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After a Christian is saved, the very first thing he needs to do is read the Bible. Perhaps some brothers and sisters have been reading the Bible in a solid way, but others may not have read the Bible through even once. Therefore, we will speak concerning reading the Bible according to various principles, not from a superficial angle but from a very high perspective.
I believe that many people would answer without hesitation that the Bible is the word of God. However, not too many people have a deep understanding concerning what this means. Even those who have been saved for years may not have a thorough understanding concerning the Bible as the word of God. If we do not have such an understanding of the Bible within us, then we will not be deeply impressed by the Bible.
The word of a speaker represents his person. For example, when someone receives a letter from his father and reads it, he does not have the feeling that it is merely a letter from his father, something that is separate from his father; rather, he has the sense that reading his father’s letter is the same as seeing his father in person and that he is right in front of his father. This may be likened to reading a letter from the person that we love. When we read it, we sense that it is not just the words of our loved one, but it is as if we are meeting our loved one in person. Hence, words represent the speaker himself, and the word of God represents God Himself. Every time we read the Bible, we should have the sense that we are coming not only to the word of God but to God Himself. If we do this, we will be able to read the Bible in a proper way, and the truth we read in the Bible will shine in our inner being. If we take the Bible merely as a kind of teaching, the Bible will not be very profitable to us. Yet every time we read the Bible, if we sense that we are coming to God, this will help us to touch God Himself.
Some people may ask, “Do you have any scriptural basis for saying that the word of God is God Himself?” Yes, we do. John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Verse 14 mentions also that “the Word became flesh.” Then 6:63b says, “The words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.” If we link these three verses together, they will read: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God...And the Word became flesh...The words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.” From these verses we see that the Word of God is God Himself, God expressed, because when the hidden God became flesh, He came as the Word. God is expressed as the Word.
For example, if someone came to visit me at home and I refused to come out of my room, he would not be able to see me. However, if I came out but still remained silent, even though he could see me, he would still not be able to touch my person. It is not until I open my mouth to speak that my person really comes out. Once I begin to speak, I am “incarnated,” and people are able to touch me. We may use another illustration. Suppose I am really dissatisfied with Brother Tai. This is my inner feeling. Then one day Brother Liu comes to look for me. If I refuse to open the door, he will not be able to see me. Yet when I come out, if he asks me about my impression of Brother Tai and I remain silent, he will never know what my impression of Brother Tai is until the day that I tell him, “I am really disgusted with Brother Tai.” Once I speak this way, my words will represent my very person. Thus, the Word of God not only represents God Himself but the God who is expressed, not the God who hides Himself.
If in our daily life we met one of our friends but he would not open his mouth to speak to us, this would be troubling. If a couple had a good talk one night and the next morning the wife suddenly became silent, this also would be very troubling. The husband would have no way to know what happened within her until he gets her to speak. Once he does, the more she would speak, the more her being and what was happening within her would come out.
The Bible is the word of God, and the word of God is God Himself. The Gospel of John does not say that “God became flesh” but that “the Word became flesh.” The entire being of Jesus the Nazarene was the Word of God. If someone were to ask, “Who is the Lord Jesus?” we would tell him that the Lord Jesus is the incarnated God. However, the Bible says that the Word became flesh. The Word who was incarnated is the Lord Jesus; the Lord Jesus, as a whole, is the Word of God. He is the One who speaks forth God. Hence, He said, “The words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.”
It is not adequate to say that the Lord’s words are of spirit and of life, because actually the Lord’s words are spirit and are life. The entire being of Jesus the Nazarene was the Word of God, the Spirit, and life. God put Himself into His Word, and one day this Word became flesh. This One was Jesus the Nazarene. In this Jesus the Nazarene there was nothing except the Word of God. The Word of God is God Himself coming forth. The words that came out of Him are spirit and are life. John 1 tells us that the Word was God Himself. Then chapter 6 tells us that His words are spirit and are life. Since the Bible is the word of God, what does the Bible represent? The Bible represents God Himself. The Lord’s words are spirit and are life. Thus, when we read the Bible, we must realize that to know the Bible is to know the Word of God and that the Word of God is God Himself. God Himself, who is Spirit and the source of life, is represented by the Bible. Therefore, the words of the Bible are spirit and are life.
