Articles
Why Do We Search the Scriptures?
It is amazing how often our motivation determines the outcome of our work. If I do not want to be asked to do the dishes ever again, it will impact how I accomplish that task. However, if I want to make my wife happy, and help out the family, then I will do the dishes to the best of my limited ability. Maybe one day, I’ll do them and prove whether this theory holds up.
When we study the scriptures, we must be careful what our true motivation is, because it will impact the results of that study. Jesus addressed the Jewish leadership in John 5:39 by saying, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life...” That sounds strange, because God promised life to those who loved His word. (Deuteronomy 30:15-20) However, they were not actually seeking what God was trying to show them and refused to accept Jesus as the Messiah.
We can still today “search the scriptures” with motivations that prevent us from having eternal life. We can read for many years, but never see what it is God is saying in His word that we need to hear. What kind of motivations can fall short of bringing us to “eternal life?”
Searching for a way to win arguments. It is an often overlooked truth that proving someone else to be wrong does not, therefore, render us to be right. Paul addressed this mentality when he spoke to saints from a Jewish culture in Romans 2:1-11. “Therefore you have no excuse, everyone of you who passes judgment, for in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things.” An honest student of the bible will realize that the scriptures are to correct all people, and we must therefore let it correct us first.
Searching for a way to live for the flesh. When Paul warned Timothy about people who sought to be professional arguers, he said that they did so because they “suppose that godliness is a means of gain.” The result was that the person who did so was “conceited [and] understands nothing” and the end result was that they were “of depraved mind and deprived of the truth.” (I Timothy 6:3-6) Timothy, however, was to “pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance [and] gentleness,” all of which could be found in searching the scriptures. (I Timothy 6:11)
Searching for a way to minimize sin. The very same people Jesus addressed in John 5 were those who had “seated themselves in the chair of Moses” by being experts in the requirements of the Law. However, in doing so they had developed an excuse for their sins. They were careful to “tithe mint and dill and cummin” but failed to uphold “justice and mercy and faithfulness” which were the “weightier provisions of the law.” (Matthew 23)
When we search the scriptures together, let us make sure we have our motivations right, so that the result will be eternal life with the God who wrote them.
