Episode 87: How to read the Holy Scriptures

In the name of the glorious Trinity, Father and Son and Holy

Spirit forever. Amen.

Glory be to the everlasting mercies which sent you to us, O

Christ, the light of the world and the life of all.

Give us wisdom by your law and enlighten our impulses by your

knowledge. Sanctify our souls by your

truth, and grant that we may be obedient to your words and may

fulfill your commandments at every hour.

O you Who enlightens the rationale with the knowledge of

your greatness, do enlight, O my Lord, our thoughts that we may

meditate upon your holy and divine scriptures at all times.

O Lord of all, Father and Son and Holy Spirit forever.

Amen. One of the many responsibilities

and qualities of a righteous, faithful believer in Jesus

Christ. That is a true, genuine

Christian, and that is one who has believed in him.

One who has been buried with him in the waters of the baptismal

font and has been declared by the priest, who have been

baptized and confirmed in the name of the Father and of the

Son and of the Holy Spirit. Receiving the Holy Spirit and

signed with holy oil of unction or anointing is to listen.

If one does not read for him or herself, is to listen to the

Holy Scriptures. The Bible, each time they are

read and exposed or preached is to read, study, examine and

search the Holy Scriptures and to attend gatherings where the

Holy Scriptures are studied, discussed and taught.

Now the question is begged and I'm sure you're begging this

question. Don't beg, it's OK, I'll ask it.

The question is begged. How one ought to do the above.

Where do you start? How do you start?

What do you do? Well again off the bat and

according to the to an anonymous article where I came across

written by an Orthodox Bishop stated that it was probably

during the OR the pre revolutionary Russia, which is

included in the commentaries of the Blessed Theophil Act, whose

commentaries are based on Saint John the Chrysostom and his

extensive homilies. On the New Testament writes the

Holy Scriptures. Being the word of God, one ought

to approach them in reverence and with prayer to God,

beseeching him to graciously grant understanding first and

foremost. Foremost, we have to have

respect and reverence for the word of God, for the Bible, the

word itself, the power in the words, the book itself, not

putting it down on the floor and kicking it as a football,

claiming to be a funny Christian act.

That's blasphemy, and unless there's repentance, there's

eternal punishment. That is why when you walk into a

a Christian home, and in particular the Assyrian homes,

you'll find most of the time a book of the Bible the scriptures

opened. And when you ask those simple

old ladies who don't know grace, no, they don't know grace, they

don't know you're saved by grace, you ask them why is this

book open? And they'll reply, Well, I want

the holiness of this book, the power of this book to come out

into my home. Reverence, beloved, reverence.

Hence we kiss the Bible. Hence when we we are put to bed.

When we were young and being put to bed, tucked in in bed by our

mothers, they would make us kiss the Bible.

Yeah, not understanding it, haven't read it yet.

But there's you know, to begin with, we knew that this book is

holy, is revered. So after having that reverence

to the Word of God, the Holy Scriptures, we need to pray to

God. We need to ask Him to grant us

the understanding, the wisdom, the knowledge.

One prayer which I always offer to God prior to the commencement

of Bible studies gathering those who attend, is that of Saint

John Chrysostom. Before reading the Holy

Scriptures, let me share it with you and you may want to rewind

and write this down. And this could be your model

prayer before you begin to read the Holy Scriptures.

Now some would recommend that you read the Psalms, which is

great. There are Psalms that are

prayers pertaining to the Lord opening our hearts and our

minds. But I love this prayer and I

want to share it with you and it goes like this.

Always begin with the name of the Father and of the Son and of

the Holy Spirit doing signing the cross on yourself.

Don't be reluctant. Don't be fooled by those who

mock the sign of the cross and the prayer goes our Lord Jesus

Christ. Open the eyes of our hearts,

that we may hear your word and understand and do your will, For

we are sojourners, refugees upon the earth.

Hide not your commandments for us, but open your eyes, that we

may perceive the wonders of your law.

Speak unto us the hidden and secret things of your wisdom, O

Lord of all, and you conclude one more time with the name of

the One, Godfather and Son, Holy Spirit, and the sign of the Holy

Cross. It's a beautiful prayer and it

entails everything and refers to reading the Holy Scriptures.

Another prayer is what we pray the beginning of this program.

Every episode of the prayer is recited.

Glory be to the everlasting mercies which has sent you to

us, O Christ, the light of the world and life forever and ever.

