What is a Study Bible?
A Study Bible may have some of the following Bible study supports: * A concordance of where words occur in the Bible. * Historical time lines of Bible history. * Maps. * Introduction notes to the Bible books, topics and sections. * Topical notes on key Bible issues. * Study notes to provide more information on a passage, doctrines or words. * List of parallel passages. * Give cross references that may throw extra light on a passage or a word. * Short essays on key topics.
Before we even get started with this, I think it’s important that we define what a study Bible is. In its simplest terms, a study Bible is an edition of the Bible that is prepared with the Bible student in mind, typically containing features such as: cross references, annotations, a concordance, maps & illustrations, timelines of Bible history, and outlines, just to name a few. The general purpose of a study Bible is to help the reader better understand the Bible so that it’s no longer a daunting task to read the Bible and to make them understand that they don’t need to rely solely on a Bible teacher to explain the Scriptures to them. The goal is to get people reading their Bibles and to understand what they’ve read. http://www.flickr.com/photos/libdespot/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 The most interesting thing is that with the explosion of study Bibles on the market, you would be inclined to think that this is a recent occurrence; but, it isn’t. Study Bibles have been around for a very long time
