Today, America celebrates Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Do you think of King’s message of equality as a political statement? If so, you might be surprised by the extent to which the Bible formed the basis for King’s vision. King understood that the fight for equality was a spiritual, not just a cultural or political, struggle. Today, we encourage you to explore the biblical foundation upon which King based his call for justice and equality. Here are some essays that will help you do that:
Do you love sports? Are you already making plans for your Super Bowl party next month? We’ve got a brand new two-week devotional experience that’s just for you: Devotions for Die-Hard Fans, our first devotional for sports fans!
Devotions for Die-Hard Fans is a email devotional that draws on inspiring stories from the world of college sports to share Biblical insight. When you sign up, each day for two weeks you’ll receive a short reading that looks at a specific person, game, or other event from sports history. Legendary figures, memorable games, improbable victories… all are true stories, but with a new twist: each story is linked to a Bible verse that illuminates a truth about faith.
Devotions for Die-Hard Fans was created by Extra Point Publishers, who selected the best reflections from their extensive library for this special Bible Gateway edition of this devotional. They’re authored by Ed McMinn, a retired pastor who combined his love of sports and his years of ministry experience to write these devotions for fellow sports enthusiasts.
So if you’re a sports fan, go here to sign up; the devotional begins as soon as you subscribe. (Just check the box next to Devotions for Die-Hard Fans and then provide your email address in the form on the right.) If you’re not the sports fan in your family or social circle, you almost certainly know somebody who is—be sure to point them to our Newsletters page to sign up!
Invisible toxins like doubt, disappointment, and discouragement can contaminate even the strongest of faiths, leaving behind symptoms that affect body, mind, and spirit. Using a one-month detox regimen of Scripture, prayers, and faith declarations can be a spiritual and emotional cleansing agent to return to truth and a biblical perspective.
Laura Harris Smith: Well, faith is fickle because it tends to be flighty and changeable. One day you’re ready to leap off mountains and breathe under water and the next day you can’t seem to put one foot in front of the other. We’re to have unwavering faith, which is what The 30-Day Faith Detox tries to help the reader accomplish.
How does faith become toxic?
Laura Harris Smith: Faith becomes toxic through the trials of life and through what one considers to be unanswered prayers during them. Divorce, death, financial troubles, identity crises, and especially with health-related issues, have the capacity to either make or break your faith. The 30-Day Faith Detox nurtures your faith and takes a look at 30 universal trials in life that are common to all and unpacks them one by one for you. These issues may have left chinks in your armor over the course of a lifetime; so long ago that you don’t even know how they got there. But they’re there, and The 30-Day Faith Detox confronts them and brings healing with a body, mind, and spirit approach.
What does the Bible say about bodily health? About spiritual health?
Laura Harris Smith: Plenty! 1 Corinthians 16:9 says, “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?” Through this we see that we must take care of our bodies because, plain and simply, they are where God lives. What an honor! What a responsibility! And corporately, with all of us caring for our temple bodies, we make up the Body of Christ.
Our spiritual health is also top priority in Scripture, and not just in chapter and verse, but because Jesus described himself as things like bread and water. He told us to eat of him and drink of him, even referring to the wine as his blood. Of course, these were parabolic examples representing spiritual nourishment.
And beyond bodily and spiritual health, the Bible also addresses mental or emotional health. 3 John 2 says, “Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.” Soul is the Greek word psyche which, among other many things, means the “mind, will, and emotions.” So, through 3 John 2 we see that health is about more than the body, and that emotional health and bodily health are equally needed for a person to be prosperous.
This body, mind and spirit approach is the foundation for The 30-Day Faith Detox. It’ll nurture your whole being, not just one-third of it or two-thirds of it, but all three parts of it. That’s wholeness. “…May your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again.” (1 Thess. 5:23)
Why do people need faith?
Laura Harris Smith: For two important reasons: God’s pleasure and your possibilities. Hebrews 11:6 (HCSB) says, “Now without faith it is impossible to please God.” And Mark 9:23 (CEB) says, “All things are possible to the one who has faith.” So we see that a life of faith brings God pleasure and brings you endless possibilities!
A life dominated by doubt is simply not worth living. Doubt is like splinters in the fingers of your faith and will prevent you from fully grasping the impossible for your life. Faith pushes the ordinary toward the extraordinary, and the natural toward the supernatural. The 30-Day Faith Detox—despite all the media excitement over the physical detoxes which result in a total body detox by the end of the 30 days—is primarily a book about faith.
