Women, Study the Scripture, part 2

In my last post encouraging women to study the Scripture, I looked at three reasons to study the Word of God. As believers we want to know God truly for who He has revealed Himself to be, we want to know the truth and guard ourselves against deception, and we have a deep privilege to dig into the Scripture. In this post, I will look at three additional reasons why we, as women, should study the Word of God: to grow and bear fruit, to be adequate and complete, and to have His Word richly dwelling in us.

Grow and Bear Fruit

We study the Scriptures so that we can grow and bear fruit.  

The Word of God is necessary for our growth. 1 Peter 2:1-3 says, “like newborn babes, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation.”  The word long means to desire earnestly and is a command. The object of our longing is “the pure milk of the word.” Milk is used figuratively here as the sincere and sweet word of Christ by which believers grow in grace and are nourished to eternal life. The “milk of the word” is the phrase “logical milk” referring to the spiritual nourishment found in the word of God.  God does use things like suffering and experiences to help mature us as believers, however His main resource that He has given us to grow in maturity is His Word.

Right before this phrase, Peter gives us a metaphor to show us how we are to long for God’s word. He says, “like newborn babes.” This is a word picture many of us are very familiar with We know that when the baby gets hungry that baby cries.  And if you can’t feed him that moment, he continues to cry. And without that milk, a newborn baby will die, especially in Peter’s day. 

Additionally, a newborn baby requires frequent nourishment. Are we longing for God’s word in a way that shows it’s an absolute necessity to our spiritual survival? It is necessary.

The result of longing for the pure milk of God’s word is that we will grow and increase in respect to, or in reference to, salvation. The salvation spoken of is not merely deliverance from future punishment, but also freedom from the power of sin in this present life. 

And our growth includes bearing fruit. Col 1:3-6, Paul says that he thanks God… “because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel, which has come to you, as it has also in all the world, and is bringing forth fruit, as it is also among you since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth.” And Paul says in 1 Thess. 2:13, “For this reason we also constantly thank God that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe.”

How do we grow in our relationship with Christ? How do we see the sinfulness of our hearts? How do we equip ourselves to put off the sinful deeds of the flesh and walk by the Spirit? How do we bear fruit? We must take in the nourishment of the Word of God.

In 1Tim. 4:6-12, Timothy was constantly nourishing himself on the words of the faith and of the doctrine which he had been following. Without the appropriate intake of the nourishment of the Word of God, we become anorexic in our spiritual life.  We’re either 1) diminishing spiritually and becoming less sensitive to the Spirit’s work and increasingly entangled in sin, or 2) we aren’t maintaining appropriate spiritual weight for our spiritual age, meaning, we are increasingly growing in the length that we have been a believer, and so we ought to be continually maturing and growing in our walk with the Lord accordingly. 

Over the past week, I’ve probably had 10 cups of coffee, 7 breakfasts, lunches, and dinners, a couple of snacks during the day and probably a dessert or two.  I nourished my physical body well, as well as exercising and sleeping to help my body function properly.  Most of you have done likewise.  I doubt anyone reading this has been fasting for the entire last week.  Why do we starve ourselves spiritually, when, under normal conditions, we would never do that to our physical bodies? Are we nourishing our physical bodies, but neglecting our souls?

Be Adequate and Equipped

Next, we study the Scriptures to make us adequate and equipped (2 Tim. 3:16-17).  2 Timothy 3:16-17 says, “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.” 

How much of the Scripture is inspired and profitable? All- meaning all, every, whole- all of it together and every part of the whole.  Every book, chapter, verse: all of Scripture is both inspired by God and profitable.

Inspired by God means that it is divinely inspired. These are the words of God.  God has spoken and it is right here in the bible we hold in our hands. To dwell on that thought should really astound us.  God, Creator of this entire universe, who upholds all things by the word of His power, has spoken to us and we don’t have to wonder what He is like or what He thinks about things, we have the manual right in our hands. There are not just parts of His Word that are inspired by Him and profitable.  It is all inspired and profitable. Profitable means helpful and useful.  From this verse in particular we can see that every part of His word is profitable for us as believers.  This truth should be reflected in how we approach the study of Scriptures.

To what purpose are the Scriptures profitable?

