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On Personal Bible Study
- 07/05/10
- 36
My knowledge of Scripture is nowhere near encyclopedic. However, I am quite sure that if I were to sit back today and read the Bible from cover to cover I would not find a direct command from God saying “Thou shalt read the Bible daily.” I would not find a guide to personal devotions and I wouldn’t find chapter and verse requiring daily quiet times. However, neither do I need to have that kind of explicit command in order to understand the value of spending time every day reading the Bible.
When I think about the area of daily Bible study I find my mind drawn to the issue of assurance of salvation—whether or not a Christian can be certain that he is saved. I think I am led this way because the Bible is so central, so integral to the Christian life, that to feel no love for it, no desire to study it, must be a sign of spiritual sickness. I would certainly never say that a person who does not want to study the Bible or who does not enjoy studying the Bible is not a Christian. But I would venture to say that the Christian life is so dependent upon Scripture that a person who has no regard for the Bible and who shows little interest in it would have good reason to seriously consider his salvation. Such a person would do well to examine his soul to see if he really has come to know the Lord.
Let’s look to just a few reasons why we, as Christians, should desire to know and study the Bible.
The first reason is that God draws an undeniable link between our knowledge of the Bible and our ability to live in the way he commands us to live. In 1 John the apostle writes, “And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says ‘I know him’ but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked” (1 John 2:3-5). How are we to know how Christ walked and how are we to imitate him if we choose not to study the record of his life? How can we be obedient to him except by studying the rule he has given to direct us? The Bible is the primary means God uses to teach us about himself and to challenge us by the Holy Spirit. “And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual” (1 Corinthians 2:13). So to be people who are obedient to God and who do his will, we must first know this will as he has given it to us in the Bible.
The second reason is that God tells us that our desire to learn about the Bible and its doctrine is a sign of spiritual health. In 1 John 4:6 we read, “We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.” Those who are truly saved will long to be taught the Bible by skilled teachers and by the spiritual authorities God has placed in their lives. They will long to know the Word of God.
The third reason is that the Bible sets us free to glorify and enjoy God. “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32). The truth, as we learn it in the Bible, gives us freedom to honor God through our lives. It sets us free from legalistic attempts to please God and frees us from our false views of God. It sets us free to know God as he is and to worship him as he is. It also sets us free from falling into the all-too-common trap of basing our standing before God on the times we’ve done our duty in studying the Bible. Too often, I think, we allow our daily performance to be the basis of our standing before God. If I’ve done well in reading and prayer, I feel God’s acceptance; if I have avoided or neglected it, I feel God’s disfavor. But through the Bible we learn that our standing before God, our acceptance, is based on the work of Christ, not our performance, however good or however poor.
In the face of this testimony, knowing that the Bible is so central to the Christian life, does God really need to command us to study it and treasure it? No! Christians should be drawn to the Bible the way a baby is drawn to his mother’s milk. It is the Bible that feeds us, that nourishes us, and that equips us as saints that bring glory and honor to God. As Simon Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life!” When we wish to live in a way that pleases God, we must turn to him, to the ways he has revealed himself in Scripture. A spiritually healthy Christian will read the Bible and will want to read the Bible.
Now I’d like to make a rather practical observation. A general desire to know and to study the Bible does not necessarily mean that we will always be overflowing with enthusiasm to do so. When we say that we desire to study the Bible we can mean two things. We can mean that we spring out of bed in the morning eager to rush to a comfortable chair and spend some time drinking in the Word of God. Though I think all Christians long to be like this, the sad fact is that very few are. The reason I am writing these words today is that I have felt little of this enthusiasm lately. I’ve found myself dreading times in the Word far more than I’ve eager anticipated them. And I hate this, I hate my lack of interest, my lack of passion and desire. And yet it seems to be where I am right now.
However, even if we do not have an overflowing passion of this nature, we can still desire to read the Bible in a less passionate (but no less sincere) way, knowing that the Word feeds us, that it tends to our souls, and that we would be remiss to ignore times of Bible study. Even on days when our hearts are not pounding with excitement as we turn to our Scripture reading, we can still desire to read the Bible. We can do so out of some duty rather than full delight. In either case, we are right to turn to the Bible and to dedicate ourselves to reading and studying it.