Amen. These are actually the

liturgical prayers. These are the preparatory

prayers in during the celebration of the Divine

Liturgy of Holy Qurbana, before the priest proceeds to come out

with the Holy Gospel. And these are the prayers that

sometimes they are said silently, but at times some

priests recite them loudly for people to hear and their

beautiful prayers, preparing the priest that the Lord will

enlighten him and move him and and and and direct him to dare

to read and comment on the Holy Scriptures being the Word of

God. So before you commence the

reading of the Word, the Holy Scriptures beseech the Lord of

the Word in prayer and supplication to grant you

knowledge and understanding of the Word, and finally the

strength to be a doer of the Word and not merely a hearer of

the Word. Now also the Blessed Theophlec

writes, or the Orthodox Bishop, Since the Sacred Scriptures were

written down under the inspiration of the Spirit of

God, that is the Holy Spirit, we can understand them correctly,

truthfully, only by the assistance of the Spirit of God.

It ain't mean to that. So we don't dare to try to

understand them with our own limited carnal understanding and

knowledge. No, We rely and refer in the

prayer and during reading that the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of

God, the Spirit of holiness, will reveal to us the truth of

the words and the message and the power that is in the word.

Why? Saint Paul the blessed apostle

writes to the Corinthians in his First Epistle, chapter 2, verse

14. And listen to this carefully.

The natural man, the carnal man, Barnasia, the natural man, one

who does not have the Holy Spirit within him, receives not

the things of the Spirit of God, cannot, cannot, cannot contain,

cannot understand the things of the Spirit of God, for they are

foolishness unto him. Neither can he know them,

because they are spiritually discerned.

The Holy Scriptures are spiritually discerned.

And the natural man, ordinary man, also make judgment on

spiritual things by the understanding of their own

reason. You know, many a times during

Bible studies when we examine or discuss a certain verse or a

topic, Well, I think, and I always say I'm sorry, but I'm

not concerned about what you think or what you feel.

No, I want the truth of the word, the meaning of the word.

So they try to understand with their own reason without

submitting themselves to faith and the faith in one God

Almighty, His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Spirit

that proceeds from the Father, the life giving Spirit.

You see, our minds can only comprehend or grasp divine

teachings when the grace of the Holy Spirit enlightens it.

It's just like when you are in a dark room and there are

furniture in the in the room. There are a lot of obstacles in

the room, a lot of objects in the room.

You try to walk from one end to of the room to the other end,

you're gonna fall because those objects are not revealed and not

exposed. So until you switch on the

light, when you switch on the light, that brightness, that

light reveals all the hidden objects and obstacles in the

dark. So also the spiritual life.

We can understand and perceive spiritual subjects and matters

only in the light of the Holy Spirit.

We need to always keep in mind, beloved, that one of the works

of the Holy Spirit as Jesus teaches in John chapter 14,

John 14:26

verse 26, The Holy Spirit, the Paraclate, the Redeemer of the

Accursed, is to teach all things as stated by Christ, one of the

services. Lack of a better term, one of

the gracious gifts of the Holy Spirit, is to teach.

So when you don't understand something, you pray to the Holy

Spirit, Reveal to me, open my eyes, open the eyes of my mind

or open my heart. You know, in the Old Testament

there was no word of the mind, it was always the heart, because

they didn't understand the mind. It was the mind was the heart.

But in the New Testament, now you see the mind and the heart.

To open my heart, open my mind so that I may understand.

And we're going to close off with After you do understand,

what do you do with that? So we implore God with reverence

that He enlightens our minds with the grace of the Holy

Spirit, and that He grants that we may understand the teaching

of His words and why that is for our own edification and growth

in our relationship with God. The purpose for reading the Holy

Scriptures is not to go out there and take it as a fighting

weapon to offend people. No is that we increase our

relationship with God by knowing Him through His Word, the Holy

Scriptures, the written Word, and through the word of God, the

Word of God, His Son L or Jesus Christ.

Now we have referred to understanding the word many

times, but the question I feel being begged again and I will do

it for you. It's OK.

I'm a humble priest. I'll do it for you.

I'll do your Your begging for you is in what framework?

In which framework or according to what measure or whose

interpretation and directions are we to understand and

comprehend and to accept the meaning, the interpretation of

the Holy Scriptures? Great question, Amazing

question. Well, very simple.

Sometimes I I make out that the questions are really hard.

You know, some people during Bible studies have commented

that they say, Robbie, when you ask a question and you sort of

lean back on your chair when you're sitting and you look at

us, it's like we think, Oh my God, what's the answer?

It sounds so this has got to be theological.

This is one of those capitulation, Leonor Saroon, one

of those capitulation questions. And then when we're, we can't

answer, you come back and say, and it's so simple and we say,

well, you, you make it seem so hard.

