The short answer
Reading the Bible is essential, but it is not, by itself, the destination. Jesus said something startling to the most devoted Bible readers of His day: "You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life" (John 5:39-40). Notice what He does not say. He does not fault them for reading too much or studying too carefully. He faults them for stopping at the text when the text was pointing past itself — to Him. Scripture is the witness; the living God is the one it testifies of.
So the honest answer is: reading the Bible is where knowing God begins, not where it ends. The Word is meant to lead you into prayer, obedience, and a real relationship with the God it reveals. A person can read every chapter and still not know God, the way someone can memorise a set of love letters and never meet the one who wrote them. The Bible itself insists on the difference, which is why the question of what Scripture is for matters as much as whether we read it at all. That difference is also at the heart of whether faith is a relationship with God or just religion.
A record hunger for the Word
This question is not abstract right now, because more people are opening the Bible than at any time in a generation. US Bible sales reached a 21-year high in 2025, with roughly 19 million copies sold — up about 12% on 2024 and nearly double the total from 2019 (Publishers Weekly). The United Kingdom saw the same pattern, with the value of Bible sales more than doubling over six years. Reporting on the trend ties it to a search for hope and stability in uncertain times, and to a striking openness among younger people, with around 36% of Gen Z now identifying as Bible users (Christian Today).
That is genuinely good news, and it deserves to be celebrated rather than second-guessed. A hunger for the Word is exactly the kind of hunger Jesus blessed: "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied" (Matthew 5:6). But hunger is a beginning, not a filling. The same trend that has people buying Bibles by the million raises a quiet, important question for each new reader: once the book is open, where is it meant to take me? A record surge in reading is only fruitful if the reading arrives somewhere. For a fuller look at the wider movement behind these numbers, see whether the Gen Z revival is real.
What the Bible says it is for
The Bible is remarkably clear about its own purpose, and that purpose is always aimed beyond the page. Paul tells Timothy that Scripture is God-breathed and profitable "for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work" (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Every one of those aims is directed at a changed life, not at mere knowledge. A few verses earlier Paul says the Scriptures are able "to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus" (2 Timothy 3:15). The Word is designed to produce faith, to form character, and to bring the reader to God — it is an instrument, and an instrument is defined by what it is meant to accomplish.
This is why the Bible so often compares itself to things that lead somewhere. It is "a lamp to my feet and a light to my path" (Psalm 119:105) — and a lamp exists so you can walk, not so you can admire the lamp. It is "living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword" (Hebrews 4:12), a tool that does work in the heart. It is described as milk and solid food (1 Peter 2:2; Hebrews 5:14), nourishment meant to grow a person into maturity. In every image, the Word is the means and a living relationship with God is the end. Reading Scripture as an end in itself misreads what Scripture says it is for — a mistake explored from another angle in why some people love Jesus but not the Bible.
Why reading alone is not the destination
The clearest warning against stopping at the text comes from Jesus Himself, spoken to people who read the Bible more carefully than most of us ever will. The scribes and Pharisees searched the Scriptures word by word, yet Jesus said they missed the very One the Scriptures were about (John 5:39-40). It is entirely possible to be an expert in the Bible and a stranger to God. Knowledge of the text and knowledge of God are related, but they are not the same thing, and the first can quietly become a substitute for the second. That is the danger that always shadows a season of intense Bible reading: mistaking familiarity with the words for closeness to the One who spoke them.
James makes the same point in practical terms: "Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves" (James 1:22). A person who hears the Word but does not live it, he says, is like someone who looks in a mirror and immediately forgets what he saw. The Word is meant to be obeyed, prayed, and embodied — carried out of the reading and into a life. This is why reading the Bible naturally leads into prayer: the text opens a conversation, and the conversation is with a living God who answers. Reading that never becomes relationship is like a road no one walks down. The map is accurate; the traveller simply never leaves the house.
