“First, Build a Foundation of Biblical Theology…” (w/ Dr. Timothy Cross)

Have you tried quoting several scriptures quickly and quickly in a short amount of time? He offers some thoughts and advice on memorizing the Bible in this interview with Dr. Timothy Cross.

• Website: https://www.timothyjcross.org/
• Book Published : http://www.timothyjcross.org/purchasing/

You can learn more on Dr. Timothy Cross’ website or you can visit the Cornwall Street Baptist Facebook page.

Dr. Timothy Cross Interview Transcript:

Dr. Timothy Cross:
I used to listen to Trans World Radio Monte Carlo. Yeah, there was a fellow then called Jack Van Imp who had memorized. So they said, I mean he was always trumpeting how many verses that he memorized, 10,000 verses. And I used to admire his ability to quote Scripture from memory. So I began in a small way beginning with just verses.

What’s the gospel? Well, John 3:16, “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal alive.”

How you saved by grace? Well, “By grace you have been saved through faith and this is not your own doing. It’s the gift of God, not because of works.” Ephesians 2:8-9.

Why did Jesus come? Well, “The son of man came to seek and to save the lost.” Luke 19:10. All the this sort of stuff. “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” 1 Timothy 1:15. So that it began that way and I found it very helpful.

Assurance of salvation. Romans 8:1 “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” The Bible says so whether I feel it or not. Is the Bible true or are my doubts true? The Bible is true. It is helped me with assurance. And so it grew and grew. Then I tried to memorize paragraphs, purple patches I used to call them. So say Colossians 1:15-20 about the Lord Jesus. “He’s the image of the invisible God, the first born of all creation for in him all things were created…” All these. So that was a blessing.

Then it moved on to chapters. I memorized Isaiah 53 over again, one of the clearest pictures of Calvary in the Old Testament. “He was wounded for our transgressions.

He was bruised for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that made it so. With his stripes were healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” So it was a great blessing.

And then tentatively I began to memorize books. I think it began with sort of longer passages like Psalms, Psalm 1, “Blessed is the man who walks not…” an assurance. Like a life verse Psalm 32:1-2. “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputes no iniquity.” So it began, yes, verses, paragraphs. Then let’s try and get a whole psalm and then whole books. So I think I began with Ephesians, which was a blessing and it’s just been a great help to my own personal walk with the Lord.

Then as I began preaching as well, it was great to have the ability to quote Scripture from memory. It seemed to give my sermons a lot of ballast that it was not my views or anything, this is not the Word of Lord says. Yes. So it it’s been a great, I mean, I hope I would memorize Scripture whether I was a minister or not. I would recommend every believer to memorize as much as you can. Really, if you believe in the divine inspiration of Scripture, it’s great to have it in the mind and heart. Different verses come to you at different times, different times of need. You can claim these promises at nighttime when you can’t sleep. Everything is highly recommended.

Josh:
Absolutely. I’m always very encouraged when I talk to people like yourself. I’ve talked to others that are in ministry and that do prioritize Scripture memory. I actually think that it ministers who do memorize is actually a minority more than I’d like.

And I’m curious for you, how do you balance the time you’ve got to be studying, you also have responsibilities in the church, but then balance that with this. It does take time to memorize. How do you all that?

Dr. Timothy Cross:
I think sometimes we know more than we think we know just through the familiarity with Scripture. Which everything is, if you really want to do something, you schedule everything round things. So I run and I pray, read the Bible and each day it’s time not so much for memorizing the Scripture, but for retaining what I have memorized. For memorizing, sometimes if I go on holiday, I try and memorize a new book or new verses that sort, but I have a set amount of time each day and I go over what I’ve done. So it’s a joyful form of bondage.

Josh:
I like that! “A joyful form of bondage.” I haven’t heard it said like that before. What books of the Bible have you memorized and what’s been your favorite so far?

Dr. Timothy Cross:
Well Romans is very special because it’s the distilled gospel. “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” So as a Protestant, that’s the heart of the gospel, that we are declared righteous because of Christ in God’s sight.

Unrighteous though I am in myself, I’m declared with totally righteous. The righteousness of Christ is put to my account and clothed with that. So we get to heaven as we say, by not our own righteousness, but by righteousness of another and a healing righteousness. A sinless life in the sacrificial Christ. So Romans is a special book.

eah, I’m handicapped more now. When in my previous abode, dear dearly, couple people were on the same length and they used to test me on my Scriptures. So they were quite happy to hear me try and recite books. Now it’s more what as I began, you put a little bit of card over the page. Verse 1. Yes. Got that. Uncovered verse 2 in that way. That’s right. And when I began, I did begin with used to write the verses on cards and the reference on the other side. But now I suppose I don’t really, I know individual verses from the books, but I can rattle the book off, but I have to run up to some individual verses. I might not be able to quote them cold.

Josh:
I like that.