My encouragement is not to wait until your heart longs for nothing more than to study the Bible before you open the cover of the Book. Rather, commit today to beginning to take time every day to read it. Ask God to give you the discipline to do so. Commit to spending even just a few minutes reading its words and a few minutes more to seek ways you can apply it to your heart. God will speak to you through his Word and show you the infinite, eternal value of studying the Bible. And as he does so, he may just transform some of that duty into a greater measure of delight.
I am a follower of Jesus Christ, a husband to Aileen and a father to three young children. I worship and serve as a pastor at 
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Comments (36)
Great post. I especially appreciated the end of the article on having/not having a passion for reading and studying the Word. The same might be said for spending quality time in prayer, something I have struggled with consistently.
Tim,I agree with the idea that “desire” should not be equated with “passion”. My desire is what keeps bringing me back to the Word, passion will result from my time in the Word. Perhaps we spend too much time attempting to stir up passion when we really should be examining whether or not we have desire.
For a big chunk of my christian life I relied on short snippets of scripture read or paraphrased on sundays or in catchy danceable rythmns. Afterall the preaching was done with the “rhema word” from God with my felt needs in mind. What more would I have needed on my own? However the last couple of months have been as though I was born anew as a realised how easily I had slipped into a form of spiritual malaise or supervised negligence. With a Study Bible in hand I feel armed to the teeth now…gee…why in all the world did I ever believe in Word of faith or the health and wealth gospel? Currently going through the doctrines of grace and I’m enjoying knowing God especially realising that He knew me before I was born and called me when I was dead in my sins and tresspasses. Acidri’s Blog
It may not say “Thou shall read your Bible daily”, but it does say “”You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. ” Not just daily, but multiple times per day we should be meditating on or reading or discussing God’s words, especially with our children.
Tim you use the word “devotion” and “devotions”. I’ve heard many Christians use this term, but never quit understood it. When I here devotional, I think of those books that have a couple of paragraphs which sum up a section of Scripture. I realize this is not the way you use the term. But has “devotionals” been a bit watered down in Christianity, to the point it really means a watered down extra-biblical source for some?
TimI can relate to this in my personal study… There a times my passion is at a high level and times I do it out of necessity, I think it was Al Mohler who recently said one of the biggest ways a Christian grows is to read and read a lot. That takes desire and dedication to the word of God. I agree with him we have to read His book and study His word… Even if were not at full strength with our desire that morning.
Thank you for this timely post
I heard a wise man once say, “You cannot do devotion, but you must live a life devoted.” I think there has been a lot of pressure put on a generation to explicitly read the Bible daily, as if that were the answer to an intimate relationship. If we have an intimate relationship, we will desire to grow in knowledge and in understanding, causing us to be in the Scripture more frequently.
Thank you. Here’s a related verse:
1 Peter 2:2-3: Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. (NIV)
I’ve been in that state for the past couple months as well. My general drive to read anything has dropped. Thank you for your encouragement here to know that doing it even when I don’t feel like it is still a sincere and good practice.
-Marshall Jones Jr.
Someone has already mentioned the verses in Deuteronomy 6. I would add:
Joshua 1:8This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success.
Psalm 1:1-3How blessed is the man who does not walk in thecounsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither; and in whatever he does, he prospers.
And a few from Psalm 119:97 O how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day.164 Seven times a day I praise you because of your righteous ordinances
Maybe no “Thou shalt read the Bible daily” because we are to have God’s word ever before us and always in our hearts, “day and night.” Perhaps daily quiet time is just a first step. (see also Deuteronoy 6:4-9, all of Psalm 119, Matthew 4:4, Romans 15:4)
Same struggles here. Just a few thoughts (mostly to myself as a reminder):Bible study can be a cold and tedious task or a dead end street if I approach it as a means to an end to fit my own desires; or when it becomes a mindless, heartless call of duty; or when it seeks to impress others, even God Himself. But when I view bible study as approaching God for answers in my quest for Truth (come what may!); when I perceive God’s precious words as an unfolding of His promises; when it becomes a turning away from all worldly cares to bring me to the feet of Christ and I become all engrossed in His person and His live-giving lessons, then it becomes most precious and I find myself freshly drawn to it. Perhaps we should ask ourselves why we study scripture, especially when our desire to do so wanes. This might reveal much.
