Choice quotes from J. Sidlow Baxter

On Wednesday nights, we are doing a Survey of the Bible. The plan is to briefly take a high altitude lay of the Biblical landscape, but not take more than a month on each book. The first month, we are focusing on the Bible as a whole and in my preparatory reading, I found a few choice quotes from J. Sidlow Baxter’s excellent work “Explore the Book” I would like to share.

“We shall let each book tell us its secret and open its heart to us. We shall resolutely guard against forcing any artificial outline on any book of Scripture. To sacrifice exactness for the sake of smart alliteration is an impertinence when dealing with Divinely inspired writings. There are Bible teachers today of a certain type, who excel in ingenious “skeleton.” But an erroneous analysis, however adroitly drawn up, obscures the real and vital message of a book. As we proceed without studies we shall see how often a book or a passage lights up with new force or beauty when a true analysis is made of it.”

“We do well to realize that those sermons or books which most stir us at the time of hearing or reading often leave us little that is of permanent value, while, on the other hand, those that teach us most may not be so immediately stirring.”

“Dr. Jowett tells of a tourist who was traveling through some of Scotland’s loveliest scenery, but who was so absorbed in his guide book that he never saw the loveliness through which he was passing. There can be Bible study of that sort, too. Our great object is to know the true God, to become more like Christ, and to be more fully possessed by the Holy Spirit. True bible study will encompass that object, for the inspired pages of Holy writ live an thrill and glow with the presence of God!

DPN