If you want to be sanctified, if you want to grow in conformity to the image of Christ, you need to know the truth of God. That's doctrine. That's theology. And the whole point of this Bible is to help you learn the theology that God reveals in His sacred Word.
That was Dr. R.C. Sproul talking about the Reformation Study Bible. And today we are pleased to let you know about the recent release of the new student edition of the Study Bible. Hello, and welcome to a special edition of Renewing Your Mind.
I'm Lee Webb. And before we get to this, I want to take us back to 2015, to that interview that I had the privilege of doing with Dr. Sproul when we released the thoroughly revised edition of the Reformation Study Bible. So many of you have made this your Study Bible of choice, and I have as well.
It's my constant companion here in the studio as we record this broadcast each day. I began that interview by asking R.C. what publishing the Reformation Study Bible communicates about Ligonier Ministries. Well, I could ask this question that I've asked the people before, and that is, what would drive a man to spend an entire year hiding from the world, being disguised as a knight under a different identity, in order to translate the ancient Greek text of the New Testament into the common language, so that even the youngest child could understand the basic message of sacred Scripture, knowing that if he were to be discovered and captured, it would mean his death? And of course, I'm speaking about Martin Luther, who went in 1521 after the Diet of Worms.
He fled under a faked kidnapping episode to go to the Wartburg Castle, where he there in disguise undertook this task. And taking the Bible and putting it in the vernacular was an anathema to the church. Luther was told by the church, the Roman church, that if you translate the Bible into the vernacular, you're going to open a floodgate of iniquity. There will be hundreds of different denominations arise, each claiming to base their faith on the Bible.
And Luther agreed that that could very well happen. He said, but if it means getting the gospel that's plain enough for every child to understand into the hands of the normal person, then if a floodgate of iniquity be opened, so be it. Or why would a man like William Tyndale cross the whole continent of Europe, moving from city to city to escape certain execution, translate the ancient Hebrew into words that a literate plowboy could read and understand?
Both of these men, Luther and Tyndale and a host of others like Wycliffe before him, had a passion to get the Word of God into the possession and into the minds and hearts and souls of every person imaginable. Dr. Sproul, when was the first English study Bible developed? The first English Bibles that were produced by men like Wycliffe and Tyndale and covered and others were not annotated.
They didn't have teaching notes in the margins. That came to pass originally with the Geneva Study Bible that was published in the middle of the sixteenth century, where refugees fleeing the persecution of Bloody Mary of England, left England and went to other parts of Europe. But the scholars found their refuge in Geneva with Calvin and John Knox was there at the time. And these scholars there spent their time in exile producing the first really English translation that was a study Bible. The Geneva Bible was the Bible of Shakespeare.
It was the Bible of the Puritans, the Bible of the pilgrims, the Bible that the first generation of colonists in America learned as they were growing up. And it's in the spirit of that Geneva Bible that we produce the New Geneva Study Bible, then the Reformation Study Bible, which really excites me. Every Tuesday morning now, I'm involved in a Bible study. I don't lead the Bible study.
A friend of mine leads it. I'm just one who attends it with a few other men, and we're going through the book of Genesis. And you talk about aha moments, serendipitous experiences. These men, as they're working their way through Genesis, verse by verse by verse, can't get over how much is in Genesis that informs the whole scope of redemptive history and of our understanding of Christ and His work. And that's one of the features that you have here in this new Bible, to show the people before they even read a book, whether it's Genesis or Hebrews, how this particular book—remember, the Bible is not just a book.
It's a library of books, of 66 books put together into one volume. And each book relates to each other book in a singular manner that's important, that it helps people see that vital principle of sacred Scripture that's already there without these aids to help them see it. R.C., there are some Christians who will say that doctrine divides, that we don't need doctrine. We just need the Bible.
How do you respond to that? Well, there is this antipathy, I should say, a distaste in our days, even in the church, for doctrine. People say, I could have a Christian life without being concerned about doctrine.
Well, if you're not concerned about doctrine, then the best thing you can do with your Bible is throw it away, because that's what the Bible is. It's 66 books of doctrine of God's divine revelation. When Jesus was in this last night on this planet before His execution, He met in the upper room with His disciples, and He gave His high priestly prayer. He poured out His soul to the Father in behalf of His followers and His disciples and those who would come through the ministry of the disciples. And His prayer was for their sanctification. And He said, Father, sanctify them through Thy truth. Thy Word is truth. Now, if you want to be sanctified, if you want to grow in conformity to the image of Christ, you need to know the truth of God. That's doctrine. That's theology.
It's inescapable. And so, the whole point of this Bible is to help you learn the theology that God reveals in His sacred Word that will shape your life and bring you into conformity to Christ. Dr. Sproul, I think our listeners would be interested in hearing how you use a study Bible. The poignancy and the accuracy of those notes. And I'm just reading the Bible in general without preparing a sermon.
