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In the previous chapters we pointed out that the kind of person we are determines the kind of Bible we have. In this chapter we will see that the way we read the Bible also determines the kind of Bible we have. The Bible is a comprehensive, all-inclusive book that God has placed among man, and He has used this book to reveal Himself with His intention, plan, and eternal purpose. Thus, when we read the Bible, we must ask not only what kind of person we are but also what we pay attention to and how we read. Although the Bible remains the same, because the readers, their purpose, and their ways of reading differ, the outcome of their reading also differs.
The way that we read the Bible is based on our purpose in reading it. Thus, we need to ask ourselves why we are reading the Bible. Are we reading in order to understand the Bible or in order to eat, drink, and enjoy the Lord through His Word? Once we answer this question, it will be easy to determine how we should read the Bible. If our purpose in reading the Bible is to understand it, we will spontaneously read it by studying it. However, if our purpose in reading the Bible is to enjoy and absorb God, we will automatically take the way of absorbing God’s fatness from what we comprehend of the Word as we read it.
The difference between these two ways of reading is exceedingly great. Throughout the ages many people, both Catholics and Protestants, have spent much time reading the Bible. However, few gained genuine spiritual help through their reading, because they had no concept of enjoying God through the Bible. They desired only to know and understand the Bible; they had no desire to enjoy God Himself through their reading. If we wish to learn how to read the Bible, we must have a strong seeing of the basic principle of enjoying God.
In the past I met with a group of believers who paid much attention to reading the Word, and I listened to their messages for many years. Every week I listened to five messages, and not one word spoken in each of the messages was idle or casual; each sentence was based on the Bible. These believers were familiar with the Word and were competent in preaching. I once met an elderly brother among them who spoke only on Romans 1:1. Each Lord’s Day morning he would speak a message on Romans 1:1 based on and about the Bible. Even though these believers were familiar with the Bible, they did not see much of what it speaks concerning God coming to be man’s life. They read the Bible in an orthodox, well-disciplined manner, yet their reading and preaching of the Word were focused mainly on the letter and knowledge; thus, there was little supply of life. That older brother could speak on Romans 1:1 for two or three years mainly because he took the Bible in the way of knowledge. For instance, in the matter of Paul being a slave of Christ Jesus, he could speak about all the instances where slaves are mentioned in the Bible, and the word slave alone could be discussed for a few months. Although he was scriptural, he was completely focused on Bible knowledge. Actually, one could say that he was in the realm of dead letters (2 Cor. 3:6).
We should not consider that reading the Bible is always beneficial. We must ask ourselves what kind of persons we want to become by our reading. Of course, the best answer to that question is that we want to become those who enjoy and absorb God, those who genuinely gain God by eating Him so that He enters into us as life. The Bible is a revelation of God coming to be man’s food and man’s life. In other words, God desires to be man’s food and man’s life, and the revelation, the explanation, of this reality is the Bible. Thus, reading the Scriptures is not for seeking knowledge, nor is it merely to gain teachings or spiritual guidance; the real benefit of reading the Bible is to gain the supply of life.
In John 5:39 and 40 the Lord Jesus said, “You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is these that testify concerning Me. Yet you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.” This word indicates that in the Lord’s eyes, everyone who reads the Scriptures should do so in order to gain eternal life. Moreover, merely reading the Bible is not sufficient for us to gain eternal life; we must also come to the Lord.
As indicated earlier, our way of reading the Word matches our purpose in reading it. Since there are two main purposes for reading the Word—to acquire knowledge or to enjoy God—there are two main ways to read the Word. The first is the way of knowledge and letters, and the second is the way of life and the spirit. If we consider knowledge and doctrine to be important, we will naturally choose the first way of reading and will use our mind to study doctrines in order to understand the Bible. However, if we seek to be spiritual and desire to gain the supply of life, we will spontaneously choose the second way of reading and will use our spirit to contact the Bible and absorb the fatness therein.
These two ways of reading the Bible will produce two different results. The way of knowledge and letters will make the Bible a book of letters to us, and the way of life and the spirit will make the Bible spirit and life in our experience (John 6:63). Thus, the Bible can be to us a book either of letters or of spirit.
Whether the Bible is letters or spirit depends on how we read it. In other words, whether it is letters or spirit depends not on the book but on us. If we use our mind and depend on our reasoning when we read the Bible, it will be letters to us. However, if we contact the Bible with our spirit, the words in it will be spirit and life to us. The difference between these two outcomes is great. Second Corinthians 3:6 says, “The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” Since the letter kills, if the Bible is letter to us, it will cause us to die spiritually. Only when the Word is spirit and life to us can we be made living, because only the Spirit gives life and makes us living.