After we have such a realization concerning reading the Bible, we have to pay attention to our attitude. I am afraid that some brothers and sisters still do not have a thorough understanding concerning what our attitude should be in reading the Bible. A brother once told me of an experiment that he conducted. He placed both a chemistry book and a Bible on his desk. He then spent an hour reading the chemistry book and a second hour reading the Bible. In the end he discovered that according to his inner sense, there was a world of difference between these two books. After I heard this, I felt that even such a realization was not adequate. If we could ask the Chinese educator and philosopher, Hu Shih, about his feeling regarding studying a book on human history versus studying the Bible, he would say that he did not have any particular feeling. He would say that the two books are similar and are both written with Chinese characters. The book on human history has the word heaven, and the Bible also has the word heaven. The history book contains the word earth, and the Bible also contains such a word. The history book speaks of human history, and the Bible speaks of human history as well. He would conclude that these two books are both literary books. This would most likely be the feeling of Hu Shih, and it represents the feeling of non-Christians.
Suppose that today a child of God had a secular book in one hand and the Bible in the other. What would be his sense after having read these two books? In a normal condition, when God’s children come to the Word of God, they should have the feeling that they have touched God Himself. When we study chemistry, we touch chemistry; when we study human history, we touch human history. However, when we read the Bible, we should touch God. Hence, I hope that all of us who pursue God would learn this lesson: every time we read the Bible, we should touch God Himself.
For example, this morning someone came to me and told me many things. When he was finished, I had not only heard his words, but I also had touched his person. When a person speaks to us, we not only hear his words but also touch his person. There are many among us who have been saved for years and have read the Bible. However, when we read the Bible, do we touch only the words of the Bible, or do we touch the speaking God? This may be likened to what happens when a person tells us something. Do we have a sense only of his words or of the person who is speaking the words as well? Usually, we not only touch the person’s words, but we also touch the one who speaks the words. Although we definitely hear his speaking, the one who is speaking is also expressed in his speaking. When his words come forth, his person also comes forth. His word may not give us a very deep impression, but his person should. In the same way, when we read the Bible, we should have the sense that we are touching our lovely Savior. Therefore, every time we read the Bible, we have to exercise to meet God and to touch God.
Take myself as an example. Every time I read the Bible, as long as I contact the word of God, I sense that I have contacted God once again. For instance, even though I may be listening to a certain brother’s voice as he is speaking into a microphone, I can still get some impression of that brother and sense his particular flavor. Every time we come to the Bible, we should also sense God’s “flavor.” We should sense that we have come before God. Those who sense that they have touched God when they come to the Bible seldom come to the Bible as if it were a school textbook, thinking that studying the Bible is similar to studying chemistry or mathematics. It is not so. We must see that as the word of God, the Bible is God Himself coming forth. When we touch the word of God, we touch God.
Our attitude when reading the Bible should be similar to the attitude one has when eating breakfast. When we eat breakfast, we do not first analyze which food contains a lot of vitamin A, which food has much vitamin B, how many carbohydrates are in the rice and in the buns, and then determine what to eat first and what to eat next. We do not do this. We have an empty stomach, so we just eat, not paying attention to what contains vitamins or carbohydrates. We simply eat. We do not use our mind; rather, we use our mouth and stomach. Since we know that the Bible is the word of God, the expression of God Himself, and our spiritual food, what should our attitude be when we come to the Bible? Jeremiah 15:16 says, “Your words were found and I ate them.” Hence, our attitude toward coming to the Bible should be that we are eating.
Since we should have the attitude that we are eating when we read the Bible, one might ask, “How can we ‘eat’ the Bible?” Many people have this question. We have to see that the word of God is God Himself and that when God’s words come forth, they are spirit and life. Hence, in order to deal with God’s word in a proper way and to eat God’s word, we must exercise our spirit. We must deal with the word of God by our spirit, not by our mind. We have to read the Bible, contact the word of God, and eat the word of God with our spirit, not merely with our mind. However, what does it mean to read the Bible with our spirit? This is not easy to comprehend. Some people say that to read with our spirit is to read with our inner man, but what does it mean to read with our inner man? Some people may say that this means not to analyze with our mind. We have to spend some time to look into this matter.
