Search the Scriptures
Zion's Advocate, Vol. 38, No. 12, December 1899
Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they that testify of me. John v. 39.We wish to write concerning the importance of searching the Scriptures and the real need of our doing so. There are few, perhaps, who will not be ready to admit that we do not read the Bible as much as we should, and that what reading we do is too carelessly done. This proves that we do not estimate that book as highly as we ought, and that we fail to appreciate the Lord's goodness to us in furnishing us with such a volume of instruction.
The discourse of which our text forms a part was delivered by the Saviour to the Jew. They had been persecuting him and had sought to kill him because he had healed the impotent man at the pool of Bethesda on the Sabbath day. When he told them that God was his Father and that he was doing the works of his Father they sought the more to kill him because he made himself equal with God. He continued, however, to declare to them that he was only doing what he did by the aid of his Father, and after his example; that he quickened whom he would, just as the Father raises the dead; that all judgment had been committed to him; and that all should honor the Son even as they do the Father. Then after speaking of his divine authority and power, he referred to John as a witness unto whom they had sent, declaring him to be a burning and shining light in which they had been willing for a season to rejoice. As further proof that he had been sent by the Father he referred them to his works as a greater witness than that of John, and told them that they would not believe in him because they had not his Father's love abiding in them. They pretended to adhere very closely to the teaching of the scriptures. No doubt they searched them diligently, which was commended by the Saviour in our text.
They were very much mistaken, however, about the design and use of the scriptures. They thought they had eternal life in them. The Jews are not the only class of worshipers who have fallen into this error. No greater mistake can be made than to suppose that the vitality of the religion of Jesus Christ comes from the Bible, either in a conditional sense, or as a means by which it is obtained. The Jews thought that eternal life was to be obtained by obedience to the Old Testament Scriptures, and many modern sects hold to the same error in regard to the New. If eternal life is obtained by rendering obedience to the Bible, none can have eternal life without rendering such obedience. As none can render obedience to the Bible without they have it, none had eternal life before the Bible was completed, which was many years after the Saviour set up his church. If that be true the religion of Christ was without any vitality before the Bible was completed! If it be argued that eternal life is given only at the close of this life for obedience rendered during life, then we say that none have obtained eternal life who died before the Scriptures were completed, as they had no chance to obey them. Moreover, the advocates of this theory are forced to the absurd conclusion that many are finally lost for not obeying who never had a chance to obey, having never seen or heard of the Bible.
To suppose that eternal life as experienced in the soul by regeneration comes through the instrumentality of the Scriptures is no less an error than the conditional theory. In fact this is but another form of conditionalism, and may be reduced to the same absurd conclusions as the one just mentioned. The Jews were not more grossly mistaken than are all who believe and teach that eternal life is imparted by means of the teaching of the Scriptures. After Paul and others had preached the gospel at Corinth other teachers advocated this ridiculous error there and brought confusion into the church. Confusion is always the result of error. The Corinthian church became divided in sentiment, some contending they were of Paul, some of Apollos, and some of Cephas. Paul devoted the beginning of his first letter to that church to a correction of this error. He asked them if Christ is divided, and if they were baptized in Paul's name. The force of these questions is great in the argument which he gives to overthrow the heresy that was troubling the church. If their being in Christ was even a part of Paul's work then Paul must have been crucified for them, and they ought to have been baptized in his name as well as the name of Christ. But they knew that Paul was not crucified for them. Their salvation from sin was the result of the shedding of the blood of the one who was crucified for them. Their salvation from sin was not the result of Paul's work. They knew they were not baptized in the name of Paul as it would have been proper for them to have been if Paul was in any sense the cause of their being in Christ. If Paul had been used as an instrument in the work he would have been a necessary factor, and the proper ceremony at their baptism would have been, "I baptize thee in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, and of Paul!"
In the course of his line of unanswerable arguments against the "means" heresy he shows that no flesh has a right to glory in God's presence. "But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: that according as it is written, "He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord." I Cor. i. 30, 31. He further shows that it is impossible for the natural man, the man who is unregenerated, to receive or know the things of the spirit, or the things taught in the gospel, for those things are spiritually discerned. Is this argument in favor of the "Means" doctrine, or against it? It must be admitted that it related in some way to that doctrine, and it must be either in support of it or against it. But what support can this argument be to that doctrine? To say that the natural man is entirely unable to receive the truth is to say that he must be made spiritual before he can receive it. This being true the argument cannot be in support of the doctrine that the publication of the truth is used as an instrument in the regeneration of sinners. Then it is opposed to that doctrine, and is intended to clear the church of that heresy.
The Jews were wrong in supposing that eternal life came through the scriptures in any sense, and of course all others are who think as they did. Instead of the Bible giving rise to the living religion of Jesus Christ, that holy religion has given rise to the Bible. The sacred word of God is but the literature of his religion and is no more the cause or source of it than is the history of the United States the cause or source of our grand Government. The Scriptures simply testify of Christ who is the life of the religion he himself has instituted. This life is given by the quickening of the Spirit. The preaching or proclaiming of that blessed word is only a testimony of Christ. It can be no more than that, and claims to be no more. John the Baptist was a man sent from God, but he was not the light, he merely bore witness of it, and taught that Christ is the Lamb of God that taketh away sin.
But we ought to search the Scriptures though eternal life is not to be found in them. We would not underestimate their value to us. If we love Christ we love to learn of him. We learn of him by searching the Scriptures for they testify of him. We find him presented in the Old Testament in types and shadows and prophecies. We see him coming in the New Testament as the Sun of righteousness, and as he preaches his own everlasting gospel we get it in its purity from its very source. The idea of searching suggest that something is to be found that is more or less secreted. People search for gold because it is hidden away in the earth. We search for a lost child because it is not in our immediate view. So we are to search the Scriptures. How often in reading what we have read many times we find a new thought and a fresh joy! Blessed Bible, what a treasure it is! The sweet evidences given us in our experience that we are God's children are all found there and serve as an assuring witness in our favor. And then there are the promises! How comforting they are, what a stay to pilgrims who are burdened with the cared and wearied with the journey of life!
What glory gilds the sacred page!
Majestic like the sun.
It gives a light to every age--
It gives, but borrows none.
The power that gave it still supplies
The gracious light and heat;
Its truths upon the nations rise;
They rise, but never set.
Let everlasting thanks be thine
For such a bright display;
As makes a world of darkness shine
With beams of heavenly day.
My soul rejoices to pursue
The steps of him I love,
Till glory breaks upon my view
In brighter worlds above.
J. R. D.
Copyright c. 2003. All rights reserved. The Primitive Baptist Library.
