‘I will delight myself in thy statutes: I will not forget thy word’ (Psalm 119.16).

The Trinitarian Bible Society has the privilege of distributing God’s Word in faithful translations. As we do so it is our sincere prayer that the Bibles we distribute would be read and, under God’s blessing, be the means by which the Saviour of the Scriptures is known.

Reading the Bible is unlike reading any other book.

It is able to make us wise unto salvation

The Bible is able to make us wise unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus, the most important thing for any individual human being. As Paul writes in 2 Timothy 3.15–17: ‘From a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works’.

If we read the Bible rightly we read it prayerfully, praying that the Holy Spirit would open our eyes to behold wonderful things out of God’s Word. We read, seeking to have the teaching of the Word of God revealed to us personally—not only as seekers first searching for the truth, but again and again, for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness, that we might be complete and ‘throughly furnished unto all good works’.

It is through His Word that God makes Himself known

 We read our Bibles not merely to know about God, but seeking that we might know Him personally. As Jesus prayed in John 17.3: ‘This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent’.

Paul expressed this in Philippians 3.8–10, speaking of ‘the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord’ and his desire ‘that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings’. If we read the Bible rightly, we read it seeking to know God for ourselves and to hold communion with Him. As individuals, we get to know each other through speaking and listening. In His mercy, God speaks to fallen sinners through His Word—and it is His Will that we would read and listen to that Word. Each sinner who is given the grace thus to listen to His Word and act upon it will also find that the Lord teaches them to speak in reverence to Him—in both prayer and praise.

It shows us where sin is and how sin can be avoided and overcome

Psalm 119.11 states: ‘Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee’. It has been said that just in that one verse we have four things: the best resource (God’s Word), the best practice (hiding it in our hearts), the best place (in our hearts—not merely on the shelf or in our minds, but in that internal place of the soul), and the best motive (that we might not sin against God).

The Bible shows us what sin is. If we read the Bible rightly, we read it seeking that the Lord will give us a clear view of what sin is, where it exists within us, and how it can be forgiven and overcome. As God in His mercy blesses His Word to us, He shows us the one way—the Lord Jesus Christ—by which the guilt of sin can be forgiven and the power of sin can be overcome.

The Word of God is our best resource. May the Lord cause us to prayerfully read, and reread, and then reread again the Scripture, hiding it in our hearts. The Lord’s people will often find an inward battle arising from a disinclination to read the Word of God—because it doesn’t suit our fallen nature. And yet to read it at times is also our greatest joy and is always our great need. The Christian will have this battle in them until they are brought safe home to glory: the flesh lusting against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh. What a comfort to the believer it is, to know that greater is the Holy Spirit within them, than the world, the flesh, and the devil. May the Lord grant us each grace that we might persevere in prayerfully reading God’s Word and hiding it in our hearts, that we might not sin against Him.

The Society’s Aim is unchanged since its founding in 1831.

The object of this Society is to promote the Glory of God and the salvation of men, by circulating, both at home and abroad, in dependence on the Divine blessing, the HOLY SCRIPTURES, which are given by inspiration of God, and are able to make men wise unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

We cannot know the extent to which the Society has promoted the Glory of God in any given year, so must content ourselves with reporting on the circulation of the Holy Scriptures at home and abroad and sharing reports about various aspects of the work.

Pray that the Lord would oversee and bless the scattering of this Gospel seed throughout the world.

First published in Quarterly Record 652 as part of the Operations Department report. Published online 26 August 2025.