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How to Get the Best Out of Your Study Bible

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Though quiet, I consider myself a thoughtful person. Yet I too often allow my “introversion” to excuse my failure to love my neighbor through active listening and engaging conversation. My strength becomes a weakness when I over-rely on it or pay little attention to the need of the moment.

Similarly, a study Bible comes with both blessings and curses, depending on how you use it. Here are some suggestions for leveraging the remarkable strengths and sidestepping the destructive weaknesses.

1. Treat it as a reference work, not as your main Bible

quadrapop (2006), Creative Commons

quadrapop (2006), Creative Commons

Chefs buy knives in sets because they need different tools for different jobs. They don’t use paring knives to slice bread, or chef’s knives to quarter a chicken. It’s faster and safer to use the right tool for the right job.

And while folks in some parts of the world have trouble gaining access to any Bible, most readers of this blog can have as many as they want. With all the editions available to us, there’s no reason not to collect a well-rounded set. I have a Bible for reading, another for marking up, and a third to preach from. On my reference shelf, I have two more English translations, a Hebrew Old Testament, a Greek New Testament, and three study Bibles that serve different purposes (one is good at historical background, the second at main points, and the third at trains of thought). I also have a pew Bible from my church, but just so I can put page numbers into my sermon notes for announcing to the congregation.

You may not need this many Bibles. Most people will do fine with a simple one for study/markup and a fancy one for reference. Though, if you enjoy reading, I highly recommend also having a reader’s version.

But a bulky “study Bible” doesn’t serve well as your main Bible. Not only are you unlikely to carry a heavy tome on a regular basis, but also it will train you in ways you don’t want to go (see the curses again). Better to have an edition that keeps your attention where it should be: on the God-breathed words of Scripture.

2. Go heavy on overviews and historical background

Because the Bible was written to communities far removed from our time and place, we won’t assume the same things the original audience assumed. We won’t have the same shared experiences or cultural artifacts. So we need help. Study Bibles excel at exposing this distance and closing the gap with helpful information.

When you begin to study a book of the Bible, read that book’s introduction from your study Bible. It will explain the circumstances of writing and any necessary context. It will set you up to read that book as it was meant to be read, and it will help you to avoid gross misunderstanding. In addition, as you study through the book, you may hit names of unfamiliar places or people. These also present a good time to refer to your study Bible. Perhaps there is a map or chart that will make strong visual connections or explain allusions you never would have seen otherwise.

Of course, it’s even better for you to simply read the Bible—a lot. You’ll become more familiar with these things over time. But study Bibles also do well to help you on your way.

3. Wrestle with the biblical text without your study Bible

If you trust in Christ, you have the Spirit of Christ within you. If you have the Spirit of Christ, you have access to the mind of Christ (1 Cor 2:16), to the very author of Scripture (2 Peter 1:20-21). Do you trust that he can help you understand the things he has written (1 John 2:20-21)?

I’m not saying you can have perfect knowledge all by yourself, isolated from Christian community and history. I am, however, daring you to wrestle with the text—and with the Lord who inspired it—as an intelligent creature fashioned in his image. As a precious son or daughter who doesn’t need permission from the local police force to spend time with a doting parent. Just give it a try.

4. Refer to the study notes when you have a specific, impenetrable question—then set them aside again

See tip #3. If you hit a verse or passage that is difficult to understand (and there are plenty of them in the Bible), don’t run to your study notes like a shopaholic to a buy-one-get-one-free sale. Take a deep breath and count to 10. Put your nose back into the text. Discipline yourself to observe more closely and investigate more curiously. Read the paragraph in question at least 5 more times. Think and pray about your questions for at least 24 hours.

If after all that, you still have no answer—go ahead and check out what someone else has to say about it.

5. Read the articles and genre introductions

You’ve got this amazing reference library in a single volume. Take advantage of it! Most study Bibles have many articles on important topics, and they have introductions to the Bible’s major divisions (pentateuch, historical books, wisdom books, prophets, gospels/Acts, and epistles). Take your Bible education into your own hands and work these resources into your reading routine. You’ll be glad you did.

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John Piper on a Letter’s Introduction

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John Piper continues his extensive series of videos modeling observation and interpretation of the Bible. In a recent episode, he began to address the opening verses to 1 Peter.

https://vimeo.com/137981364

Piper shows a few things very well:

  • How to learn about the letter’s author from the letter itself.
  • How to learn about the letter’s audience from the letter itself.

It can be helpful to use resources outside the text (such as book introductions in study Bibles) to learn the historical background. But it’s even better to look within the text itself.

Check it out!

Top 10 Curses of Study Bibles

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I’m facing a parental dilemma. The young man renting our spare bedroom offered to take a few of my children to a shooting range to teach them to handle firearms. This fellow is training to be an officer in the United States Navy, and he’s responsible and trustworthy—but still!

