The Importance of Personal Bible Study

At the foundation of this blog is the personal study of the Bible, leaving one with this important question- Why do I need to spend time studying the Bible for myself? I hope to begin the answer to that question here in this post. While this will not be an all-encompassing answer, I want to give you three answers straight from the Scriptures themselves.

1. Matthew 4:4 (NKJV)
• But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’”
• Here, Jesus replied to the temptation of Satan by quoting from the Old Testament (Deuteronomy 8:3). In the Old Testament context, this referred to the Israelites relying on God to provide their nourishment while wandering in the desert wilderness, in the form of special bread that fell from Heaven called "manna." God was mighty enough to provide food for an entire nation simply by His word. Christ, tempted by Satan to use His power against the will of God to transform stones into bread. This would have violated Christ's spiritual fasting. Christ replied succinctly that He did not need physical bread, because the Word of God was sufficient to sustain Him. There is some ironic twist to this passage, since Jesus Christ is identified both as the "bread of life" (John 6:35) and the "Word [of God]" (John 1:1-18). It is the revelation of Jesus Christ, preserved for us in the New Testament, that provides eternal life. He provides the living water that provides eternal life for all those who accept Him as Savior (John 4:1-26). 
• Ultimately the point here is that a God whose word is so powerful as to cause creation or provide food for a nation is a God who deserves our worship and obedience. Thus we see in this passage that the Word of God provides life and spiritual nourishment.
2. Psalm 119:105 (NKJV)
• Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path.
• God's Word (the Bible) provides us with guidance for life. The Book of Proverbs is well-known for the wise-but-short teachings it contains. These are proverbs by which to live one's life; however, the entirety of Scripture is beneficial for us. It helps us find the right way and avoid the wrong way. In Matthew 7:13-14, we can see how important this is, since the way to Heaven is very narrow and relatively few people will find it.
3. 2 Timothy 3:15-17 (NKJV)
• 15...the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
• Verse 15... Here we see first that the Bible makes one wise for salvation. All of the truth that someone needs in order to be saved from Hell is found in the Bible. Neither the teachings of a church or religion (e.g. the Roman Catholic Church or the Hadith in Islam), a religious leader (the Pope, etc.), nor personal experiences provide any necessary information. Again, everything someone needs to be saved from Hell and to Heaven is found in the Bible.
• Verse 16... Scripture comes from God. It is His word. Explaining this verse in depth is another thing for another place, but it teaches that Scripture comes from God and is very useful to people.
• Verse 17... Paul used the figure of speech known as a pleonasm ("repetition of words or the adding of similar words, which in English would seem redundant."1) to hammer home his point that the Bible is sufficient not only for salvation but that it also provides everything that a Christian needs to be a Christian. At this time, Greek philosophy and mysticism would have likely been the things that were threatening to "add to" what the Bible said. There were also a group of Jewish Christians who attempted to superimpose the Old Testament laws on New Testament Christianity. Paul use two consecutive terms that meant almost the same thing in reference to what the Bible (alone, aside from the insertion of human or church teachings) produces in a person. Artios is first, properly translated "complete" here, having the connotation of being in tip-top shape. This is followed by exartizo, which is translated as "thoroughly equipped" here and in our modern vernacular might be stated as "fully equipped." The Bible provides everything someone needs to have eternal life and then to live as a Christian. There is no need for a church to come up with new teachings or for some religious leader to issue edicts. The Bible is all that a person needs spiritually. Period. Does the Bible tell us to study God's Word together and meet as a church? Yes, but it doesn't give the preacher/teacher the authority to make up new teachings. Their job is to help interpret and apply what the Bible already says.

The Bible tells us that it provides us the necessary information to be saved from Hell and to Heaven, sustain our spiritual life, make our pathway in life clear, and make us complete as Christians. I think those are reasons enough to study it.

That being said, there is much debate as to how often, how much, and when to study it. When I was growing up, I had pastors say you absolutely had to read it every day or it was sin. I also heard that the morning was the time appointed by God for Bible study and if you didn't read it then you were sinning. I don't believe that these are Biblical approaches to Bible study. I don't think people should impose legalistic standards to studying God's Word. Christ taught in Matthew 22:36-38 that the greatest commandment in all the Bible is to love God with all that you are and have. When considering your Bible study, does it reflect that attitude? How can you expect it to light your pathway through the day if you don't interact with it? How can you meditate on it (chew on it) if you don't read it? Rather than give out some legalistic edict, I want to leave you with this thought in relation to the topic of this paragraph- A Christian always needs and should always want to study the Bible more. What part of the day that translates into working best for your spiritual walk or spending some specific amount of time each day aren't the issue; rather, it is interacting with what your Lord God says in His Word as much as possible.


1. Roy B. Zuck, Basic Bible Interpretation (Colorado Springs: Chariot Victor Publishing, 1999), 159.