What is the greatest gift I can give?

Is giving someone a Bible enough?

Last year I had the opportunity to go to Peru with a team of teenagers, and after handing Bibles out to the local people, the question was asked, "How are they going to understand what they are reading?"

Since then, I have had a conversation with a missionary with Wycliffe Translators, and he basically said the same thing. He thanked me for the ministry of AMG International because we go out and explain the Bible to those who receive it.

That got me thinking about what we believe about God's word. Does God's word stand alone? Can someone who knows nothing about God learn all they need to know just by reading the Bible? Is it essential for someone to explain to someone else what God's word means?

How we answer these questions says much about what we believe about the Bible and it's author. If I believe that the Bible is the actual words of God to man, if I believe that His Spirit illumines man to understand His Word, if I believe that the Author knew exactly what to write to show Himself to man, then I would conclude the the Word of God can and will stand alone. So giving the Bible to someone is a most excellent gift.

However, if I believe that it is from the mouth of man that another must understand the Bible, or that an uneducated person needs an educated person to explain it, or that the teachings of the Bible are too deep for someone to understand apart from a discourse from another, then I would conclude that the Word of God needs the mouth of man to be effective. Therefore, apart from someone to explain it, the Bible itself is not a sufficient gift.

What do you think?