study bible new king james version

Why is Bible Study So Important
By Owen Weber

In John 14:15, Jesus said, “If you love me, you will obey what I command.” If we’re going to obey Christ’s commandments, how else are we going to know what those commandments are, other than by reading about them in the Bible? We’re not born with the knowledge from the Bible, and when we become Christians, God doesn’t automatically fill our minds with all of the Bible’s wisdom. Instead, the Bible says that God slowly transforms us by renewing our minds as we participate in fervent Bible study. God holds each of us individually responsible for knowing His Word and understanding His will.

Once we know God’s Word, we can put it to work in our lives, please Him by obeying His commandments, teaching His Word to others, and bearing fruit for Him. As we read the Bible, we are told to take every thought captive as we study it one word at a time. Proverbs 4:7 says that knowing God’s wisdom is the most important thing. By training our minds through Bible study, we can become mature Christians. Romans 1:31 even says that it is a serious sin for us to be without understanding of the Bible.

However, it may be even more important to understand that the knowledge and wisdom that we gain through the Scriptures is not only beneficial for our lifetime here on earth in the flesh. The Bible says that in the next life, we will receive new glorified bodies, but what happens to our minds when we die?

We will each carry our own level of spiritual maturity with us, which we gained and nurtured in this life. We won’t all be equal in Heaven. We won’t suddenly know all things, because God is the only one who is omniscient. 2 Corinthians 2:5-10 indicates that we will take our spiritual maturity with us, and it will be an important factor at Christ’s judgment seat.

It is of the utmost importance to understand that each Christian is individually accountable for his own learning, understanding, and interpretation of God’s Word. Unfortunately, many Christians accept the views of their pastors or other teachers without question. They assume that since their pastor has had formal training, then he must be right. However, they often don’t consider that nearly every point preached by any pastor would be rebuked by a dozen others as false doctrine. Not only can experts be wrong, but because there are so many different viewpoints on nearly every theological issue, the experts must indeed be wrong most of the time.

Truly, if we love God, then we will obey Him, but how do we know what to obey if we don’t study the Bible, and discern what His will is for each of us. The primary responsibility of each individual believer is to study the Bible regularly, because that’s where all other service to God begins. We are to learn from pastors and other Bible teachers, but we must also understand that we are each individually accountable for what we accept as truth. If we unquestionably accept everything that someone else teaches, then we’re also accepting the responsibility and judgment of those concepts even when they’re wrong. Finally, the truth of God’s Word is not for temporal purposes alone. During our temporal lives on earth, we are to build our spiritual maturity and share the truths of God’s Word with others. Then we will each carry our own level of spiritual maturity into the next life, and it will be our foundation for beginning an eternity of learning even more, in the very presence of God.

You may want to check out my other guide on king james bible audio and parallel audio