In 1988, a group of young editors and youth pastors were charged with creating a first-of-its-kind study Bible in a joint venture between Tyndale House Publishers and Youth for Christ—a Bible that in just one volume included notes, explanations, and other resources to enable a reader to better understand the spiritual truths in the text and how to apply them to everyday experiences.
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In a recent post on biblical concordances, I explained how a concordance is used as a means of studying Scripture. By using a concordance’s index and finding the original-language word that the English has been translated from, a Bible-reader can come to understand the text in a deeper way than by simply reading the Bible in English.
In order to link the original-language word to the corresponding English word, concordances use a numbering system that grants users significant insight into the translation process and clues to the original meaning.
For example, in ancient Greek, more than one word translates to ‘love’ in English. Agapaō, phileō, storgē—each of these Greek words (in addition to compounds) have different connotations that might affect how we understand certain passages.
Official numbering systems, like Strong’s and Goodrick/Kohlenberger (G/K), assign a separate number to each different original-language word so that a concordance-user doesn’t have to know Greek (or Hebrew and Aramaic) to be aware of these differences, and he or she can use them to look words up separately.
The top children’s Bible in the world is the Adventure Bible (Zonderkidz), published more than 30 years ago and now having more than 9 million copies in print. What makes it so popular? Why have parents, grandparents, and children all been drawn to it throughout the decades? Bible Gateway interviewed Sue Richards.
When was the Adventure Bible first published and what has been its success?
Sue Richards: It was first published in 1989 with full NIV text. Today it’s the bestselling children’s Bible in the country and has been for a long time.
[Read the New International Version (NIV) Bible translation on Bible Gateway]
Who is the Adventure Bible for and how does it meet their needs?
Sue Richards: The Adventure Bible has always been for children. Dr. Larry Richards was dubbed by TIME magazine in 2016, “The scholar who made the Bible kid-friendly.” Millions of Adventure Bibles attest to the truth of that.
This is the seventy-third lesson in author and pastor Mel Lawrenz’ How to Live the Bible series. If you know someone or a group who would like to follow along on this journey through Scripture, they can get more info and sign up to receive these essays via email here.
See Mel Lawrenz’s book, How to Study the Bible: A Practical Guide.
I am glad when I have the opportunity to speak with people who are having doubts about their faith. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not glad about the pain that they experience in one of the most intimate issues of life. And that pain can be intense–like a husband or wife who is whispering hints about having cheated on their spouses. Or like the pain that follows the death of a loved one. Those conversations are often halting, quiet, scattered. I have never met someone of faith who wanted to have doubts about their faith, because it really isn’t about doubting faith–it’s about doubting God.
By Melanie Shankle
Maybe it was partly fear of not being good enough to be truly saved or fear of missing out on fun (this is most likely), but something caused me to sign up for the youth group mission trip to Reynosa, Mexico, the summer after my freshman year. At that point in my life, I’d never been on any sort of mission trip and probably thought I actually qualified as the less fortunate because I owned only two pair of Guess jeans.
This was back when it still felt fairly safe to travel to Mexican border towns. I mean, sure, there was a good chance you’d see someone selling a goat’s head on the side of the road and be bombarded by small children selling Chiclet gum, but that was about the extent of it. So my parents put me in a big blue van and sent me to Mexico. That last sentence sounds like the makings of a fantastic Lifetime movie.
How do we invite God into our practical living? How should we incorporate spiritual disciplines into the ordinary rhythms of everyday experience? How can we be transformed into Christ’s likeness through our jobs and daily work?
Bible Gateway interviewed Denise Daniels and Shannon Vandewarker (@shannonvande) about their book, Working in the Presence of God: Spiritual Practices for Everyday Work (Hendrickson Publishers, 2019).
What have you observed that required writing this book?
Denise Daniels and Shannon Vandewarker: This book was a product of chasing curiosity. We were initially curious about how people could practically live out their theology of work in a way that was transformative for their relationship with God, for the people they worked with and served at work, and for the work itself. We realized there was a lot of content about spiritual disciplines out there, and there were a lot of resources that focused on a theological framework for work, but there wasn’t really anything that bridged the two, giving practical application to the theological framework. So, we set out to write a book that did just that.
[Sign up to receive the free email 7-day devotional Faith & Work]
Briefly, what is the theological foundation for work on which you’ve built your book?
Denise Daniels and Shannon Vandewarker: We believe that work was created by God and given to Adam and Eve in the garden prior to the fall (Genesis 2:15); thus, work is inherently good. We also believe that work – like everything in the world – has been broken as a result of the fall (Genesis 3:16-17). And while work is broken, Christ can redeem it (Colossians 1:16-17, 20). Finally, we believe that the goodness of work will be fully restored in the “new heaven and new earth” (Revelation 21:1).
This is the fourth post in the NIV Quest Study Bible (Zondervan, 2019) series in which a popular question about the Bible is asked and answered.
[Get immediate access to the insightful NIV Quest Study Bible and more than 40 other valuable Bible study resources when you become a member of Bible Gateway Plus. Try it right now!]
The NIV Quest Study Bible (website) is the result of two publishing companies, Zondervan and Christianity Today International, working together to enhance the Bible text with answers to challenging questions people have as they read Scripture.
More than 1,000 average Bible readers helped determine questions the notes explain, creating a resource featuring more than 7,000 notes written in question-and-answer format that provide insight into the common, uncommon, and sometimes perplexing passages from the Bible, such as “What prevents God from hearing our prayers?” and “Why does God test us?”
Question Four: Why does God allow bad things to happen? (Deuteronomy 31:16–21)
No one knows the mind of God, except for God himself. He is infinite; we are finite. We are not entirely clueless about his character, however, because God speaks to us through his Word. According to the Bible, one reason bad things happen is because the whole world is under the control of the evil one (1 John 5:19). That’s why Jesus taught us to ask God to deliver us from the evil one when we pray (Matthew 6:13). Even in the Garden of Eden — in paradise, before Adam and Eve partook of the forbidden fruit — Satan was already there, waiting to tempt them to disobey God (Genesis 3:1–6).
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New Edition of the Life Application Study Bible to Be Released in October
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In a society frantically searching for happiness, bestselling author Max Lucado provides a personal plan for a life filled with a lasting and fulfilling joy that often eludes the world.
This joy, supported by Jesus’ teaching and supplemented by modern research, is the topic of his new book: How Happiness Happens. And you can get 5 days of free excerpts from it in your email inbox by signing up here.
Tyndale House Publishers and Zondervan will simultaneously release the dramatically updated Life Application Study Bible, Third Edition (Tyndale/Zondervan, 2019) (LASB) in October 2019 in both the New Living Translation (NLT) and the New International Version (NIV) Bible translations and in a variety of covers.
More than 20 million copies of the LASB (NLT website and NIV website) are in print since it was first published in 1988. The third edition is substantially changed from the earlier editions, including more than 30% new study and application material, and a comprehensive review and rewrite of the notes to reflect current issues and to resonate with changes in communication over the years.
[Read the New Living Translation (NLT) on Bible Gateway]
“The Life Application Study Bible is the runaway favorite in the study category because of the breadth and relevance of the notes, charts, profiles, timelines, and so much more that support the biblical text,” says Tyndale brand director Jim Jewell. “There’s nothing comparable to the scale of helpful recommendations throughout on how to apply the Bible’s teaching to everyday life. It’s a proven Bible for all times, with content applicable to all ages and to the good and bad circumstances of life, generation to generation.”
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