Diligence in Scripture Reading

Today at the men's prayer breakfast Elder Hector Pino led us in a devotion in which he challenged us as men, husbands, and/or fathers to consider the role of the Scriptures in our own lives. He challenged us to consider the level commitment that we have to the Word of God as Christian men.

As Reformed Presbyterians our fifth vow when joining the Church is that, "To the end that you may grow in the Christian life, do you promise that you will diligently read the Bible, engage in private prayer, keep the Lord’s Day, regularly attend the worship services, observe the appointed sacraments, and give to the Lord’s work as He shall prosper you?"

Diligently read our Bibles our vow says. We all struggle here, don't we? We all ebb and flow in the due diligence that the Word of God deserves in our lives. How can we improve in our Scripture reading and meditation on God's Word? Elder Pino gave us seven ways. These can be found complete with exposition in JC Ryle's Practical Religion:

1) Read the Bible with an earnest desire to understand it.

2) Read the Scriptures with a simple, childlike faith and humility.

3) Read the Word with a spirit of obedience and self-application.

4) Read the Holy Scriptures everyday.

5) Read the whole Bible and read it an orderly way.

6) Read the Word of God fairly and honestly.

7) Read the Bible with Christ constantly in view.

Sabbath a'Brakel: How Often Should I Read the Word?

The eunuch read while riding in his chariot (Acts 8:28). The Bereans searched the Scriptures daily (Acts 17:11). How everyone ought to practice this in private, prior to going to work, both by himself alone, and with his family! At noon when one nourishes his body, he ought also to nourish his soul. In the evening after work, one must end the day by seeking some refreshment from the Word of God. In the meantime, while engaged in his occupation, by meditating upon what has been read, the soul will maintain communion with God. He will be enabled to understand the spiritual meaning as well as to experience the power of God's Word. This will cause the soul to grow in grace, protect against vain thoughts, control the tongue, suppress corruptions, and direct man to fear God (I: 77).

2009: The Bible in One Year and Calvin's Institutes in One Year

One summer while I was in college a number of friends decided to read the Institutes together. I think that me and one young lady were the only ones to complete the work.

Since 2009 marks the 500th birthday of Calvin, I think it would be wise to read the Institutes. I am sure that a lot of people will be doing it and discussing the reading. Here is a link for how to read Calvin in a year.

And, of course, the reading of Scripture is extremely important. I always recommend the McCheyne reading plan for reading the Scriptures in one year. You have four readings a day- and at the end of the year you have read the Old Testament once, the New Testament twice, Psalms and Proverbs twice as well.

Enjoy! Let me know if you are planning on doing either!

Of the Public Reading of Scriptures

The past couple of weeks I have been researching the differences between the 1645 Westminster Directory for Public Worship against the 1945 and 2009 RPCNA Directories. The continuity is great and it illustrates that the RP Church was merely updating the Directory in their labors. Today I have spent time in 'The Public Reading of Scriptures'. Here is the 1645 directions for your edification:

Reading of the word in the congregation, being part of the public worship of God, (wherein .i.we; acknowledge our dependence upon him, and subjection to him,) and one mean sanctified by him for the edifying of his people, is to be performed by the pastors and teachers.

Howbeit, such as intend the ministry, may occasionally both read the word, and exercise their gift in preaching in the congregation, if allowed by the presbytery thereunto.

All the canonical books of the Old and New Testament (but none of those which are commonly called Apocrypha) shall be publickly read in the vulgar tongue, out of the best allowed translation, distinctly, that all may hear and understand.

How large a portion shall be read at once, is left to the wisdom of the minister; but it is convenient, that ordinarily one chapter of each Testament be read at every meeting; and sometimes more, where the chapters be short, or the coherence of matter requireth it.

It is requisite that all the canonical books be read over in order, that the people may be better acquainted with the whole body of the scriptures; and ordinarily, where the reading in either Testament endeth on one Lord's day, it is to begin the next.

We commend also the more frequent reading of such scriptures as he that readeth shall think best for edification of his hearers, as the book of Psalms, and such like.

When the minister who readeth shall judge it necessary to expound any part of what is read, let it not be done until the whole chapter or psalm be ended; and regard is always to be had unto the time, that neither preaching, nor other ordinances be straitened, or rendered tedious. Which rule is to be observed in all other public performances.

Beside publick reading of the holy scriptures, every person that can read, is to be exhorted to read the scriptures privately, (and all others that cannot read, if not disabled by age, or otherwise, are likewise to be exhorted to learn to read,) and to have a Bible.

The Sufferings of the Scapegoat

Leviticus 16:22 The goat shall bear all their iniquities on itself to a remote area, and he shall let the goat go free in the wilderness.

