GAINING KNOWLEDGE OF THE BIBLE
Is Knowledge of the Bible Necessary?
by Rev. Wilbur Bruinsma
Introduction.
To be a Christian means to be a follower of Christ. That may not seem too complicated,
but there is more to it than most think. Apart from what it takes to follow Christ, which is
itself very demanding, there is the question: is the Christ we are following the true
Christ? We ought not be too surprised at that question! We hear of it all the time: identity
theft. There are people who fool the credit card or insurance companies into thinking they
are someone else. Christ warns of this in Matthew 24. In verse 5 He says: “For many
shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ: and shall deceive many.” Or again in verses
23 and 24: “Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo here is Christ, or there; believe it not.
For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and
wonders, insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.”
In these last days, we must be sure that we are not deceived by the many who claim to
teach Christ, when, in fact, they teach a Christ of their own making and imagination. To
say we are Christians places upon every one of us the obligation of knowing whom we
follow. This can only be done when we know what the Bible teaches us about the true
Christ. We must believe in the Christ of the Scriptures because He alone is the true
Christ.
The same can be said of God too. Who is the God we serve? There are many who make
up a God and give to Him the same name as Jehovah, the God of the Bible. But He is not
the same God, even though He assumes God’s identity. The only way we can be sure that
we serve the one true God is knowing who He is. That is revealed to us only in the Bible.
It is not enough, therefore, to be a generic Christian. It is not enough to say, I believe in
God and in Jesus Christ, but not know whether they are the true God and Savior. A
Christian must have knowledge of the Bible. It is our intention in this seminar to
emphasize this in order that we might discuss it and come to some solid conclusions on
the matter. How important this is in a day when society insists that there are no absolutes,
no objective truth. Christianity must make a solid stand on the Bible and identify for
everyone who is God and who is Jesus Christ, in order that we might lead others to them.
1. What is faith?
The word “faith” is used by many people, and, for that reason, has been given many
different meanings too. When people refer to the many different religions of today, for
example, they speak of people of different faiths. Other people may speak of having faith
in themselves and their abilities.
The dictionary defines faith as, “trust in and loyalty to” something or someone; or as a
“strong conviction.” When we leave God out of the definition of faith, then it is, of
course, generic. But when we speak of faith in God and Jesus Christ, then faith takes on a
particular meaning which must be defined for us by the Bible. The Bible’s definition of
faith encompasses the dictionary’s definition, but more also. Sad to say, there are many in
the Christian church who do not speak of faith in the way the Bible itself defines it. To
avoid confusion, therefore, we must know what the Bible teaches us about faith in God
and Jesus Christ. We want to consider, first of all, what many might think is faith in God,
but which the Bible does not define as faith.
In the first place, faith is not a power that every person has in himself by which he has the
ability to accept God and Jesus Christ, if he chooses to do so. Many wish to ascribe to
every person the innate ability to seek after God and salvation. All a person needs to do is
to exercise that ability. Many do not choose to do so. But those who do are said to have
faith. Faith, then, is the ability that every man has before he is saved to reach out and
accept Christ. This cannot be the definition of faith since the Bible denies this ability in
man. We read in Romans 3:11: “There is none that understandeth, there is none that
seeketh after God.” David in Psalm 14:2, 3 makes the same observation: “The Lord
looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did
understand, and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy:
there is none that doeth good, no, not one.” So, faith cannot be this innate power found in
man by which man seeks God and salvation.
In the second place, many define faith as a feeling or an emotion. A person who believes
(has faith) in God and in Christ is said to be one who feels God presence, or who feels
happy and excited about God and Christ. Church services are geared toward stimulating
or arousing people’s emotions in order that they might accept Christ. This feeling by
which a person accepts Christ is said to be faith. Still others view faith as a feeling when
they say that they are doing something because they were moved by faith to do it. The
Spirit spoke to their hearts and they felt the need to do what they did. That feeling which
was the cause of their action, they claim, is faith. Such a claim is nothing more than
subjectivism. Neither does the Bible support the claim that a person’s feelings are
synonymous with faith. In the parable of the sower in Matthew 13, Jesus speaks of
several different types of people who hear the Word. There are those people who were as
the seed that fell into stony places (verses 20, 21). These received the Word with joy, but
the Word in them did not take root and when troubles befell them, they turned away.
These hearers of the Word were all emotional about the Gospel, but their emotions were
not faith.
If these are not faith, then what is? Well, first of all, faith is a gift of God. We read in
Ephesians 2:8, “For by grace are ye saved through faith: and that not of yourselves: it is
the gift of God.” This means that faith is not something that every person has in himself
naturally, but faith is something that God gives to certain people. Faith is itself a gift that
comes with salvation. It is a certain power which God gives to those whom He saves in
the blood of Jesus Christ. God takes the heart of a sinful man who does not seek after
Him, and God powerfully bends that heart. The result of that work of God’s grace is, a
man is given by God spiritual eyes to see the things of the kingdom of God. God opens
his ears to hear the truth of God’s Word.. But more, God powerfully works in that man’s
heart in order that he is given the power to understand these things. God works in a man
the ability to know God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent.
Jesus explained to His disciples that the reason some can know the mysteries of the
kingdom of heaven is because it is given to them. We read of this in Matthew 13:11: “He
answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the
kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.” And again, in verse 16, “But blessed are
your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.” In Hebrews 11:33 we learn,
“Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God . . . .”
Faith, then, is first of all, that work of God’s grace by which we are grafted into Christ
and are given the ability to know and understand the things of the kingdom of heaven.