You characterize healthy faith as forceful faith. Explain that.
Laura Harris Smith: Well, I say that faith is force, period. A stubborn force. It will not let you let it die. If you don’t have faith you’re not even a Christian, since it took faith to receive Christ to begin with. But when this force begins to lose its forcefulness, it’s probably the result of something that’s happened to you between the time of your salvation and now; either bodily (a delayed healing), emotionally (heart struggles you can’t get past), or spiritually (a lack of trust in God or a pastoral wounding or dissapointment). For that reason, we must take a body, mind, and spirit approach to “reset” your faith, and that’s why we’re calling The 30-Day Faith Detox “a reset button for your body, mind, and spirit.” Then you’ll have a healthy, forceful faith again and the impossible can be accomplished in your life.
What are the major faith toxins you’ve identified?
Laura Harris Smith: In my years in ministry, whenever people come to the altar to receive prayer from me or my husband, their need falls into one of five categories: Health-related issues, Financial issues, Relationship issues, Identity and Purpose issues, or Social Influence issues. We spend six days in the faith detox on each of those five areas, digging deeply into them and restoring faith and vision in all of those arenas in your life.
Walk through a day on The 30-Day Faith Detox.
Laura Harris Smith: I love this question! The 30-Day Faith Detox begins each morning with a delicious smoothie chocked full of organ-specific fruits and vegetables (smoothie base from either bananas or yogurt).
You’ll have a devotional to read at some point during the day and contemplate the condition of your faith in that specific area of your life, followed by prayers to pray that erase any emotional residues these trials may have brought with them (grief, bitterness, fear, etc.).
Then there’s a healthy lunch which can be anything from soup to salad to stir-fry, using the organ-specific foods for whatever body system we’re detoxing that week. You can snack liberally from that week’s section veggies or fruits, or replace those with a snack shake from the book’s recipe section.
Then, at night, you eat a yummy entree with vegetables, optional meat, and brown rice or quinoa, with preparation-easy techniques offered in the recipe section. Both lunch and dinner allow you to choose which vegetable or fruit you wish to eat from your section’s list, and so in a sense you’re helping create the recipes each day. This gives you both flexibility and variety, while maintaining the peace of mind that whichever combos you choose, they’ll all cleanse that week’s body system.
Before bedtime there’s a detox tea to drink, followed by at least 8 hours of sleep. Before bed, you can contemplate that day’s devotional and prayers, asking God to cleanse your faith wherever necessary. You truly will go to bed feeling differently—body, mind, and spirit—and wake up feeling newer and newer each day. I’ve worked very hard to see to it that The 30-Day Faith Detox is a total temple cleansing.
What results can people expect after completing the detox?
Laura Harris Smith: The results are already coming in, just one week after the book’s release! Weight loss, more energy, healed emotions and a stronger faith. A total body detox is accomplished by the end of the 30 days, spending two days on each body system to gently cleanse and nourish it. Just about every trial you can imagine facing—from abuse to rejection to losing a loved one—will be addressed and worked through, spiritually. Emotionally, the mental cob webs that clouded your perspectives after these trials will be cleared away, bringing peace to your heart and new thought-patterns to your mind. As a result of this body, mind and spirit approach, doubt will no longer have any place left to hide in your life. The 30-Day Faith Detox truly is a restart button for your body, mind and spirit.
What are your thoughts about Bible Gateway and the Bible Gateway App?
Laura Harris Smith: If I had a nickel for every time I used Bible Gateway I would be rich! In fact, I DO feel rich because of this great resource that makes all translations of Scripture so readily available at our fingertips. Also, I love the New King James Version and to my knowledge, Bible Gateway is the only site of its kind that carries that (or one of very few). I’m a loyal user!
Is there anything else you’d like to say?
Laura Harris Smith: While there are plenty of great detox books on the market right now, I’ve worked hard to jam-pack extra daily online help into mine because you need more than paper and ink to help you with a life transformation! So, to give you an extra winning advantage, I’ve included a link on the final page of the book that directs you to the free 30-Day Faith Detox CHALLENGE which provides you with:
30 daily videos shot right from my own kitchen where I make one of the daily recipes for you and prepare you for that day’s devotional from the book.
a place to sign up for free encouraging emails from me during your 30-day detox
access to free detox recipe cards from my personal website
prayer for you while on your faith detox journey. I want to invest in you… body, mind and spirit.