As the scapegoat was released into the wilderness to suffer and die, we can think of Jesus Christ being sent outside of the camp to suffer and die on behalf of his elect.


Follow the scapegoat, and see its doom. Is there not here a criminal led along? There is something that speaks of the Man of Sorrows, made sin for us. Is there not here a criminal led away to an unknown woe? There is something that speaks of one “made a curse for us”. Why is he left alone, defenseless, trembling, amid a wilderness? There is here enough to remind us of Jesus left to suffer without sympathy… The scapegoat’s solitary cry is re-echoed by the barren rocks, and the howling of beasts of prey terrifies it on all sides; the gloom of night settles down upon it and shrouds it in deeper terror. Perhaps too, it was not uncommon for Jehovah himself to direct His lightning’s stroke toward the victim, and to cause it to perish amid the tempest’s roar. Wounded by beasts of prey, from whom it has scarcely escaped, it is now stretched on the ground by a stroke from that thunder-cloud, its eye glaring with convulsive fear, and its piteous cries echoing through the dismal wilderness. Perhaps it was generally thus that the sin-bearing scapegoat died. ‘Lover and friend hast thou put far from me, and mine acquaintance into darkness’… That victim’s sufferings are my sufferings.

God's Word Will Take Tens of Thousands of Years to Mine

God wrote 66 short books and it will take the Church tens of thousands of years to speak to the glory of what was written. Think of John's words on how writing down the works of Christ would fill the earth with books. We serve a great God who has given us just what we need in His Word. Abraham Piper reminds us that:
If you compare the length of his complete works to the breadth of his subject matter, God’s the most concise author ever. (link)

Who Then Can Be Saved?

Jesus told his disciples that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. The disciples cried out, "who then can be saved?" The response is no one! No man can work to earn his salvation. But the sweet blood of Jesus Christ is more efficacious than all the work that a man can do. Thomas Watson, in his Treatise on the Holy Eucharist, comments:

If we had offered up millions of holocausts and sacrifices, if we had wept rivers of tears, this could never have appeased an angry Deity. Only Christ's blood ingratiates us into God's favor and makes Him look upon us with a smiling aspect. When Christ died, the veil of the temple was rent. This was not without a mystery, to show that through Christ's blood the veil of our sins is rent which interposed between God and us.

What Do You Think of This Book?

How much do we love the Word of God? How much do we conform our lives to the teaching of the Scriptures by faith? The Scriptures speak a lot of our attitude toward the Word of God and we must be faithful in loving the Scriptures as much as the Scriptures require of us!

O! How love I thy law, it is my meditation all the day!

How thankful we should be that we have the pure Word of God reliably translated into our Mother Tongue! To the multitudes of Jesus' day Christ said, Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, but to us He can exclaim: Ye may read what God hath said. This is a wondrous and inestimable privilege- purchased by the blood shedding of many of our forefathers- that the Holy Scriptures are no longer confined to the learned and the abbot of the monastery. They are accessible to the unlearned and the poor, everywhere in simple English. But such a privilege carries with it, my reader, a solemn responsibility. What use are we making of this precious treasure? Do we search it daily as did the noble Bareans? Are we nourishing our souls thereby? Is our conduct governed by its teaching? Is not, double guilt lies at our door. -Arthur Pink

The Sufficiency of Scripture in Sola Scriptura

I have finished a paper that I have been working on for 4 months on the doctrine of Sola Scriptura. This doctrine is abused in many ways, and has been since the time of the Reformation when the doctrine was fully developed (I say 'fully' because the doctrine is in the Scriptures as early as the Torah.). There are three ways that it is historically abused:

• A doctrine cannot be required to be believed that is not EXPLICITLY found in Scripture.
• Nothing can be done without the warrant of Scripture. (We can't sit in chairs during worship- where is that in the Bible?)
• Traditions and Creeds of the Church are not important because the Bible is all that matters.
  

This third abuse is discussed by Allister McGrath and he does a good job of showing that sola scriptura does not negate our traditions, as long as they are supported by the Word of God.

“A number of points bring out the importance of the sola scriptura principle. First, the Reformers insisted that the authority of the popes, counsels, and theologians is subordinate to that of Scripture. This is not necessarily to say that they have no authority… the Reformers allowed certain councils and theologians of the patristic era genuine authority in matters of doctrine. It is to say however, that such authority is derived from Scripture, and is thus subordinate to Scripture. Luther tends to defend the sola scriptura principle by emphasizing the confusion and incoherence of medieval theology, whereas Calvin and Melanchthon argue that the best catholic theology supports their view on the priority of Scripture.”

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Allister E. McGrath, Reformation Thought, (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1994), 145.