The bible - Chambers, Oswald
The word is jesus himself ( john 1:1), therefore we must have an experimental knowledge of him before we understand the literal words of the bible.
The danger to-day is that people are being nour- ished not with the bible so much as with conceptions which ignore jesus christ.
Bible facts are either revelation facts or nonsense. It depends on me which they are to me.
God does not thunder his truth into our ears, our attitude of mind must be submissive to revela- tion facts. Each one of us brings certain prejudices, civilised pre-judgements, which greatly hinder our understanding of revelation facts.
Our attitude to the bible is a stupid one; we come to the bible for proof of gods existence, but the bible has no meaning for us until we know god does exist. The bible states and affirms facts for the benefit of those who believe in god; those who dont believe in god can tear it to bits if they choose.
People can dispute the words of the bible as they like, but get a soul in whom the craving for god has come, and the words of the bible create the new life in him. . . . Being born again, . . . By the word of god (1 peter 1:23).
If we understood what happens when we use the word of god, we would use it oftener. The disable- ment of the devils power by means of the word of god conveyed through the lips of a servant of his, is inconceivable.
The main characteristic which is the proof of the indwelling spirit is an amazing tenderness in per- sonal dealing, and a blazing truthfulness with regard to gods word.
There is no true illumination apart from the writ- ten word. Spiritual impressions generated from my own experience are of no importance, and if i pay attention to them i will pay no attention to the words of jesus.
The test of gods truth is that it fits you exactly; if it does not, question whether it is his truth.
Beware of bartering the word of god for
A more suitable conception of your own.
Every impulse must wed itself to the express state- ments of the bible, otherwise they will lead astray. The thing to ask yourself is, does the bible say it? Not, i dont think that is a good view of god.
Profoundly speaking, it is not sufficient to say, because god says it, or, because the bible says it, unless you are talking to people who know god and know the bible to be his word. If you appeal from the authority of god or of the bible to a man not born again, he will pay no attention to you because he does not stand on the same platform. You have to find a provisional platform on which he can stand with you, and in the majority of cases you will find that the platform is that of moral worth. If jesus christ is proved worthy on the plane men are on, they will be ready to put him as the most worthy one, and all the rest will follow.
Whenever human nature gets driven to the end of things the bible is the only book, and god the only being, in the world. The reason some of us are not healthy spiritually is because we dont use the bible as the word of god but only as a text-book.
Beware of making a fetish of a word god once spoke to you; if you stick to the word god spoke you will leave him, and the result is harshness and stagnation, a refusal to budge from the precedent you have established.
Watch every time the word of god is made a sacrament to you through someone else, it will make you re-tune your ears to his word. There are saints who are being rattled out of holi- ness by fussy work for god, whereas one five minutes of brooding on gods truth would do more good than all their work of fuss. It is what the bible imparts to us that is of value. The bible does not thrill, the bible nourishes. Give time to the reading of the bible and the rec- reating effect is as real as that of fresh air physically. If i have disobeyed, the word of god is dried up, there is no open vision. Immediately i obey the word is poured in. To read the bible according to gods providential order in your circumstances is the only way to read it, viz. , in the blood and passion of personal life. The statements of scripture apart from the holy spirits illumination are dull; it needs no spiritual insight to regard jesus christ as a man who lived beyond his time, but when i am born again i have insight into the person of jesus, an insight that comes through communion with god by means of the bible. Beware of interpreting scripture in order to make it suit a pre-arranged doctrine of your own. Exegesis is not torturing a text to agree with a theory of my own, but leading out its meaning.
Beware of reasoning about gods word, obey it.
An absurd thing to say isgive me a text to prove it. You cannot give a text to prove any one of gods revelations, you can only give a text to prove your simplification of those revelations. A text-proof is generally used to bolster up a personal spiritual affinity of my own.
We are to be servants and handmaids of the gos- pel, not devotees of the bible, then god can make us living mediums whereby his word becomes a sacra- ment to others.