Timothy:
Romans is a special book, but they’re all very special. Galatians really is Romans in embryo. It’s, I say Paul takes up controversially what he explains systematically, because the doctrine of salvation, by free grace alone was under threat from the Judeans. Those who thought you could be saved by what you do rather than what Christ has done. So yes, I’ve got quite a few books of my heart and I would like to have more as well. But I mean there used to be a chap over here, he used to give recitations of Mark’s gospel. But that makes me feel inadequate.

Josh:
I mean, having all of Romans is not anything to feel inadequate about. That’s for sure.

Dr. Timothy Cross:
And I remember, I think the first lengthy passage I memorized was probably John 1:1-18. The prologue. “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God. And the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him. Without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.”

Yes, it’s this, you don’t have to be clever, really, to memorize. It’s a very unsettling form of learning. It’s just bashing it in. The hard part is once you’ve got it, it’s easier to retain than to actually get it. I’ve found, I mean, I’m like a boy who can’t do his maths. When I’m memorizing, you know, forget a word or you put a word in that isn’t there. So then eventually, so it is just a question of slogging at it. I find it’s worth it, but I believe that it purifies my mind and heart.

Josh:
Yeah, no, I love the fact that memorizing really facilitates the meditation of Scripture. And one of the things that you’ve said to me a couple times as we’ve interacted before we actually got on this call, is that you and technology don’t necessarily get along. And I love the fact that you’re a great example of the fact that you can do all of this. You can memorize, you can review without an app, without a computer. And I love that idea of just taking a 3×5 card and you’re saying you’re literally just moving it down the page of your Bible. Is that correct?

Dr. Timothy Cross:
That’s right. Yes. “His delight is in the law of the Lord and on his law he meditates day and night.” Yes. That’s from somewhere. Yes. Very nice. But well, I know preachers will take a sort of mobile phone into the pulpit and they’ve got their sermon points on there, but I know if I did that as soon as they got up there, the batteries would go,

Josh:
Yes,

Dr. Timothy Cross:
I have got a mobile phone and it gives me a verse a day sort of thing. Yes. But I can’t say I read it on the phone. I old fashioned got the book.

I mean my sermons, I always try and look at the original, the Greek and Hebrew. That was probably one of the few things I got out of college. It’s nice to look at the original. You might get an extra shade of meaning. Yeah, I remember when I was really wowed 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, “I deliver to you as a first importance which I also received. That Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures. That he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.”

That word, the verb he was raised is what they call in the Greek the perfect tense. So it doesn’t mean just that he, and the perfect tense means an action in the past which has abiding relevance, continuing relevance in the present. So when it says Christ was raised, it means yes, he was raised and he’s still alive today, a living Savior! So it’s little things like that.

The Greek can give you a great blessing. I mean you don’t want to be too technical in the pulpit, but the, I believe the job of the preacher is to bring the meaning of the word and the implications of the word out to the congregation, strengthen their faith that way. It’s in ourselves we’ve got nothing to say. We don’t have to preach the word of God. Yeah, no new revelation, but the revelation is there to expound.

Josh:
Yeah, I mean that’s one of the reasons why when people ask me about different ideas and thoughts of memorizing, one of the things I love to do is memorize alongside, let’s say my pastor going through a particular passage. Because I think that by listening as I’m memorizing, there are things like that if you had said that I could incorporate into my memory that would make it that much deeper that my understanding of that passage, which means so much better. So have you ever tried to memorize in the Greek or are you only memorizing in the English?

Dr. Timothy Cross:
[speaking Greek] I think I’m translating back into the Greek.

Josh:
That’s fantastic!

Dr. Timothy Cross:
Well no, I don’t consciously try to memorize the Greek, but when this is our stock and trade, you will get some just sort of in the process of that’s where you live. Yeah, really. And I think that’s the same with most Christians. Even if they don’t constantly try to memorize the Bible, they should at least be familiar with it with their daily devotions. Whether that’s a little portion or a few chapters.

Josh:
So if you’re speaking to somebody that is part of your church or a friend who is let’s say either new in their faith or they just have this new inspiration to want to memorize more, what are the things that you share with them or ideas or I don’t know, just encouragements that you give them to get started, even if they feel like it’s really hard for them?

Dr. Timothy Cross:
Yes. Well say anything worthwhile is never easy, whether that’s marathon running or learning an instrument,. But a new Christian, I do have a passion for doctrine, being well grounded in the basic fundamentals of the faith. So I would give them a few verses to memorize:

Why do we believe in the deity of Christ? Well, yeah, “In the beginning was the Word, the Word was God and the Word was God.” I mean, it’s more than just a memory verse. The deity of Christ is part of the very root of the New Testament.

He walked on water, he calmed the trouble sea, he raised the dead, he forgave sins, he fed multitudes, he healed lepers. You know these are all proofs of his deity. But there are great indeeds in the mystery of origin.

God was manifested in there are direct statements of the deity of Christ. I’d wanted to…are you sure your sins are forgiven? Well yes, because you trusting Christ. Ephesians 1:7: “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of his grace.”

