Why should I read my Bible?

Second Timothy 3:16 contains one of the most important statements in the Bible about where the Bible came from and what it is: “All Scripture is God-breathed.” As we will discuss further in a later chapter, this means that the Bible is from God and is indeed the very Word of God. That makes the Bible the most important book that has ever been written. But what will reading the Bible do for you? If we continue reading 2 Timothy 3:16–17, we’ll find a helpful purpose statement for the Bible: 

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is [therefore] useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

Of the four terms at the end of verse 16, the first and last are positive—teaching and training in righteousness. The middle two are negative—rebuking and correcting. All of these revolve around the important issue of truth. We can think of truth as that which conforms to God, his thinking, and his way of doing things. Teaching and training refer to leading the reader of the Bible into truth, whereas rebuking and correcting refer to turning someone away from error and back to truth. This was a major concern of Paul as he wrote this letter to Timothy. A few verses later he writes, “For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine” (4:3). Sound doctrine means “healthy truth.” Being led into error or false teaching is an ongoing threat to Christians and all people.

The Bible is to be used to prevent this from happening and to lead people further and deeper into God’s truth “so that the servant of God [the Christian—the one who has trusted in Jesus Christ as Savior], may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (3:17). This means that God works through his Word, the Bible, to lead people into truth so that they can do everything that he calls them to do. That makes the Bible a crucial God-given resource for us to use so that we can please him.

What kind of truth does the Bible guide us into? The first and most important truth is about God—who he is and what he has done. God has done everything that he has done, including giving us the Bible, in order to be known as he really is. This is of utmost importance because God is the most important being that can be known. To not know God is infinitely tragic. 

God himself said, “Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches, but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the LORD” (Jeremiah 9:23–24). 

There is nothing more important than knowing God in the right way. This leads to truth in everything else.

The Bible also leads us into truth about the world—where it came from and why it is here. The world did not just happen; it was intentionally created by God (Genesis 1:1). Therefore, there is a purpose for its existence: to reveal the God of creation and to honor him. “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands” (Psalm 19:1).

The Bible leads us into truth about ourselves—where we came from and why we are here. Humans, too, did not just happen to come into existence as an “accident” of evolution. Like the world, humans were intentionally created by God. We have a purpose for existence, and it is the same purpose as the universe in general—to honor and glorify God. This is the significance of being created in the “image of God” (Genesis 1:26–27). God created humans to be mirrors that reflect his being and glory (Isaiah 43:7). That, too, is why we are commanded to do everything for the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31).

The Bible also leads us into truth about the situation in which we find ourselves and the world—sinful and dysfunctional. Due to the unwillingness of humans to obey God and fulfill the purpose for which we were created, we are now characterized as “sinful,” which is another way of saying we are guilty. 

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). 

Even more so, we are no longer even able to obey God and fulfill this purpose; we are dysfunctional. “The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so” (Romans 8:7). This dysfunction extends to the whole creation. “For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it” (Romans 8:20; see also Genesis 3:17).

The Bible also leads us into truth about the solution to the problem in which we and the world find ourselves—Jesus Christ and his work of salvation. Paul puts it succinctly in Titus 2:14: “[Christ Jesus] gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.” The work of Christ also fixes the wrongs that sin has done to the whole of God’s creation. “The creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God” (Romans 8:21).

If we know all of this truth and believe it to be true, the result is that we will be “born again.” First Peter 1:23 says, “For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.” This means that God transforms people through his Word. They are very different than they were before. That is why they are now “thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:17) and able to fulfill the purpose for which they have been created: to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.1 There is no greater good for humans than this. “I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness” (Isaiah 61:10). Is it any wonder that the psalmist said, “How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” (Psalm 119:103).


Aaron, D. (2012). Understanding Your Bible in 15 Minutes a Day (pp. 13–16). Minneapolis, MN: Bethany House Publisher.