What other detox book out there helps you—body, mind, and spirit—for a whole transformation, while also providing you daily help and inspiration right from the author’s kitchen?
Listen, when you buy my book, you know who I am, but when you sign up for the 30-Day Faith Detox CHALLENGE, I will know who YOU are! As a certified nutritional counselor, author, and minister, I can help you; body, mind, and spirit. It’s what I do. Are you ready to invest 30 days into your spiritual, emotional, and physical health? Let’s get going! The 30-Day Faith Detox is a reset button for your body, mind, and spirit!
Bio: Laura Harris Smith founded Eastgate Creative Christian Fellowship with her husband, Chris, and is the director of the Eastgate Creative Arts Conservatory. There, among other things, she mentors young writers all over the world in her online creative writing classes. An actress, playwright, poet, and media dynamo, she was a TV host on the Shop at Home Network and is the author of multiple books. Laura and Chris have six children and reside near Nashville, Tennessee.
Christianity Today recently published a list of the top ten Biblical archaeology discoveries of 2015. It’s a fascinating list, and it’s encouraging to be reminded that even after centuries of archaeological work in the Middle East, we continue to learn new things about the lands and people of the Bible.
Some of the items on the list relate broadly to the history of ancient Israel and its neighbors, but a few of them have more specific connections to the Bible. I thought I would walk through the latter discoveries and share a few Bible passages to read that provide some extra context. So open up that Christianity Today article and let’s take a look at some relevant Bible passages!
The first item on Christianity Today‘s list is a small statue head depicting a fertility goddess, of a type commonly worshipped in ancient Judah. While the identity of this statue isn’t clear, it likely represents Asherah or a related fertility goddess.
Fertility goddesses were commonly worshiped throughout the ancient Middle East, and the Bible makes it clear that God’s people were constantly tempted to worship them; the Bible books of Kings and Chronicles depict regular national relapses to fertility goddess worship in Israel and Judah, puncutated by occasional reforms. As a quick search for Asherah in the Bible shows, it was a constant temptation for Israelites to worship Asherah (sometimes under different names or titles, like the Queen of Heaven) in an attempt to ensure a bountiful harvest and healthy children. A common type of shrine to Asherah was a sacred tree or pole, which is why you also find many references to “Asherah poles” in the Old Testament; the Bible often describes a king’s creation or destruction of Asherah poles as a way to succinctly measure his righteousness or corruption. You can find more Bible references about Asherah in Smith’s Bible Names Dictionary and Easton’s Bible Dictionary, both online at Bible Gateway.
An Iron Age expert notes of this statue head discovery that “Figurines of this kind, depicting naked women which symbolize fertility, were common in the homes of residents of the Kingdom of Judah from the eighth century BCE until the destruction of the Kingdom by the Babylonians in the days of Zedekiah (586 BCE).” That certainly fits with the picture we see in the Old Testament of fertility goddess worship as a widespread, difficult-to-eradicate practice.
The Site of Herod’s Palace
The infamous king Herod’s massive palace in Jerusalem was a dominating architectural feature in the city during the life of Jesus and the early years of the Christian church. Although its location is known, little of it remains today. It’s not described in any detail in the New Testament, but it’s not unreasonable to guess that major political events such as the trial of Jesus might have taken place there. The apostle Paul was detained in Herod’s palace under guard in Acts 23. The ancient historian Josephus provides us with a good description of Herod’s palace as it originally appeared in his work The Wars of the Jews (the relevant section is chapter 4, paragraph 4 on that page).
Not every archaeological discovery concerning the ancient Middle East has a related Bible verse—most of them add to our historical understanding of the time period but don’t connect directly to the Bible. But whenever you read of a new discovery or an interesting excavation (particularly when you read of a Bible-era city being excavated), it’s always a good excuse to open up your Bible and see if there’s any biblical context to be uncovered!
This lesson is part of Mel Lawrenz’ “How to Study 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.
In the last two lessons we looked at approaching a whole book of the Bible, which we do in order to understand overall context. After that we considered the importance of understanding the flow of meaning of a biblical book through some form of outlining.
