In today’s final chapter from RA Torrey on how to study the Bible, Torrey addresses the guidance of the Holy Spirit when you study the Word. If you missed the previous sections, you can read them here: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
The Holy Spirit as Teacher
How often we think as we puzzle over hard passages, “Oh, if I only had some great Bible teacher here to explain this to me!” God is always present. He understands the Bible better than any human teacher. Take your difficulty to Him and ask Him to explain it. Jesus said, “When he the Spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth” (John 16:13). It is the privilege of the humblest believer in Christ to have the Holy Spirit for his guide in his study of the Word. I have known many very humble people, people with almost no education, who got more out of their Bible study than many great theological teachers. This happened because they learned it was their privilege to have the Holy Spirit for their Bible study teacher. Commentaries on the Bible can be valuable. But one will learn more from the Bible by having the Holy Spirit for his teacher than from all the commentaries ever published.
Use spare time for Bible study. Time is lost in al-most every man’s life while waiting for meals, riding planes, going from place to place, and so forth. Carry a pocket Bible with you and use these golden moments to listen to the voice of God.
Store Scripture in your mind and heart. It will keep you from sin (Ps. 119:11) and false doctrine (Acts 20: 29-30, 32; and 2 Tim. 3:13-15). It will give you victory over the evil one (1 John 2:14), and it will give you power in prayer. “If ye abide in me and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you” (John 15:7). The Word will make you wiser than the aged and your enemies. “Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies: for they are ever with me. I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts. The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple” (Ps. 119:98, 100, 130). It will make you “thoroughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Tim. 3:17).
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Read the other parts to this series: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4
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