Why Study the Bible?
6 important reasons to make the word a priority in your life.
Welcome to my series on Bible study, exploring the questions of who should study it, why we should study it, why we can trust it, and, most importantly, how to study and interpret scripture. My goal with this series is to equip women of God to navigate these increasingly deceptive times in which we live by being thoroughly grounded in the truth of God’s word and fully armed with the Sword of the Spirit. Subscribe so you don’t miss a post!
Do we really need to study the Bible?
According to studies conducted by the Barna Group, a research group dedicated primarily to studying trends in American Christianity, in 2025 only about 42 percent of adult Christians in the U.S. read the Bible at least once a week.1 This is actually up from a study conducted in 2021,2 thanks mainly to growing interest in the Bible among Gen Z. In spite of that, only four to six percent of adult Americans consider themselves to have a Biblical worldview.3
This explains why Biblical literacy appears to be such a rare and precious commodity, and why even life-long believers are often so susceptible to deception and confusion. I myself, despite being saved as a little girl and growing up in church, didn’t really make Bible reading a regular practice until I was in my 30s, and I didn’t develop an infatuation with scripture that lead to serious Bible study until 2020.
Six years on, I sit here amazed at what a difference that shift has made in my life. As it says in Hebrews 4:12, God’s word is indeed alive and active. My faith has grown by leaps and bounds in these last six years. I found healing in the pages of scripture that I had wasted years seeking elsewhere, and my love and appreciation for Jesus is greater than I ever imagined it could be. Becoming intimately acquainted with scripture has given me a solid sense of identity and purpose and assurance about my future that I had struggled to grasp my entire life, in spite of being a believer.
You may have heard the phrase, “To whom much is given, much is expected.” This is a principle from Luke 12:48, which reads thusly in the ESV:
“Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.”
We live in a time of unprecedented access, not only to scripture, but to Bible study tools, commentaries, lexicons and dictionaries, archeological discoveries and historical documents that have helped to restore context and recover how the original believers understood scripture. Daniel 12:4 states that in the end times, knowledge shall increase, and that includes knowledge of scripture. We’re able to carry a vast theological library that includes every translation of the Bible in our pockets and have it available at our literal fingertips.
What do you think God expects us to do with all of that?
And yet, less than half of those who identify as Christians in the U.S. even crack open their Bibles at least once a week.
Here are six scriptural reasons why we should be striving to improve that statistic:
1. The Bible is the Word of God
2 Timothy 3:16 (ESV) says:
“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness…”
Many newer translations say that scripture was breathed out by God, which is a more literal translation of the Greek. Throughout scripture, the same word used for breath -- ruach in Hebrew, and pneuma in Greek -- is also used for spirit. In other words, God’s Spirit is the true author of scripture, having worked by inspiration through the hands of about 40 different men over a period of about 1,500 years. Despite having been penned by so many different writers from different cultural backgrounds at different points in human history, the Bible from Genesis to Revelation forms a cohesive narrative that delivers a consistent message that underscores a single ultimate source.
Or to loosely quote Chuck Missler, the Bible is “an integrated message system from outside time and space.” In other words, the Bible is a long letter to humanity from God, authored by the Holy Spirit.
There’s a running joke among cessationists that goes something like this: “If you want to hear God speak to you, open your Bible.” While I’m not a cessationist (nor, for the record, am I a charismatic; I would call myself a careful continuationist), I largely agree with this statement. I’m always somewhat mystified by people who claim to hear directly from God on a regular basis when it’s clear that they’ve barely even read the Bible. So many Christians are so eager to have a supernatural experience of hearing God’s voice speak directly into their lives, when they can’t be bothered to discover and take to heart what He has already said. They fail to realize that reading the Bible is a supernatural experience.
2. Ignorance of the Word Quenches the Spirit
1 Thessalonians 5:19 warns us not to quench the Holy Spirit. If you’re a believer in Christ, God’s Holy Spirit dwells inside of you. The Spirit has a rich and multi-faceted ministry within each believer, and part of that is to teach us. As Jesus said in John 14:26:
“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.”
Just as the Spirit ministers to us in many ways, we can quench the Spirit in many ways. One of those ways is to fail to take in the divine message that He already imparted to us via God’s word. Because scripture is the primary way that God chose to communicate with us, and part of the Spirit’s ministry is to bring to our remembrance all that the Lord has said -- not just the red letter sections of your Bible, but the entirety of scripture, which is as much the words of Christ, who is the Logos, i.e., the ultimate message and meaning behind the Bible, as of the Father and the Spirit -- we stifle the Holy Spirit’s voice and His ability to teach and instruct us when we fail to take in the word and learn what is written in it.
3. We’re Commanded to Study Scripture
“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” -- 2 Timothy 2:15
In King James English, the word “study” doesn’t necessarily refer to reading and learning, but to pursuing something with diligence. This meaning more accurately reflects the meaning of the Greek word Spoudason, which is made more clear in modern translations such as the ESV, which replaces “study” with “do your best.” Nevertheless, the object of study in this verse is “the word of truth” -- i.e., the word of God.
Those who hold that the clergy class should be the ones to study scripture and disseminate it to the rest of us would rightly point out that this command was addressed to Timothy, who was pastor of the church in Ephesus. So does that mean that the command is only for pastors and clergy, and doesn’t extend to the rest of us?
As I pointed out in the introduction, we can go all the way back to Deuteronomy 6, where the Israelites were given a clear mandate to not only know the Torah, but to teach it to their children. It’s clear that this mandate is for every household of every tribe, not only for the Levites. And the writer of Hebrews is writing to the congregation when he says that they should all be able to teach scripture.