The Bible is God’s word, which enables man to obtain God’s life and the nourishment of that life. However, people often read the Bible without receiving life; to such people, the Bible is merely dead letters. This indicates that the words in the Bible by themselves are not spirit and life; only when we contact these words with our spirit do they become spirit and life to us. In other words, if we are not in our spirit and do not use our spirit to contact the Bible, it will become a book of letters, no different from any other book. Hence, we must learn to return to our spirit when we contact the Bible so that it may become spirit and life in our spirit.
We do not encourage the way of reading the Bible that focuses on knowledge and letter only. That way enables man only to understand a few doctrines and accumulate some knowledge in his mind; it does not give him life or life supply or cause him to grow spiritually before God. Man should not merely study food but take food into himself and absorb its nutrients. For instance, a slice of watermelon or a piece of chicken intended as food should be eaten, not studied. If we merely study the watermelon or the chicken without eating it, even though we may understand its content in our mind after a long time of studying, our stomach will remain empty, and we will remain hungry.
In traditional Christianity today there are many commentaries and expositions of the Bible. On the books of Daniel and Revelation alone we can find several hundred different commentaries. Regrettably, because of the general condition of death in traditional Christianity, many of these expositions and commentaries on the Bible do not give life to man.
How we read the Bible is crucial; if our way is incorrect, the result may not only be worthless but also harmful. For the sake of the church and the future of our service, I entreat the brothers and sisters who take the lead in the services of the church to bear the responsibility to not merely use the letter and knowledge in the Bible to teach the saints but to lead the brothers and sisters to take the way of life when they read the Word.
Based on our observation and comparison, we believe that the best way to read the Word is the way of life, because this way is useful, practical, and living, and it gives God’s children the most benefit. Only this way of reading is beneficial and without harm. We must lead God’s children to come to God’s Word in a simple and pure way and to use their spirit and heart to read the Bible so that they may breathe in the Lord whom they love and absorb the fatness of God through the Word. Only by taking this way of reading the Bible can we enjoy God.
Reading the Bible is not mainly for study, understanding, gaining knowledge, receiving teachings, or obtaining commandments. Reading the Bible is for us to absorb God Himself. Since the Bible is the revelation of God, the One who is our food, if we absorb Him through the Bible and daily receive the nourishment of life, we will eventually understand the Bible. Although our intention may not be to understand the Bible but to absorb God’s fatness, the Bible will eventually be opened and illumined within us in such a way that we spontaneously understand it. That kind of understanding is not mere knowledge in the mind; it is the light of the truth.
We should introduce reading in the way of life to the brothers and sisters everywhere so that they will clearly see how much we need to use our spirit and not merely our mind when we read the Bible. The main purpose of our reading the Word is not to seek teachings, study doctrines, or receive commands; our purpose in reading is to take the Word as the revelation, expression, and breathing out of God Himself. When we read the Bible, we are contacting God; thus, we must exercise our spirit in order to properly receive Him. In our leading of the saints into taking the way of life when they read the Bible, this point—the use of our spirit to contact the Bible—is a crucial point that must be presented clearly. Throughout history only a few believers have been able to escape from studying the Bible with their mind. These few who genuinely received the Lord’s shining and enlightenment ultimately realized that their former way of reading the Word was a waste of time. They sensed deep within that reading the Word is as simple as eating food; it requires one not to study but to eat.
Those who have genuinely experienced life in their reading of the Word realize that the Bible is easy to read. Everyone, whether he is intelligent or foolish, can read the Word in the way of life and receive the nourishment of life. In this sense we can confidently say that we do not need to study doctrines, dig out teachings, or even deliberately seek to receive light; we do not need to exert this kind of effort. Rather, every time we read God’s Word, we must bring our entire being quietly before the Lord and use our spirit to contact the Word, realizing that it is His utterance. Only in this way will every chapter in the Bible contain the fatness and rich supply, the butter and the honey, and become the bread of life that satisfies us.
When we use our spirit to contact the Bible, we will spontaneously realize that the speaking in the Bible can be divided into two main categories: one category concerns life, and the other concerns living. Life determines living, and every life has a living. If we consider the Bible carefully, especially the Epistles in the New Testament, we will see that the Holy Spirit emphasizes the matters of life and living. The Holy Spirit reveals how God in His Son as the Spirit is in us to be our life, and it also reveals the kind of living we will have before God when this life has the ground and freedom to grow within us.
These two main categories of speaking in the Bible are broad. For instance, the Bible speaks many things concerning God that may be considered as being in the category of life. Items such as God’s creation, His upholding of all things, His arranging of our environment, His providing for all our needs, and His performing miracles on us or His healing of our bodies are items concerning God that may be placed in the category of life.
