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Come And See
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"Book, Chapter, and
Verse"
by Dave Miller
In recent years, an increasingly
popular sentiment has arisen which maintains that he explicit citation of Bible
book, chapter, and verse in pulpit proclamation is somehow unsophisticated,
ineffective, or inappropriate. With this emerging mentality has come a dramatic
reduction in both the amount of scripture incorporated into the sermon and the
extent to which the sermon’s subject matter is derived directly from biblical
texts. Many preachers now pad their sermons with appeals to modern
"experts" in theology, psychology, and sociology. They pride
themselves on staying abreast of the "latest thought" available from
the academic community and draw freely from this body of information as source
material. We have "set ourselves up" for an extremely dangerous and
spiritually destructive circumstance which historically has heralded the decline
of God’s spiritual nation (e.g., Deut. 6:6—9; Jos. 1:18; Psa. 1:2; Hos.
4:6).
Please consider why Gospel preachers
ought to provide their listeners with direct Scriptural citations:
- Such a practice helps hearers learn
the Bible.
Countless are
the times that one’s grasp of the content and structure of the Bible is
facilitated by knowing precisely where a particular doctrine, principle, or
truth is taught in Scripture. One learns and memorizes passages by reading and
meditating for oneself (Acts 17:11; Luke 16:29; 1 Tim 4:13). If the
preacher does not use and identify Scripture in his sermon, he is at the very
least failing to contribute to his hearers’ acquisition of Bible knowledge.
Perhaps he is even hampering this extremely vital process.
- Quoting Scripture
and requiring direct citation minimizes the tendency to make vague allusion to
Scripture and, in so doing, to fail to take context into consideration. Error
is often undetectable when disguised in the garb of a few familiar-sounding
words or phrases severed from their original context. Even when inspired
writers refrained from giving a specific Old Testament source, they were
careful to quote the passage verbatim (cf. Heb. 2:6ff; 4:4-7; 5:6).
Doctrinal deceptions are constantly being foisted upon the simple and innocent
(Rom. 16:18) by the denominations and false brethren as they evade
decisive and definitive contextual support for their erroneous religious
views. Many disagreements and misconceptions would be settled and clarified if
individuals did not justify their religious views by saying, "Somewhere
in the Bible it says…"
- Direct Scripture citation
impresses upon the hearer that the preacher is not speaking "of
himself" (cf., John 7:16; 8:28; 14:10), or asserting his own ideas
(1 Pet. 4:11; 2 Pet. 1:20-21), but rather permitting God to speak for Himself.
Explicitly telling the audience where the words are found in Scripture
emphasizes to them that they are accountable to God – not the preacher. It
is His words (not the preacher’s)that are "powerful" (Rom.
1:16; Heb. 4:12) and able to save them (Jam. 1:21). Additionally, even
academia held that it is only fair and ethical to give full documentation when
alluding to the work of someone else.
- Finally, giving hearers
sufficient
information for them to locate a passage is appropriate because Jesus and
others did essentially the same thing. Of course, chapter and verse divisions
were unavailable in apostolic times; but faithful speakers gave sufficient
indication by which their claims could be verified. Though occasionally a
speaker would preface his Biblical quotation with a simple formula such as
"It is written" (Matt. 4:4,7), he usually included more details
which enabled the listener to "zero in" on the specific text. Study
carefully the following passages and notice how the inspired speaker provided
clues to the specific source by identifying the Old Testament book, author, or
canonical division (e.g., law, Psalms, or prophets-Matt. 3:3; 12:39; 13:14;
15:7; 24:15; Mark 7:6; Luke 20:42; 24:44; John 1:23; Acts 1:20; 2:16,25; 2:22;
13:33,35,40; 15:15; 28:25).
Christians living today are not
addressing Jews who were so familiar with the Old Testament that they needed
to be reminded of a passage. We are addressing the denominations and the
irreligious – both of whom are woefully ignorant of Scripture – all the
more reason to specify our Scriptural source.
Why do some seem so reluctant to give
book, chapter, and verse in their preaching? Perhaps some are threatened by
the practice because their own knowledge of Scripture is inferior to that of
those who are able to do so. Perhaps some have embrace false doctrines which
cannot survive the straightforward scrutiny of scripture. Avoiding explicit
scriptural citation facilitates religious seduction. Maybe to them, constantly
quoting Scripture does not fit well with the modern,
"sophisticated," "Educated," "smooth" approach.
Such "education" is akin to what Paul called "false
knowledge" (1 Tim.6:20). Such "smoothness" sounds like
the "smooth things" which Isaiah denounced (Isa. 30:10).
Brethren, there will never come a
time when culture or historical circumstances will warrant an abandonment of
straightforward, Scripture-quoting proclamation of God’s word. Let us not be
ashamed (Rom. 1:16) of the Bible. Let us present it faithfully to lost
humanity and do all we can to encourage them to "check it out" (Acts
17:11; 1 Thess. 5:21) as did the noble Bereans!
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