The Bible

The Bible is the Word of God

The grass withers, the flower fades,
But the word of our God stands forever. ~ Isaiah 40:8

Know God and Make Him Known

The greatest knowledge a person can possess is the knowledge of God. Learn His attributes including His unchanging righteous character and will for your life. Knowing God will deepen your relationship with Him, make you sensitive to the Holy Spirit, and help you to become more Christlike in character.

The best source for learning about God is the Bible. The Bible is truly God’s Word. Study and meditate on scripture to learn about His glory, stay in fellowship, and be inspired to share Jesus with others.

Pray to God that he draws you into His Word and that it takes root in your heart. There are so many distractions in the world we live in today. Give God and His Word first priority.

Be assured learning about God is a life long journey. Never expect to one day know it all. One of the biggest lies of Satan is to make you feel like you don’t know enough to share the Gospel. As a saved child of God, you have the power of the Holy Spirit residing inside you enabling you to share the Gospel.

Bible Translation

The Bible was originally written in Hebrew, Aramic, and Greek. You want to make sure you read a Bible translation that reproduces in your own language what God actually said.

There are two basic types of Bible translations – formal equivalency and dynamic equivalency. Formal equivalency is a word for word rendition with the goal of a literal translation. Dynamic equivalency paraphrases the original language idea by idea rendering a thought by thought translation.

Popular formal equivalency translations are the New American Standard Bible (NASB), English Standard Version (ESV), King James Version (KJV), and the New King James Version (NKJV). An example of a dynamic equivalency translation would be the New International Version (NIV).

New American Standard Bible (NASB)

The New American Standard Bible (NASB) is considered by many to be the most accurate representation of the original language of the Bible. It is faithful to the original languages and follows the principle that God’s Word should be translated literally.

The NASB has many features that make it easy to study and share the Word with others. The following are two notable features:

Personal pronouns are capitalized when pertaining to deity. This makes it easy to follow along with such verses as, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works” (Eph 2:10, NASB).
Small caps in the New Testament are used in the text to indicate Old Testament quotations. Matt 22:37 NASB reads, “And He said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’”

Using the NASB is great for Bible study, but there is nothing wrong with reading another version such as the ESV, NKJV, or NIV. In fact, there are many wonderful study Bibles full of commentary and biblical history that are not using the NASB translation. Such study Bibles as the John Macarthur Study Bible (NKJV) or the ESV Study Bible (ESV) are excellent resources to learn the Word of God.

Bible for Study and Notes

When studying the Bible it’s nice to fill it with notes. Writing, underlining, highlighting, drawing, etc…makes for great study and fun.

A couple features you’ll want in your Bible when making notes are wide margins and paper with minimal bleed through to the other side. The NASB Wide-Margin Reference Edition by Cambridge is a wonderful choice.

The Bible is printed on slightly thicker paper for enhanced durability, and is sewn for increased longevity and also to enable the Bible to open and stay flat. The text features red-letter text for the words of Christ and is an 8 pt Lexicon font. While the font is small, it is easily readable.

This edition is around $50 and can be found at EvangelicalBible.com and ChristianBook.com.