Scripture points to a living Lord
The reason the Bible cannot be the final destination is that the Bible itself keeps pointing to a person. On the road to Emmaus, the risen Jesus "beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself" (Luke 24:27). The whole library of Scripture, He taught, is a testimony that converges on the living Lord. To read the Bible rightly is to read it looking for Him — and, because the story is not finished, to read it looking forward to His return, the hope that runs from Genesis to the last page of Revelation. Scripture is the witness that helps us recognise the Lord when He returns.
This is where the deepest purpose of Scripture comes into view. John writes that "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us" (John 1:14). God's ultimate desire was never to hand humanity a book and stand back; it was to be known, personally, by a family of sons and daughters. The written Word exists to bring us to the living Word, and through Him into a restored relationship with God marked by true love, not just correct belief. A Bible left as ink on paper has not yet reached its goal. The goal is reached when the truth it carries becomes flesh again — lived out in people who love God and one another. That is why the surge in Bible reading is so promising and why it must not stop at reading: the Word wants to become life.
How to read so the Bible brings you to God
If reading alone is not enough, the answer is not to read less but to read differently — prayerfully, expectantly, and with the aim of meeting God rather than mastering material. Begin by asking Him to speak before you begin, treating the reading as an appointment with a Person and not a task to complete. Read slowly enough to let a verse become a prayer; when a passage convicts, confess; when it comforts, give thanks; when it commands, obey. Reading that constantly turns back into conversation with God is reading that arrives at its destination. The point is not how many chapters you finish but whether, through them, you draw nearer to the One who wrote them.
It also helps to read for the Lord the Scriptures reveal, rather than for information alone. Ask of each passage, "What does this show me about God's heart, and about the Lord all of Scripture points toward?" Let what you read reshape how you love, because the Word's deepest work is to restore true love in us. And let it be grounded — a reliable text you can trust, which is why the question of whether we can trust the Bible matters alongside this one. Read this way, the record hunger of this moment becomes exactly what God intends: not a shelf of unopened Bibles, and not a head full of verses, but people brought through the Word into life with Him.
Frequently asked questions
Is reading the Bible enough to know God?
Reading the Bible is essential but not, by itself, the destination. Jesus told people who studied the Scriptures diligently, "You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life" (John 5:39-40). Scripture is the witness that points to a living God and to the Lord it testifies of; knowing God means letting the Word lead you into a real relationship with Him through prayer, obedience, and love, not merely accumulating information about Him.
Why are so many people buying Bibles in 2025 and 2026?
US Bible sales reached a 21-year high in 2025 with roughly 19 million copies sold, up about 12% on 2024 and nearly double the 2019 figure, with a similar surge in the UK. Analysts link the rise to a search for hope and stability in uncertain times, and to renewed spiritual interest among younger people, with about 36% of Gen Z now identifying as Bible users. The trend reflects genuine spiritual hunger, which Scripture itself treats as the first step toward God rather than the whole journey.
What does the Bible say its own purpose is?
The Bible describes itself as God-breathed and useful "for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work" (2 Timothy 3:16-17), and as able "to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus" (2 Timothy 3:15). Its stated purpose is not to be an end in itself but to bring the reader to faith, to Christ, and to a changed life. The Word aims at a destination beyond the page.
Can you know God without reading the Bible?
Scripture is the clearest and most reliable witness to God, so neglecting it leaves faith vulnerable to error and drift. Yet millions who could not read, or lived before the Bible was compiled, still knew God through His works in creation (Romans 1:20), through conscience, prayer, and relationship. The point is not that the Bible is optional, but that the Bible was always meant to lead into a living relationship with God rather than to replace it. Reading it faithfully and coming to God personally belong together.
How should I read the Bible so it draws me closer to God?
Read prayerfully and expectantly, asking God to meet you in the text rather than treating it as information to master. Move from reading to relationship: turn what you read into prayer, obey what you understand, and let the Word reshape how you love. Because all Scripture testifies of Christ (Luke 24:27), read it looking for the living Lord it reveals, including the promise of His return. The goal is not to finish the book but to be brought, through the book, to God Himself.