Towards Understanding of the Practice of Proclamation: The Core Element of Russian Baptist Worship, Timofey Cheprasov, 2015

are still very helpful in shedding light on the role and the use of biblical text. The first article was entitled “Bible — the Word of God.” After initial introduction about the Bible being the only foundation of Christian faith, and the only source of our knowledge about God, the author sets clear criteria for the reader/interpreter, ‘God reveals Himself only to those, whose hearts are clear, whether it is a heart of an ignorant person or a wise man. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God,” says Jesus Christ.’ Another crucial element of biblical interpretation is belonging to the church, as ‘the fullness of God, and the greatness of His love opens only in the Church of Christ.’ Finally, the in-depth study of the Bible leads the reader to the discovery of the fullness of spiritual life.“ 33 Ivan I. Motorin was one of the leaders of the ARUEC and later the AUCECB. In 1924 he became the leader of the Union of Evangelical Christians in Ukraine. During this time he supervised publications of the journal Evangelist. In 1944 he participated in the discussions, leading to the formation of the AUCECB. In 1966 Motorin was elected into the General Council of the AUCECB. “Ivan I. Motorin, “Bibliia — Slovo Bozhiie” [“Bible — the Word of God”], in Bratskii Vestnik, Vol. 4 (1946), pp 4-5. 91 Motorin’s second article, “How to study the Bible,” begins with words about the necessity not only to read, but to study the Bible. Then he offers an insight into how not to study the Bible. According to him, there are several wrong ways of approaching the Bible. First - through the lens of the Tradition. Motorin insists that trying to read the Bible through the teaching of the Church Fathers [startsev] leads to stripping the Bible of its power to reveal the crucified Christ, thus making such an exercise not only useless, but even harmful.” The second approach to avoid is what he compares to the work of Scribes and Pharisees of the 1* century or ‘modernist theologians’ of his time. These ‘modernist theologians’ are those people who study the Bible in seminaries and universities, having great knowledge but missing the most important element — personal regeneration. Since they ‘study the Bible not like God’s revelation, but as they would study any other human book’ such method is considered as ‘exceptionally harmful.’”° In the next section under the heading “How the Bible should be studied” Motorin offers a number of proposals. The first and the most significant aspect of biblical interpretation is that: the Bible ‘should be studied diligently, with especial eagerness and reverence, and most importantly, with prayer.’ Other suggestions include (1) to read the whole Bible; (2) to study the Bible topically (and to read ‘available reference books’); (3) to study different sections of the Bible (e.g. the Gospels, the Torah, etc.); (4) make notes, but most importantly ‘pray and reflect.’ Only this allows the reader