As a practical matter, our study of the Bible typically comes down to peering intently into a particular passage. So, bearing in mind the importance of the whole-book context and meaning, how then do we plunge into a passage to understand and apply?
What we typically mean by a “passage” is a segment of a biblical book that holds together in some meaningful way. That may be just two or three verses, or a chapter or two. The chapter and verse numbers in the Bible we are all familiar with were not developed for the biblical text until the 13th through the 16th centuries. They are helpful, but we should not consider them definitive divisions of meaning.
Paragraph divisions are typical for most Bible editions, which are an attempt to show blocks of thought. Most Bible editions also include section headings which the translators have created in order to flag blocks of meaning. These are helpful, we should remember that they were not in the original text of the Bible.
The practicality of looking at one biblical “passage” at a time is sometimes a function of teaching or preaching. A pastor can offer a sermon that summarizes the whole book of Jeremiah, for instance, but it is much more helpful to select a segment of meaning that runs a few verses or maybe a chapter. A sermon or a teaching could be based on Jeremiah 31, but it may be more helpful to focus on Jeremiah 31, verses 31-35, the “passage” that describes “the new covenant.” These five verses are like the Rosetta Stone, a key that unlocks the meaning of the old and the new covenant. There are many details in those few verses, each of enormous importance, each requiring study to get the meaning of the words and phrases. “I will make a new covenant.” “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts.” “No longer will they teach their neighbor… because they will all know me.” “I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”
So, let’s say you have identified a passage to focus on. Or let’s say the Bible study group you attend has planned next week to focus on Hebrews 11. You want to put in some personal study before the group meets.
In the case of Hebrews 11 the chapter designation is quite helpful. It begins with the magnificent statement: “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” You read the chapter once, slowly and naturally, and then you go back and read it again. And a third time. The first time you just read. By the third time you are underlining or highlighting (if that is how you best learn), or you make brief notes. You may choose to read it aloud. It is amazing how much we “see” in a passage when we read it out loud. (People in the ancient world typically always read out loud. They wouldn’t think to read silently.)
The text of this discreet passage is getting stuck in your head. It is a long enough passage to have context, but short enough so that you can go over it again and again.
By simple reading you observe the structure of the passage. The introductory truth about faith in verse 1, followed by a string of notable Old Testament figures who demonstrated deep faith. You see that there is an intense conclusion (verses 32-38) of this roll call of heroes of faith, a vivid description of the cost of faith in torture and martyrdom. And then, in verse 39, a broad truth: these people were commended for their faith, “yet none of them received what had been promised.” This is faith. Believing, not just possessing. Now that is a truth that can be applied in powerful ways to our lives (we’ll get to application later).
That is, in fact, the next step in Hebrews. Chapter 12 gives a profound real-life application. Let us, therefore throw off what hinders us, and sin which entangles us. Let us run with perseverance, following the pioneer and protector of our faith, Jesus.
Studying and applying or teaching a passage like Hebrews 11 is incredibly powerful when we take the time to study the details. Next time we’ll look at smaller units of meaning: phrases and words.
And this is why focusing on just one verse of Scripture at a time is inadequate and even dangerous. The meaning of single sentences can only come out of the wider context in which they are found. It is not wrong to feature a single verse as the highlight of a passage, a portion that is easy to memorize, as long as we remember that the biblical authors themselves intended us to understand the whole of what they were saying.
Mel Lawrenz trains an international network of Christian leaders, ministry pioneers, and thought-leaders. He served as senior pastor of Elmbrook Church in Brookfield, Wisconsin, for ten years and now serves as Elmbrook’s minister at large. He has a Ph.D. in the history of Christian thought and is on the adjunct faculty of Trinity International University. Mel is the author of 18 books, the latest, How to Understand the Bible—A Simple Guide and Spiritual Influence: the Hidden Power Behind Leadership (Zondervan, 2012). See more of Mel’s writing at WordWay.
Although Jesus is certainly one of the most-quoted religious speakers in all of history, his recorded public addresses are strikingly different than the sermons and speeches we’re accustomed to hearing from religious leaders and teachers today. Jesus made heavy use of the parable as a teaching method. His parables are provocative, memorable, and occasionally mystifying. They have a timelessness that wouldn’t come across if their message was delivered as a straight sermon or speech.