We may illustrate the extensiveness of the two categories of speaking in the Bible as follows: In order to provide a meal for the co-workers in a house designated for that purpose, we had to accomplish many things. We had to purchase a plot of land, find an architect to design the building, and find workers to build the house, set up the plumbing, and install electricity. We also had to purchase kitchen utensils, find a cook, purchase groceries from the market, and then cook the groceries in the kitchen. Only after we had completed all the prior steps were we able to provide a table full of food. In order to provide a meal for the co-workers, we did many things, from purchasing the land to placing dishes of food before the co-workers. Likewise, so that man may enjoy Him as life, God does many things, from His creation of the heavens and the earth to the point when man receives Him as life. In essence, everything that God does is related to life.
God’s sending His Son to shed His blood in order to accomplish redemption for us is also related to life. Without God’s Son shedding His blood, the tree of life would remain guarded by the cherubim and the flaming sword that turned in every direction, and thus the way to contact the tree of life would remain closed (Gen. 3:24). It is the blood of the Son of God that has opened for us a new and living way so that we may enter the Holy of Holies with boldness to contact God (Heb. 10:19-20). This means that we can contact the tree of life, eat its fruit, and enjoy all that God is as our life supply (Rev. 22:14). This also indicates that everything that God does for us belongs to the speaking in the category of life.
When we contact and enjoy God, He enters into us to be our life. Since God as life is living, this life has functions and actions. When we absorb and enjoy this life, it operates within us so that we spontaneously have all the matters related to our living before God. Everything that relates to our walk and work belongs to the second category of speaking in the Bible, which concerns living.
Whenever we read the Bible, we should have the attitude that we are contacting God and receiving Him as life. No matter what book or chapter we are reading, we should desire to know Him and what He has done for us to give Himself to us for our enjoyment. After we enjoy God as life, we will have a certain kind of living, and we will have a walk and a work with a certain expression. As long as we hold the attitude that we are contacting God through our reading of the Bible, the Bible will be different to us from what it was before. We must learn to use our spirit to contact every portion and sentence in the Bible so that we may gain the supply of life and allow this life to produce a certain kind of living within us.
We must lead the brothers and sisters to set aside some time alone every day to read the Lord’s Word. They may read a chapter, a verse, or a few sentences; the amount does not need to be limited or specified. All the saints should learn to spend some time each day to come before the Lord to pray and read the Word. When we read the Word, it is not necessary for us to make an effort to be impressed; it is sufficient to quiet our being and use our spirit to contact the Bible. Whenever we read a sentence that impresses us and brings us before the Lord, we should properly absorb it so that we may be fully fed by it. Then, during the meetings all the brothers and sisters should do their best to have fellowship concerning what they gained from their reading of the Word so that God may speak richly in many ways in the churches.
In the Bible-study meetings of the church, we may lead the brothers and sisters by example. For instance, when we begin to lead the saints to read the Word, we can hold a Bible-study meeting once a week, in which everyone in attendance may read a chapter or half a chapter of the same book each time. In this way, when everyone comes together to read, whoever touches spiritual light in a verse can release it through fellowship. Then at the end of the meeting a brother can give a conclusion.
At the beginning of such a Bible study, the saints should sing a hymn, and a few brothers and sisters should pray. If the hymn is sung in a released way and the prayers that follow are strong, the spirits of the brothers and sisters will be stirred up, and it will be easy for them to be touched by the Holy Spirit when they read the Word.
Whenever we read the Bible, we must exercise our spirit to pay attention to the words that we read. The exercise of the spirit includes the exercise of the soul and body. For instance, the use of our eyes to look at the Bible is an exercise of the body, and the understanding that we gain after we read comes from the function of the soul. Nevertheless, we must not stop at exercising only our soul and our body; we must use our spirit to contact the Word. To exercise our spirit in reading the Word requires the use of our entire being—our eyes to read, our soul to comprehend, and our spirit to contact the Word. If all the participants in a Bible-study meeting use their spirit to contact the Bible, the Holy Spirit will have the opportunity to touch them inwardly through what they have read. Once everyone has read the Word in that way, there should be some time for those who were touched by the Holy Spirit through the Word to not only pray but also have fellowship, since prayer alone may not adequately express the feelings within. At the end of the time of fellowship, an experienced brother should give a concluding word.
This way of conducting a Bible study is not a set method, and it should not be carried out in a legal way. If all the saints who attend such a meeting are genuinely in their spirit when they read the Word, many will receive inspiration by their touching God’s word, and everyone’s prayer will be unceasing. In such a situation we must allow the Holy Spirit to flow continuously and should not be concerned if prayer takes up the entire meeting. Also, we do not need to be exceedingly strict about keeping the time in the meeting; if we have genuinely touched the Holy Spirit, we may pray until the next day if necessary. We must not restrict the Holy Spirit.