• The Scriptures are profitable for teaching, which includes warning.
• The Scriptures are profitable for reproof, meaning conviction or to prove one in the wrong.
• The Scriptures are profitable for correction or setting up straight again. After the reproof where Scriptures convict us of our error, our sinfulness, it then shows us the way in which we should walk.
• Finally, the Scriptures are profitable for training or to instruct, including and implying chastening and correction. This is a training “in righteousness.” Praise God for the doctrine of justification where we have been declared righteous in Christ. But while in Christ we have been declared righteous by the imputation of His righteousness to us, God is transforming us and making us more righteous in our conduct and living. 

 There is a saying, “Become in practice what you are in position.” Because we are in Christ, God is completing the work He began, and it includes making us more and more holy and righteous in our living. And the tool He uses, according to 2 Tim. 3:16, is the Bible, the Scriptures.

Because the Scriptures are helpful for our sanctification, we need to be partaking of the Word on a regular basis. If we recognize that the Bible is God’s tool to help us, then we want to be in it, using it. R.C. Sproul says, in Everyone’s a Theologian, 

“A truly godly person understands he is no longer under bondage to the law, yet he still loves the law of God and meditates on it day and night because there in he discovers what is pleasing to God and what reflects God’s character. Rather than fleeing from the law of God, one who is diligent in the pursuit of righteousness and sanctification becomes a serious student of it.” 

So, if you are serious about pursuing godliness, about pursuing righteousness and sanctification, we have to be serious students of God’s Word.

There is a purpose for the Scriptures teaching, reproving, correcting, and training us in righteousness and verse 17 says, “that [indicates purpose] the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.”

Adequate means complete, sufficient, completely qualified.  This word is synonymous with a word that means one in which all the parts are complete or whole and what they are supposed to be, so that they might serve their destined purpose. Do you feel adequate to the tasks He has called you to as a woman, a wife, a mother, a daughter, a friend? He can make us adequate to His tasks.

Equipped means to furnish or fit completely and it is “for every good work.” This is work acceptable unto God made possible by His grace and always the result of salvation and never the means of salvation.  Good works are the evidence of living faith (James 2:22).

So, the message of 2 Tim 3:16-17 is that God has designed His Word to be the way we, as His children, are taught the truth, convicted of our sin, shown His ways, and disciplined in order that He would furnish us adequately and completely for the good works He has set forth for us.  Eph 2:8-10 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Not by works lest any man should boast.  For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works.” 

Let His Word Richly Dwell in You

We also study the Scriptures so that His Word would dwell richly within us.  

R. C. Sproul said, “The word of God can be in the mind without affecting the heart, but it cannot be in the heart without first being in the mind.”   

In Col. 3:16, we find this admonishment, “Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” Our heart and our desire cannot be changed without first having our minds informed by the Word of God.

We want the Word of God to dwell richly in us so that we are ready to yield ourselves to the Holy Spirit. This particular passage in Col 3:16 has a parallel passage in Ephesians, but our phrase here “let the word of Christ richly dwell within you” is substituted with another phrase, “be filled with the Spirit.” “The way the Christian knows these two ideas are parallel is that both the filling of the Spirit and the word of Christ richly dwelling produce the same results of edifying one another, worshiping in one’s heart, and giving thanks to God in Christ’s name (compare Eph. 5:18-21 and Col. 3:16-17)…Therefore, the believer who wants to be controlled by the Holy Spirit, must be controlled by the Word of God” (Roger Skepple, Spiritual Foundations). And if you want to be controlled by the Word of God, you must know it.

This purposeful approach to the Scripture is so that we have something to give to others. We are equipped with gifts of the Spirit for the edifying of the body of Christ. Your participation in the body of Christ builds up the body of Christ. You need to saturate yourself in the Scriptures so that you have edifying truth to impart to those who hear you. Eph 4:29, “Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.” So, your investment in the Word of God to know God and to grow in conformity to Him is not only to benefit you, but your fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.  You have something to give to those in your context.  

Be willing to devote yourself to the study of the Scripture so that His Word dwells richly in you. Its benefits are numerous, helping us to grow and bear fruit, and be adequate and complete for the good works He has prepared for us to minister to our brothers and sisters in Christ and to the world.