The New International Version of the Bible, the world’s most read and most trusted modern-English Bible translation, is now complemented by extensive study notes and resources designed and edited by general editor and The Gospel Coalition co-founder, D.A. Carson. The new NIV Zondervan Study Bible (website) presents the best of evangelical biblical scholarship, appealing to a broad spectrum of Bible readers. Five years in the making and built from the ground up to reflect the most current 21st century scholarship, Dr. Carson—along with a team of over 60 contributors—crafted all-new study notes, book and section introductions, a library of articles, and other study tools that specifically focus on biblical theology—or the progressive unfolding of theological concepts through the Bible.
An added bonus when you purchase the NIV Zondervan Study Bible print edition: you’ll get a code to gain free digital access (a $19.99 value) to its comprehensive study notes, maps, charts, articles and more from your computer or mobile device through Bible Gateway and Olive Tree.
What’s a Study Bible and why is it important for a person to have one?
Dr. Carson: “Study Bible” is the expression used for Bibles that include significant explanatory notes, usually at the bottom of the page, sometimes in the margins. Often a Study Bible will also include some brief articles, photographs of geographical and archaeological sites, fairly extensive maps, and charts that summarize a lot of information. Ordinary Bibles often include cross-references and brief concordances; Study Bibles include much more, all bound up in one fat volume, so that readers can find a lot of useful explanation on each page without having to hunt through Bible dictionaries and commentaries and the like.
Dr. Carson: Most good evangelical Study Bibles have more in common than people sometimes realize. All of them are committed to explaining the Bible to lay readers. The NIVZSB is based on the NIV, has drawn together an extraordinary range of excellent evangelical scholars, and is deeply committed to biblical theology.
Explain what biblical theology is, and how and why the NIVZSB emphasizes it.
Dr. Carson: “Biblical theology” refers to something more precise than theology that is faithful to the Bible. It might be helpful to draw a contrast: at the risk of oversimplification, systematic theology tends to organize theology topically and with an eye cast on its contemporary relevance, while biblical theology tends to organize the same biblical material so that it is easier to see the distinctive contribution of each biblical book and human author, and to trace the trajectories of themes across the Bible so we see how the books of the Bible hold together.
Systematic theology will ask questions like “What are the attributes of God? What is sin? What does the cross achieve?” Biblical theology tends to ask questions such as “What is the theology of the prophecy of Isaiah? What do we learn from John’s Gospel? How does the theme of the temple work itself out across the entire Bible?” Both approaches are legitimate; both are important. They are mutually complementary.
We choose to emphasize biblical theology, partly because there are fine Study Bibles already available that lean into systematic theology, and partly because biblical theology is particularly strong at helping readers see how the Bible hangs together in its own categories: that is, God in his infinite wisdom chose to give us his Word in the 66 canonical books, with all of their variations in theme, emphasis, vocabulary, literary form, and distinctive contributions across time. In addition to keeping such themes and distinctions before us as the contributors of this Study Bible wrote their notes, the editors agreed to write 28 brief essays at the end of this Study Bible to bring together some of the biblical-theological themes that can be traced through Scripture.
Why is it of special interest that you, a co-founder of The Gospel Coalition, agreed to be the general editor of the NIVZSB?
Dr. Carson: All of us on the Council of The Gospel Coalition are passionate about increasing the knowledge that men and women have of the Word of God, and this is one way of doing it. Study Bibles tend to circulate widely, so they play a disproportionate role in helping Christians and others understand holy Scripture. Further, many of our members have long used one or two other Study Bibles, and it is important that Christians not be tied too tightly to only one option, however good it may be.
There are so many English translations of the Bible now available. Explain the advantages of the NIV translation for the average reader.
Dr. Carson: In my view, the NIV is the most readable of the faithful contemporary translations of the Bible. Further, statistically it far outsells its nearest competitors, which means its reach and influence are potentially greater. And in my experience, for the countless millions of people for whom English is the second or third language, the NIV seems to be the version of choice. So that means a Study Bible based on the NIV will share a similar reach.
The NIVZSB is a weighty tome, chock-full of ancillary reference material to the Bible text. It must have been complex to organize, create, and assemble all the content that was produced by the many scholars. Help us understand that whole process from beginning to end.
