How can we remain emotionally engaged with the text of Scripture when we make it an object of academic study?
Answer
We love many things in life. We love our country, parents, our sons and daughters, and many hobbies. And this makes us move forward to get to know them more. So, if you love the Bible, you will love to study the Word, study the Bible and dig deeper to know its facts. Usually, if you study something you love, you advance in its field. And if we love the Bible, we work on studying and understanding it, and put in time and effort, and look for references to understand it more. In my experience, the more I study the Word, the more time I spend in understanding and verifying its meanings and looking in dictionaries and reference books, the more I love this Word. Many verses in the Bible say that studying the Word is like eating honey. It is extremely sweet because it gives spiritual and mental satisfaction. In fact, studying the Bible fills us on every level. How many times do we get more knowledge, and then our minds are open to understand more? And how many times while we read and study the Word, God speaks to us and we start to pray and talk to him? This produces fellowship with him. As a result, we love God and his Word. And his word lives in us, and we apply it to our life and we live for him. And all that happens through practice. There is a common Arabic proverb that says, "With distance the heart grows stale." So, if the person lives by the Word and studies it, he will love it more and more, and he will grow in this love till he starts bragging about it, that he and the Word are one. The more he is into the Word, the more the Word is in him, and works in his life to show its virtues and wonderful meanings, especially the person of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Dr. Ghassan Khalaf (d. Aug. 2, 2018) was Professor of Biblical Studies at Arab Baptist Theological Seminary in Mansourieh El Maten, Lebanon.
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