What is the Purpose of Bible Study

I’ve had some conversations recently that made me think about why we do Bible studies. God gives different people different spiritual gifts. The teachers He equips do not always have the same teaching style. Participants do not always have the same learning style. But the question, no matter the teaching or learning style, is: What is the purpose of Bible study? Do we study individually or as groups to gain more academic knowledge or do we study to allow God’s Spirit to teach us His wisdom and conform us to His likeness? Are group Bible studies for fellowship with other believers or for fellowship with God? 

Romans 8:28-29 HCSB

28 We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose. 29 For those He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers.

Everything that happens to us, everything we learn, everything we witness, everything that hurts us, everything that brings us joy, every heartache, every Bible study, every sermon, every conversation, every prayer…all of these things work together to make us more like Jesus if we love Him and are called according to His purpose. When we study His Word, we should expect that He will work in us to change us, to make us more like Himself. He asks us the difficult questions about our commitment to Him. Are we willing to experience the heartaches and the pain that work together with scriptures to conform our likeness to His image. That is the purpose of Bible study. 

2 Corinthians 3:17-18 HCSB

17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 We all, with unveiled faces, are looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord and are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory; this is from the Lord who is the Spirit.

It is God’s plan for us to be conformed to the image of His Son. We are to be like Jesus. How does that happen? We are looking at the glory of the Lord. Now we don’t see His glory clearly, but by seeing His glory as revealed in scripture and by His Spirit, we are being transformed into His glorious image. The purpose of Bible study is to see His glory revealed, and allow Him to transform us.

Colossians 3:10-17 HCSB

 10 and have put on the new self. You are being renewed in knowledge according to the image of your Creator. 11 In Christ there is not Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all. 12 Therefore, God’s chosen ones, holy and loved, put on heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, 13 accepting one another and forgiving one another if anyone has a complaint against another. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must also forgive. 14 Above all, put on love—the perfect bond of unity. 15 And let the peace of the Messiah, to which you were also called in one body, control your hearts. Be thankful. 16 Let the message about the Messiah dwell richly among you, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, and singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, with gratitude in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

Whatever we do, we are to do it in the name of the Lord Jesus. We are being renewed in knowledge according to the image of our Creator. The source of our renewal is Christ. He is all in all. All wisdom. All knowledge. Look what happens in us when we are renewed in the knowledge of Jesus Christ. We have compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. We accept and forgive in the same way that Jesus has forgiven us. We love like He loves, sacrificially and unconditionally. Get this point! We let God control our hearts when the message about the Messiah dwells richly in us. We admonish each other in His wisdom. We sing His praises with gratitude in our hearts. His wisdom dwells in us. Bible study is allowing God’s wisdom to fill our hearts and our minds, resulting in us exhibiting His characteristics in our relationships with others.

Proverbs 2:2-12 HCSB

My son, if you accept my words

and store up my commands within you,

2 listening closely to wisdom

and directing your heart to understanding;

3 furthermore, if you call out to insight

and lift your voice to understanding,

4 if you seek it like silver

and search for it like hidden treasure,

5 then you will understand the fear of the Lord

and discover the knowledge of God.

6 For the Lord gives wisdom;

from His mouth come knowledge and understanding.

7 He stores up success for the upright;

He is a shield for those who live with integrity

8 so that He may guard the paths of justice

and protect the way of His loyal followers.

9 Then you will understand righteousness, justice,

and integrity—every good path.

10 For wisdom will enter your mind,

and knowledge will delight your heart.

11 Discretion will watch over you,

and understanding will guard you,

12 rescuing you from the way of evil—

from the one who says perverse things,

Solomon implores us to seek God’s wisdom as more valuable than silver and gold. Through His wisdom, we will understand the fear of the Lord. In Sunday School this week we were asked what the fear of the Lord means. My answer is that it means we recognize and acknowledge the whole of who He IS. We are incapable of understanding Who HE IS, but, in a paradox, a mystery, when we seek His wisdom as treasure, He Himself teaches us  Who He IS. He is wisdom. He is understanding. He is treasure. He is our delight. We do not understand the fear of the Lord, the whole of Who He IS by accumulating academic knowledge. Bible study is seeking God’s wisdom and learning to fear Him. (To be clear, this is not a fear like I’m afraid of heights, or spiders, or rodents. This is a recognition of our own unworthiness and God’s Holiness.)

In the first 3 chapters of 1 Corinthians Paul talks extensively about the difference between earthly wisdom and God’s wisdom. Let’s touch on some of this briefly, but I encourage you to look at these chapters more closely in your own study.

1 Corinthians 1:4-31 HCSB

4 I always thank my God for you because of God’s grace given to you in Christ Jesus, 5 that by Him you were enriched in everything—in all speech and all knowledge. 6 In this way, the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you, 7 so that you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. 8 He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you will be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful; you were called by Him into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

10 Now I urge you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree in what you say, that there be no divisions among you, and that you be united with the same understanding and the same conviction. 11 For it has been reported to me about you, my brothers, by members of Chloe’s household, that there is rivalry among you. 12 What I am saying is this: Each of you says, “I’m with Paul,” or “I’m with Apollos,” or “I’m with Cephas,” or “I’m with Christ.” 13 Is Christ divided? Was it Paul who was crucified for you? Or were you baptized in Paul’s name? 14 I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15 so that no one can say you were baptized in my name. 16 I did, in fact, baptize the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don’t know if I baptized anyone else. 17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to evangelize—not with clever words, so that the cross of Christ will not be emptied of its effect.