You know, I look at these notes all the time as they help me come to an understanding of difficult texts. You know, I'm a systematic theologian by training and so on. And the task of the systematician is not to bring an alien system and force the Bible into that preconceived system like a Procrustean bed or something of that sort, but rather our job is to look at the whole scope of sacred Scripture and see the system that's there inherently in the Bible and then holistically articulate the doctrines that are found throughout Scripture. We can't do that without the benefit of the specialists who are the biblical scholars who are experts on the Old Testament or experts on the New Testament or even beyond that experts on the gospels versus the epistles or experts on the historical books or the poetic books of the Old Testament. And as I said earlier, there are some who are experts simply on one book. And so that's the resource for the systematic theologian to do his work. I mean, we make distinctions between biblical theology and systematic theology, but those are not a distinction that refers to an ultimate difference.
It's more of a proximate difference on how we do our work. Well, that was part of my conversation with Dr. R.C. Sproul on the occasion of launching the thoroughly revised edition of the Reformation Study Bible. And today we're letting you know about the recently released student edition, which we believe will serve the next generation of Christians so well. I'm joined now here in the studio by Ligonier's president and CEO, Chris Larson.
And, you know, Chris, after hearing R.C. 's remarks back in 2015, the release of this student edition really is a significant milestone for Ligonier, isn't it? It is because Ligonier is a Bible ministry. That is what we really exist to do, is to get the Word of God into people's hands, but ultimately into their hearts so that they live it out and being able to pass on the faith to the next generation is incumbent upon all of God's people today. So all of our listeners are united with us in this calling to transmit the truth to the next generation so that they might understand what God has revealed about himself, who they are, and how they are to live in this world. And if there's ever a time that the next generation needs to have that sense of grounding, that sense of orientation to the truth, it is now when they are being bombarded by so many lies and opinions.
It seems that everybody's got an opinion about everything today. What's lacking is God's opinion, and that's really the only opinion that matters. So to get the student edition of the Reformation Study Bible out there to the next generation is really a great privilege and now responsibility. Chris, would you talk about the great care that went into publishing this resource?
This was many years in development. It has the bones of the Reformation Study Bible, of course, imbued by Dr. Sproul's teaching, and so it's got his rigor and theology diffused throughout the project. And we even brought in a group of teenagers to read the notes and just to make sure that they could understand what we were talking about so that we could make these study notes as accessible as possible so that really, in a sense, for every age and stage of the Christian life, there would be a good starting point for Christians who want to study the Bible deeper.
Now, this may not be for our most advanced students at Ligator Ministries, but I guarantee you, those advanced students, they know someone that they would like to get the student edition of the Reformation Study Bible to. So in one sense, yes, it's for Gen Z and the next generation, but this could be a good introductory resource for somebody who's just come to faith in Christ. We'd like to see how the Lord uses this, and so we've produced this, and we are praying that the Lord would take this and introduce millions of people to who He is. And really, it's just getting people into the words of Scripture itself, because that is what is going to change lives.
Well, let's dig down into that a little deeper, Chris. What makes the student edition distinctive from the thoroughly revised edition of the Reformation Study Bible? First of all, when you pick this up, you'll see how it is laid out. It's beautifully designed, particularly designed for that next generation, and the study notes are right there integrated into the design of the page, but not in a way that distracts from the Scripture. We've always tried to take great care in making sure that the Scriptures stand out. We do not want our study notes to supersede God's Word. Study notes at the end of the day are really just man's word, and we have brought together the best scholarship to explain the meaning of the text. And I know that when I come across a text that I find difficult to understand, study Bibles have helped me to quickly orient to the larger themes of Scripture and to ensure that I'm interpreting something theologically correct and how important it is to help the next generation to do that.
Students will also see some helpful Q&As that are written just for them. For instance, questions like, does science contradict the Bible? Or even this important question that they may have never thought of before, what is a covenant? We know that covenant theology really informs Genesis to Revelation and how we approach the Scriptures. And so to be able to equip the next generation with this framework of understanding, you can see just how important it is to get a resource like this into the hands of a young, growing Christian. Yeah, hearing questions like that, Chris, does science contradict the Bible and what is a covenant, it really brings to light the need for a resource, not just for students, but people of all ages, considering the lack of knowledge that people have about God's Word today, right? It's shocking to us when we've done different surveys here at Ligonier to observe how few people actually know the content of the Bible. And so a help like this with the Student Reformation Study Bible is an easy place to begin your study of the Scriptures. So you could give it with confidence to a friend, a child or a grandchild, and to know that you're going to help them to begin to understand the framework of Scripture and to give them confidence in knowing what God has revealed about Himself. Well, recently, the president of Reformation Bible College, Dr. Steven Nichols, sat down with some current and past RBC students to talk about the new student edition of the Reformation Study Bible and the importance of young people digging deep into God's Word.
It's always a pleasure to sit with students from RBC, both present and past. You know, Dr. Sproul would often say it's not enough to read the Bible. We also have to study the Bible. How important is it? How urgent is it for young people today to study God's Word? I think it's absolutely essential. Growing up, there's this push to think for yourself, and there's many, many competing ideas.
