Friday, May 1
In the chapter on Biblical Interpretation in the Handbook of Seventh-day Adventist Theology, read the sections on The Analogy of Scripture: “Scripture Is Its Own Interpreter”, The Consistency of Scripture, and The Clarity of Scripture, pp. 64-66. Read chapter 20, “Bible Teaching and Study”, in the book Education, pp. 185-192; “The Primacy of the Word” in Selected Messages, book 3, pp. 29-33.
“The student of the Bible should be taught to approach it in the spirit of a learner. We are to search its pages, not for proof to sustain our opinions, but in order to know what God says. A true knowledge of the Bible can be gained only through the aid of that Spirit by whom the word was given. And in order to gain this knowledge we must live by it. All that God’s word commands, we are to obey. … The study of the Bible demands our most diligent effort and persevering thought. As the miner digs for the golden treasure in the earth, so earnestly, persistently, must we seek for the treasure of God’s word.” Ellen G. White, Education, p. 189
“When you make the Bible your food, your meat, and your drink, when you make its principles the elements of your character, you will know better how to receive counsel from God. I exalt the precious word before you today. Do not repeat what I have said, saying, 'Sister White said this’, and 'Sister White said that.’ Find out what the Lord God of Israel says, and then do what He commands.” Ellen G. White, Selected Messages, book 3, p. 33
Discussion Questions:
What erroneous beliefs do people hold because they have looked at only a few select texts rather than all that the Bible says about a topic?
In Matthew 11:11, Jesus said of John the Baptist: “Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he”. Jesus points to a prophet here who has no writings in the Bible and yet said such things about him. What should this tell us about why a true prophet does not have to have a book in the Bible and can still be a true prophet? What message can we Seventh-day Adventists take away from this fact?
As Adventists, we’re not alone in claiming the Bible as our final authority. Other churches do so as well. How, then, do we explain the contradictory doctrines that other Christians claim to find in the Bible, as well?
