Article of the Month
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by Dr. Paul Elliott
Arthur W. Pink addresses a heart-searching question that every Christian must ask himself: Do I read and study the Bible for the right reason? Today we begin a series of articles presenting outstanding expository material on the study of the Scriptures, from the pen of British preacher Arthur W. Pink. A man too little known among Christians today, Pink was one of the leading Bible scholars of the twentieth century. Born in 1886 to Christian parents, Pink first became involved in theosophy, a forerunner of the New Age Movement, before repenting and becoming a Christian at age 22. Like several other great preachers and teachers of his time (including Charles Spurgeon, G. Campbell Morgan, and Martyn Lloyd-Jones), Pink was not a college-trained Bible scholar. But through self-study of the Word, clearly guided by the indwelling Spirit of God, Pink gained an understanding of Scripture far beyond that of the vast majority of preachers and seminarians of his day.
The magazine never had more than roughly a thousand subscribers around the world, but among their number were men such as Martyn Lloyd-Jones, who was often asked to advise young men preparing for the ministry. He counseled them not to waste their time reading the better-publicized men of the day such as Karl Barth, whose so-called neo-orthodoxy was leading many astray. If you want sound Biblical teaching, Lloyd-Jones frequently said, read Arthur Pink. Pink left pulpit ministry before the age of fifty to live with his wife Vera on the Isle of Lewis, off the coast of Scotland. He spent the rest of his life immersed in the study of the Bible, and the publication of Studies In the Scriptures. His habit was to dictate much of the material to his wife, who served as his typist and helped with editing. He finished all but four sentences of the last issue in early July 1952, and then dictated those final words after taking to the bed from which he would never rise. As he lay dying, slipping in and out of consciousness, he would sometimes speak as though he were dictating yet another edition of the magazine. His final words were the thought that must govern the life and thinking of every Christian: ”The Scriptures explain themselves.” The bright idea of the moment, the latest religious fad, the latest how-to book, the latest pronouncement of ecclesiastical officialdom or of some dominant personality in the church - these things do not interpret the Word of God. No man's or woman's opinion stands in authority over Scripture. “The Scriptures explain themselves.” That is how Arthur Pink handled the Word of God. After his death much of the material contained in over three hundred issues of Studies In the Scriptures was compiled and published in over forty books that have made his studies available to a far wider audience. Those works include comprehensive studies of several books of the Bible and its major doctrines, as well as studies focusing on Christian living. The selections we plan to present in this series first appeared in the pages of Studies in the Scriptures. After Pink's death they were re-published in book form under the title Profiting From the Word by Banner of Truth Trust. Right and Wrong Motives for Bible Study Pink begins the first chapter of Profiting From the Word by addressing a heart-searching question that every Christian must ask himself: Why do you read and study the Bible? What is your motive? Pink observes, There is grave reason to believe that much Bible reading and Bible study of the last few years has been of no spiritual profit to those who engaged in it. Yea, we go further; we greatly fear that in many instances it has proved a curse rather than a blessing. This is strong language, we are well aware, yet no stronger than the case calls for. Divine gifts may be misused, and Divine mercies abused. That this has been so in the present instance is evident by the fruits produced. Even the natural man may (and often does) take up the study of the Scriptures with the same enthusiasm and pleasure as he might of the sciences. Where this is the case, his store of knowledge is increased, and so also is his pride. Like a chemist engaged in making interesting experiments, the intellectual searcher of the Word is quite elated when he makes some discovery in it; but the joy of the latter is no more spiritual than would be that of the former. Again, just as the successes of the chemist generally increase his sense of self-importance and cause him to look with disdain upon others more ignorant than himself, so alas, is it often the case with those who have investigated Bible numerics [numerology], typology, prophecy and other such subjects. The Word of God may be taken up from various motives. Some read it to satisfy their literary pride. In certain circles it has become both the respectable and popular thing to obtain a general acquaintance with the contents of the Bible simply because it is regarded as an educational defect to be ignorant of them. Some read