Why Study the Bible?

This time of year, it seems natural to discuss goals and plans for reading and studying the Bible. In fact, you may have heard the subject touched on in a sermon or Sunday school lesson already in this new year. It may be that you are excited about your reading goals, or it may just be that you’ve grown more than a little weary of being told you should read your Bible.

Whichever is true of you, I would encourage you to consider with me today why we are to study the Bible. I could give a whole list of verses on this topic, but today we’ll just look at one:

“Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth.” (2 Timothy 2:15)

 

That word study means,

“to use speed, i.e. to make effort, be prompt or earnest: —do (give) diligence, be diligent, (forward) endeavor, labour, study.”

Now, I don’t know about you, but that makes it pretty clear that the studying in this verse is not just skimming our eyes over a few pages and checking a box. We are to diligently labor at our Bible reading, to make an earnest effort to understand and apply what we are reading.

And did you notice the reason given for studying in this verse?  

“to show thyself approved unto God”

When we diligently study the Bible, it affects us. The Holy Spirit quickens, or brings to life, a passage in a way we had never seen it before, and we cannot help but be changed. The study of the Word of God will change how we think, how we feel, and how we act. If we choose to study God’s Word with the diligence and effort it deserves, others will begin to notice a difference in us.

That difference is an outward display of the fact that we are “approved” or accepted by God. Those who have never taken the step of repentance from sin and faith in Christ do not have the Holy Spirit to motivate them and also to enable them to grow in Christlikeness. Thus, the changes God’s Word makes in our hearts, minds, and lives are proofs of our position as a forgiven, adopted, heaven-bound Child of God!

God makes it quite clear here and elsewhere in the Bible that these changes are to come through the study of Scripture. In order to be changed by God’s Word, we need to interact with it!

Another result of studying God’s Word is that it will make us

“a workman that needeth not to be ashamed.”

The Greek word used here for workman has the idea of one who toils. Notice that the work so diligently toiled over is work one can be proud of!

If we are filling our hearts and minds with Scripture, we will naturally reflect the wisdom of God in how we think and act. (As long as we are thinking and acting in accordance with what we have been reading and studying!)

We need never be ashamed of time spent studying the Bible, because it is time spent getting to know the all-wise, all-knowing, all-powerful, all-holy, perfectly just God of Whom it is said that “God is love.” (1 John 4:8)  

The more we get to know God, the less we care about the world’s opinion, and the less power it will have over us to make us ashamed to belong to God.

But there’s yet another aspect to this. Notice the next phrase:

“rightly dividing the Word of truth.”

Have you ever voiced an opinion or fact publicly and then found out you were wrong? It’s embarrassing. But when we diligently study the Word of God, the Holy Spirit will teach us, guiding us into all truth just as Christ promised in John 16:13.

When Christians study Scripture, we have a built-in teacher: the Holy Spirit, God Himself.

With God as our teacher, we never need be ashamed of what we know to be true from His Word. We can stand confidently upon the firm foundation of “the Bible says…” whether we are in the company of the saved or unsaved, because God’s Word will never be proven untrue.

In summary, we learn from this verse that studying God’s Word gives us a confidence in Christ which emboldens us to speak the truth in love, even when it is difficult or unpopular to do so. It gives us the knowledge of the truth to share with others, and it gives others confirmation of those truths as they see them lived out in us. That, in a nutshell, is why we study the Bible.

So, what about you?

Are you a “workman that needeth not to be ashamed”? It isn’t too late to begin! —And if you feel like you don’t know where to start, check out my post about Bible study resources for the beginner here.