Skilled in the word of righteousness (Hebrews 5:13) Part 3

Written by: Yeow Chin Kiong

With the experience gained from decades of learning and teaching, being trained and training others, I have grown convinced that acquiring knowledge or developing a skill requires a pupil, student, trainee or disciple to have correct and adequate MOTIVATION to learn or be trained, MATERIAL to learn or be trained from and METHOD of learning or being trained well, sufficient to teach or train others.

These “3 Ms” necessary for being a successful learner of any field of knowledge or practicle skill correspond to being clear on WHY we need to learn, WHAT and WHO we are to learn from and HOW we are to learn, respectively.

Of the 3 Ms of Learning, at root and most important is MOTIVATION, actually wanting to learn and desiring so much to acquire knowledge or a skill to be able to overcome lethargy and not to be affected by distractions so as to stray from the goal. Jesus’ Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13;1-23; Mark 4:1-20 and Luke i8:4-15) is a not-so-subtle way our Lord reminds us of the need for strong MOTIVATION (or desire) to focus on our goal in order to atain it. The same lesson, but from the perspective of the resources (of time, energy, money, etc) needed to attain success in any endeavor, is taught in our Lord’s Parable of the Pearl of Great Price (Matthew 13:45-46).

When I attended my first class on how to study the Bible just over half a century (!) ago, the age of Xerox photocopying had just set in. At the cost of 50. cents per copy in 1974, taking down lesson lectures in long-hand and comparing notes with the brethren was our only affordable recourse. The Klang congregation had a small library of Bible-related books written by the (mostly American) brethren and reference-texts such as Bible versions and concordances, plus topical studies and a limited number of debates books. Fast-forward 52 years,- half of that period coinciding with the incredible progress of Information Technology, especially the worldwide web and today Bible books and reference-texts many dozens of times what we had growing up in the faith are freely available for electronic download on hand-held devices at the mere cost of a data plan! But it remains a challenge to encourage brethren to learn to become skilled practisioners of God’s word and be competent to teach others (2 Timothy 2:2).

Today, as five decades ago, the problem of obeying the command of 2 Timothy 2:15 and following the example of Acts 17:11, is hardly that of availability of MATERIAL,- after all, one only needs a good version of the Bible in the langusge(s) one is familiar with! Neither is it a problem of METHOD,- how to use avIlable MATERIAL to study God’s word,- as the Internet is replete (i.e. filled or well-equipped) with books, articles and multi-media advice on Bible study methods and approaches. The actual problem is MOTIVATION for Bible study to develope the skill of using God’s word, or, rather, the lack of motivation to do so.

Perhaps the chief reason many are not motivated to acquire Bible knowledge and the skill of handling it correctly is that they have never been adequately persuaded that the Bible is God’s word, effective towards guiding men for good works (2 Timothy 3:16-17)! Or they have always had doubts on a a number of matters related to the Bible’s trustworthiness as bearer of truth. Having not had a firm grounding in the Christian apologetic of the Divine inspiration of the Bible, they do not possess a high enough view of the scriptures to bother too much on what the scriptures say about anything, not being able to defend their credibility and truth.

I set out below an argument for the belief that the Bible is God’s revelation using the recorded words of inspired men. The rather-comprehensive argument begins with a claim that reality exists in man’s world, works its way through the truth of God’s existence, the truthfulness of Jesus’ self-sacrifice and subsequent resurrection from the dead, the truthfulness of the gospels which bear testimony to that account and the truthfulness of the entire Bible content as attested to by Jesus as God’s only-begotten Son. the Son’s resurrection from the dead as proof of His identity and authority,- the same authority with which the Son declared the Divine scriptures as a correct record of God’s dealings with mankind throughout the ages. We shall look at various pivotal points in the whole argument in the weeks to come.

Proving the Trustworthiness of the Bible -

[1] Truth about reality is knowable.

[2] The opposite of true is false.

[3] It is true that the theistic God exists.

[4] If God exists, He can work miracles.

[5] Miracles can be used to confirm a message from God.

[6] The New Testament is historically reliable, as proven by

a. its manuscript evidence,

b. its eyewitness testimony

[7] The New Testament says Jesus claimed to be God.

[8] Jesus’ claim to be God was proven by:

a. His fulfillment of prophecies about Himself.

b. His sinless life and power to work miracles.

c. His prediction and accomplishment of His resurrection.

[9] As God, whatever Jesus teaches is true.

[10] Jesus taught that the Bible (comprising the Old and New Testaments) is God’s word

[11] Therefore, it is true that the Bible is God’s word and anything opposed to it is false.