Why Study the Bible?

This question is an important one to ask today, especially when realising how many Christians do not really know their Bible. Many believers today rely on pastors or influencers to convey the truth of scripture to them, which is very dangerous because throughout history we have seen how easily people twist God’s Word and how they have led many away from Christ. Peter states it this way: “And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.” (ESV 2016), (2 Peter 3:15 – 16) It is thus very dangerous to build your understanding of who God is upon someone else’s opinion of Him, for you cannot truly know if what that person is saying is true or not.

This brings us to another important question related to the first question and that is. Can the truth be known? Some will say that they do not know, or some will even say that you can live your truth as long as you allow them to live their truth. Now if we are to take these statements seriously and you take them to their logical conclusion then it is very dangerous for it will make the world unliveable, because if the truth cannot be known then we cannot truly determine right from wrong. This brings me to a third question and that is. Does the truth exist? Again if the answer is no, then a simple response would be. Is that true? Thus the truth does exist, but it is not subjective in the sense that we can determine truth, for truth is mutually exclusive. This is because we can make choices, but we cannot determine the outcome of those choices. Which then means in order for right and wrong to exist there has to be a moral law giver, a Creator, someone who designed and made us and the world around us.

This brings us to Genesis 1:1 – “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” (ESV 2016) In this verse we see that God revealing Himself as the Creator who created time, space and matter. But why does this matter? Well because truth is not just some object it is a personal being that created not out of need, but out of love, and this we see very clearly when we read Genesis 1:26 – 27 which states – “Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” (ESV 2016) In these two verses we see something precious we see that the triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit decided to create us in His image and likeness, which says something about God and that, is that He is the first being that loved and that created out of love. This also means that we have immense worth because we are created in the image of God and thus if He does not exist and if He did not create as, as some claim well then we are worth nothing, which also means that life has no meaning. But God did speak and this can even be observed in nature as Paul makes clear in Romans 1:20.

What Genesis 1:1 also tells us is that God spoke first and is still speaking. This brings as to the means through which people can come to discover and know God. The first manner in which God makes Himself known is through nature, in theological terms we call this general revelation. And example if general revelation as stated can be seen in Romans 1:20 and can also be observed in Psalm 19:1 which states: “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.” (ESV 2016) Thus one can come to the realisation through general revelation that there is a God, but to come to saving faith in God you will need what we call special revelation.

Special revelation comes to us when we are born again and through the Bible which God has given to us so that we can learn to discern what He’s like, who He is and what His voice sounds like from Genesis to revelation. Jesus states in John 3:3 - “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (ESV 2016) What Jesus states here is profound, because being reborn is a supernatural event that surpasses rationality, for it is done by Christ through the Holy Spirit. It is also a mystery in that a person cannot really explain as to how he or she became born again for Jesus states in verse 8: “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” (ESV 2016) Thus it is through the power of the Holy Spirit that people come to Christ. And it is also by His guidance that we can understand the scriptures.

It is also the Holy Spirit that inspired the scriptures which of course all point to Christ. Paul states in 2 Timothy 3:16 – 17: “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.” (ESV 2016) What Paul is saying here is amazing, for He states that the word was literally breathed out by God and that through reading the Bible people come to know God and how He wants them to live. Thus the Bible is not merely to be studied for the sake of making oneself smarter, rather we are to study the Bible in order to know God. And in knowing who He truly is, we can then by His power live out the truth of the scriptures in our everyday life.

This is in essence why we need to study the scriptures in order to know who God truly is. It also points us to the interpreter of God Himself, Jesus Christ His Son who is the way the truth and the life, which means that He is the full revelation of who God is. He makes God understandable for us through the power of the Holy Spirit, from Genesis to Revelation.