Main | On Holy Scriptures - Chapter One »
Studying Doctrine as a Spiritual Activity
As we begin our study of the Westminster Confession of Faith we are going to be talking about the major doctrines of the Bible. What are doctrines? A doctrine is what the whole Bible teaches us today about some particular topic.
The first chapter of the Westminster Confession deals with the Doctrine of the Word of God. Studying the major doctrines in the confession must be done in a manner prescribed by Scripture. Scripture tells us how we should study God's word. Psalm 119:18 says, "Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law." We should pray that God opens our understanding.
Word and Spirit are intertwined in this first chapter. The Confession says, "Nevertheless we acknowledge the inward illumination of the Spirit of God to be necessary for the saving understanding of such things as are revealed in the Word. "As we approach our study we should study with prayer. It is the Holy Spirit who will help us rightly understand Scriptural doctrines. Let us begin our study this week with prayer for insight and understanding.
With this introduction - we should also allow for praise for what we've learned. Each week as we progress I will try to find a hymn using the Trinity Hymnal that you can sing (or hum) throughout the week as a form of praise for God's word and instruction that week.
One of the most valuable aspects of serious study is remembering what we've learned. What could be better than Scripture? Each week I will list one verse that would be beneficial to commit to memory. In addition I will list the Westminster Shorter Catechism questions and answers that are helpful to review and commit to memory.
Prayer, praise, rejoicing, scripture memory and catechism review are all things we can do to help us seeek God, understand His purpose and will for us, and bring God glory. May we truly say at the end of our study, "The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart." Psalm 19:8
Posted by Christine at October 10, 2005 7:57 AM
