Study the Bible, Not About It

Much that is called Bible study is not Bible study at all. Satan kept men for years from any interest in Bible study, but now that there is a great and growing interest in it, he keeps them from real Bible study. Questions about the authorship, date, etc., of the various books of the Bible are both interesting and important; but studying these things is not studying the Bible. Mr. Moody once asked a recent graduate of a great university why he did not give his life to teaching the English Bible. The young man replied, [I don't know anything about the Bible.] [Why,] Mr. Moody said, [you have a high-priced professor employed in your university just to teach the English Bible.] The young man said, [Mr. Moody, would you like to know how we study the Bible? We have spent the last six months trying to find out who wrote the Pentateuch, and we know less about it now than when we began.] That was not Bible study.