INTRODUCTION TO BIBLE STUDY

CHAPTER I

RELATION OF THE BIBLE TO MODERN LIFE

Modern Civilization. Our modern civilization is drawn chiefly from three great historic sources. The refinement of our literary and artistic taste is due chiefly to the ancient Greeks. They have taught us the beauty of form. Our legal system has descended to us, in large measure, from ancient Rome. The city of the Tiber has bequeathed us law. Our religion has come from the ancient Hebrews. They have taught us the great truths of God and personal righteousness.

It may be justly claimed that the Hebrew or religious element in modern life is the most valuable contribution of the ancient world. An enlightened conscience counts for more than does a cultivated taste or legal forms. It is the religious element that distinguishes Christian from pagan civilization that exalts individual life, and begets the highest national welfare. The sacred Scriptures of the Old and the New Testament are the sources of this important element in modern life.

Culture Value. -The chief elements of culture are breadth of knowledge and delicacy of feeling. With this truth in mind, it will be readily seen that the Bible is a potent means of culture. On many subjects it is a

AN INTRODUCTION TO BIBLE STUDY

storehouse of information. It is our principal source book for the history of the ancient Hebrews. It contains the biographies of great personages-Moses, Jesus, Paulwho have left a permanent impress upon the history of mankind. It is filled with the noblest moral and religious sentiment; and our race has only to live up to the great principle of loving God with all the heart, and our neighbors as ourselves, in order to realize the kingdom of heaven on earth.

Carlyle's Testimony. - The great Scotchman, Thomas Carlyle, had a keen insight into the educational value of the Bible. He regarded books, particularly the sacred Scriptures, as the great educators of to-day. "In the poorest cottage," he says, "are books; is one Book, wherein for several thousands of years the spirit of man has found light, and nourishment, and an interpreting response to whatever is deepest in them; wherein still, to this day, for the eye that will look well, the mystery of existence reflects itself, if not resolved, yet revealed, and prophetically emblemed; if not to the satisfying of the outward sense, yet to the opening of the inward sense, which is the far grander result."1

Experience of Ruskin. — Among the masters of English prose in the nineteenth century was John Ruskin. In his autobiography he traces his literary culture, in large measure, to his early study of the Bible. “My mother forced me," he says, "by steady toil, to learn long chapters of the Bible by heart; as well as to read every syllable through, aloud, hard names and all, from Genesis to the Apocalypse, about once a year; and to that discipline — patient, accurate, and resolute -I owe, not only a knowledge of the book, which I 1 Carlyle's Works, Vol. XVI., p. 125.

find occasionally serviceable, but much of my general power of taking pains, and the best part of my taste in literature." 1

Fundamental View of the World. The greatest question that can engage the thoughts of men is the origin and purpose of the world. Whence came the globe upon which we live, and all the shining hosts of the sky? Whence came man, with all his wondrous faculties, and what is the purpose of his being? These questions have engaged the attention of all thoughtful peoples, and called forth various answers. Thus we have the pantheism of the Brahman, the materialism of the Greek, and the agnosticism of modern times.

But the most rational and most satisfying philosophy of life is found in the Scriptures. It is the prevailing view of all Christian nations. According to this fundamental view, which is distinguished as theism, we believe that "in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth"; 2 or, as Paul expresses it, that "of Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things."3 Behind the visible world is an omnipresent personal Being, who orders all things in wisdom and love. "In Him we live and move and have our being." 4

Source of Christianity. — Christianity, which is the faith of about one-fourth of the population of the globe, is one of the great world religions. Though it is perhaps out-numbered by Buddhism, Christianity is the religion of the most enlightened and most powerful nations of the earth. It is making more rapid progress to-day than any other religion; and if the visions of its prophetic seers are to be realized, it is destined to become the religion of all peoples. In the language of the second 8 Rom. 11: 36. 4 Acts 17: 28.

1 Ruskin's "Præterita," ch. I.

2 Gen. I: I.

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AN INTRODUCTION TO BIBLE STUDY

Psalm, the heathen will become His inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth His possession.1

The source of this advancing and triumphant religion is found in the facts and truths of the Bible. Old Testament history laid the foundation by substituting a pure monotheism for the polytheistic idolatry of surrounding nations. On this foundation there arose, in the fulness of time, the gospel of Christ with its reclaiming truth and power. Since his brief ministry in the world, the new religion has continued to extend its influence until to-day the whole world feels its power.

Ecclesiastical Organizations. Though Christianity is essentially a religion of the soul, it has naturally assumed an outward form. The individual followers of Christ have felt the invisible bonds of a divine brotherhood; and in the interests of their own religious life, as well as for the propagation of their faith, they early associated themselves in congregations. These congregations, moved by the same impulse, gradually grouped themselves in larger bodies, which had their limits set by national boundaries or by considerations of administrative efficiency. At a later time differences of theological belief created new divisions. In these various ways originated the national churches of to-day, and the great divisions of Protestantism and Roman Catholicism. Unfortunately these ecclesiastical organizations have in many cases failed to exemplify the pure and unselfish precepts of the gospel.

But however great the differences in other respects, all parts of the Christian church agree in their profound reverence for the sacred Scriptures. The Bible is regarded by them all as the original source of the articles of faith and of the rules of life. It is made prominent in all as

1 Ps. 2: 8.

semblies of worship; and week after week without ceasing, it is officially expounded to deepen the spiritual life and to sanctify the daily conduct. It is multiplied by great publication societies, and systematically scattered among all nations and tongues.

Modern Democracy. For more than a hundred years a great democratic movement has been going forward throughout Christendom. At the close of the eighteenth century that movement strongly manifested itself in the popular uprising of the American and the French revolutions. Its fundamental principle, as stated in the Declaration of Independence, is equality in civil rights. With the adoption of this principle, all artificial distinctions, such as master and slave, nobles and commons, kings and subjects, are forever done away.

Whatever may have been the immediate agencies that led to a recognition of the principle of civil equality, there can be little doubt that it rests ultimately on a great truth of the New Testament. That truth is the fatherhood of God, and the consequent brotherhood of man. When Jesus declared "all ye are brethren," He broke down once for all the barriers of caste, and nullified the arrogant assumptions of a privileged nobility and absolute sovereigns by divine right. In its fundamental teachings the Bible is unquestionably democratic.

Relation to Education. Though there was much in the education of pagan antiquity that was admirable, it remained for Christianity to extend the blessings of culture to all classes of society. As we have just seen, it recognizes the endless worth of the individual as a child of God. The faculties with which men are endowed are regarded as talents which are to be improved and employed in the service of righteousness. As a logical consequence