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A massive, contrary, Greek-influenced tradition "He [the king] is to read from the book of the
developed from the second century onwards. Law every day of his life..." (Deut. 17:9).
This was later built into the great creeds of the
mainstream Roman Catholic Church (at Nicea, "His delight is in God's instruction [the Torah] and
325, and Chalcedon, 451). It required Christians in that instruction he meditates day and night" (Ps.
to submit to the dogma that God is "three Per- 1:2).
sons in One God."
"O how I love your instruction. It is my medita-
Was this development a faithful reflection of the tion day and night" (Ps. 119:97).
belief of Jesus, or was it a departure into pagan-
ism and mysticism? In reply, we propose to dem- "My eyes precede the night watches so that I
onstrate that current theological systems overlook may meditate on Your word" (Ps. 119:148).
an obvious fact. They do this by their dogmatic
insistence that since Jesus is called "Lord" he "Search the Scriptures" (John 5:39).
must also be Deity, the One God. The argument
is repeated over and over again. It appears in lit- "Make them holy through Your truth; Your word
erature both scholarly and popular. Jesus is Lord. is the truth" (John 17:17).
Therefore he must be God.
"These were more noble-minded and they
The facts of the Bible, however, require a more searched the Scriptures daily to see if what they
careful analysis. Does it really follow logically and were hearing was true" (Acts 17:11).
necessarily that calling Jesus "Lord" means calling
him the supreme God? Or does the current theo- "Let the word of the Messiah dwell in you richly
logical theory simply read that idea into the Bible? with all wisdom" (Col. 3:16).
Does it impose itself upon Scripture, instead of
reading Truth out of Scripture? "Jesus Christ came to give us an understanding
[Clark calls this the most intelligent word found in
An outspoken defender of what he thought was the Greek language] that we might know God" (I
the only orthodoxy was Dr. Gordon Clark. In a John 5:20).
number of vigorously written booklets he defends
the Westminster Confession, believing that it "I can vouch for them [the Jews] that they have
faithfully relays the teaching of the Bible. Dr. an enthusiasm for God, but it is an enthusiasm
Clark's insistence on the need for intelligent inves- without understanding" (Rom. 10:2).
tigation of the Bible is beyond praise. We agree
with him wholeheartedly that the following verses The exhortation provided by this sampling of
require of the Christian a wholehearted commit- Scripture is unmistakable. A Christian cannot af-
ment to reading, studying and meditating on the ford to be neglecting his primary duty before
Bible: God: to read and study and think about what he
believes.
"These words are to be in your heart, and you
are to teach them diligently to your children, and Urged on by the Westminster Confession and un-
you are to talk about them..." (Deut. 6:6, 7). able to break away from the tradition which

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