Today, I received my copy of the ESV Study Bible. It's always fun to get books in the mail, but this package was especially exciting. Tens of thousands of Christians have been awaiting its release for a long time. Nearly one hundred top-notch evangelical scholars have their hand in the project, and many more men and women whom I respect cannot seem to say enough good about it. In fact, I've almost been uncomfortable with the rave reviews -- from some comments, one gathers that the ESV Study Bible is to evangelical scholarship what High School Musical 3 is to tween girls and boys. Elsewhere I've noted, to offer another teenage analogy, that my relationship to study bibles is like running into an old girlfriend. I don't know how to relate to them anymore and there's quite a lot of awkwardness. I am so grateful for study bibles I owned while growing up -- they showed me how parts of the Bible related to the whole and helped work out implications for my faith today. Being a lazy student, though, it quickly became a crutch. The way I read them, the publishers should have just organized them interlinearly: read a verse, read the comment, read a verse, read the comment, ad nauseum. Sometime in college, I had to set them aside , sticking to Bibles with only cross-references. This helped my mind to separate Scripture from study helps.
I'm still very prone to entrusting my mind entirely to fallen men, due to idolizing others as infallible, believing in my heart that Scripture, like my other interests, is worth serious reflection, or just laziness. That's why I appreciate this word in the first pages of the ESV Study Bible:
The ESV Study Bible contains two kinds of words. The first kind is the actual words of the Bible, which are the very words of God to us. These are printed in the larger font at the top of each page. The second kind is the study notes, which are merely human words. These are printed in the smaller font at the bottom of each page. The difference in font sizes serves to remind readers that the words of the Bible itself are infinitely more valuable than the words of the notes. The words of the Bible are the words of our Creator speaking to us. They are completely truthful (Ps. 119:160; Prov. 30:5; Titus 1:2; Heb. 6:18); they are pure (Ps. 12:6); they are powerful (Jer. 23:29; Heb. 4:12; 1 Pet. 1:23); and they are wise and righteous (Ps. 19:7–11). God's people should read these words with reverence and awe (Deut. 28:58; Ps. 119:74; Isa. 66:2), and with joy and delight (Ps. 19:7–11; 119:14, 97, 103; Jer. 15:16). Through these words God gives us eternal life (John 6:68; 1 Pet. 1:23) and daily nourishes our spiritual lives in this present world (Deut. 32:46; Matt. 4:4). The words of the study notes are useful because they help to explain the words of the Bible, but they must never become a substitute for the Bible itself.
The best way to use a study Bible, therefore, is always to begin and end with the words of the Bible. We should always begin by reading the Bible's actual words, seeking with our hearts and our minds to understand these words and apply them to our lives. Then, after starting with the words of the Bible itself, we can turn to the study notes and many other study Bible resources for information about the background to the text, for the meaning of puzzling words or phrases, and for connections to other parts of the Bible. Finally, we should return again to the Bible itself, reading it with a new and deeper understanding, asking God to speak through his Word to the situation of our life and to draw us near to himself.
May I be so diligent.
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