Doing a bible search for instructions to study the bible this was found.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 English Standard Version

4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, 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. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

It does not surprise me that what preceded the commandment to study His Word is the commandment to love God. We can search out a dozen different reasons to study the bible but  the beginning of instructions was a sign of love for God.

In verse 7 our children are to be indoctrinated in the Word. Teaching is doctrine. We shall talk to them, commune with them, relationship, coming to a proper understanding by sharing. Then it goes beyond that as we see the Word posted on the entrances to our homes for visitors and strangers to see what we believe and what we stand for.

At the root of all bible study is love for God. That should take first place.

At the time of Joshua entering into the Promised Land all they had was the writings of Moses, the first five books of the bible. Now we have sixty-six books. Life has evolved and the bible is loaded with successes and failures concerning man’s ability to show he loves God. The Samaritans only had those first five and were considered unworthy because they did not have all thirty-nine books of the Old Testament.

Christianity has added twenty-seven more. Does that mean we love God more because we have more to study and learn from? I would hope we do not think that way.

We do not have a stranglehold on faith. We should remember that when we struggle to understand Deuteronomy 31:10-13 where all Israel was compelled to gather just once every seven years to have the Law read to them aloud.

I know I need my memory refreshed more often than once every seven years.

John 8:51

Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.”

I know what it means to keep my word but what does it mean to keep His?

Just to simplify my intentions here let us look at the Greek definition used in John 8:51.

Logos “a word or saying,” also means “an account which one gives by word of mouth”. Source Vine’s Dictionary

The simplest definition seems the best. Whenever we speak His Word it should be accurate in meaning and use. It should be an accounting, a right representation of the Word of Jesus.

We have the bible which we read and study, memorize and quote. This seems to be the most reasonable understanding of what it means to keep His Word.

I have four bibles in my home which I rarely open. Is that keeping His Word? If I were to argue it is available to refer to when needed, I could say it is keeping His Word.

I have a bible app on my phone. More and more people have found that convenient to carry around and use. Pastors have had to get used to the notion that his flock is not texting during his sermon. Is that keeping His Word? Sure just as much as my four bibles sitting on a shelf.

When I go into a store and leave my wife in the car on a hot day and turn on the air and leave my phone connected so she can listen to music, am I leaving His Word rather than keeping it?

I would argue that His Word resides in my heart and if needed is available to be spoken aloud. Do I speak from the heart or from an aging and fallible memory? The hearer would not know one way or the other. It might sound right but unfamiliar, or it might sound foreign according to that person’s beliefs.

That is a simple explanation. We need not complicate it any more than that.

What does keeping His Word mean to you?