Dr. Carson: It would be easy to write a short book on the subject! Zondervan asked me to serve as general editor for the project. I chose the three associate editors and the one assistant editor (with Zondervan’s approval), and worked with Zondervan on the contracts. The executive editorial team—the four I had chosen and I—chose all the writers (just over 60), decided on the biblical-theological topics at the end of the Bible, stipulated the length of each contribution, and so forth.
The writers were assigned deadlines, of course, and when their work came in, it was commented upon by all five editors. I put those comments in a form that took each contribution back to the writer for revisions and corrections, which again came to us—at least two of the editors, sometimes more. Along the line, suggestions were being made as to charts, maps, photographs, and the like. All of this material went through the hands of copyeditors at Zondervan—very careful and competent people. The writers saw all of their work one more time. The Zondervan folk worked hard to make sure dates and other details were consistent.
The whole work then went through another senior review committee, and its more important suggestions came back to me, and, sometimes alone and sometimes in conversation with others, I adjudicated them. Of course, pages must be made up, paper chosen, printing overseen, different bindings chosen—but those sorts of challenges are handled within Zondervan.
It’s worth mentioning that all of the editorial work was done digitally: the editing, the controls, flow-charts, letters, etc., were all done without a scrap of paper anywhere. But you are right: a project of this size is pretty complex. I am hugely thankful to God for the executive team that worked very hard and cheerfully, with complementary spheres of expertise. All of us sense what an incalculable privilege it is to spend so much time working on the Bible, thinking God’s thoughts after him, and trying to produce a Study Bible that will prove a blessing for the people of God for generations.
Is there an outstanding event in the course of producing this study Bible, or a particular feature or passage discussion among scholars, that you could relate that might be humorous or poignant or merely interesting?
Dr. Carson: Not so much one event, as certain patterns that became quite funny. One of our editors consistently frowned on clauses written in the passive voice, and consequently re-wrote many sentences in the active voice. Another editor frequently felt that the first editor had gone much too far, and pretty soon there was a steady banter between them, neatly preserved in the Comments section of each digital page. (All of the editors shared all their work on GoogleDocs, so we could all see what the others were saying.) Some of the comments on the comments became laugh-out-loud humorous. Of course, resolving differences was my job—but the good humor made the task less onerous.
The Bible is already considered by many people to be a daunting book to read. What do you say to people who may be so intimidated by simply the sheer size of the NIVZSB that they don’t even open it?
Dr. Carson: If people are daunted by the sheer size and weight of this Study Bible, there’s not much we can do about it—except invite them to actually try it. The reason for the size and weight is all those explanatory notes, brief essays, introductions, maps, charts, and the like. Editorially, we pitched the level at the reading capacity of an intelligent 14- or 15-year old. In other words, our hope and prayer is that the “bulk” of this Study Bible is precisely what will help many readers find it a little easier to understand the Bible, not more difficult. And in any case we still want people to seek the illuminating help of the Spirit of God, not only to understand but to respond appropriately—with repentance, faith, trust, obedience, and God-centered gratitude.
What’s the reaction among your scholarly peers and pastors to the NIVZSB?
Dr. Carson: It’s still early days, but so far it has been gratifyingly positive. We’re thankful to God for the encouragement.
What do you hope will be the lasting achievement of this Study Bible?
Dr. Carson: We hope and pray that it will be the most widely circulated and most widely read Study Bible in the history of the church, for the glory of God and the good of his blood-bought people.
Bio: D.A. Carson (PhD, University of Cambridge) is research professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois. He’s the author or coauthor of over 50 books, including the Gold Medallion Award-winning book The Gagging of God and An Introduction to the New Testament. He’s general editor of Telling the Truth and Worship by the Book. He has served as a pastor and is an active guest lecturer in church and academic settings around the world.
“…a magnificent achievement. The illustrations are stunning and the maps are expertly done. Most important, the content in both the articles and the commentary is superb. Every Bible reader and person in ministry should turn to it often for help.” Dr. Thomas R. Schreiner, Professor of New Testament Interpretation and Associate Dean, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
“Don Carson and the whole team deserve our congratulations. The notes and articles of the NIV Zondervan Study Bible are helpful, thorough, and readable, and the maps and artwork are beautiful. I am particularly grateful for the writers’ emphasis on Biblical Theology and the unity of the Bible.” Paul R. House, Professor of Divinity, Beeson Divinity School of Samford University
What if you were able to approach the grand narrative of the Bible by viewing brief, entry-level video summaries of each book of the Bible? Would you feel less intimidated and more able to comprehend the Bible’s complexities?
