The Scriptures aren’t given so we can have a knowledge of names, numbers and details. They’re given so that we might know and love the living God, understand his covenant relationship with us, behold the glory of his Son, and walk before him in faith and obedience. 

Who was Malchus? If you grew up around the church, you might know the answer. Malchus was the servant of the high priest whose ear Peter cut off during the arrest of Jesus. For many of us, that question belonged to a familiar game: Bible Trivia.

I grew up playing games like that. We’d compete over names, numbers, and details. How many stones did David pick up? Which king was weighed in the balance and found wanting? Who was the wee little man who climbed up in a sycamore tree (for the Lord he wanted to see)? There’s nothing wrong with knowing those things. Familiarity with the Bible is a good thing.

But knowing Bible trivia isn’t the same thing as knowing the Bible. A person can remember scattered facts but still struggle to know what the Bible is, how it fits together, or what its message is. The Scripture isn’t given to us so we can win a game. It’s given so that we can read, meditate, understand, and be trained in righteousness and holiness.

With that in mind, there are certain things every Christian should know about the Bible — not obscure details or academic debates, but foundational truths that shape how we read, study, and receive God’s Word.

Every Christian should know the Bible’s divine authorship. The Bible was written by real men. They wrote in different places, over many centuries, and in different styles. But behind the many men who wrote is a single Author: “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God” (2 Tim. 3:16). Or, as the Apostle Peter said, “For prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit” (2 Pt. 1:21).

The Bible isn’t a collection of human thoughts and experiences, it’s God own speech — his breathed-out Word. This is why the Bible is true. God cannot lie, and so every word is trustworthy. It’s also why the Bible has authority. God is God over all, and what he says is binding. And it’s why the Scriptures are unified. Though written by many authors, it’s not disjointed. All its parts fit together into a single whole.

If a Christian doesn’t know this, then the Bible becomes nothing but a product of man’s creativity — it may have good advice, inspirational stories, or moral instruction, but it can rise no higher than the men who wrote it.

Every Christian should know what the Bible primarily teaches. The Westminster Shorter Catechism gives a very simple answer: “The Scriptures principally teach what man is to believe concerning God, and what duty God requires of man.” This captures the heart of the Bible’s message.

The message of the Bible isn’t about man’s seeking after God, but about God’s revealing himself to man. Beyond what creation can tell us, the Scriptures reveal the God who is, and all that he is — his justice, mercy, wisdom, truth, and power. In revealing who God is, the Bible also makes clear that we are obligated to him — both by creation and by redemption. 


Faith and obedience aren’t opposed to each other because right belief shapes faithful obedience, and true obedience flows out of right belief. When we read the Bible, the two most basic questions to always ask are: What does this passage teach me about God? And what does it teach me about how I should live before him?

Every Christian should know the different genres of the Bible. The parts of the Bible fit together as a whole, but the parts are also different. It’s not written in one way.

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