In the second place, faith is that work of God in a person by which that person actually
comes to know and love God and Christ, trust in them, and, as a result, become convicted
in his heart and soul that God and Jesus Christ must feared and obeyed. Faith is a true
knowledge of God and of His Son, and a hearty confidence that all that is contained in the
Gospel belongs to me! But, let’s face it, in order for us to trust in some one, in order for
us to put our confidence in someone, we must know him or her. We would not trust a
stranger. Faith, therefore, is most importantly a true knowledge of God and Christ (John
17:2).
So, faith is knowledge! But knowledge of what? That God is God, that Jesus Christ is His
Son, and that God sent Jesus into this world to earn salvation for His people. This
knowledge forms the foundation of a strong conviction that God exists and that Jesus
Christ is His Son sent to save us from sin. That knowledge forms the basis of a solid trust
in God and His Son, and therefore also a loyalty to them in our lives. This knowledge
may affect our emotions and our feelings. But faith itself is knowledge!
2. Faith has content.
Yet, faith is must know more than that God is God and Jesus Christ is come into the is
world to save sinners. That is basic knowledge, no doubt, but there is so much more to be
known than merely this. Faith has objective content. There are so many in Christianity
today that believe there is nothing more we need to know than the basics of the Christian
religion. We have to believe in God. We have to believe in Christ. We have to believe
that Jesus has saved us. But that is all we need to know. In our postmodern world, it is
said that doctrine means nothing. Since truth is relative and subjective, objective
knowledge is not needed. Everyone creates truth for himself. Christianity must consist
merely of a breakthrough experience with God and a personal relationship with Christ.
Christianity need not know the Bible, since the Bible itself is not the infallible,
authoritative Word of God. Just learn a few of its lessons and that is enough. Objective
knowledge of the Bible is not necessary.
We today must heed the warning of God to the Old Testament church which had turned
away from God into apostasy. Hosea says in Hosea 4:1: “Hear the word of the Lord, ye
children of Israel; for the Lord hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land,
because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land. . . . (vs. 6) My
people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will
also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of
thy God, I will also forget thy children.” Knowledge of the Bible is so necessary for faith
and walk. In the Bible we learn of God, of man and his fall into sin, of Christ and our
need for Him, of salvation, of the church, and of the things that will take place at the end
of time. All this is contained in the Bible. The Bible also teaches us about godly living. It
gives direction and purpose to a person’s life (Psalm 119:9, 105). It teaches us what is
right and wrong. The Bible gives the same direction to the church as a whole. The Spirit
of truth is given the church and it is guided by Scriptures into what is right and wrong
doctrine.
Because there is a lack of knowledge in the realm of the Christian church today, many
people are “tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the
sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive” (Ephesians
4:14). The Bible warns us that in the last days “perilous times shall come.” (II Timothy
3:1). “Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived”
(13). The child of God is told that he must “continue in the things which thou has learned
and hast been assured of” (14). That which he has learned and been assured of is given in
the “holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation” (15).
What we learn in the Bible therefore must make up the content of our faith - it is the
objective truth that must be the object of our faith.
3. Why is Bible-knowledge necessary?
Since the Bible sets forth for us the truth we must acquire knowledge in it. Today
especially there is a pressing need for such knowledge. Why? There are a number of
reasons. First, Christ is coming! We need to know what signs will precede His coming in
order that we might be prepared for His coming. Second, if we are called to live in the
church in this world (which is every person’s calling) we need to know what church
manifests forth the true marks of the church in order to join a true church and not an
apostate church. Third, there is only one way into heaven, and that is through the
salvation we receive in Jesus Christ (John 14:6). The Bible teaches us exactly how Christ
has accomplished such salvation for us. Fourth, we need to know where sin came from
and the results of sin in our individual lives and in the human race in general. The Bible
sets this forth most clearly.
But there is another reason we need to gain knowledge of the Bible. We need to know
who the God and the Christ of the Scriptures are! We read in I John 2:18: “Little children,
it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there
many antichrists; whereby we know it is the last time.” Another warning is given us in II
Thessalonians 2:3, 4: “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come,
except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of
perdition; who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is
worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is
God.” In the last day the great Antichrist will appear and claim he is God or the true
representative of God. He will claim to be Christ. And indeed, he will be a look-alike! He
will deceive many in modern Christianity to believe that he is Christ. How will he
accomplish this? Because there will be no knowledge of the Bible according to which
people will judge him to be a false Christ.
Many men and women today worship a God and a Christ, but not the God and the Christ
of the Bible! They may look like them. They are said to be the God and Christ of the
Bible. But when the Bible is studied carefully, these will be exposed for what they are: a
pseudo-God and a pseudo- Christ. They will be look-alikes that are meant to replace the
true God and the true Christ.
Knowledge of the Bible is more necessary today than ever! Yet today there is such a sore
lack of knowledge in the Scripture. Let us not be deceived! Let’s study our Bibles! May
we know the true God and His Son, Jesus Christ. May we be faithful to them alone.
Questions:
1. How extensive ought our knowledge of the Bible be? Can a person be called a true
Christian if he knows very little of the Bible?
2. Is it possible for a person to call himself a Christian, yet serve a false God and Christ?
3. Does the Bible tell us how to live? Does the Bible tell us what to believe? Can we say
that the less a person knows of the Bible the more open he/she is to error?
4. Is it wrong to judge what a person believes or how that person lives?
5. Is knowledge of the Old Testament just as important as that of the New Testament?
The Article of the Month for July was written by our minister, Rev. Bruinsma. This is the first in a
series of four speeches written by Rev. Bruinsma for our spring seminars in 2006.