Should I allow it or not? I’m no curmudgeon when it comes to risk; I practically taught my children to climb trees before they could walk. But might they still be a shade too young and immature for this responsibility? We already tend ample wounds from plastic swords, light sabers, and Nerf weaponry; can these children handle a Marlin .22 caliber rifle or a Sig Sauer Mosquito handgun?

Sig Sauer Mosquito HandgunI’m mildly consoled by the fact that our resident midshipman has no interest in a joyride. On his watch, nobody can touch a gun without memorizing four rules:

Never point a gun at anything you don’t want to shoot.

Treat every gun as if it were loaded.

Keep your gun on safety until you are ready to fire.

Keep your finger off the trigger until you are ready to fire.

Regardless of where you stand on pacifism or gun control, I’m sure you’d agree that guns are dangerous and require extreme caution. In this way, guns are just like study Bibles. We should have rules about how to use them safely.

Last week, I wrote about the 10 blessings of study Bibles. I also consider it my duty to caution you about their 10 curses. Some of these curses are inherent in the “study Bible” genre; other curses are common but not insuperable weaknesses. Thus, some study Bibles avoid some of the curses.

Physical Size

1. They are big and bulky—Rarely will you catch somebody carrying one in a backpack. To be fair, though, the ESV Study Bible has a compact version and convenient online access. Others offer similar options.

They draw your attention away from the biblical text

2. Not much text per page—Especially in the New Testament, and especially in Paul’s epistles. When study notes abound, there’s less incentive to read passages in the context of the chapter, section, or book (one must do a lot of flipping).

3. Cross-references receive greater attention—Not only do you get the usual center-column cross-references, but every 2 or 3 study notes highlight even more cross-references. But cross-references are way overrated. Along with word studies and harmonization, they are one of the most common distractions from rich, contextual Bible study. You’ll do better to ignore them, at least until you understand the passage at hand. Get the main point; then correlate with other texts.

They can be strong at “what” but weak on “why”

4. Study notes that miss the mark—They usually have only enough space to do one of two things: 1) observe the text well but leave no room for interpretation, or 2) provide interpretation that rings hollow because it’s not supported through explicit observation.

5. Book introductions that answer questions you aren’t asking—Some book intros are superb; others get bogged down with too many details. Often the difference lies in whether the intro clearly presents the book’s logic (train of thought), or whether it delves into topics like the exact dating of Mark’s Gospel and whether Mark was written before or after Matthew.

6. Outlines that summarize but don’t explain—Most outlines focus on observation (summarizing content), not on interpretation or logic (following trains of thought). This helps you find certain episodes within a book, but it doesn’t do much to help you understand their placement. In addition, many study Bible outlines treat Bible books like stream-of-consciousness term papers: I, II, III.A., III.B., IV., etc. I just saw one that went from I to XVI with no further subdivisions! I always check out Dorsey’s Literary Structure of the Old Testament when I study an OT book. I wish there were a comparable volume for NT books.

7. Lack of clear main points—You’ll find pages of word analysis and historical background. And many study Bibles have summaries of content. But a summary is different from a main point. Only the most courageous editors take the risk of stating “the main point (or the main theme) of this book is ____________.” Even better is when they give you main points for not only each book, but also for each chapter.

They can hinder discovery

8. They train you to micro-analyze the text—Words often get more attention than sentences, which get more attention than paragraphs, which get more attention than chapters, etc. Study Bibles sometimes train our senses accordingly, like the young pastoral candidate I once interviewed who thought he’d attain maturity in his sermons when he could preach on a single verse.

9. They train you to observe (and observe small) but go no farther in the study process—This point follows from points 4-8 above. Some folks think they’ve studied the Bible because they’ve read the notes and looked up the cross-references. But have they learned to ask questions and answer them? Can they figure out (and fight for) the main points? Have they learned to apply the same truth to different groups of people?

10. They lead you to believe you can’t study the text on your own—If I locked you in a room with nothing but a pencil and a clean text (no study notes or cross-references), would you know what to do with it? Would you even think it possible you could know what to do with it?

Study Bibles deliver amazing blessings, but please use them with extreme caution.

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The Word Study Fallacy

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Writing for The Master’s Seminary, William Barrick explains the problem of over-occupation with word studies (scroll to page 19 of the doc):

Study of the words alone will not present us with a consistent interpretation or theology. This is one of the misleading aspects of theological dictionaries/wordbooks. One learns far more about obedience/disobedience or sacrifice and sin from the full statement of a passage like 1 Sam 15:22–23 than he will from word studies of key terms like “sacrifice,” “obey,” or “sin” in the text.