I have noticed that one of the main determiners of how i approach the Word of God in my daily reading is the way that i think about it. If i let my mindset be determined by fleshly desires to quickly get on to other things and forget the holy and awesome nature of the book that i hold in my hands, than reading is a duty. But when i remind myself of the great and mighty God who stands behind it, and of the fact that really, nothing else matters more in my day than hearing what he has to say, than reading once again becomes a thrill. I have noticed that it is a key for me to keep in mind the greatness of God and my complete dependence on him as i approach the Book.
Thank you for sharing this honest and balanced approach to Bible study. There is nothing magical about daily “devotions,” but God has revealed His character and His heart in His Word.
I know it is a bit trite, but, for a Christian, a lack of interest in the Bible really is a like a lack of interest in a love letter from a beloved.
When we are less motivated to pursue God’s heart, that is precisely when we need to be reminded of who He is, how He sees us, and the future He has planned for us. It might not be instantaneous, but we can’t come face to face with the greatness of our God for long without developing a new passion for Him.
Tim,
Ps. 1:3- meditating on the Law day and night? That’s pretty close to a command to read the Bible not just daily, but throughout the day, and to meditate on it. Is it not?
I mean, not to say that the rest of what you said isn’t valuable, but that’s pretty nearly an explicit verse!
Andrew FarisChristians in Context
Reason #4: Corporate community. We desire to read the Bible personally, not as an end of itself, but because it is through the Word we fellowship with The WORD and each other. Reading the Bible personally is not an end in and of itself, but has the corporate body in view (as does the New Covenant fulfillment of the myriad of OT instances of “reading”). The Bereans, collectively, searched the Scriptures (see also Colossians 4:16, 1 Thessalonians 5:27, and 1 Timothy 4:13, cf. Rev. 1:3). The corporate reading of the Word (and the correlative “corporate interpretation”) has been obscured, if not obliterated, by an inordinate and individualistic emphasis on daily Bible reading in the private prayer closet.
Not to say that private reading is wrong. It’s simply not an end to itself. Ours is the first culture in redemptive history (both Old and New) to have private access to the Scriptures… hence we tend to have an Americentric theology of private devotions. We should, as you (Tim) note above, take advantage of our privilege… while at the same time not elevating that privilege to “thou shalt”.
Hi Tim,I heartily agree with your thoughts on knowing the Bible and having assurance of salvation, as we grow our understanding of Christ and His work our faith becomes deeper and more solid because it is resting on a more sure foundation.I have experienced some fantastic times of hungrily devouring the Bible and being on a rapid growth spurt in knowledge of God. I have also had extended periods of struggling to read even three verses. It is true that disciplining ourselves to keep picking up the Bible and reading is valuable even in those dry times, I have learned that whatever my level of motivation to read the Bible it is worth pushing on to make the most of it. I never know when things will get real hard and I will need to draw upon the Bible knowledge already accumulated because I cannot suddenly know God when I need to - that knowing must already be in place before trouble hits.
