tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21212024.post4185653634366442492..comments2024-03-10T10:40:32.319-07:00Comments on Pyromaniacs: How to Read ScripturePhil Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00649092052031518426noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21212024.post-41087813889132129182007-06-03T18:51:00.000-07:002007-06-03T18:51:00.000-07:00"...accepting it as God's truth, and so far unders..."...accepting it as God's truth, and so far understanding it as to delight in it."<BR/><BR/>I don't see how anyone can preach with power, or read with expectation, without believing the Bible is the inerrant Word. Nor take deep delight in it.James Scott Bellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07641370124346172648noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21212024.post-33814038590604327702007-06-03T18:06:00.000-07:002007-06-03T18:06:00.000-07:00It is to my shame that I stand guilty of the very ...It is to my shame that I stand guilty of the very thing Spurgeon is charging here. I far too easily read without reading. I far to quickly turn to commentary or other books rather than to the Scriptures.<BR/><BR/>God help us all to read and understand what he has given us.Darylhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01296029404229769941noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21212024.post-61691085328143892722007-06-03T14:17:00.000-07:002007-06-03T14:17:00.000-07:00"...Streams that run for a long distance above gro..."...Streams that run for a long distance above ground gradually gather for themselves somewhat of the soil through which they flow, and they lose the cool freshness with which they started from the spring head. Truth is sweetest where it breaks from the smitten Rock, for at its first gush it has lost none of its heavenliness and vitality."<BR/><BR/>Sheer poetry!<BR/><BR/>Getting at the kernel. For years before I was saved, I was entranced by the "historical Jesus" movement, which among other things reads Matthew, Mark, and Luke (and not so much John) and attempts to extract some kind of pseudo-historiographical synthesis between the three synoptic Gospels—a synthesis that is biased by its proponents into downplaying Christ's claims to his own divinity, his foretellings of the future, and so on. To this end, I was fascinated by the methodical analysis of the Synoptics into their component parts (sayings, stories, miracles, parables, Passion episodes, etc.), in the end totally missing the forest for the trees. I read Matthew, Mark, and Luke exactly in the way Spurgeon is describing--paying attention only to the letter, without true understanding. As for John, his was a message from another planet!<BR/><BR/>Well, praise the Lord that by his sovereign grace he saved me. The Holy Spirit has led me to go back and reread John, who reveals Christ's divinity in all its glory. Now I need to go back and reread the Synoptics with fresh eyes, to read the kernel of truth deep within them, to see Matthew's King of Kings, Mark's miraculous healer, and Luke's compassionate, all-loving Son of God for what they truly are--not merely a wise man and great moral teacher, but the Son made incarnate so that in his death and resurrection he could redeem his elect, all for the sake of the glorification of the Father.Stefan Ewinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05530690016594029847noreply@blogger.com