Describe The Bible Project and the reason you started it.
Tim Mackie and Jon Collins: We make animated videos that walk through the structure of every book of the Bible and we make videos that explain biblical themes that weave through the entire narrative of Scripture. We believe the Bible is one unified story that leads to Jesus and as wisdom for the modern world. We put all the videos for free on YouTube.
How is it funded?
Tim Mackie and Jon Collins: We’re funded by a few private families who helped with some initial money, but largely we’ve been crowdfunded through our website where people who’ve watched our videos donate to fund a new video; usually $10 or $15. When we raise enough money to make a video, we make the video! We also now have 1500 monthly supporters who are dedicated to seeing the entire project finished.
What has been the response of viewers? How are they using the videos?
Tim Mackie and Jon Collins: We’ve been surprised at the overwhelmingly positive response from people of all sorts of Christian traditions. We do our best to make sure this project isn’t just promoting one theological tribe but is helpful for everyone who believes in the authority of Scripture in their lives. These videos have been viewed over 2 million times on our YouTube channel in almost every sovereign territory in the world. They’re downloaded and used in churches all over the world. We constantly get emails with stories of families watching them together, churches using them as curriculum, and educators using them in their classes.
Are your videos accessed more by mobile devices or on desktop?
Tim Mackie and Jon Collins: Good question! I had to look it up. In the last 30 days we’ve had 285,000 views on YouTube and it breaks down like this:
130,000 Desktop (42%)
106,000 Mobile (37%)
33,000 Tablet (12%)
12,000 TV (4.3%)
4,000 Game Console (1.5%)
In your “About” video, you say you limit videos to five minutes? Why that time length? And have you been able to accomplish that goal?
Jon Collins: I used to think that a video over three minutes long on the Internet was too long. But the truth is, as long as you can hold someone’s attention it’s the perfect length. As soon as someone gets bored and wants to turn it off, it’s probably too long.
Tim Mackie: We budget for five minutes (it costs about $6000 a minute for us to produce our fully animated videos). And we find that in five to seven minutes we can tackle one theme or book pretty well.
Tim Mackie and Jon Collins: We’ve stayed within this ballpark except for our Read Scripture series which we try to hit around the 8-9 minute mark. We’re okay with these being longer because they’re more like lectures and we expect the viewer to be ready to buckle in.
How do you plan to approach the deuterocanonical books of the Catholic Bible?
Tim Mackie and Jon Collins: We’ve discussed doing them, but haven’t put a game plan together. At the moment, simply tackling the Jewish Bible (the Protestant Old Testament), and the New Testament is a big enough task.
Is there a particular English Bible version you use in your videos? If so, why have you chosen that?
Jon Collins: We don’t use any particular version. Tim reads from the original languages and so we often use his translations and just check them against the main English versions to make sure we’re within a good tradition or not.
Explain a few of the major biblical themes and how you go about visualizing them.
Tim Mackie and Jon Collins: Some themes are more abstract. For example one theme is the theme of Heaven and Earth. If you search for the phrase heaven and earth in the Bible, it appears constantly. We wanted to show how interrelated these “spaces” are and how that idea gets developed over the course of the biblical narrative. The Bible begins with heaven and earth united; then they’re forced apart (but not completely), and the story of the Bible is how God is re-unifying his creation with his presence. We visualized this with a simple diagram of two overlapping circles.
Other theme videos trace the progression of key ideas that are easier to visualize. For example, the theme of the Messiah begins with a prophecy of a son of Eve crushing the serpent’s head while getting bit by the serpent. We follow the hope for the Messiah through other Old Testament prophesies in the prophetic books and then show how they’re realized in Jesus.
Describe the steps you take to create a video about a Bible book? How do you begin and then what happens?
Jon Collins: The first thing that happens is Tim will spend time studying; mostly refreshing and pulling notes together. Then Tim and I will spend anywhere from 2 hours to a couple of days going over his notes. I ask a lot of questions and try to absorb everything. These conversations ended up being so fun, we started recording them and putting them together on our podcast.
