- Home
- Speakers
- Miles J. Stanford
- From Expounder To Exponent
Miles J. Stanford
Miles J. Stanford (1914 - 1999). American Christian author and Bible teacher born in Wheaton, Illinois. Raised with little religious background, he centered his early life on baseball, golf, and heavy drinking until a profound conversion on September 19, 1940, at age 26, prompted him to study the Bible eight to ten hours daily. Serving in the U.S. Army Engineers from 1942 to 1945 as a cartographer in England and Germany, he began corresponding with Christians, writing to nearly 200 by his discharge. From 1946 to 1955, his study and correspondence grew, and in 1951, he married Cornelia de Villiers Schwab, who shared his passion for spiritual growth. They ministered together, leading Bible studies in Brooklyn, New York, and later at Pleasant Hill Community Church in Warrenville, Illinois. In 1960, Stanford launched The Green Letters series, a newsletter that became his seminal book (1964), followed by titles like The Complete Green Letters (1975), translated into 12 languages. A self-described Pauline dispensationalist, he drew from Plymouth Brethren and Lewis Sperry Chafer, emphasizing positional truth and sanctification. Based in Colorado Springs from 1962, he maintained a global correspondence ministry. Stanford’s words, “Our part is not production, but reception of our life in Christ,” reflect his focus on grace. His works, freely shared online, continue to guide believers in spiritual maturity.
Download
Topic
Sermon Summary
Miles J. Stanford emphasizes the vital role of the Holy Spirit in revealing the truths of God's Word to us, enabling us to understand and experience the freely given gifts of God. He stresses the importance of personally internalizing and applying the Word of God, not just intellectually knowing it, but allowing it to transform our hearts and lives through the work of the Spirit. Stanford highlights the distinction between merely describing a truth and truly learning and living it out in accordance with God's will, emphasizing the Spirit's role in making the Word experiential and transformative in our lives.
Scriptures
From Expounder to Exponent
"Now we have received. . . the Spirit who is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God "(1 Corinthians 2:12). The Holy Spirit ministers the truth of the Word via the mind, that we may share the One who is Truth via the heart. "If you do not know the Bible as the very Word of God, all is lost! Where have you learned anything from the Lord distinctly, but where every counter influence was inadmissible–in the sacred enclosure of His own Word and Presence, where nothing to qualify what He says can exist?" "I must not only be an expounder of the truth, but an exponent of it. There should be the sense, I have learned that word for myself. It is not just being able to describe it, or to put it in correct dispensational order; but having that word for myself from the Spirit." "The mistake with many saints in the present day is that they think because they can describe a truth, that therefore they have learned it. When a truth is really accepted, the conscience demands that there should be accordance with it." "The Scriptures tell me what the Father gives me, but they do not give it to me. The Spirit applies the Word to me in its divine meaning, and then I possess what Scripture tells me is mine through God's grace. For instance, the Word tells me that if I behold the Lord's glory I shall be transformed. It doesn't transform me, however clearly I may see what it states. It communicates to me a very great thing, but it is the Spirit who makes it experiential to me." -J.B.S. "Changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. " (2 Corinthians 3.18).
- Bio
- Summary
- Transcript
- Download
Miles J. Stanford (1914 - 1999). American Christian author and Bible teacher born in Wheaton, Illinois. Raised with little religious background, he centered his early life on baseball, golf, and heavy drinking until a profound conversion on September 19, 1940, at age 26, prompted him to study the Bible eight to ten hours daily. Serving in the U.S. Army Engineers from 1942 to 1945 as a cartographer in England and Germany, he began corresponding with Christians, writing to nearly 200 by his discharge. From 1946 to 1955, his study and correspondence grew, and in 1951, he married Cornelia de Villiers Schwab, who shared his passion for spiritual growth. They ministered together, leading Bible studies in Brooklyn, New York, and later at Pleasant Hill Community Church in Warrenville, Illinois. In 1960, Stanford launched The Green Letters series, a newsletter that became his seminal book (1964), followed by titles like The Complete Green Letters (1975), translated into 12 languages. A self-described Pauline dispensationalist, he drew from Plymouth Brethren and Lewis Sperry Chafer, emphasizing positional truth and sanctification. Based in Colorado Springs from 1962, he maintained a global correspondence ministry. Stanford’s words, “Our part is not production, but reception of our life in Christ,” reflect his focus on grace. His works, freely shared online, continue to guide believers in spiritual maturity.