All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. II Timothy 3:16-17
Bible study. It is one of the most observed of Christian practices. From Sunday School and discipleship classes to small groups and personal experiences, believers spend a great amount of effort to study the Bible. That is, of course, a good thing. After all, as Timothy reminds us, the Bible is God-breathed which is another way of saying that it finds its origin with God. So it only makes sense that people who love God and want to follow Him will do their best to understand His written word.
However, there is a subtle danger in all this Bible study. It is assumed that if one studies the Bible, he or she will become increasingly more godly in their thinking and living. Sadly, this doesn’t always happen. As Paul reminds us in I Corinthians 8, knowledge, even Bible knowledge, can lead to conceit rather than a reflection of the loving care of God.
I’ve know such people over the years. They could quote Bible passages with amazing accuracy. They understood word meanings, the historical background and verb tenses in the Bible. They defended their understanding of biblical orthodoxy with a tenacity. But none of this translated into their being more and more like Christ. At times they came across as judgmental and know-it-alls. Most of those who knew them including their families found it difficult to relate with them in a meaningful way. In short, their heads were full of the Bible, but little of that knowledge had moved south into their hearts.
All of this causes me to wonder if we may need to turn this whole Bible study enterprise upside down. Instead of exclusively doing Bible study, maybe we need to start being Bible studied. In other words, we need to allow the Holy Spirit to use the truth of the Bible to study us and expose those areas in our lives that need transformation. Once exposed, we can then engage in spiritual practices that God will use to actually change us from the inside out.
I’m not suggesting that we stop doing Bible study in the ways we’ve always done it. We still need to rightly divide the word of truth. It’s just that we can’t stop there. As Timothy tells us, this God-breathed book has been given to us for the purpose of preparing us to be better and more Christ-like servants.