This is very simple, Beloved. In what framework and according

to whose understanding and life and interpret, interpretation

and usage of the Word of God are we to understand the church?

The church? One more time, the church Ayeta,

not umrah. Say thank God we have two words.

We have umrah, we have Ayeta. Umrah is the dwelling, place is

the building, is the premises. Ayeta is you and I, the body of

Christ, the church that Christ established on earth, the body

of believers. Now we need to refer to the

church. Why?

Why the church? Why can't every person claim to

interpret the scriptures and teaches scriptures?

You know why? Because if this was never

allowed and it didn't at all come about, we won't have 30,000

denominations of Christianity. I'm sorry, but yes, 30 to

33,000. You know why?

Because people picked up the scriptures and interpreted

according to their own understanding and and how it fit

in their own lifestyle. So those who condemned the early

church for not permitting the faithful to read the scriptures,

well, we stand corrected. We stand rebuked.

Do you know why? So that not every person will

interpret scriptures to understand them according their

to according to their own knowledge and understanding and

wisdom and philosophy and theology and school of thought.

But the Church? And there is something within

the church as well. Why the church?

Because this is what the solar scripture.

Let's be let's let's play the Solar Scriptura.

Not game. I'm sorry.

Oh, it's. I won't use the word game, but

the the solar scripture a concept.

OK, Only the Bible. Only the Bible.

Nothing outside of the Bible. All right.

Amen. Well, the Bible says that the

church is the pillar and foundation of the truth, not the

Bible. So you go and fight with that

solar scripture. You go now and and question the

holy scriptures and say how dare you holy scriptures write that

the church is the pillar and truth of foundation or the

pillar and foundation of the truth, not the scripture.

Saint Paul. Actually, you got to you've got

to go and face Saint Paul. This is what the Bible is saying

about the church in one Timothy chapter 3, verse 15, which is

the pillar and the foundation of the truth.

Now, yes, I can feel it. Which church, Robbie, you just

mentioned 3030 to 33,000 denominations.

Well, the one Holy and Apostolic and Catholic with a small C not

Roman Catholic Catholic denoting universal the complete.

There's a small sea that church beloved that we recite in the

the Nicaean creed. We believe in the one holy and

Apostolic and Catholic Church. Why?

Well since the church canonized, accepted and rejected the book

of the Bible. Keep in mind, beloved, for 30 to

40 years, let's just you know the the the years are varying,

right? Let's just, let's just take it

as an argument's sake for 30 to 40 years or maybe even 70 years.

Beloved, there was no that there was no there was no Gospels.

Gospel means Jesus Christ. The first gospel, that which

that was preached was by the angels.

Glory to God in the highs 'cause they told of a good tidings

which is Jesus Christ. There was no Bible, there was no

New Testament. Do you know the first written

book? The first recorded found written

scriptures was either one Corinthians I've heard or one

Thessalonians. Not Matthew or John or Mark.

No. For 40 to 50 to 70, let's let's

give it that time frame. There was no Bible.

Beloved. What was the church sitting

there Matthew, Mark and and and so I'm sorry Peter and John and

Thomas were stay sitting there and twiddling their thumbs and

waiting for us book to come down so that we can start using it as

a guide. No gospel means Jesus Christ.

Jesus was preached and by the way he was preached.

In the faint framework of the Old Testament, the apostles

would go to the to the synagogues and preach Jesus.

They would preach the Feast of the Tabernacles and the feast of

the Pentecost. But they would preach Jesus,

Christ being the fulfillment of all these feasts until they were

expelled from the synagogue. So where did the Bible come from

Within the church? And how was the Bible canonized?

The writings were examined according to the framework and

according to the life of the Church.

That's why we need to understand them according to the framework

of the Church. The one Holy and Apostolic and

Catholic with a small C universal church.

You see, we have our Lord and our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Praise me to His name, who by the way, He's prayed for

everyone. When I begin to pray, sometimes

I'm not going to be a hero until every time I when I begin to

pray and I end my prayer, I always encourage myself and say

You fool Jesus prayed for you. Christ has already prayed for us

and that we need to pray to him, not for him, but to Him.

So Jesus Christ prayed to his Father for those who believed,

listen to this. He prayed not only for these

that He's his disciples, but also to those or for those who

believe in Him by the words of the Apostles, not the writings,

not the books they carried by the words of the Apostles whom

went and preached Jesus Christ crucified, resurrected, and He's

sitting at the right hand prays be to His name, either either in

writing or oral teaching and expositions of the Apostles

before any books of the New Testament were written.