18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but it is God’s power to us who are being saved. 19 For it is written:

I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,

and I will set aside the understanding of the experts.

20 Where is the philosopher? Where is the scholar? Where is the debater of this age? Hasn’t God made the world’s wisdom foolish? 21 For since, in God’s wisdom, the world did not know God through wisdom, God was pleased to save those who believe through the foolishness of the message preached. 22 For the Jews ask for signs and the Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles. 24 Yet to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is God’s power and God’s wisdom, 25 because God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.

26 Brothers, consider your calling: Not many are wise from a human perspective, not many powerful, not many of noble birth. 27 Instead, God has chosen what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen what is weak in the world to shame the strong. 28 God has chosen what is insignificant and despised in the world—what is viewed as nothing—to bring to nothing what is viewed as something, 29 so that no one can boast in His presence. 30 But it is from Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became God-given wisdom for us—our righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, 31 in order that, as it is written: The one who boasts must boast in the Lord.

In verses 4-7 Paul explains that we are enriched in our speech and knowledge so that our testimony about Christ is confirmed in us. Because of His grace given to us through His substitutionary death and powerful resurrection, He enriches us with spiritual gifts as He reveals Himself to us and through us. In verses 8-9 we see that He strengthens us because He is faithful. He calls us to have fellowships with His Son, Jesus Christ. That fellowship is the source of our knowledge and wisdom. Verses 10 through 16 point out that our allegiance is not to any church leader, author, commentator, teacher…If our confidence comes from any human’s clever words, we ignore the power of Christ in our lives. Verses 18 through 23 continue the same theme. Look again at verse 19. Earthly wisdom will be destroyed. Verse 24 tells us that Christ is God’s power and wisdom. Then verse 30 tells us that God-given wisdom is our righteousness, sanctification and redemption. Simply put, the wisdom we find in Jesus, His sacrifice, His indwelling Spirit gifts given freely to us as shown by the forgiveness, redemption and righteousness we have in Him, the growth we have as we grow more like Him, being conformed to His image. We do not boast in our earthly knowledge. Jesus is our only boast.

1 Corinthians 2:1-16 HCSB

When I came to you, brothers, announcing the testimony of God to you, I did not come with brilliance of speech or wisdom. 2 For I didn’t think it was a good idea to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 3 I came to you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. 4 My speech and my proclamation were not with persuasive words of wisdom but with a powerful demonstration by the Spirit, 5 so that your faith might not be based on men’s wisdom but on God’s power.

6 However, we do speak a wisdom among the mature, but not a wisdom of this age, or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7 On the contrary, we speak God’s hidden wisdom in a mystery, a wisdom God predestined before the ages for our glory. 8 None of the rulers of this age knew this wisdom, for if they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 But as it is written:

What eye did not see and ear did not hear,

and what never entered the human mind—

God prepared this for those who love Him.

10 Now God has revealed these things to us by the Spirit, for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. 11 For who among men knows the thoughts[d] of a man except the spirit of the man that is in him? In the same way, no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who comes from God, so that we may understand what has been freely given to us by God. 13 We also speak these things, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual things to spiritual people. 14 But the unbeliever does not welcome what comes from God’s Spirit, because it is foolishness to him; he is not able to understand it since it is evaluated spiritually. 15 The spiritual person, however, can evaluate everything, yet he himself cannot be evaluated by anyone. 16 For

who has known the Lord’s mind,

that he may instruct Him?

But we have the mind of Christ.

Paul did not come to Corinth as a skilled orator, with brilliant speech and wisdom. He did not have persuasive words. The Corinthians were not saved because of Paul’s eloquence or knowledge. They were saved because of God’s wisdom and power. Jesus and Him crucified was the heart of his message. After they were saved, Paul was free to share God’s wisdom with them. He still wasn’t depending on his own impressive educational credentials. He was totally dependent on what God revealed through His Spirit. Look at verse 13. Paul didn’t teach human wisdom. Bible study is not gaining information or historical facts. Paul taught the things revealed by the Spirit. This is the purpose of Bible study, to allow the Spirit to reveal spiritual things to us. 

Ephesians 1:17-18 HCSB

17 I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, would give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. 18 I pray that the perception of your mind may be enlightened so you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the glorious riches of His inheritance among the saints,

Paul prayed that God would give the Ephesians a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, not that they would be academic theologians, but that they would have knowledge of Jesus Christ. He prayed that their minds would be enlightened so that would know the hope that we have in Jesus and the glorious riches He has for us. This is the purpose of Bible study.

There is nothing inherently wrong in learning dates or historical context, in reading commentaries men have written based on what God’s Spirit has spoken to them through scripture, in memorizing scripture or watching doctrinally sound TV sermons.  But none of those things helps us grow to be more like Jesus if we don’t yield to the work of the Spirit in us, answer the difficult, self-searching questions He will ask us as He convicts us and draws us closer to Him, submitting to Him so that we can be transformed to His likeness.