When I was young, I studied in a Christian school that promoted the practice of memorizing the Scriptures. At that time I did not know anything except to memorize. This is to read the Bible with the mind. Later, when I was around twenty years old, I opened Matthew 1 and read it again. When I came to Abraham, I studied to find out who Abraham was. Whereas formerly I had used my mind to memorize when reading the Bible, now I used my mind to reason when reading it. However, what does it really mean to read the Bible with our spirit? We all know that the Bible is the word of God and that the Word of God represents God Himself. Every time we come to the Word of God, we should sense that we are touching God. Since we know that God is Spirit (John 4:24) and that we cannot contact Him with our mind, when we come to God, we should say, “O God, I love You. I come to read the Bible; I come to read Your word.” Then perhaps when we open the Gospel of Matthew and come to Abraham, we may ask the Lord, “Who is Abraham?” We may come across many things that we do not understand, but it does not matter if our mind does not understand. Inwardly, we will still have the feeling that we have taken a sunbath or that we have been washed with water. Our entire inner being will be refreshed and soothed.
Perhaps some people have had this kind of experience, but others have not. As for myself, I have had many experiences like this. In the past when I read the Old Testament, in my mind I often could not understand, but the feeling in my spirit was that I had been washed in the word of God. These experiences were very fresh and soothing. Although I may not have understood the Word, still after I read it, my inner being was refreshed. For example, one time I read Daniel 11 and was puzzled concerning the king of the south and the king of the north. Nevertheless, since I had the right attitude—that the word I was reading was the speaking of my beloved Lord—my whole being was brought into the shining of His face, and I felt washed once again. Such a feeling was very fresh, very soothing, and very much a result of fellowship with the Lord. I did not know anything about the king of the south or the king of the north, but deep within my being I felt like I was bathing in God Himself. If we read the Bible in this way, we will sense God’s “flavor.”
Normally, every saved one should have this kind of experience. Reading the Bible in this way does not mean that we will not retain anything in our memory. For example, when we read Matthew 1, although we may not understand verses 1 through 17, later when we read verse 21, “You shall call His name Jesus, for it is He who will save His people from their sins,” we will understand. We do not read merely with our spirit, but we read with our entire being. We also pray and meditate. After we read the Bible, we will be very much strengthened and refreshed. This may be likened to washing our face with water every morning. When we Christians rise up early in the morning, we should “wash our face” once again in the spirit. With what do we wash our face? We wash our face with the word. The word is the “water,” and prayer is the “washcloth.” Normally, we wash our face every morning; it would be hard to do this without soap or a washcloth, but it would be even more difficult to do it without any water.
Many times when a person reads the Word, he may not remember very much, but his spirit is still refreshed by the washing of the word. Some people say with regret, “After reading the Bible, I forget what I read. What shall I do?” Actually, this is not a problem. Every morning we wash our face, but who can remember the water that we washed our face with? We definitely cannot remember. But it does not matter. Although we may forget the water that we washed our face with, our face was nevertheless washed. Moreover, we do not necessarily forget everything we read. There are two kinds of forgetting. In one kind of forgetting, you read the Bible without exercising your spirit, and afterward, you forget what you read. This is very poor. Another kind of forgetting is that you read it with your spirit, and afterward, you forget. This is not a problem. Every day we should simply exercise our spirit to read the Bible before God and bathe in the shining of His face.
Regrettably, among God’s children it is rare to find one out of ten who reads the Bible in such a way. This kind of reading is the wise way. Regardless of how much you understand or comprehend, the most important thing is that you touch God in His word. Although we do not know how to describe what has happened, our spirit truly touches God and the Spirit of God. This is the meaning of taking the word of God as food. It does not matter if we forget what we read. Of course, the things that we learned in our youth are not easy to forget, but when we grow older, we become more forgetful. Twenty years ago when I first began to serve the Lord, two weeks after I released a message, I was still able to recite the entire message to people. But now I cannot even remember the title of the message that I shared on the last Lord’s Day. Therefore, we have to study the Bible while we are young.