So one must understand the Sacred Scriptures as the Holy

Church explains them and as the Holy Fathers and teachers of the

Church understood them and how they incorporated them in the

Church life and in the Church liturgy.

Let me give you an example how much we learn from the Church

liturgy. The boxer.

I'm going to use the liturgy of the burial of Christians.

In one of the antiphons or one of the hymns this is this is

referring to repentance or the unrepentant souls, right?

So there's a lot of questions. We read the the scriptures and

sometimes we may not get a clear answer.

Understanding we come to the Holy Liturgies and the Divine

Liturgies and we find our answer.

And here it is Those who are refused by their deeds.

The door to the bridal chamber will not be open unto them,

referring to the Five foolish virgins.

Abraham will not refresh those who are suffering in the flames

of the fire. This is the parable of Lazarus

and the rich man. The judge, being Christ, will

not forgive those who have not repented.

Simple. There it is.

There's my answer about repentance, non repentant soul.

What will happen in the liturgy? So the scriptures are not only

limited to that book that you hold in your hand.

And by the way, I forgot to mention going back to the

reverence of the book and throw it in your, you know, in the

back of the car, in the trunk and throw it on the ground in

the back seat. Don't just toss it in the in on

the table when you walk in your home.

Put it in a respectable place. Maybe put it in your glove box

or leave it with you until you get home.

Don't leave it in the car. It's not a a, you know, going

back many, many moons. It's not one of those.

Rigby's street. What do I call them?

St. Directories?

No, beloved. It's the written word of God.

It has power. So there it is.

You know, beyond the Holy Scriptures, we see that the

Church incorporated the Scriptures even in its liturgy

to teach the faithful the meaning, the truth of Jesus

Christ, an understanding of death and judgement.

And this is, again, not according to one's own feeling,

emotions, personal understanding and certainly interpretations,

but rather within the framework of the life of the Church, her

holy Fathers and teachers. Why?

Because when we read the Word of God attentively, carefully,

reverently, yes, there are some things that are clear and they

are understandable, the Holy Spirit reveals to us.

But there are some things that we don't understand.

I'm sure you're agreeing with me.

I'm sure you're shaking your head right.

But if you're driving people to probably think, why is this guy

shaking his head? Yes.

In agreeance. That's right.

So what do you do? You text Cassia Gennard, right?

You message Cassia Gennard. You, you, you reach out to

Cassia Gerard or your parish priest.

And you know what Cassia Gennard does, let me tell you.

That's why I delay in my replies and I say, oh, I'm sorry, I was

busy. No, I wasn't busy.

I may have been busy, but I'm busy searching the Church

Fathers and the Church liturgy and the life of the Church to

give you that true interpretation direction of the

Holy Scriptures, not my own understanding and my own

philosophy or theology. And I always give disclaimers.

I mean during these episodes I always say according to Saint

John the Saint John Chrysostom, according to Saint Ephrem the

Syrian, according to the Blessed Theophilac, right?

Trying to avoid plagiarism too? I think so.

Finally, Beloved, after approaching the Scriptures in

reverence, praying and reading and consulting and researching

and referring to the Church Fathers and the understanding of

the Scriptures by the Church in the framework of the Church and

the life of the Church, finally what we must do is approach the

Holy Scriptures with the one and most important mission, intent

and purpose. And that is to fill, fulfill

them, to obey them, to do them, to live them and reflect.

Meditate on them to please God with our thoughts, words, deeds

and actions according to the instructions of the Holy

Scriptures, Jesus said in Luke Chapter 11, verse 28.

Luke 11:28

Blessings to those who have heard the word of God and keep

it, keep it not just meaning. Oh I understanding it's in my

mind. It's in my heart.

I believe it. No keep it in their daily life.

What he's saying is blessed are they who listen to the teaching

of the word of God with reverence and then submit to it,

keeping it in their thoughts, desires, words and deeds, and

who strive both openly and secretly to serve the Lord God

ever fulfilling His commandments.

And blessed it will be you, my dear brother and sister, my dear

listeners, if you strive to listen to the word of God and to

keep the commandments of God. If you strive to listen to these

episodes of the Double Edged Sword podcast ministry and not

just text me and say I love your podcast.

So I'll be, you know, please. And I say this in all humility

and I say this in all love and respect.

Don't tell me what you love and how much you enjoy.

Just pray for this ministry because it's not my ministry.

Pray for the ministry. You will be blessed because even

on earth you will live with God and beyond the grave, eternal

reward, rewards will be awaiting you in the mansions of heaven,

where you will be everlastingly blessed, glorifying God the

Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit forever.

Amen. We hope you enjoyed this week's

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time. God bless you all.