He explains briefly why word studies are easy and popular. But he shows with a few good examples that they simply will not do. We do far better to learn how to study passages than to study words.

Check it out!

Top 10 Blessings of Study Bibles

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When I graduated from high school, my parents bought me an NIV Study Bible with a shiny blue protective cover. I knew I was in the big league with this thing. I could take my Bible and not merely read it; now I felt fully equipped to study it.

I still get excited by new study Bibles. When I first got my ESV Study Bible, I kept staying up late to read it. Now that I blog about Bible study, most publishers give me free copies for review. I just finished reviewing the Reformation Study Bible. In the last week, I acquired both the NIV Zondervan Study Bible and the Reformation Heritage KJV Study Bible (reviews will take a few weeks). Eventually I’d like to write a post comparing and contrasting these study Bibles (and more), recommending the ones that best promote OIA Bible study.

As I immerse myself in study Bibles, I’m reminded of the many blessings we have at our fingertips in the English-speaking world. Here are what I consider to be the top 10 blessings of study Bibles.

1. One-stop shop

Study Bibles collate the best pieces of a wide variety of resources. Unless you must dig exceptionally deep, there’s no need for a Bible atlas, Bible dictionary, dictionary of theology, library of commentaries, archaeological papers, exhaustive concordance, church histories, or systematic theologies. These are all good resources, and they come in handy for higher-level students. But for the average Christian, a good study Bible can replace a small library and still address the essentials.

2. Quick answers to straightforward questions

I’m studying Job, and I’m confused by Behemoth and Leviathan mentioned in chapters 40-41. I want to know the different ways interpreters have understood these two poetic figures. I open my study Bible, find the text, and get a quick survey of different answers.

3. Book introductions

I use study Bibles for this purpose more than any other. If I want to become familiar with the main point and themes of a book, I read the book 10-20 times. But if I want to understand all the historical things an original reader would already know about the situation in which the book was written, I read a concise book introduction in a study Bible. Who wrote 1 Chronicles? When was Galatians written relative to Paul’s other letters? What first-century situation did Revelation address?

4. Historical background

This point is similar to #3, but on the level of verses or chapters instead of books. Study Bible notes excel at placing key historical information in the right spots to help you get what’s going on. For example, how far was Joseph and Mary’s trip from Nazareth to Bethlehem? How long would it have taken? Why couldn’t they just stay in Nazareth for the census?

5. Maps

Unless you grew up in the Middle East, you need to look at maps when you study the Bible. My favorite study Bible maps are in full color, but the less expensive options do them in black and white.

6. Charts

Sometimes I like making my own charts; it helps me retain the information better. Once I created two timelines of the Kings of Israel and Judah—one from 1&2 Kings and another one from 1&2 Chronicles—and tried to understand the similarities and differences between them. But I’m no graphic artist, and others make such charts much more visually appealing.

7. Articles

Not every study Bible has articles in it, but those that do try to make them useful. Introduction to the Prophets. How to read the Bible. Key heresies from church history. Why different Bible manuscripts say different things. The challenge, however, is to remember that your study Bible has these articles in it. Otherwise, you can spend a lot of time searching  Google for something worthwhile on a topic that comes up.

8. Illustrations/Photos

Similar to maps and charts, good illustrations stimulate visual learners. What would Noah’s ark look like next to a football field? How was Moses’ tabernacle or Solomon’s temple laid out? And here’s a sneak peek of my reactions to the NIV Zondervan Study Bible: Photographs! Why haven’t I seen other study Bibles that put real photographs on the page? I can see a threshing sledge, a cedar of Lebanon, a dead sea scroll, a signet ring, and a view of Samaria from the north. This is genius.

9. Verbal clarification

Don’t miss out on untranslatable word plays. (Why do people keep laughing when they hear about baby Isaac?) Don’t get confused by Hebrew or Greek idioms. (Does a man sleep with his fathers because the Supreme Court legalized it?) Don’t get caught buying into common misunderstandings. (Because God knows the plans he has for you.) Study Bibles thrive on clarifying the meanings of words and short phrases.

10. Teams of editors

Usually, a commentary is written by a single scholar. Like it or not, you get a single perspective on the text. Granted, the commentator still has an editor, but the editor is most likely better at writing and grammar than at theology and interpretation. Study Bibles still have individuals working on particular sets of study notes, but teams of editors review the whole and create alignment among the parts. Such spreading out of responsibility usually makes the product more cogent.

Let’s praise God for these incredible blessings, while keeping them in perspective. Next week, I’ll list the top 10 curses of study Bibles.

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Disclaimer: While the blog post above was authored c.2015 CE, the Amazonian links had affiliations. Such links enabled inhabitants of the 21st century to provide patronage for the web logs they read, with nothing extra added to the cost of their purchases. It was common for internet writers to use such affiliations to cover the expenses of their hosting services.

