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A believer needs to pray; he also needs to read the Bible. Prayer is likened to breathing, and Bible reading, to eating. Both ought to be practiced daily by every believer.
1) “All Scripture is God-breathed” (2 Tim. 3:16). The origin of the Bible is God; it was God who breathed His words of revelation through His Spirit into and out of the writers of the Scriptures. What was breathed out was not only words but also spirit.
2) “But men spoke from God, being borne by the Holy Spirit” (2 Pet. 1:21).
Since the Bible is God’s breathing of His words out of men through His Spirit, it is men’s speaking of the word of God from God as they were borne by the Holy Spirit. Hence, the Bible is out from God, written by certain Old Testament saints such as the prophets, leaders, and kings among the Israelites, as well as by various New Testament saints, such as the apostles, Mark, and Luke.
The content of the Bible is both extensive and inclusive; the two main aspects of this content are truth and life. Truth brings us revelation and knowledge of all the realities in the universe, such as the reality of God, the reality of man, the reality of the universe, the reality of the things of the present age, the coming age, and the eternal age, and in particular, the reality of the Christ appointed by God and the church chosen by Him. Life is God coming to be our life that we may be regenerated, grow, be transformed, and be conformed into the image of Christ, who expresses God, that we may become the expression of God.
1) “Your [the Father God’s] word is truth [reality]” (John 17:17).
This word of the Lord Jesus indicates that God’s word in the Bible is truth; it reveals the reality of God Himself and of His economy for us to obtain.
2) “Speak to the people all the words of this life” (Acts 5:20).
This is what the angel spoke to Peter, charging him to preach God’s words of life. The words of life are the words of the Bible which the apostles preached. Since the words contain life, they are able to supply life, and this life is God Himself. This proves that the main content of the Bible is not only truth but also life.
1) “It is these [the Scriptures] that testify concerning Me [Christ]” (John 5:39).
The first function of the Bible is to testify concerning Christ. Christ is the subject and content of the Bible, and the Bible is the explanation and expression of Christ. Christ is the living Word of God, and the Bible is His written word. Without Christ, the living Word, as reality, the written words of the Bible are but empty doctrines and vain letters. Yet without the written word of the Bible as His expression, Christ, the living Word, would be abstract and intangible. Therefore, we must read the Bible if we desire to know Christ.
2) “The sacred writings, which are able to make you wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 3:15).
On the one hand, the Bible testifies concerning Christ; on the other hand, it makes us wise unto salvation through faith in Christ Jesus, revealing to us the method of God’s salvation in Christ and the way of man’s salvation through faith, that we may know how to be saved.
3) “Having been regenerated, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the living and abiding word of God” (1 Pet. 1:23).
The living word of God in the Bible is the seed of life which enables us to have God’s life and to be regenerated.
4) “As newborn babes, long for the guileless milk of the word, that by it you may grow unto salvation” (1 Pet. 2:2).
The milk of the word here refers to God’s word becoming the nourishing milk. To the newly regenerated spiritual babes, God’s word in the Bible is the nourishing milk which causes them to grow.
5) “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out through the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4).
According to its context, the words that proceed out through the mouth of God in this verse refer to the words of God in the Bible. The words of God in the Bible are not only our spiritual milk but also our spiritual food which nourishes us that we may grow and become mature.
6) “The entrance of thy [God’s] words giveth light” (Psa. 119:130).
Once we enter into God’s word, it becomes opened (unfolded) to us, and it gives us light, shining upon us and giving us wisdom and revelation.
7) “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path” (Psa. 119:105).
The word of God in the Bible not only shines inwardly over our hearts and spirits to give us wisdom and revelation, but it also gives light outwardly to our steps and pathways so that we would not be lost.
8) “All Scripture is…profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, fully equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16-17).
The words of the Bible have the diverse functions of teaching, reproving, correcting, and instructing people in righteousness that the man of God may be complete, fully equipped for every good work.
Besides the various functions mentioned above, there are many other functions of the Bible which are not enumerated here.
1) “The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver” (Psa. 119:72). “More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold” (Psa. 19:10).
These verses reveal the preciousness of God’s word in the Bible for which our desire is continually stirred up.
2) “How sweet are thy words unto my taste! Yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth” (Psa. 119:103). This shows the sweetness and loveliness of God’s word.
