BIBLE STUDY

Evening Star, Issue 22630, 23 April 1937, Page 14

BIBLE STUDY

ADDRESS BY THE REV. J. M. BATES * How to Study the Bible ’ was the subject of an address delivered yesterday to the Student Christian Movement by the Rev. J. M. Bates, of Kurow. Mr Bates said that when he had known the movement it had been subject to fluctuating waves of thought, and it appeared to be so still. He had heard that at the moment there was a controversy among its members about the way of understanding the foundation truths of the, Bible. He reminded the students that 50 years hence there would be the same waves sweeping through the Christian world as now. To-day it was Karl Barth who was creating a commotion; then it would be someone else. What we needed as Christians was some reference point by means of which we could pick our way undisturbed through these fluctuations of opinion and hold unshakenly the faith we possessed. In a true university, the speaker continued, an attempt was made to get back to sources. In making a study of Plato, Kant, Hegel, or Aristotle in a university, one actually read these writers. In New Zealand there was a tendency for students merely to read books about them, but this was not the case on the other side of the world, where a point was made of studying things in their sources. The sources of our Christian faith were available to everyone. They were to be found in the Bible; here lay the key to the 'understanding of the whole. In elaborating some hints as to how to read the Bible most profitably, Mr Bates began by remarking that the popular distinction between the “ devotional ” reading of the Scriptures and reading them for study was radically false. If we were seeking to understand such a work as Muirhead’s ‘ Ethics,’ we did not read a paragraph a day, but bit into it properly. So it should be with the Bible. Mr Bates advised the use of a note-book and pencil, making three large columns, and putting at the head of them some of the basic words and facts such as “ the love of God,” “ faith,” “ the Cross,” “the Resurrection,” “man.” “ sin,” or “ Son of Man.” One should then note all the references to these and put them down in appropriate columns. The inter-relatedness of these various concepts would then become more clearly seen. If, for instance, we had made a column for “ Justification,” a reference in Romans would show that this had to be connected with “ faith.” This was not the only way to read the Scriptures, but it was a way that had proved particularly valuable and illuminating. To the ordinary reader the Bible was a great unknown country of which only a few landmarks were known. To one, however, who settled down to it in this wav the Bible became like one’s own city, with its mam thoroughfares, its side streets, its parks, and its laboratories where the work was done. ... Mr G. Falloon, m thanking the speaker for his address, said that he hoped the movement would remember his advice in the course of its studies during the year.