Am I Overusing Bible Commentaries?

Ask Pastor John

Desiring God

John Piper, Unknown, 163859, Pastor, Ask, Theology, Desiring God, Religion & Spirituality/christianity, Christianity, Religion & Spirituality, Questions

4.8 • 3.8K Ratings

🗓️ 26 December 2024

⏱️ 13 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

God gives the church teachers, including Bible commentators, to help us understand his word. But how can we tell if we’re relying on commentaries too much?

Transcript

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0:00.0	I hope you had a wonderful Christmas celebration with friends and family and with your family and the faith as well.
0:08.2	We're back to work today talking about Bible reading and commentaries and a question from an old friend of ours.
0:13.5	Hello, Pastor John.
0:14.4	My name is Calvin from Singapore.
0:16.6	And this, by the way, is the same Calvin from Singapore who previously asked,
0:23.6	Why did demons ask Jesus for pigs? Which became APJ 1534, one of our most popular episodes of all time.
0:28.1	That was a surprise.
0:29.6	Why in the world?
0:30.5	Total surprise.
0:31.3	What in the world?
0:32.4	Why did demons ask Jesus for pigs?
0:35.1	APJ, episode 1534.
0:37.1	Great episode. If you somehow didn't hear it, check it out.
0:39.6	Most of you have because it got lodged in the YouTube algorithm and generated huge amounts of traffic.
0:44.6	I think it's got over 2 million views now just in YouTube alone. It's crazy. All right, so Calvin, keep sending us your questions.
0:51.6	They're great ones. And he has. Because Calvin is back to ask
0:55.2	this question. Pastor John, hello. Every time I read the Bible, I use a Bible commentary to help
1:00.7	me understand it. But it very often end up not reading the Bible and finding myself just
1:06.8	reading straight from the commentary, which can be very illuminating and edifying, but I don't want to neglect the Bible itself. What's the right balance of reading the Bible
1:14.9	and reading commentaries? How do you move back and forth from text to commentary to benefit from
1:19.7	great teachers, but not at the neglect of the text of scripture itself? How do I know if I'm
1:25.8	overusing Bible commentaries? It is possible to fall off the
	...

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