it to satisfy their sense of curiosity, as they might any other book of note. Others read it to satisfy their sectarian pride. They consider it a duty to be well versed in the particular tenets of their own denomination and so search eagerly for proof-texts in support of `our doctrines.' Yet others read it for the purpose of being able to argue successfully with those who differ from them. But in all this there is no thought of God, no yearning for spiritual edification, and therefore no real benefit to the soul. Of what, then, does a true profiting from the Word consist? Does not 2 Timothy 3:16-17 furnish a clear answer to our question? There we read, `All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.' Observe what is here omitted: the Holy Scriptures are given us not for intellectual gratification and carnal speculation, but to furnish unto `all good works,' and that by teaching, reproving, correcting us. Let us endeavour to amplify this by the help of other passages.2 References: 1. Arthur W. Pink, Profiting From the Word (Carlisle, Pennsylvania: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1970), page 7. 2. Profiting From the Word, pages 9-10. 2 - The Spiritual Profit of Conviction of Sin You need the Word to convict you of sin not only at your conversion, but every day of your life in Christ. In our first article in this series, Arthur W. Pink addressed the question of motive in the study of the Word of God. “The Holy Scriptures,” he said, “are given us not for intellectual gratification and carnal speculation, but to furnish unto `all good works,' and that by teaching, reproving, correcting us.” Pink now tells us the first of seven ways in which you as a believer can profit from the Word of God in this way: An individual is spiritually profited when the Word convicts him of sin. This is its first office: to reveal our depravity, to expose our vileness, to make known our wickedness. A man's moral life may be irreproachable, his dealings with his fellows faultless; but when the Holy Spirit applies the Word to his heart and conscience, opening his sin-blinded eyes to see his relation and attitude to God, he cries, `Woe is me, for I am undone.' It is in this way that each truly saved soul is brought to realize his need of Christ. `They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick' (Luke 5:31). Yet it is not until the Spirit applies the Word in Divine power that any individual is made to feel that he is sick, sick unto death. Such conviction that brings home to the heart the awful ravages which sin has wrought in the human constitution is not to be restricted to the initial experience which immediately precedes conversion. Each time that God blesses His Word to my heart, I am made to feel how far, far short I come of the standard which He has set before me, namely, `Be ye holy in all manner of conversation [conduct]' (1 Peter 1:15). Here, then, is the first test to apply: As I read of the sad failures of different ones in Scripture, does it make me realize how sadly like unto them I am? As I read of the blessed and perfect life of Christ, does it make me recognize how terribly unlike Him I am?1 The Apostle John tells us of the need for conviction of sin, and God's provision in Christ for our restoration to fellowship with the Father, in his first epistle: This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins [the force of the original Greek is, “and since anyone will commit acts of sin”], we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world. (1 John 1:5-2:2) References: 1. Arthur W. Pink, Profiting From the Word (Carlisle, Pennsylvania: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1970), pages 10-11. 3 - The Spiritual Profit of Sorrow for Sin Arthur Pink asks: Does your study of the Word produce a broken heart and lead to a humbling of yourself before God? Does it convict you of your sins in such a way that you are brought to daily repentance before Him? In the last article in this series, Arthur W. Pink asked readers these questions, “Does your study of the Word produce a broken heart and lead to a humbling of yourself before God? Does it convict you of your sins in such a way that you are brought to daily repentance before Him?” In the next section of Profiting From the Word, Pink turns to the matter of true sorrow for sin - the godly sorrow that leads to repentance (2 Corinthians 7:10), which is unlike “the sorrow of the world.” There is sorrow in the recognition and confession of sin, but there is joy in forgiveness: An individual is spiritually profited when the Word makes him sorrow over sin. Of the stony-ground hearer it is said that he `hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no root in himself' (Matt. 13:20-21); but of those who were convicted under the preaching of Peter it is recorded that they were `cut to the heart' (Acts 2:37). The same contrast exists today. Many will listen to a flowery sermon, or an address on `dispensational truth' that displays oratorical powers or exhibits the intellectual skill of the speaker, but