Hi Tim….just started reading your blog and appreciate your insights. In response to your comments today, I just wanted to say that my observation is that so many Christians are driven by all the “shoulds” in their lives. A friend of mine once said, “shoulds” are like bird droppings on your shoulders…just brush them off.” Reading the precious Word of our Savior merely because we “should” seems almost offensive to me. I agree that there are seasons of differing desire to step away from the world and just bask in the word of God…but I think that is just part of the “natural rhythm of our lives.” and that God is just fine with that. We are sinful, imperfect people - No one knows that better than our Creator. The “shoulds’ in our lives can often become so entangling to us and we cease to experience the freedom of Christ. Better that I go to the Word of God because of my true belief that I am lost without Him - that I can’t make life “work” on my own - that I need Him every minute of the day. There are more days that I truly know that reality than when I don’t..
our church is currently doing the read the (whole!) bible in 90 days challenge-I thought it was a gimmick-and not really doable-but it has changed my perspective and i am actually excited about reading every day-yes some is tedious-but over all-so far-i am blown away reading through the old testament like this-been a christian over 25 yrs and sad to say i have never visited some of these pages…-check out this promo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dauOgS55Jio
Abraham Lincoln once said’ I am often driven to my knees in prayer with the overwhelming realization that I have nowhere else to go’ The same can be said of the word. I am often driven to open the scriptures because of the obvious darth of truth in our world[tragically even in the church at times]Thanks for the reminder.
Hi Tim,
Your devotion came up in my google reader - while I’d never subscribed to you, your message was exactly what I needed to hear today. Thankyou so much!
My first thought is… what about the average Christian of the Early Middle Ages? Were these “spiritually sick” and was their salvation in question? What about all those pre-Gutenberg worshipers? Were these lesser believers than those of us today who treasure our personal copy of the Bible?
How did the Spirit move and work when the bulk of Christ-followers had no access to their own copy of the Scriptures?
I assume that God did move and work and people followed him just fine.
Great post Tim. I particularly liked the fact that you spent some time on your lack of desire struggle. I have read at least 4 chapters of scripture everyday without interruption for aver 25 years. When I add in sermon prep and study prep, I think I am looking at something around 40,000 chapters. I can tell you that there where literally thousands of chapters in that time that I had little or no desire to read in the moment, but did it anyways. Why? It just was what needed to be done if I was going to consistently keep growing in my relationship with God.
I can honestly now say that I doubt I will every miss a day unless I get physically incapacitated. It’s just a given in my life now, but it took a lot of chapters to get to a place of it being a given. I recently led an online bible coaching course that I am developing and one of the core discussions I had with one of the students was that sometimes bible reading and study is incredibly inglorious hard work, but do it anyways.
I think part of the problem is our cultural love affair with instant gratification and many times people have an expectation of getting a grand “Aha!” out of each read. It just doesn’t always work that way though and that’s really okay. A long time ago I had someone tell me not to judge my devotional time based upon the experience of my time praying. He said rather to look and see if in weeks ahead I become more loving to my family, more patient, more Christ-like. Do I reach out and show concern to those around me more than I used to. Things like that. In short, what he was saying was that I not judge my prayer life by my experience of praying, but rather by the transformation that occurred in me over a season of disciplined prayer. I believe the wisdom of that advice holds true for nearly any spiritual discipline.
Well, I could rattle on forever about this but to anyone out there not reading daily I highly encourage to get a solid consistent reading plan and work that plan diligently. I know you will not regret it over the long haul. One last thing—we tend to be conditioned in our culture to read to finish. So I find most people have a goal of reading the entire Bible. I would encourage people to abandon that as a goal and rather make reading daily reading a goal. If you can establish a discipline of daily reading you will read the Bible many times over.
Blessings from The Practical Disciple and again, Thank You Tim for a great post!
Here is a command for the future (at the time it was written) king of Israel:
“And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, approved by the Levitical priests. And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them, that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right hand or to the left, so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children, in Israel.Deuteronomy 17:18-20
I don’t know that any king ever obeyed it, but it does show that God would want for His leader to be intimately acquainted with His Word by personally hand copying it and then reading it every day. It’s so easy for me to click open my software, search for what I remember reading somewhere, and cut and paste it. To take the time to hand write each word myself and then use the Bible I had copied to read every day would definitely be a higher level of intimacy with the Word than I am experiencing myself.
