One plain Bible please; hold the fixings

Study bibles can confuse divine inspiration with human interpretation

By David Daniels and ChristianWeek | June 5, 2009

My first experience with study Bibles came as a young teen when my Scofieldian pastor encouraged me to buy my own copy of the Scofield Reference Bible. Having never owned anything more than a KJV text-only Bible, I was delighted to read a Bible filled with comments on many difficult texts. More than once I was able to "correct" a Sunday School teacher or youth leader by pointing out the "true" interpretation of a text. I continued using Scofield Bibles right into my first pastorate.

Given the enormous popularity and influence of the Scofield Bible—though the Geneva Bible (the primary Bible of 16th-century Protestantism) containing marginal notes on the text was probably the first "study" Bible—it is no mystery why other study Bibles began emerging. Besides the obvious marketing potential, study Bibles facilitated the spread of biblical insights held by significant leaders and movements.

Contemporary Bible readers face a plethora of study Bible choices, and along with substantial study Bibles like the NIV Study Bible and the ESV Study Bible (with 2,752 pages, 2 million words, 20,000 notes, 80,000 cross-references, 200-plus full-color maps, 40 all-new illustrations, 50-plus articles and 200-plus charts), one can buy a study Bible directed to virtually every sub-segment of human existence.

If, after purchasing one the Bibles mentioned above, you still feel inadequate to interpret Scripture, perhaps you need the NCV Everyday Study Bible—the Bible for "the everyday person…who wants to understand the Bible." And if, after perusing the Everyday Bible, you still feel the Bible is a closed book, you could buy the NKJV Open Bible Study Bible.

The Bibles mentioned above—and every major translation has its version—are general-use study Bibles with notes that will, for the most part, be accepted by all evangelicals. But Bible readers can find numerous specialty editions.

For example, Zondervan offers the NIV Power of a Praying Woman Study Bible (think Stormie Omartian); the NIV Archaeological Study Bible (for those interested in history and culture); the NIV Adventure Bible (for the active kid in your home) and the NIV Life in the Spirit Study Bible (for believers hankering after the really deep, spiritual Christian experience). The folks at Holman have developed the Holman Christian Standard Bible and The Apologetics Study Bible (for all who want to defend the faith). The good people at Thomas Nelson recommend the NASB Quick Study Bible (for those on the run?).

Even more focused is Judson Press's KJV Original African Heritage Study Bible which seeks to interpret the Bible from an African perspective, providing a distinctly multicultural reading of the text. Tyndale Publishers offers the NLT Every Man's Bible that "every ordinary guy—from truck drivers to lawyers—can call his own." And for women there is the TNIV True Identity Study Bible, which in the publisher's words "will help you not only get to know God for who He really is, but yourself as well—who you are and whose you are."

But the winner in special interest study Bibles has to be The Green Study Bible (HarperCollins Publishers). This Bible will "equip and encourage you to see God's vision for creation and help you engage in the work of healing and sustaining it." There are numerous inspirational essays by key leaders like N.T. Wright, Barbara Brown Taylor, Brian McLaren, Matthew Sleeth, Pope John Paul II and Wendell Berry. Reading this Bible (all texts related to God's care of creation are highlighted in green) will "help you see that caring for the earth is not only a calling, but a lifestyle."

Alan Jacobs recently wrote in First Things, ("Blessed Are the Green of Heart," May, 2009) that "The Green Bible makes me distinctly uncomfortable." Believing that the Green Bible is directed toward two constituencies—committed environmentalists who view Christianity sceptically and Christians seeking biblical support for their environmental concerns—Jacobs fears this Bible holds God captive to an agenda far too narrow for the full range and intention of divine revelation.

I agree with Jacobs. Though virtually all the study Bibles mentioned above (The Green Bible excepted) remain within the boundaries of evangelical theology, Jacob's concern with The Green Bible applies to them as well. Tightly focused study Bibles risk overemphasizing, and thus skewing, biblical truth to the detriment of the full counsel of God.

While I will not say there is no value in using study Bibles, I use a straightforward text-only Bible (okay, I like the center column references), preferring to leave notes and comments for commentaries. Too often I've heard Christians argue that the Bible says something because they've seen it in the study Bible notes.