The Old Testament mandate is repeated in Joshua 1:8:
“This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”
Psalm 119, the longest psalm in the Bible, is all about the blessings of studying scripture. And Hosea 4:6 warns, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” When you look around and see how the Biblically illiterate are so easily led astray, that particular verse really hits home.
But the New Testament also contains additional instructions and encouragements about reading scripture that are aimed at all believers, not just the clergy:
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. - Colossians 3:16 ESV
But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. - 2 Peter 3:18 ESV
For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. - Romans 15:4 ESV
4. The Bible Transforms Us
At the very instant a new believer puts their faith in Jesus, they become a new creation, indwelt with and sealed by the Holy Spirit, who continues to work in them to grow, transform and sanctify them throughout their life as a born-again believer. But the word is instrumental in that process. As mentioned above, the Holy Spirit’s ministry to a believer is largely dependent upon the word, and without it, the Spirit is quenched.
Hebrews 4:12 tells us:
“For the word of God is living, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and quick to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart.”
Scripture is a surgical instrument in the hands of the Holy Spirit. It cuts right to the heart of the matter, convicting us and helping to cleanse us of unrighteousness. Or as 2 Timothy 3:16-17 puts it:
“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”
Scripture teaches us the truth, reproves us of our sins and transgressions, provides correction, and trains us to live in a manner that emulates the Lord.
Scripture also helps to cleanse us. As Paul writes in Ephesians 5:25-27 (ESV):
“…as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.”
Elsewhere, Paul tells us to “be renewed in the spirit of our minds” (Ephesians 4:23) and to be “transformed by the renewing of our minds” (Romans 12:2). We renew our minds by taking in and meditating on God’s word, as well as spending time in prayer.
I can personally testify to the transformative and healing effect that scripture has had on my heart and mind. Once I began to take it seriously, put away the psychology and self-help books and podcasts and spend that time instead immersing myself in Bible study, I found all the healing I’d been searching for in those other places. Within weeks, I was delivered from depression and healed from C-PTSD. Since then, as my husband has also committed himself to daily Bible study and growing in scripture knowledge, I’ve seen amazing growth in him and in our marriage.
If you’re relying on prayer alone and not seeing any real growth or transformation in your life, could it be because you’re neglecting God’s word?
5. Without God’s Word, We’re Naked and Defenseless Before the Enemy
Our spiritual armor begins and ends with God’s word.
In the ancient world, a soldier’s belt didn’t hold up their pants. It was the anchor piece that supported every other piece of protective armor. Our spiritual armor, as detailed in Ephesians 6, hangs on the belt of truth -- truth that can only be gleaned from the pages of scripture.
It’s in living out this truth -- being doers of the word, and not hearers only, as James 1:22 tells us -- that we find protection from temptation and from all the schemes of the Enemy. And lastly, we’re told to “take… the Sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God…” (Ephesians 6:17).
We see a prime example of the Sword of the Spirit in action in the gospels. The most detailed account of Jesus’ temptation by Satan is in Matthew 4. Each time Satan tempts Jesus, he responds with, “It is written…”, and then he quotes scripture.
If the Son of God and Savior of the universe needed scripture to counter the attacks of Satan, how well do you think you’ll fare against the Enemy without it?
6. Jesus is the Word
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” -- John 1:1, ESV
This well-known opening to John’s gospel is specifically about Jesus. While this is not saying that Jesus is literally the Bible, or vice versa, what it is saying is that Jesus is the Logos -- the ultimate message and meaning behind all of scripture.
From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible details a single, cohesive narrative that focuses on the person and work of Jesus Christ. In Luke 24, two of Jesus’ followers encounter a man who, unbeknownst to them, is the risen Jesus on their way to Emmaus. As the Lord walks with them, He teaches them all the things that the Old Testament says about Him. The entire Bible, through typology, Christophanies, prophecies, Hebrew language holding the mystery of Jesus, and narrative structure, points the way to Jesus.
The New Testament epistles are full of admonitions for believers to grow in our knowledge of Jesus, so that we can grow to become like him in maturity and character. It’s impossible to fully know Jesus without studying everything the Bible has to say about Him, from the first page to the last.
I could go on and keep listing reasons, but I think you get my point. Bible study is a critical element in the life of a believer. Without it, we’re not only spiritually starved, anemic and vulnerable to deception and attack, but we’re also disobedient. I would go as far as to say that if we don’t make time for God’s word, we’re demonstrating that He simply isn’t a priority in our day-to-day lives.
Can you imagine going days, weeks, months or even years on end without bothering to pay attention to anything your spouse (or kids, or whomever in your life means the most to you) has to say? Can you imagine doing all the talking and expecting them to listen and meet your needs while simultaneously refusing to give them the same kind of attention and regard? That’s what we do when we pray and assume that that’s enough, while neglecting to spend time in the word. Is that love?
Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15, ESV). That word “keep” in Greek is tereo, which means to heed and observe, but it also means to guard and protect. We can do neither of those things if we don’t first know Jesus’ commandments that are written down in scripture. And we can’t truly say that we love Jesus if we remain willfully ignorant of His teaching -- which, again, is not limited to the red letters in your modern Bible, but encompasses all of scripture.
Now that we’ve established the necessity of Bible study, we’ll be getting into the nitty gritty of how to study scripture. But first, we’ve got more groundwork to lay. In the coming weeks, we’ll be counting the cost of becoming a serious student of the word, as well as examining how we got our Bible and why we can trust it as authoritative truth.
In the meantime, if you’re new to studying scripture and you’re not sure where to start, you could start with my study guide on the Sermon on the Mount. You can also click here for links to online Bibles and study resources.
See you back here in two weeks!
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