Should we read books other than inspired Scripture to help us understand the Bible?
This text is from a letter written by David Gooding in 1994.
In answer to your question, I could perhaps cite the case of the Apostle Paul. He had no doubt about the supremacy of inspired Scripture, and he urges Timothy to engage in constant study of it (2 Tim 3:14–17). But in the very next chapter of that same epistle he requests Timothy as follows: 'The cloak that I left at Troas with Carpus, bring when thou comest, and the books, especially the parchments' (2 Tim 4:13 ASV). That shows us that Paul did not confine his reading to the holy Scriptures, but made use of other writings too.
The well-known Christian teacher of a previous generation, J. N. Darby, states somewhere that it was this verse that stayed him from selling his library. It is, of course, important that we all learn to go direct to the Lord in his word, for the Bible is God's conversation with us; but the very Bible itself will encourage us with the fact that, in addition to giving us the Bible, God has set evangelists and teachers in the Body of Christ to help his people grasp what Scripture says, and apply it to their edification and guidance.
The Ethiopian chancellor in Acts 8 would have been a highly intelligent man, but he confessed to Philip that he did not understand who it was that Isaiah's prophecy spoke of. 'How can I understand it,' he asked, 'unless somebody guide me?' That has been the experience of multitudes of people who seek to understand the Scriptures, and not only the chancellor.
Some people, it is true, come to the knowledge of salvation simply by reading the Bible. But the vast majority of God's people have sat through endless sermons, expositions, explanations and exhortations from Sunday school teachers, Bible class leaders, evangelists and teachers, before they come to understand what Scripture is saying and put their faith in God and his word.
No one ever suggests that, when we meet together in church, people should simply read the Bible and that all teachers and evangelists should be banned from speaking. They are obviously part of God's deliberate provision for his people. Books are simply that oral ministry written down in a suitably adapted form.
That, at least, is the way I look at my own books. I trust that God uses them to help his people to understand holy Scripture the better; but I have no wish that people should substitute my books for holy Scripture, and I should be likewise sorry if my books deflected people from holy Scripture.
Yours sincerely in Christ,