After that, I go away and write a first draft. My goal is to boil down all the content into a five-minute script. I streamline as much as possible and keep only what’s pertinent to the theme. I think about how best to introduce the idea to someone who has never heard it before. Then Tim and I will revise that draft as many times as it takes.
During the revisions we’ll also make notes on key visuals that will aid the script. Some of these visuals will give information to the viewer that allows us to make the script shorter.
When we’ve read through a draft that feels good, we high-five and then schedule a meeting with our design team to walk them through it. Then the design team creates storyboards to accompany the script. Reviewing the storyboards almost always initiates a rewrite as we find problems we couldn’t have found without visuals.
Once storyboards are locked in, we create all the illustrations needed, and then hand those drawings over to animators to make them come alive.
The final stage is sound design (adding “sound effects”) and making a transcription for people who want to translate the script and provide subtitles on YouTube.
What comes first: the script or the visuals?
Tim Mackie and Jon Collins: Usually, the script comes first and then the storyboards. But often we develop visual ideas as we’re writing, and creating the storyboards inevitably initiates a rewrite of the script, so it’s a symbiotic relationship.
Do you describe your video artwork as animation or stop-motion or kinetic typography or something else?
Tim Mackie and Jon Collins:The Torah Series and the Theme videos we refer to as “animated” or sometimes “fully animated” to distinguish from our Read Scripture series which we refer to as “simple sketch” or “whiteboard drawings.”
Anytime you include a Bible reference on your website, can we get you to link it to its location on BibleGateway.com?
Tim Mackie and Jon Collins: We’ve been linking to BibleGateway.com for our reading plan. We have 5000 people reading through the Bible with us this year and those signed up to get our newsletter will get updates on the plans with links to our videos and links to the Scripture reading. If people want to sign up and read through the Bible with us they can do it here.
Why do you have a passion for this project?
Jon Collins: I grew up with the Bible and was told from an early age that it had all the answers I need for this life and the next. I gave my life to Jesus and went on to study the Bible at college where I met Tim. After graduating I went on to learn animation and film production and built a career in explaining products and services for companies. I always wanted to reunite my desire to understand the Bible with my skill to explain things. I find a lot of joy vocationally when I’m able to explore and explain something I believe is meaningful and important.
Tim Mackie: I didn’t know the Bible very well from my childhood; just some of the basic stories. I became a Christian when I was 20, and became instantly fascinated with the Bible, its languages, and its history. I majored in biblical studies in college, then went to Seminary; then I completed a PhD in Hebrew Bible and Jewish studies. It was the most wonderful journey, and I fell in love with the entire story of the Bible and how it illuminated Jesus for me. My career so far has been in teaching the Bible in church and academic settings, and my friendship with Jon has opened up a whole mode of teaching through this video medium. I believe the biblical story has immense power to transform people and communities, and it’s an absolute joy to be a part of the Bible Project.
What do you hope to accomplish?
Tim Mackie and Jon Collins: We want to make all the videos that cover all the books of the Bible and its main theological themes. This is a huge undertaking, but it looks like it’s going to happen! More than that, we hope these videos help people who’ve given their lives to Jesus and his Kingdom to better understand Scripture and be able to better align their story with God’s story. The story of the Bible is compelling and powerful and when it grabs you it does remarkable things. We also hope that people who have a curiosity about the Bible will watch the videos and be introduced to the gospel.
What are your thoughts about Bible Gateway and/or the Bible Gateway App?
Jon Collins: We love Bible Gateway. I use it all the time to link to verses or to look things up.
Tim Mackie: I’ve used Bible Gateway for many years. It’s my default online Bible. Thank you guys for all your hard work to make it a free, available resource!
Is there anything else you’d like to say?
Tim Mackie and Jon Collins: Just that it’s an honor to be on your website. The best way to watch our videos are on our YouTube channel.
Bio: Tim Mackie is a writer and creative director for The Bible Project. He has his PhD in Semitic Languages and Biblical Studies. He’s a pastor at Door of Hope Church, Portland, Oregon, and adjunct professor at Western Seminary.
Jon Collins writes and creative directs for The Bible Project. He is a communication entrepreneur who has co-founded Sincerely Truman and Epipheo.
The Bible Gateway Blog features the latest news, announcements, and reflections from Bible Gateway. We hope what you find here will add to your understanding of and appreciation for the Bible.
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