Introduction

Knowing God's word, or knowing the Bible, is important.  After all, living a godly life is basically impossible if one does not even know what a godly life is!

THE IMPORTANCE OF KNOWING THE BIBLE

Old Testament Passages

Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes. And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates: That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth. (Deuteronomy 11:18-21)[1]

And the LORD thy God will make thee plenteous in every work of thine hand, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy land, for good: for the LORD will again rejoice over thee for good, as he rejoiced over thy fathers: If thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the law, and if thou turn unto the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul... But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it. (Deuteronomy 30:9-10,14)

Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest. This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. (Joshua 1:7-8)

Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee. (Psalm 119:11)

I will delight myself in thy statutes: I will not forget thy word. (Psalm 119:16)

This is my comfort in my affliction: for thy word hath quickened me. (Psalm 119:50)

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. (Psalm 119:105)

New Testament Passages

Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred. And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him. (Matthew 4:1-11)

These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. (Acts 17:11)

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. (Colossians 3:16)

And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. (2 Timothy 3:15-17)

 

 Comments

The above passages show the importance of knowing the Bible. After all, it would be difficult to be godly if one does not know what godly is! For example: nearly all Christians believe that following the Ten Commandments would be a good thing. Do you know all ten? (See my page on the Ten Commandments for more information here).

I included the Matthew 4:1-11[2] passage here as an example of how Jesus used His knowledge of God's Word to defend Himself against the devil. He wanted to uses defenses that are available to us today.

I could probably use all of Psalm 119 to illustrate the importance of knowing the Bible; but I did not wish to put all 176 verses here, instead using the most pertinent verses in this chapter (the longest chapter in the entire Bible).

Another advantage of knowing the Bible is that this knowledge can be a good defense against being taken in by cults such as Mormonism or the Jehovah's Witnesses. Although scriptureinfo.com is not a website about confronting cults (people have written books on the subject), it still would be good for Christians to be able to defend themselves against such individuals.

The reader may decide how he wants to learn the Bible. Do you wish to know the verse(s) "word-perfect"? Or is knowing a paraphrase of the verse(s) sufficient? Do you wish to know simply that the verse(s) is in the Bible; or also the book; book and chapter; or book, chapter, and verse(s)? I personally am content to know a paraphrase of the verse or passage, although I wish to know the book, chapter, and verse. I personally find that it is easier to memorize many more verses and passages this way than "word-perfect". However, others may prefer to know verses "word-perfect". The choice is yours.

The reader also needs to acknowledge that knowing the Bible will take time. Rome wasn't built in a day; neither will anybody's knowledge of God's word be.

footnotes

[1] All scripture references are from the King James Version unless otherwise noted.  Please see my about page for why I chose this translation.

[2] I am adding the ability to link to scriptural references for convenience, especially for users of mobile phones.  You will not leave this page by using these links.