Bible Inspiration: Plenary And Verbal by Dr.Charles Hodge On Jesus Christ As The Promised Redeemer.A Christmas Devotional by C.H. Spurgeon.Comments On New Covenant Theology by Dennis Swanson.Introduction To New Covenant Theology by Dennis Swanson.The Person Of Christ According To The New Testament by B.Which Bible Translation Is Best? by John MacArthur.Foundational Principles for Knowing God by J.The Christian Faith in the Modern World by J.Country Club Christianity By Fred Zaspel.‘Impending not Imminent’ By Anthony A. Hoekema.
A Commentary on The Westminster Confession of Faith With Scripture Proofs By A.I think much of this influx is due to the Publishers and/or Printers who are willing to capitalize off the vanity of “popular” ministers who for some reason believe their comments will inform the reader in the “more excellent way” of understanding the Bible. In addition to the old standbys of the past - such as Bullinger, Dickson, Scofield, Newberry, Thompson, and others - beginning at some point in the last century, there has been an influx of “reference Bibles” attributed to the likes of Ryrie, Dake, Rice, Falwell, MacArthur, Sproul, Stanley, Kirban, Swaggart, Hagee, LaHaye, Meyer, Copeland, Hinn, Swindoll, Hayford, Zodhiates, Lucado, Blackaby, and somebody called “Rainbow.” There may be others, of course…. “In recent years, it seems that every Tom, Dick, and Harry and his Grandpa, who has a ‘following’ of some description, has been coming out with his own ‘reference Bible’ or ‘study Bible’.” In an electronically published letter of July 12, 2008, our friend Bob Ross of Pilgrim Publications, publisher of everything Spurgeon, wrote– Stay away from those Study Bibles written by one person and those with strong theological bias (such as the Dake Annotated Reference Bible, The Companion Bible, Scofield Reference Bible, Prophecy Study Bible, Ryrie Study Bible, LaHaye Prophecy Bible, Jimmy Swaggert’s Expositors Study Bible, etc.)!! Study Bibles produced by a committee of conservative evangelical scholars are generally more balanced and less likely to stray from orthodox theology. Some pages in the average Study Bible contain more words of man than Words of God!, and despite efforts the student will be influenced by the interpretations of the editor. If you do own a Study Bible keep it on your bookshelf and use it for occasional reference only, as you would a Bible commentary or dictionary, and not for reading and study.
I know this from experience, as a young Christian I was given a Scofield Bible and soon was thoroughly indoctrinated with Scofield’s theology (which I have long since discarded).įollowing are some recommendations for Study Bibles extracted from my article: My reason for this is that the notes in a Study Bible are absorbed, consciously or unconsciously, during normal reading & study and strongly affect the reader whether they recognize it or not. I prefer using a reference Bible (with cross-references and concordance) for my Bible reading and study. Several years ago I wrote an article titled “Study Bibles – A Critique” where I argued that they should not be used for reading and general study.