Somehow, around age 27, I became a bit of a bookworm. Up until then, I hated reading. I read the Bible (and enjoyed it) but apart from reading the Scriptures, you couldn’t have paid me to read a whole book. Now, I spend A LOT of money on Christian theology books and spend a good chunk of time researching quality books, Christian classics, publishing companies for types of books I’m looking for, and so on. What impact has this change had on me? Glad you asked!
I come from a background that is generally against extra-biblical reading. The mindset developed by groups such as the one I was brought up in stems not necessarily from laziness or lack of interest in theology itself, but usually purer motives. The worry was that in reading anything other than Scripture you are setting yourself up for failure. How so? A number of ways were given:
You are allowing yourself to be taught by men rather than by God through His Word.
In reading extra-biblical material, you are gaining man’s wisdom rather than God’s wisdom distributed to those who study Scripture.
You take the chance of being corrupted by false teaching rather than sticking to the only infallible source of truth: the Holy Scriptures.
These are just a few but I think they’ll give you a flavor of the mindset. I’d like to address each of these in depth, but I don’t have time at the moment and you wouldn’t read them anyways. Suffice to say, these kind of objections are evidence of a faulty understanding of Christian literature and are, at the root, hypocritical (through unintentional I trust). I’ll give a little explanation, but first, I should point out that the reason this mindset is so persuasive is due to the fact that behind each objection is an obvious desire to protect the sheep from belittling or departing from Scripture, which all agree is our ultimate authority and the ventilator whereby all children of God draw their life. All ministers and laity alike should and must point man to the Scriptures, for therein is the Words of Life. They are they which speak of Christ (John 5:39). They are breathed-out by God (2 Timothy 3:16), therefore they are not mixed with any error. This is more than could be said of any other book that has or ever will exist. No other book has for it’s Author the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:21).
That being said and well understood, we do ourselves and others a great disservice by forbidding or discouraging the utilization of spectacular Christian resources which, in days gone by, have helped countless souls grow closer to Christ. Though much more could be said, a few simple remarks about each objection above will be sufficient to expose the problems thereof:
The problem with the first is immediately self-evident: if the audience you are speaking to is a body of believers under your leadership, then they already are being taught by men, namely, you. The only thing you are teaching them by directing them away from other faithful ministers from the past is that you alone are to be their source of their learning. When it is put like this, it’s easy to see why this is a problem. Everyone will readily admit that it’s likely they do not have perfect theology. Therefore, when you restrict the congregation from using any resources outside of the Bible, while at the same time stressing the importance of being at church under the preaching of the Word (which is a necessity), you suggest to them that you alone are the only help they need to understand doctrine, connect the dots of Scripture, and to rightly interpret God’s Word. God gave gifts unto men for the building up of the body of Christ. That hasn’t been limited to ministers in the 2021st year of our Lord.
Man’s wisdom vs. God’s wisdom: this could be a valid objection if we were speaking about books of modern philosophical thought or scientific speculations made apart from a biblical worldview. However, when we are talking about expositional works, commentaries, devotional works, biographical material about faithful men and women in Church History, or Church History in general; these books can hardly be placed in the same category as “wisdom of the world.” Do you take what your pastor says each Lord’s Day or bible study as “man’s wisdom”? Of course not. Why? Because you know (and hopefully he has) poured himself out before the Lord in prayer and preparation for the sermons he preaches. You understand that what he is expounding upon from a text of Scripture is aimed at getting the meaning from the text, and his goal is to help you understand how it fits with other doctrines and how it’s to be applied to your life. We’ve been promised the Holy Spirit who is said to be the One who leads us into all truth (John 16:13). Not just pastors; ALL believers have an “unction” or an “anointing” from the Holy One and you will know the truth (1 John 2:20-21). The wisdom we glean from the Spirit should never be spurned or cast off as “man’s wisdom”, and to assume faithful ministers of the gospel who have went on before us only have their own wisdom to offer is ludicrous. We can benefit greatly from these men and women, from their perspectives, and their reflections on Scripture, which are able to make us and them wise unto salvation (2 Timothy 3:15).
Though it is true that extra-biblical resources could and often does lead folks away from the truths contained in God’s Word, it is likewise true that their pastors could as well. The sincere pastor seeks to always preach truth and nothing but the truth from the pulpit, but surely none would dare say they have always done that to perfection in the past. They hope that the errors they have come to see in their own theologies have been worked out and they are accurately setting forth the Word of God before the people to whom God has entrusted to them. But there is no guarantee that they will always achieve that completely despite how hard they work to avoid falsities. One of the greatest benefits of reading widely is to gain perspective, to see from others point-of-view. Reading, especially works of those to whom we disagree, allows us to be challenged and sharpen the doctrines we hold to be true by testing them against error. It is the duty of every Christian to be good Bereans, testing all they hear in sermon or read in text by the Word of God (Acts 17:10,11). If we discourage folks from reading other sources entirely, not only are they unable to partake in the wonderful experiences of others who really knew God, but we also set them up to buy everything we are selling hook-line-sinker with nothing to compare and contrast it against. I think the fear for many is that people’s eyes will be opened and they will see for themselves the errors they are listening to. Pastors, of course, do not like this because (as human) they are not overly excited about being challenged themselves or having to work through difficult topics with some. It’s much easier to tell everyone to “Just listen to me and read your Bible’s!”
The fact is we all have a set of beliefs about God, man, the Scriptures, and the world. Our thoughts about these things are very dear to us. They make up our theology. Some suppose they “only hold to what the Bible says; that’s my theology!” While we can appreciate the desire to only hold to biblical truth (as we all should endeavor to do), it’s often quite difficult to recognize the traditions, presuppositions, and personal opinions we bring to the text of Holy Writ when we read it. We interpret the Scriptures with these lenses already in place and assume our conclusions are accurate since “We are only reading the Bible for what it says.” I wonder if we realize how much preachers, sermons, personal experiences, affect our interpretations. Sticking only to Scripture is a noble quest; unfortunately it is really not possible since we all bring so much baggage to the first page we turn to.
Reading great Christian literature from the past 2,000 years can be a wonderful aid in our walk with the Lord. Reading can give us a broad perspective (rather than a narrow view) of Scripture, can challenge our preconceived notions, and can also assist in achieving our goal to be more consistent with all of our beliefs. Christian writers lead us to ask questions of a passage of Scripture that we may have never asked before. They cause us to look closer to see if we are interpreting accurately what is there or if we are reading our traditions into the text. If a minister believes God has given him insight into His Word by which they can help other Christians in their walk, entertain the thought that maybe God could do the same with insights from the past. They have valuable contributions for the modern-day Church. Actually, with so much false doctrine floating around the world now, it could be argued that we need their faithful contributions even more than we need much of the bun coming out of Evangelyism today! Read on, Christian.
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