What are Commentaries Good For?

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Last week, Paul Levy gave some brief but helpful thoughts at Reformation 21 about using commentaries. Here are a few delicious quips:

Commentaries are often answering questions no one is asking.

They help you clarify what you don’t think.

I try to use commentaries only when I’m stuck, and invariably they are not a massive amount of help.

In finding what is the big theme of the letter most commentaries are of little use.

However, on the details of the text they can really help.

Levy’s musings are worth considering. Check it out!

Reformation Study Bible (2015 Edition): It’s Big

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There must be quite a market for study Bibles, because they keep making more of them. And some older ones are being updated and revised. Like The Reformation Study Bible.

It was published in 1995 as The New Geneva Study Bible, using the New King James translation. 1998 saw the name changed to The Reformation Study Bible. In 2005, a second edition emerged, switching translations from NKJV to ESV. Now in 2015, a third edition hit the market with a long list of new features. It’s already out in ESV, and an NKJV version is on its way.

Study notes multiplied from 760,000 to 1.1 million words. Ten more maps, fourteen theological articles, ten creeds and confessions, almost 600 pages, and an extra 3/8 of an inch in thickness expand the contents. In addition, purchasers of this Bible gain access to over $400 worth of e-books, subscriptions, and online teaching series.

There’s a lot here. Is it worth it?

First Impressions

This study Bible is beautiful. I’ve been reading the leather-like light gray version, but cheaper hardbacks are also available. I’m tempted to judge this book by its cover, with its soft leather-like substance and three marvelous, protruding ribbon bookmarks.

Upon opening and flipping, I find the page layout pleasing. The font of the biblical text is easy to read and in single-column format. Theological notes in shaded gray boxes pepper the volume. The back matter (articles, creeds, and maps) draws my attention.

This study Bible is a delight to handle and to read.

Reformation Study Bible

Diving In

The Reformation Study Bible (RSB) will appeal to some and not to others. I trust it will help many; I fear it will hinder some. The difference depends on how it is used.

If you know how to determine the main points and trains of thought of Bible passages, you will find some real help here. The RSB will clarify the meanings of words. It will connect many passages to each other. It will tie things nicely with larger theological issues. But if you look to the RSB to give you the main points and trains of thought of Bible books, I think you’ll be disappointed. The RSB is heavy on correlation and observation of words, but it is light on main points, trains of thought, and application.

In addition, if you’re already familiar with the significance and teachings of the Reformation, you’ll be at home with the RSB. It explains the Reformation and Reformed theology (the covenants, Christ-centered interpretation, doctrines of grace, etc.) with plain language and clarity. It makes lofty concepts understandable and accessible. But if you’re not sure about Reformed theology, or if you’d like to understand how these teachings are drawn out of careful literary analysis of the Scripture, you’ll be disappointed. While I wouldn’t say this study Bible imposes its teaching on the Scripture, I must admit it often doesn’t show its work by drawing its teaching from the Scripture.

Study Bibles serve well as reference works, but sometimes they distract people from studying the text itself. Therefore, if we think of study Bibles as commentaries, we can be on guard against detrimental addictions. If you can resist the addiction, I’m happy to recommend The Reformation Study Bible. You can buy it at Amazon or Westminster Books.

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Study note: Disclaimer. Amazon and WTS links are affiliate links, so this blog gets a small commission if you click and buy anything. The Greek word for disclaimer is “disklaemeros.” Pliny the Younger used this word in his famous work Natural History.

How to Decide Which Parts of the Bible to Follow and Which to Ignore

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How do you decide which aspects of the Bible to follow, and which to ignore?

Justin Taylor posted a video of a young woman posing this question to Dr. John Stackhouse, Religious Studies Professor at Crandall University, New Brunswick. Stackhouse turns the question around to suggest that we should study the Bible closely enough to understand it before attempting to claim there are parts we should ignore.

The two-minute video is well worth your time. Check it out!

Too Busy to Blog: Little League is On

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I’m not able to write this week because I’ve taken my family to see some early games of the Little League World series tournament in Williamsport, PA. If you’d like to see one reason why we love attending, check out “What the Little League World Series Taught Me About Bible Study.”

We’re so excited to see another Pennsylvania team back in the tournament this year. Go Red Land! And we couldn’t be more thrilled to see another team from Uganda back in the series (my sons were born in Uganda).

Infographic: Kings of Israel and Judah

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If you’re studying Kings, Chronicles, or one of the Prophets, the Good Book Company has an infographic you might want to check out. They list all the kings of Israel and Judah, color-coded to represent the text’s evaluation of their obedience to God. The infographic also shows the Hebrew prophets and where their prophecies fit into the timeline. It’s clean, attractive, and very helpful.

Check it out!