which, usually, contains no searching application to the conscience. It is received with approbation, but no one is humbled before God or brought into a closer walk with Him through it. But let a faithful servant of the Lord (who by grace is not seeking to acquire a reputation for his `brilliance') bring the teaching of Scripture to bear upon character and conduct, exposing the sad failures of even the best of God's people, and, though the crowd will despise the messenger, the truly regenerate will be thankful for the message which causes them to mourn before God and cry, `Oh, wretched man that I am.' So it is in the private reading of the Word. It is when the Holy Spirit applies it in such a way that I am made to see and feel my inward corruptions that I am really blessed. What a word is that in Jeremiah 31:19: `After I was instructed, I struck myself on the thigh; I was ashamed, yes, even humiliated'! Do you, my reader, know anything of such an experience? Does your study of the Word produce a broken heart and lead to a humbling of yourself before God? Does it convict you of your sins in such a way that you are brought to daily repentance before Him? The paschal lamb had to be eaten with `bitter herbs' (Exodus 12:8); so as we really feed on the Word, the Holy Spirit sometimes makes it `bitter' to us before it becomes sweet to our taste. Note the order in Revelation 10:9, `So I went to the angel and said to him, “Give me the little book.” And he said to me, “Take and eat it; and it will make your stomach bitter, but it will be as sweet as honey in your mouth.” ` This is ever the experimental [experiential] order: There must be mourning before comfort (Matthew 5:4); humbling before exalting (1 Peter 5:6).1 David speaks of the joy of such forgiveness resulting from confession of sin, in Psalm 32:
Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven,
When I kept silent, my bones grew old
For this cause everyone who is godly shall pray to You
I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
Many sorrows shall be to the wicked; References: 1. Arthur W. Pink, Profiting From the Word (Carlisle, Pennsylvania: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1970), pages 11-12. 4 - The Spiritual Profit of Confession of Sin Arthur Pink asks: Does your own spiritual history show confession of sin before God, or efforts to conceal it? In the last article in this series, Arthur W. Pink asked readers these questions about godly sorrow for sin: “Does your study of the Word produce a broken heart and lead to a humbling of yourself before God? Does it convict you of your sins in such a way that you are brought to daily repentance before Him?” In the next section of Profiting From the Word, Pink turns to the matter of confession of our sins before God, after the light of Biblical truth has focused our hearts upon them: An individual is spiritually profited when the Word leads to confession of sin. The Scriptures are profitable for `reproof' (2 Timothy 3:16), and an honest soul will acknowledge its faults. Of the carnal it is said, `For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.' (John 3:20). `God be merciful to me a sinner' is the cry of a renewed heart, and every time we are quickened by the Word (Psalm 119) there is a fresh revealing to us and a fresh owning by us of our transgressions before God. `He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy' (Proverbs 28:13). There can be no spiritual prosperity or fruitfulness (Psalm 1:3) while we conceal within our breasts our guilty secrets; only as they are freely owned before God, and that in detail, shall we enjoy His mercy. There is no real peace for the conscience and no rest for the heart while we bury the burden of un-confessed sin. Relief comes when it is fully un-bosomed to God. Mark well the experience of David: `When I kept silent, my bones grew old through my groaning all the day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my vitality was turned into the drought of summer' (Psalm 32:3-4). Is this figurative but forcible language unintelligible unto you? Or does your own spiritual history explain it? There is many a verse of Scripture which no commentary save that of personal experience can satisfactorily interpret. Blessed indeed is the immediate sequel here: `I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and You forgave the iniquity of my sin' (Psalm 32:5).1 David's experience looms large before us as we read the account of his descent into horrible sin, in Second Samuel chapters 11 and 12. The sin of adultery led to the sin of murder, as David desperately tried to conceal the evil he had done. But David was brought to the place of true confession by the merciful hand of God, who sent His word through Nathan the prophet. In Psalm 51, David writes of the confession of his sin and the testimony of the restored believer:
Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness;
For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me.
Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners shall be converted to You.
