You are mad, Paul! Your higher learning is driving you into madness” (CAB).
The inauguration of the School of Tyrannus by Paul for two years intensive training in scripture supports and justifies the need for biblical scholarship [Acts 19: 9].
It required someone of the pedigree of Paul to diffuse the vain intellectualism of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers, who were poised to make a mockery of the gospel [Acts 17: 18-20]. If deep learning is considered unspiritual, why Colossians 3: 16a, 2 Timothy 2: 15, Jeremiah 15: 16, Job 23: 12, Joshua 1: 8 etc Why Sunday Schools and Bible Colleges at all in the first place?
This same man, Paul, 4′ 11″ tall, every inch spiritual in a maximum security prison, wrote a letter requesting for his parchment and books.
Whereas many of us in our cosy air-conditioned rooms and offices, even possibly some who lay claim to “full-time” ministry without secular entanglement still tie ‘towels’ around the waists as at 11 am with TV remote controls in the hand watching Chelsea versus Arsenal Football Clubs Competitions.
John Bois was regularly in his study from 4am to 8pm; that was 16 hours daily! My God!. While in jail, William Tyndale, the greatly persecuted Bible Translator and Reformer of the 16th Century, made a special request for his Hebrew Bible, Hebrew Dictionary and Hebrew Grammar to facilitate his studies.
Discard shallowness
It is desirable that this present generation should discard and elope from shallowness and mediocrity in order to embrace being people of the Spirit and of the Word.
Moses wrote five large books of 187 chapters and Psalm 90 in the Old Testament, while Paul wrote 13 (14) books of 87 (100 ) chapters in the New Testament. Both were the greatest scholars in the two dispensations. They utilized their God-given gifts and talents under inspiration to bless humanity.
Wrong teachings and apologetics
Since the first century until the present time, especially during the period of the Dark Ages, wrong teachings and malpractices have consistently erupted and were contended with. Apologetics, i.e., defense of the Church from the inflow of errors and heresies from without and Polemics, i.e… defense of the church from internal doctrinal errors, etc. originated from the apostolic era.
A close study will show that parts of 1 John 4, 1 John 5, and Revelation 2: 6, 15 were Apologetics and Polemics by Apostle John contending with the deceptive doctrines of Docetism, Gnosticism, Cerinthianism, and the Nicolaitians of his time. In the same vein in the book of Acts, as mentioned earlier, Paul contended with Epicureanism (philosophy of materialism) and Stoicism (philosophy of pantheism).
The church fathers, too, were also not inert in contending with apologetic and polemical issues in their days. That was where Adamantius Origen, Clement of Alexandria, John Chrysostom, St. Augustine of Hippo, Thomas Aquinas, Tertullian, St. Ignatius, etc. “rolled up their sleeves” to uphold the truth of the gospel.
One does not metamorphose into being an apologist by mere wish. It places heavy demands on one’s time, energy, and consecration, especially in the noble discipline and practice of extensive study. It is not a field for men- pleasers, busy bodies, or people seeking or lobbying for merited or unmerited considerations or favours from their institutional churches.
To be candid, I have listened to sincere and genuine preachers with great anointing that one may virtually see ‘oil’ oozing from their foreheads, but sometimes their messages are based and centered on obviously mistranslated scriptures.
I highlighted a few of them in paragraph 6 of my previous published book, KJV-NIV Controversy. That is why I would rather study Bible versions whose translations are closely faithful to the original Autograph and for God to reveal and bless therefrom.
John Wesley warned the early Methodist ministers to study hard or get out of the ministry. Many may not be familiar with Dwight L. Moody, the evangelist who was reputed to have placed each foot on two continents – America and Europe – and shook both for Christ.
He was the one who established the very first-ever Bible School, i.e., Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, Illinois, in 1886. Even though many of the Christians who affected their generation’s post- apostolic periods were essentially Bible scholars, there were and still are rooms for the pedigree of humble “fishermen.”
Bible scholars
With regards to the origin of Bible colleges and seminaries, some are of the opinion that there was a seminary in the days of Samuel and Elisha but I have some reservations about that because those men were called “sons of prophets” and “company of prophets”. It doesn’t seem they had test-books and handouts; no Bibles, not even the Torah, which individuals couldn’t afford personally. Printing came into existence later in the 15th century A.D.
Through the generations, there had been men of the Spirit, of the Word, and of character (living epistles). They were focused with flint- like consecration, not pre-occupied with seed-faith or other peripheral ephemeral “sowing seed” dynamics as the contemporary tele- evangelists, with their earthbound messages laced with materialism.
I will conclude by repeating the statement by Dr. Myles Munroe spoken to an audience I was part of over a decade ago. He said if one is anointed and is not studying deeply as it ought to be, such people would only have acquired anointed ignorance!