CloserLookBooks.com
Study Bibles
May 2005
There has appeared a glut of study Bibles in the bookstores, each one taking its marketing aim at some particular segment of the professed Christian world. There is the Spirit-Filled Bible; The Open Bible; Life-Application Study Bible; StudentÕs Life Application Bible, ZondervanÕs Study Bible, etc.
Some of these Bibles feature the work of an individual like the MacArthur Study Bible, containing commentary by Calvinist expositor John MacArthur.
Others target various groups of people. For example, those who are associated with various 12 Step programs can purchase a Bible whose notes emphasize the kind of help a person might receive from Scripture for addiction issues.
There are study Bibles that feature a particular doctrinal stance like the new Reformation Study Bible edited by R. C. Sproul. This is a Bible I wanted desperately to like. It features the English Standard Version of the Bible in slightly larger print than the edition published by Crossway Books. It is annotated by scholars who believe the Bible to be the word of God. They are not, for the most part, premillennial. And it contains outstanding articles throughout on various theological topics. But if you are not a Calvinist, some of the articles and notes will frustrate you.
For example, the articles on ÒInfant BaptismÓ (p. 37); ÒOriginal Sin and Total DepravityÓ (p. 781); ÒThe Freedom and Bondage of the WillÓ (p. 1078); ÒBaptismÓ (p. 1623); ÒPerseverence of the SaintsÓ (p. 1627); ÒElection and ReprobationÓ (p. 1630); and the notes on Romans 9; Psalm 51; among others are openly ReformedÑwhich is what one should expect from a study Bible with the name, The Reformation Study Bible, edited by R. C. Sproul.
I would like to see a McGarvey Study Bible that combines J. W. McGarveyÕs book, A Guide to Bible Study (kept in print by Star Bible), with the ASV or some other reliable translation. Simply place brother McGarveyÕs comments in the appropriate place throughout the Bible.
I am not familiar with all the study Bibles on the market. I am told that some of our brethren have attempted to produce such a Bible, but I have not seen it. Wayne Jackson was invited to offer brief notes for an ASV pocket New Testament published by Star a number of years ago. (He calls it the King Wayne Version :) ).
Hugh Shira offered the best advice IÕve heard to date. Because the help you get in these study Bibles are abridgements, buy a good reliable translation and buy the helps separately.
Steven Lloyd
Joining the conversation:
Weylan Deaver:
Steve. I'm with you on the concluding line. You just can't put a library between the covers of a study Bible. My ESV study Bible from Crossway has what I need--good footnotes, cross-references, a small cocordance (which I don't use), and brief intros to the books, probably some little used maps in the back. If I want to study Matthew, I'll read a good commentary--not an article out of a study Bible. I'm currently going through McGarvey's commentary on Acts in preparation for teaching that book later this year. Also plan to read Wayne Jackson's commentary on Acts, and, perhaps, F.F. Bruce's as well. I've also changed my philosophy about marking in Bibles (Wayne Jackson, with his "Notes in the Margin of My Bible," might kill me for suggesting this). Used to, when, for example, I taught Matthew in Bible class, I would try to make all my teaching notes in tiny print in my Bible's margin. This would prevent my having to have any other notes, notebook, etc. with me. Now, I've completely reversed myself to the point where I make no notes at all in my Bible (except for the blank pages in front and back). Now, when I teach a Bible book, I copy the biblical text from the internet, paste it into Microsoft Word, and manipulate the font size and margins to leave room for my handwritten notes. This goes into a three ring binder which I teach from. If I replace my Bible in years to come, I still have all my notes in the notebook instead of in the Bible. I also have another reason for not marking up my Bible. I've yellowfied passages in the past that I thought were really important. Guess what--when I open an old Bible to one of those pages, that is the passage that stands out. What if my prior emphasis on that passage causes me to miss something else significant on the same page because I've already decided what's most important by highlighting it? So, I don't want my hand scribblings today to keep me from seeing something tomorrow that I may have missed because of coloring given by old notes or markings. This also prevents the problem of having to transfer notes from one Bible to the next when you switch. Anyway, this is more than you asked for.
Greg Weston:
I agree with you and Hugh Shira. It is my fear that the great desire for study Bibles is more an indicator of our brethren wanting to short cut their study. Many fail to understand that the sweat by study is the richest means of growth in Biblical knowledge and is the best way to retain that knowledge for application
'on the spot'.Amen brother.