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Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students
effort. Why should they expect to understand the meaning of the
Scriptures without diligent study?
The word of God is light and truth—a lamp to the feet and a
light to the path. It is able to guide every step of the way to the city
of God. For this reason, Satan has made desperate efforts to obscure
the light, that men may not find and keep the path cast up for the
ransomed of the Lord to walk in.
As the miner digs for the golden treasure in the earth, so
earnestly, persistently, must we seek for the treasure of God’s word.
In daily study the verse-by-verse method is often most helpful. Let
the student take one verse and concentrate his mind on ascertaining
the thought that God has put into that verse for him, and then dwell
upon the thought until it becomes his own. One passage thus studied
until its significance becomes clear is of more value than the perusal
of many chapters with no definite purpose in view and no positive
instruction gained.
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The Bible Its Own Expositor
The Bible is its own expositor. Scripture is to be compared with
scripture. The student should learn to view the word as a whole
and to see the relation of its parts. He should gain a knowledge of
its grand central theme—of God’s original purpose for the world,
of the rise of the great controversy, and of the work of redemption.
He should understand the nature of the two principles that are con-
tending for the supremacy, and should learn to trace their working
through the records of history and prophecy to the great consumma-
tion. He should see how this controversy enters into every phase of
human experience; how in every act of life he himself reveals the
one or the other of the two antagonistic motives; and how, whether
he will or not, he is even now deciding upon which side of the
controversy he will be found.
Every part of the Bible is given by inspiration of God and is
profitable. The Old Testament, no less than the New, should receive
attention. As we study the Old Testament we shall find living springs
bubbling up where the careless reader discerns only a desert.
The Old Testament sheds light upon the New, and the New upon
the Old. Each is a revelation of the glory of God in Christ. Christ