Concerning the method of studying the Bible, we have heard a lot already. In brief, in order to study the Bible properly we first need to have the right feeling. Next, we need to have the right attitude. Then we also need to have the right method—memorizing and exploring the Word with our mind. In studying the Bible, we cannot totally annul the function of our mind. It would be good if we could memorize at least a few verses. Even though we may not be able to memorize the entire Bible verse by verse, it is still good to memorize the general idea of each chapter. For example, the first section of Matthew 1, from verse 1 through 17, is on Christ’s genealogy. The following section is on the birth of the Lord. Chapter 2 is about the worship rendered by the Gentile magi and the Lord’s fleeing to Egypt. Then chapter 3 mentions the baptism by John. These are the main facts that are worthy of our memorizing and understanding. When we read the Bible, we should use our mind to memorize, understand, and look for the facts; we should not merely read the empty letters.
For example, when we read Matthew 1, we should not just read the letter; rather, we have to find out all the facts in that chapter. When we read Romans 6, we have to know that this chapter is about our co-death, co-burial, and co-resurrection with Christ. Sometimes I ask the brothers which book of the Bible they are most familiar with. After asking a few brothers, no one dares answer my question any more. Even when a brother mentions a book, when I ask him about the main points of that book, he is not able to answer me. This shows us that in our study of the Bible, in addition to exercising our spirit, we have to use our mind to memorize. Once we have memorized the Word, it will be easier for us to understand. Then we also have to spend time to search for the facts. Some people seem to know the Bible sentence by sentence and verse by verse, but when all these sentences and verses are combined together, they do not know what it is all about. Let us use the book of Romans as an example. Chapter 1 speaks about the sins of the Gentiles. Chapter 2 speaks about the sins of the Jews. Chapter 3 speaks about the sins of mankind. Chapter 4 concerns justification by faith. Chapter 5 talks about being in Adam. Chapter 6 speaks about being in Christ. Chapter 7 is on being in the flesh. Chapter 8 is on being in the Holy Spirit. Chapters 9 through 11 cover God’s selection and mercy. Chapter 12 deals with consecration. Chapters 13 through 15 cover the living of consecration, and chapter 16 covers the arrangement of some small matters. If we learn all these main points in the book of Romans, the Bible will be very beneficial to us.
I hope we all can see that in reading the Bible we need to find the facts in each chapter. If we can grasp these points concerning having the proper attitude in reading the Bible, we will be able to read the Bible well. We need to have the right feeling and the right attitude, and then we need to find out the facts contained in the Bible. As to how much we should read, we all know that normally if we read one chapter of the New Testament and three chapters of the Old Testament each day, we will be able to read through the Bible once a year. During vacation from work or school, it is best to study a particular book of the New Testament, or sometimes we may also study a specific subject.
Prophecies and types are the most difficult matters in the Bible to study. Regarding prophecies and types that are hard to understand, we should not force ourselves to try to expound them. When the prophecy is spoken in plain words, we should understand it according to the plain words. For example, Isaiah says, “The virgin will conceive and will bear a son, and she will call his name Immanuel” (7:14b). We have to interpret this verse literally. As for all the types in the Old Testament, we have to understand them by the explanation of the New Testament and not by our intellect. For instance, the Old Testament refers to the lamb, and in the New Testament John says, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29b). Thus, we can know whom the lamb refers to. Furthermore, the Old Testament refers to the bronze serpent (Num. 21:9), and in John 3 the Lord said, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up” (v. 14). By this we know that the bronze serpent actually denotes the Lord.
To understand parables we need to study the entire Bible. For example, to understand the parable of the virgins and the oil (Matt. 25:1-13), we first must be familiar with the whole Bible. If we are, we will be able to realize that the virgins denote Christians, and the oil signifies the Holy Spirit. These are the principles to follow in our study of the prophecies and parables. We must interpret prophecies literally, interpret types with the words of the New Testament, and interpret parables with the entire Bible.
