LUKE: A model of a Bible student.

This is from BIBLICAL ILLUSTRATOR originally published in 1887 and now available from Ages Digital Library. I read this today and decided it was worthy to pass it on. It still speaks…

I. HE COLLECTED HIS FACTS WITH CARE AND DILIGENCE (Luke 1:1-3).

This complete knowledge of all that Jesus began both to do and to teach

suggests the importance of endeavoring to gain a more perfect knowledge

of the Word of God. There is a great readiness in quoting certain texts or

favorite portions, but the fullness of which St. Luke speaks is rare. The

Word of God cannot be said to be unknown, but it does not “dwell richly

in us in all wisdom.” Hence truths are magnified into undue proportions,

and important doctrines are passed over slightly, because they do not well

enter into some peculiar system.

II. HIS COLLECTION WAS LIMITED BY THE BOUNDARIES OF REVELATION. It

did not go beyond what God made known by His Son. Here, again, we

may learn the importance of not going beyond the revealed Word

whenever we attempt to review God’s dealings with mankind, anti

especially of the redemption of the world by Christ. If there be danger in a

partial knowledge of God’s truth, there is perhaps more in adding to the

things which God has revealed. It is this which has caused so much

superstition.

III. He recognized that a knowledge of “all that Jesus began to do and to

teach,” however comprehensive and however free from mixture, will not

prove a saving knowledge unless it be CONVEYED TO THE SOUL BY THE

POWER OF GOD. St. Luke describes the commandments of Jesus as given

unto the apostles by the Spirit. It is possible for any man to learn these

commandments. The letter of the law and the facts of the gospel are within

the reach of the poorest capacity. But, in order to make the knowledge

available, the Spirit of God must take of the things so learnt, and show

them to the soul. “No man can say that Jesus is the Christ but by the Holy

Ghost.” It is impossible to read the Acts without seeing that the Holy Spirit

was the acting Guide of all the sayings and actions of the first teachers of

Christianity. Looking upon the doctrines of the gospel as a medicine to

heal our spiritual sickness, we must suppose that the medicine is taken, and

that it penetrates through the constitution of the sick soul.

IV. IT REQUIRES STRONG CONVICTIONS OF THE TRUTHS WE BELIEVE IN

ORDER TO BE DILIGENT IN THE PROPAGATION OF THEM. Our zeal for the

cause of the Redeemer, our desires for the advancement of His glory, our

prayers for the prevalence of His truth, will all be in proportion to the

depth of our conviction that this is the Word of God. The earliest

impressions are liable to be effaced by time, by the world and its cares, by

the changes of our own views, by the speculative views of others, etc. We

have need, therefore, of watchfulness, lest that which is within us lose its

power and freshness, and we begin in the routine of duty and form to think

less and less of the power of godliness. (R. Burgess, B.