I got this from an article we discussed last night in Greek class:
Since it becomes Christians then to make good use of the Holy Scriptures as their one and only book and it is a sin and a shame not to know our own book or to understand the speech and words of our God, it is a still greater sin and loss that we do not study languages, especially in these days when God is offering and giving us men and books and every facility and inducement to this study, and desires his Bible to be an open book. O how happy the dear fathers would have been if they had had our opportunity to study the languages and come thus prepared to the Holy Scriptures! What great toil and effort it cost them to gather up a few crumbs, while we with half the labor--yes, almost without any labor at all--can acquire the whole loaf! O how their effort puts our indolence to shame! Yes, how sternly God will judge our lethargy and ingratitutde!
What's incredible is that this quote is from Martin Luther. Keep in mind that he lived in the 15th and 16th centuries. And he considered his access to the Scriptures to be fairly easy! I don't think he could have quite imagined a source like the Bible gateway. Could he have imagined the vast quantity of study Bibles available at Amazon? How about a Greek textbook like the one we use? Could he imagine the helps available to those of us who want to read the original language?
Just off the top of my head, I can think of 3 good study Bibles I have at home in NIV, NASB, and ESV. I have extensive commentaries avaialble through e-sword. I can get Scripture emailed to me daily from a plethora of sources. Most Christians own more than one Bible.
But do we read them? I'm reminded of a story I heard from a friend. He knew a girl who got pulled over for speeding. The police officer noticed her Bible in the passenger seat. He asked her if she read it and if she believed it. Basically, he turned it into a warning for her.
God must have been pretty serious about Scripture to preserve it for thousands of years. Let's take that seriously.
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