Listening to the Bible vs Reading the Bible for Spiritual Growth
Listening to the Bible vs Reading the Bible for Spiritual Growth
The Bible emphasizes the importance of hearing and reading God's Word for spiritual growth. In Ecclesiastes 7:5, it is written, "Better to listen to the rebuke of the wise than for a man to listen to the song of fools" [1]. This verse highlights the value of listening to wise counsel, which can be applied to listening to the Bible.
In the New Testament, the importance of hearing God's Word is also stressed. In Acts 4:19, Peter and John respond to the Jewish leaders, saying, "Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, judge for yourselves" [2]. This passage demonstrates that listening to God's Word takes precedence over human authority.
The concept of "hearing" or "listening" to God's Word is closely tied to obedience and understanding. The name "Ishmaiah" is interpreted as "hearing or obeying the Lord" in Hitchcock's Bible Names [3]. This etymological insight underscores the connection between hearing God's Word and responding in obedience.
Reformed theologian Charles Hodge emphasizes the role of the Holy Spirit in illuminating the mind to understand God's Word. According to Hodge, the Spirit's work is not to reveal new truths but to enable the mind to apprehend the truth, excellence, and glory of things already revealed [5]. This understanding is crucial for both listening to and reading the Bible, as it highlights the need for spiritual illumination to grasp the meaning of Scripture.
Hodge also notes that the Bible makes a distinction between mere hearers of the Word and those inwardly taught by God. Jesus' statement, "No man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him" (John 6:44), refers to an inward drawing and teaching beyond that effected by the truth as objectively presented to the mind [6]. This distinction is relevant to the discussion of listening to versus reading the Bible, as it suggests that spiritual growth requires more than just external exposure to God's Word.
John Gill, a Baptist/Reformed commentator, interprets Luke 11:26 as emphasizing the importance of hearing and keeping God's Word. According to Gill, Jesus is saying that it is more blessed to hear the Word of God and keep it than to have a physical relationship with Him [7]. This interpretation highlights the significance of both hearing and obeying God's Word for spiritual growth.
The Reformed tradition, as represented by Hodge and Calvin, stresses the importance of individual interpretation of Scripture. Calvin notes that the Bible is not just a book of rules or doctrines but a means of spiritual nourishment, with different levels of understanding suited to different believers [11]. Hodge argues that the Bible is a plain book, intelligible to the people, and that they have the right and duty to read and interpret it for themselves [8, 9].
In the view of the Reformed tradition, both listening to and reading the Bible are essential for spiritual growth. While listening to the Bible, often in a communal setting, can provide the benefit of communal interpretation and the guidance of the Holy Spirit, reading the Bible personally allows for individual reflection and understanding. The early Christian fathers, such as Augustine, also recognized the importance of both hearing and reading Scripture. Augustine notes that the Gospel is preached to all, but its meaning is understood differently by different hearers, depending on their spiritual capacity [10].
The distinction between listening to and reading the Bible is not necessarily a binary opposition. Rather, both activities can be complementary and mutually enriching. As Hodge notes, the progress of theological knowledge is a gradual process, both for individuals and for the Church collectively [4]. This progress is facilitated by both personal reading and communal hearing of God's Word.
Sources
- Ecclesiastes “Ecclesiastes 7:5 (LEB) — Better to listen to the rebuke of the wise than for a man to listen to the song of fools.”
- Acts “But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, judge for yourselves, -- Acts 4:19”
- Hitchcock's Bible Names “Hitchcock's Bible Names: Ishmaiah — hearing or obeying the Lord”
- CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 1, section 37: effected by a continual and gradual progress. The same progress has taken place in theological knowledge. Every believer is conscious of such progress in his own experience. When he was a child, he thought as a child. As he grew in years, he grew in knowledge of the Bible. He increased not only in the compass, but in the clearness, order, and harmony of his knowledge. This is just as true of the Church collectively as of the individual Christian. It is, in the first place, natural, if not inevitable, that it should be so. The Bible, altho”
- CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 1, section 9: by God in His Word ( 1 Cor. ii. 10-16 ). It is not, therefore, a revelation of new truths, but an illumination of the mind, so that it apprehends the truth, excellence, and glory of things already revealed. And second, 16 This experience is depicted in the Word of God. The Bible gives us not only the facts concerning God, and Christ, ourselves, and our relations to our Maker and Redeemer, but also records the legitimate effects of those truths on the minds of believers. So that we cannot appeal to our own feelings or inward experience, as ”
- CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 2, section 138: The Bible makes a broad distinction between the mere hearers of the Word, and those inwardly taught by God. When our Lord says ( John vi. 44 ), “No man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him;” he evidently refers to an inward drawing and teaching beyond that effected by the truth as objectively presented to the mind. All the power which the truth as truth has over the reason and conscience is exerted on all who hear it. This of itself is declared to be insufficient. An inward teaching by the Spirit is absolutely nec”
- Luke (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on Luke 11:26: But he said,.... Christ said "to the woman", Persic version reads, as correcting her, though not denying it, nor reproving her for it, but improving upon it: yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it; intimating, that though his mother was happy in bearing and suckling such a son, yet it was a far greater happiness to hear the word of God; meaning either himself, the eternal "Logos", so as to embrace him, believe on him, and have him formed in the heart; or the Gospel preached by him, so as to understand it, receive it as the ingrafted word, ”
- CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 1, section 44: § 5. Perspicuity of the Scriptures. The Right of Private Judgment. The Bible is a plain book. It is intelligible by the people. And they have the right, and are bound to read and interpret it for themselves; so that their faith may rest on the testimony of the Scriptures, and not on that of the Church. Such is the doctrine of Protestants on this subject. It is not denied that the Scriptures contain many things hard to be understood; that they require diligent study; that all men need the guidance of the Holy Spirit in order to right knowl”
- CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 1, section 44: in his stead. He must answer for himself; and if he must answer for himself, he must judge for himself. It will not avail him in the day of judgment to say that his parents or his Church taught him wrong. He should have listened to God, and obeyed Him rather than men. 2. The Scriptures are everywhere addressed to the people, and not to the officers of the Church either exclusively, or specially. The prophets were sent to the people, and constantly said, “Hear, O Israel,” “Hearken, O ye people.” Thus, also, the discourses of Christ were ad”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 7: Augustine — Homilies on John — CHAPTER XVI. 12, 33 (continuea). (part 2): to the Jews a stumbling-block, and to the Gentiles foolishness; and to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, the power of God, and the wisdom of God;"(1) but to the carnal, as babes who held it only as a matter of faith, and to the spiritual, as those of greater capacity, who perceived it as a matter of understanding; to the former, therefore, as a milk-draught, to the latter as solid food: not that the former knew it in one way out in the world at large, and the latter in another way in their secret c”
- CCEL (Reformed) “John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, section 101: consecrated by a perversion of Scripture, because they think they read in Isaiah that there are seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, whereas truly not more than six are mentioned by Isaiah, who, however, meant not to include all in that passage. For, in other passages are mentioned the spirit of life, of sanctification, of the adoption of sons, as well as there, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge, and of the fear of the Lord. 676 676 Isa. 11:2 ; Ezek. 1:20 ; Rom. 1:4 , 8 :15”