The Romance of Bible in Bible Study
I have had a love affair with Bible study for some forty years since I was a lad of 13 years. My first bible study book was R. A. Torrey's, What the Bible Teaches. I soon graduated in Bible study to the New Scofield Reference Bible, and later Dakes Annotated Bible and the Companion Bible.
My early dispensationalist Bible study experiences were great mastering the chain references. I discovered the Thompson Chain Reference with the charts. I began to collect various Bible translations to further enhance my knowledge of what various Bibles had to say on a given passage.
In Bible College and Seminary, I learned the original languages of Scripture and that love of Bible study blossomed. Now I could learn every occurrance of the very words of Scripture!The theological wordbooks and lexicons helped me to understand that a concordance merely gives you how the original word was translated in that particular translation. In Bible study it is also important to receive the range of meanings the original word had in its original language. A concordance can not give you this information in Bible study.In learning the science of textual criticism, I learned in depth the differences between major translation families both in the original and also the basis for some English translations omitting certain words. Studying the original langauges has helped me to see the certain Liberal biases in some of the modern translations in Bible study.
The greatest blessing was discovering Bible Study software and too many to mention web sites devoted to Bible Study. A great aid to Bible Study has been studying the great creeds of the Reformation. Bible study software has included Bible Works, Gramcord, and Logos. Bible works and Gramcord are essential for original lnauage work. Logos is indespensible for the amount of English Bible study aids and helps.
Submitted by REV. EARL L. BORNW JR. STM.