So I try and get them to memorize some of the basic fundamentals of the faith. And yeah, obviously the fundamental of the faith is the substitution and death of Christ on the cross. What went on at Calvary, the unique sacrifice, “Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”
John 1:29. “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree.” 1 Peter 2:24. That sort of thing.

So yes, get a good grounding in the fundamentals. And why should it, what’s unique about the Bible? Well, I think it’s one of the first ones I did memorize, 2 Timothy 3:16: “All Scriptures is inspired by God is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training and righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”

Acts 4:12, “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven and among men by which we must be saved.” Very good thing for new Christians as well is to memorize the “I am” sayings of Jesus. Yeah, that’s the great help.

John 14:6, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me.”

John 8:12, “I am the light of the world. He who follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life. John 6:35, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me shall not hunger. He who believes in me shall never thirst.”

John 10:11, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” With such a Lord, just to meditate on those verses will be a blessing and strengthen yourself if you are.

Josh:
I’m so curious because one of the things that I am really loving about our conversation right now is the fact that I think just in the past however many minutes we’ve been talking, you’ve probably quoted 20 to 30 different Scriptures to me, if not more. And you’ve done so at a rapid pace. In other words, it’s obvious that it has been ingrained in your mind and it is just a part of you. It’s not something that you’re to go back and really think about. It just flows off of your tongue. Is that something that you found you?

Dr. Timothy Cross:
That’s what I would like.

Josh:
Yeah, of course. Oh absolutely.

Dr. Timothy Cross:
And discipleship was ongoing. I know conversion might be one-off. Yeah. Although I’m not sure whether not when was the original Timothy saved. He was nurtured in the faith through his mother, Eunice and his grandmother Louis. From childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings which are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.

But then I think probably he inked in what he’d penciled over when he met Paul, because Paul refers to him as my true child in the faith. So I’m not sure when Timothy was converted. Did he know he had a conversion, a distinct conversion? And it might be a bit the same as me with my sort of, I was born to a Christian mum and then I professed salvation in my later teens with it. That might be tidying it up for the telling, you know?

Josh:
Well, I think you said it very wel: inking in what was penciled over. I think my question for you, and I really want to know is it rolls off the tongue so much. Is that something you’ve consciously worked on or is that just a product of having gone over it for I don’t know, how many years have you been at this?

Dr. Timothy Cross:
Well, I was saved when I’m 18 and now I am…now I’m a middle-aged man. I used to be able to run a marathon in 2:49. Now you’d have to put a calendar on me rather than a stopwatch, but I’m not sure. Obviously the memory verses you do work out, but then you’ve got a lot more than you think you have just through familiarization with the Scriptures. Yeah. I mean passages I’ve preached on you.

I mean the first rule when I’m preparing a sermon is absolutely soak yourself in the passage. What does it say? What does it mean? How does it apply? Is there any way I can illustrate it? Is there a promise here to claim? Is there a warning to heed? Is there a blessing? What does it say about the person of the Lord Jesus Christ? What does it say about salvation? What does it say about Christian living? What am I to do with it?

What do I hope my flock will get out of it? So that you really have to work at it. And then I’m not arrogant to say I do look at what commentators have said because we’ve got this great Christian heritage. It’s very elegant to think not to look at those. And of course my interpretation might be a, but I mean I believe most Scripture is plain. Protestants believe in the perspicuity of the Scripture. Scriptures are clear. I think it was Mark Twain who said “It’s not so much what I don’t understand in Scripture that worries me. It’s what I do understand.”

So yeah. Yes. That’s the first thing I do. In sermon prepping, you really grapple with the passage or the verse, the incident, whatever it is, however you preach and tend to preach. I believe in expository preaching, covering whole books. But that of course depends then on people being there regularly. And sometimes people are well sporadic in their church attendance.

But yeah, other times it’s one off psalm here, a verse here, gospel sermon here, pastoral sermon here. But each time I hope I really know and are familiar with the passage I’m trying to expound and explain. I hope I will be a student of the Scriptures to my dying day. Another thing is, slightly sensitive, my late father died of dementia, which was very upsetting because he was very able in his day just a shadow of himself.

And I learned a lot then about with Alzheimer’s disease, about the long-term memory and the short-term memory and the long-term memories is the last to go. Things that are ingrained are still there. Forget something you told him two minutes ago. So I’m hoping if I go that way, the memory verses will still be there even when everything else is gone. Yeah, it’s in the Lord’s hands. I hope. It’s not something I would want Alzheimer’s disease, but it’s yeah, but more and more common

Josh:
Yeah, no, my grandmother, I remember going through that same thing and watching her mind deteriorate and things that she’d done decades ago, those she could remember just off the top of her mind. But the fact that I was her grandson might have slipped her memory. So I think that’s really neat. Being able to look at it from the perspective of, I want these things to be so deep in the memory that even when half of my memory is gone, that’s still there.

Dr. Timothy Cross:
I think that gave me a sort of urgency as well to carry on the memorization. I dunno, you shouldn’t worry about what if, but yeah, I don’t want those to go even if everything else goes in. Yeah.

More Bible Memory Resources

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