Thanks for blogging this Tim! I do think that it is important for us as Christians to be in the Word on a daily basis. I might even go further in saying there are some verses that make me think this (Joshua 1:8-9, Psalm 119, Romans 12:2, Colossians 3:16, Hebrews 5:14-16 and 1 Peter 2:2). As a High School Pastor, we do this thing called Scripture of the Day where we post a chapter up on a blog every day and challenge the students from our ministry to comment. Right now we are reading through the Minor Prophets. For some of these students it is the first time they have ever read it and it is exciting to see their view of God expand!
Again, thanks for the thoughtful posting to inspire all of us Christians!
@Andrea
I did the Bible in 90 Days a few years ago. It is an excellent 90 days. And really it is quite simple. I just figured out that in my study Bible it was about 20 pages per day, or 12 pages in my Bible without Study notes. It’s a great way to break in a new Bible with underlines galore!
I love this post. It is right on! As a pastor this is one of the top priorities of mine among my congregation. At the beginning of the year I began an online tool to help my congregation and others that I know overcome some of the barriers to Bible reading.
1) Lack of Community :: It is difficult to read alone. BibleTogether offers a place where other sincere believers gather to encourage each other in our reading together.
2) Lack of Understanding :: It is difficult to read what you don’t understand. Now, understanding will come over a lifetime of reading the Bible, but it is easy to burn out before that. I post short reflections each day that will hopefully help readers to understand the context and purpose of the reading each day.
The site’s name is BibleTogether :: http://www.bibletogether.com
Following the death of my mother a week ago we are beginning afresh on July 7, 2010 with a modified format of four chapters per day.
If you are interested in using this tool to help you in what Tim has challenged us I invite you to send me an email and drop by the site and peek around.
Reminds me of something C.S. Lewis once said,
“But this is because we are in “the school-days.” Soon these days will be past, and what we now view as duty will become spontaneous delight.”-Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer
This conundrum results from constraining the Word of God to writing. Middle Age-rs were not all “spiritually sick”, as almost all of us would agree.
They had the guidance of the Spirit-led Church. The Church communicated the Word orally through its liturgy and teaching.
I think the argument you proposed is one of the prime pieces of evidence against Sola (or Solo) Scriptura. It leads to the question, what about people that don’t have the Bible?
The same question you suggested could be asked of people a millennium before the Middle Age-rs. The canon (the accepted list of Biblical books) wasn’t formally established until the fourth century. So what do we make of Christians during the first few hundred years of the Faith? They surely had no exposure to the full New Testament, and certainly had no personal study of Scripture. The full “Bible” didn’t even exist!
Were they “spiritually sick”?
sorry about your mom-bless you and your family at this time-and i will check out your site-i agree that reading together as a church and coming together for understanding and clarity is vital-
Excellent comment and very true.
Hi Eric,
Fellowship and oral tradition, maybe?
+1 I agree with you. I would also add - Jesus said, “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” (Matt 4:4, Luke 4:4)
If we are to depend on the word of God to live even more than food, as written in Matt. 4:4. Shouldn’t we put forth as much effort on reading, memorizing, meditating, and applying the word daily as we do in preparing and eating our food daily? I understand on some days we can be extremely busy, but that is because we are not redeeming our time according to the will of God: (Ephesians 5:15-17)15 See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,16 Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.17 Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.
How can we understand what the will of the Lord is if we are not in the word of the Lord?
If we find ourselves too busy to be in the scriptures daily, then we need to remove something from our lives/ schedule, and according to the scriptures we know that “something” isn’t our time in the scriptures.
I can certainly appreciate this article, especially the remarks given about not having the desire at all times to dive deep into the Holy written Word. I think so often the frustration comes from lack of inspiration. At least in my experience, I find it hardest to know where to start, what to study, etc. Perhaps we should do a weekly study guide where we can post a passage or chapter, study it, then have a forum where we can post observations, comments, even links to favorite sermons that we’ve heard referencing the passage. What do you think?
I agree I struggle with reading the Bible every day but here are some things that have helped me.. First you must have a journal and I write a few things that are going on in my life and as I read I write any verses that apply to me today.. Also here is the structure I use to read the Bible..
