(Guidelines) Read What Others Say

Now, I come to the fifth item about how to study the Scriptures, and this is read what others have written on the Scripture. Now, this is the fifth guideline for the study of the Word of God. Now, I won't be able to get very far on this, and we won't spend too much time developing this one, but it's very important, and I recognize that it's rather a dangerous rule, because a great many folk just depend on what someone else says about it, and there are so many books that are out today that give wrong teaching concerning the Word of God, and we need to test everything that's written by the Word of God, but this becomes a vicious circle, because we also need what somebody else has to say to give us some light on a particular passage of Scripture.

May I say to you that a good commentary on every book of the Bible is very important, and you'll notice in all the outlines that I have sent out and shall continue to send out, we have certain recommended books at the end of each book of the Bible. These are books that we can wholeheartedly recommend. It doesn't exhaust the list of good books, but the only reason I put it in like this is to try to lead people to good books and steer them away from bad books, because there are bad books.

Now, may I say again that we said there is a danger in reading certain literature. There are some that teach us false doctrine, there are some that's quite liberal, and you will not find these very profitable, I can assure you, that is, if you want to know what the Bible has to say. We feel that there are some very fine commentaries that have been written.

There are very fine books on different books of the Bible. We've already recommended Dr. G. Campbell Morgan, Living Messages of the Books of the Bible. We also would like to recommend our own book, Briefing the Bible, and we would be delighted, of course, to send it to you.

And we have put at the end of Briefing the Bible and the notes that we're sending out to you at the end of each book the books that we recommend, and if you'd like to follow them, I'm sure you'll find them helpful. Now, every minister of the gospel, of course, has a set of books that he studies. He needs those.

Of course, someone says, should he give them verbatim? Should he present what somebody else has written verbatim? Well, my point is that he ought never to do that, but he has a perfect right to use what others have written. He ought to give credit if he's going to quote a great deal from it. I've been told that sometimes some of my feeble messages are given by someone else, and sometimes credit is given, and sometimes no credit is given at all.

As far as I'm personally concerned, it makes no difference, but it does reveal the individual, his character, that will use someone else's material verbatim and not give credit for it. I had a professor in seminary that I felt solved this problem, and he said this when someone asked him, should you quote other writers. He said, you ought to graze on everybody's pasture, but give your own milk.

And that means that you are to read what others have said, but you put it in your own thought patterns and express it your way. And I think that we have a perfect right to do that, and I encourage anyone to do that. But understand the Bible for your own private reading.

It's well to read something that is good, something that is well worthwhile, and we encourage that, of course, that you read what others have written on the Bible and Scripture.