Obedience vs.
Understanding
By William Evans, Ph. D., D. D. Associate Dean of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles
T F ANY MAN will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself” (John 7 :17) ; hence the key to the under standing of the Scriptures lies in consecra tion, not scholarship; in surrender of the heart, not in genius of intellect. Pious men with no scholarship can go through the open door of truth, while scholars with no piety remain outside fumbling with the latch. “At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because' thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight. All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any |man the Father, save the Son, and he to whom soever the Son will reveal him” (Matthew 11:25-27). This is not belittling scholarship. We believe iri scholarship, for we need it, and all we can get of it. Scholarship has many advantages. Given two men equally con secrated, the one ignorant and the other learned, and it is clearly evident that the learned will get more out of the Scriptures than the ignorant. We are not belittling scholarship, but just putting it where it
belongs—in a subordinate place. We are putting first things first, and giving the primary and supreme place to obedient faith. The assertion that academic train ing is absolutely necessary to the under standing of the Scriptures, must be stoutly resisted with all one’s might and main. Scholarship is a good deal, but it is not everything; nor does it accomplish the greatest things in the world. The realm of the moral and spiritual is vastly superior to that of the intellectual- It is Coleridge who says that all the mere products of the understanding tend to death. Faith men are greater than science men. Divinity is more important than philosophy, as heaven is more than earth, the soul than the body, the body than raiment, eternity than time. Let us put first things first. A big heart is better than a big head, and a great soul is of more importance than a great mind, that is, if they are to be measured, weighed, and compared. Knowledge shall pass away; love abideth forever. We should not approach the Bible then —at least not primarily—with the question, How much of this can I understand? but, How much of it am I willing to obey? The doors of the kingdom of truth swing on the hinges of obedience. All spiritual knowledge is in order to obedience. The law of the acquisition of spiritual knowl-
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