This has helped me stay interested and memorize scripture. I find my self saying that is from Proverbs or that is in Psalms.. I need this repetition in order for me to remember what I have read and to stay close to God..
Great article. I really appreciate the well thought out reasons why we should be lovers of God’s Word and that it should come natural to God loving people. I was raised Christian and in a family where family study and personal study of God’s word was practiced daily. Since I’ve left home I have needed to find my own wings and habits and study has been a struggle though I find myself constantly coming back as a horse does to the trough.
I have found wonderful truths found in Psalms, one of my favorites is, “Into thine hand I commit my spirit; thou hast redeemed me, O Lord God of truth.” Pslams 31:5. These prophetic words penned by David foretell of the last words Christ would speak on the cross. I know the Bible is God’s word, not because science has proven it, but because of the witness of the Holy Ghost. John 14:26 “But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” I like you have felt this confirming feeling of truth in our heart as we have read God’s word. This is God’s way of helping his children know truth when they see it. This same way I have come to know God still speaks and has given another Testament, the Book of Mormon, who’s teachings confirm and give added witness that God speaks to all His children. I urge all who have not read this book to read and allow God’s spirit to speak to you as it does in the Bible. Listen to these words written by an Ancient prophet named Nephi. 2 Nephi 33:10,11 “10 And now, my beloved brethren, and also Jew, and all ye ends of the earth, hearken unto these words and believe in Christ; and if ye believe not in these words believe in Christ. And if ye shall believe in Christ ye will believe in these words, for they are the words of Christ, and he hath given them unto me; and they teach all men that they should do good. 11 And if they are not the words of Christ, judge ye—for Christ will show unto you, with power and great glory, that they are his words, at the last day; and you and I shall stand face to face before his bar; and ye shall know that I have been commanded of him to write these things, notwithstanding my weakness.”
My intent to post these comments were not to offend, but to offer my honest heartfelt love of Christ. I know He lives and He loves us. I know he spoke to ancient prophets and he continues to speak to modern ones. As an unchanging being would it not make sense if he called prophets anciently and organized a Church on the earth to follow the same pattern? Praise be to the Lamb and his offering to the Father for our redemption through his sacrifice. If any would like to read the Book of Mormon follow this link. http://scriptures.lds.org/en/bm/contents
If any have questions about the book or the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, though I am a common member I would welcome any questions or comments. jasoncocinero@gmail.com
Thank you and God bless.
Don’t you see that the Bible, when it talks about the word of god or the law or the commands or teachings of Jesus, cannot in fact be referring to the Bible itself? The Bible didn’t exist when those words, the words of followers of Jesus written some decades after his death, were written! Those words do not command you to read or study the Bible. They suggested to people living in a completely different part of the world nearly 2000 years ago to to remember the law and the teachings of Jesus, among other things.
Don’t feel bad if you dislike reading the Bible. It can be a frustrating task, attempting to find meaning for yourself in words written eons ago to somebody else. It’s frequently contradicting itself, makes references to arcane practices and objects, has been translated by someone other than yourself, and has a political and social context you are almost incapable of understanding unless you are a historian, and even then you cannot presume to understand the precise social context of any group living so long ago. Yes, there are scholars who dedicate their lives to understanding the Bible in all of its context, but they infrequently agree and have conflicting agendas. It’s no wonder, aside from obtuse translations and opaque contexts, people are not just chomping at the bit to read their Bible. Don’t feel bad about it. If it makes you depressed and anxious and confused (or even bored) don’t read it.
Just remember the most important thing: all the law can be summed up with this one command: LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF (GAL 5:14). Stick with loving people, and the world will be a better place.
First of all the Bible (Old Testament) was around in Jesus’s time He quotes it often (actually most of what Jesus says is written in the Old testament). And you are right all of the 10 commandments can be summed up in Matthew 22: 36”Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 37Jesus replied: ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[b] 38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[c] 40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” So if we love God with all our heart we should want to know God as much as possible. We learn about God from the Bible.. We see how God treats people and loves people and has relationships with people.