O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall show forth Your praise. References: 1. Arthur W. Pink, Profiting From the Word (Carlisle, Pennsylvania: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1970), pages 12-13. 2. “Do not take Your Holy Spirit from me” is a prayer that no believer under the New Covenant need ever utter, since the Holy Spirit now takes up permanent residence in every regenerated saint as the down-payment and guarantee of our ultimate redemption (Ephesians 1:13-14). 5 - The Spiritual Profit of a Deepening Hatred of Sin It is easy to hate the sin you see in the world. But is the study of the Word causing you to truly hate the sin it reveals within yourself? Hating Sin Unconditionally In the last article in this series, Arthur W. Pink asked, “Does your own spiritual history show confession of sin before God, or efforts to conceal it?” In the next section of Profiting From the Word, Pink addresses the question of godly hatred of sin: An individual is spiritually profited when the Word produces in him a deeper hatred of sin. `You who love the Lord, hate evil!' (Psalm 97:10). `We cannot love God without hating that which He hates. We are not only to avoid evil, and refuse to continue in it, but we must be up in arms against it, and bear towards it a hearty indignation' (C. H. Spurgeon). One of the surest tests to apply to the professed conversion is the heart's attitude towards sin. Where the principle of holiness has been planted, there will necessarily be a loathing of all that is unholy. If our hatred of evil be genuine, we are thankful when the Word reproves even the evil which we suspected not. This was the experience of David: `Through Your precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way' (Psalm 119:104). Observe well, it is not merely `I abstain from,' but `I hate'; not only `some' or `many,' but `every false way'; and not only `every evil,' but `every false way.' `Therefore I esteem all thy precepts concerning all be right, and I hate every false way' (Psalm 119:128). But it is the very opposite with the wicked: `Seeing you hate instruction, and cast My words behind you' (Psalm 50:17). In Proverbs 8:13, we read, `The fear of the Lord is to hate evil,' and this godly fear comes through reading the Word. See Deuteronomy 17:18-19.1 Rightly has it been said, `Till sin be hated, it cannot be mortified; you will never cry against it, as the Jews did against Christ, Crucify it, Crucify it, till sin be really abhorred as He was' (Edward Reyner,2 1635).3 A Church Service Or a Rehab Meeting? One of the greatest problems among 21st-century Christians can be summed up thus: Little or no hatred of sin. Instead, in much of the 21st-century church we find indifference toward sin, and toleration of sin. We find a psycho-therapeutic unwillingness to call sin by its Biblical name and to speak forthrightly of its Biblical results both in this life and in eternity. Instead, the postmodern Evangelical church speaks of your “mistakes” - your “bad behavior” - your “times of exercising poor judgment” - your “lapses in self-esteem” - as though you needed a shrink and not the Savior. An Evangelical church member said to me recently, “Most of the time when I go to church these days, I don't feel like I'm in church. I feel like I'm in a rehab meeting.” This is one of the main reasons that so many churches are so spiritually ineffectual today. Needed: A Renovation of Our Thinking Oh, how much we need to forsake this mindset, and call upon God to renovate our thinking (Romans 12:2) in order to produce authentic Biblical hatred of our sins. It is only then, as Matthew 3:8 tells us, that we can truly “bear fruits worthy of repentance” - that is, thoughts and actions that are congruous with, in accord with, the fact of repentance. So many Christians have bought into the notion that it's somehow wrong to hate anything. But may we let our thinking about sin be driven by Scripture alone, and not by the world: You who love the Lord, hate evil! He preserves the souls of His saints; He delivers them out of the hand of the wicked. (Psalm 97:10) Through Your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way. (Psalm 119:104) I hate the double-minded, but I love Your law. (Psalm 119:113) Therefore all Your precepts concerning all things I consider to be right; I hate every false way. (Psalm 119:128) I hate and abhor lying, but I love Your law. (Psalm 119:163) The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverse mouth I hate. (Proverbs 8:13) Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. (Romans 12:9) Putting to Death Sin Within Us - Putting on Righteousness Dear friends, we need to get hold of these truths once again. The Apostle Paul writes of the imperative of putting to death the deeds of the flesh, and the companion imperative of putting on - literally, clothing yourself in - the things that please your Lord. The test of all things is, “Can I do it in the name of Christ - as His representative on earth?” If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Because of these things the wrath of God is coming on the children of disobedience: But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all. Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. (Colossians 3:1-17) References: 1. “Also it shall be, when he [the king of Israel] sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book, from the one before the priests, the Levites. And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes.” (Deuteronomy 17:18-19) 2. Reyner was an English non-conformist preacher who suffered considerable persecution because of his stand for the true faith. 3. Arthur W. Pink, Profiting From the Word (Carlisle, Pennsylvania: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1970), pages 13-14. Copyright 1998-2025 TeachingtheWord Ministries www.teachingtheword.org
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