So if you have no basis, if you have no foundation, I think it's very possible to be quite confused and perhaps just fit a mold that people are impressing upon you. So I think it's absolutely critical and really urgent for people to be building a solid biblical foundation. And I think it's one of the most important things that a young person could do.
Yeah, I agree. I have been thinking about how, as a young person, young people in our culture are very prone to looking for identity. And we're searching for who we are.
And in the culture, there's a lot of falsehood about who you are and how you find out about who you are. And so when we read scripture, we are being informed of who God is and then who we are in relation to Him. And so I just think that it's one of the most important things that a young person can do is read scripture. I often think of Psalm 1 that says, Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord.
And on his law, he meditates day and night. And what you find is that he's a tree planted by streams of water, bearing fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. And that to find meaningful living, to find fruitful living, you have to be planted by the streams of God's Word. And that's where fruitfulness comes from. And so trying to find a meaningful life, trying to find fulfillment, trying to find a God glorifying life, to glorify God and enjoy Him forever, you must be planted by God's Word, because that's how you shall thrive. I think it's so important.
I can't remember. I mean, I'm young, but from hearing about the past, I can't remember hearing about a time when there's been such rampant false teaching, especially among young people in our culture. I think the Bible is where we need to go to find the answers to really hard questions and attacks that young people are getting in elementary school, high school, that a lot of adults don't really have to face. Yeah, I think young people need scripture, like 1 Peter tells us, to have a defense for the accusations that are coming at them right now. I think there's so much wisdom in what you've all been saying.
There are so many voices coming at young people today, so many influencers, and much of that influence is entirely in the wrong direction. And we really need to turn our attention to scripture and to study it, as you've all said. What are some practical ways that you as young people, even dipping back into your youth and teenage years, what are some practical ways that you devoted your time and your energies to studying God's Word? I think the most essential thing is daily interaction with God's Word.
You need to be reading God's Word and praying daily. One summer when I was a kid, my dad forced us to memorize Colossians chapter three, and that proved to be very fruitful for me. I think Colossians is, at least as far as I was concerned growing up, it was a great roadmap for what it means to really live the Christian life and what that looks like. And in many ways, Colossians 3 paints a very broad-stroke picture, and it's a very sufficient summary for what it means to live as a Christian. And so memorizing that proved to be very fruitful. But then I think also not to be burdened by reading scripture. I think it's easy to feel that as a young person.
Oh, I have to do this because this is the right thing to do. But it's like Alex said, blessed is the one who delights in the law of God. It's a joy and a privilege to be able to not only read scripture, but study it. And it's a fruitful experience, and it doesn't have to be a burden. If you can read a chapter a day, read a psalm, read the proverb that accords with the day of the month.
And that will reap significant benefits. Like Maggie said, it's just important to be in the Word. Yeah, I think I really like what you're saying, Stephen. I just encourage young people to have a daily interaction. We live in a time where we are able to access scripture very easily. So listening to scripture is really good while you're driving or whatever you're doing, listening to scripture. But just interacting in small ways, maybe even over and over again through a day, and praying over what you read and taking what you can in those small interactions will benefit you over a long term. But I think faithfulness, where you can be faithful is what's really important. God's Word is active.
It never comes back void. Like Stephen said, just that daily interaction, it's going to help grow and sanctify you. Going along with that, Maggie, a good way is to interact with scripture with the people that you're around. So take advantage of listening in church, take advantage of Bible studies that are available to you take advantage of devotion times with your family.
I think those are really practical ways to interact with scripture. It does seem as if business is increasing, but I also think there's a significant rise in the amount of wasted time we have in a day. In fact, the iPhone now has a feature where it will tell you at the end of the week, how much screen time you've spent and where it was allocated.
And that can be a harsh awakening when that pops up at the end of the week. And I think there is a lot of wasted time on technology, on phones, on iPads or whatever. One thing I used to do in high school was I made a contract with myself that I would not go to bed having scrolled through social media, but not read my Bible for the day. And I think that's a type of thing that you could do to set up some insurance for yourself and sort of help hold yourself accountable to that.
Think about that. How much time do you spend on your phone, scrolling through meaningless things that are going to have no eternal effect on you, or perhaps a negative effect on you rather than immersing yourself in the word of God. To comment along with the allocating of small amounts of time, when you can't allocate a lot of time, is to realize that there is a necessity to dig deep, to take time. And that's going to make, even when you have short times, it's going to make those more fruitful. One of the things I did in the prophets course here at RBC was that I outlined the books of the prophets, and I wrote thematic summaries. And those two things, outlining the book and summarizing the themes proved very fruitful. Because what happens is that you understand a book of the Bible as a whole. And so then when you zoom in and you just read the one chapter, it's so much more rich because you can provide the context to it with the learning and knowledge that you already have. And so to take time to understand a book deeply, maybe with the help of a study Bible, is really important to dig deep wells that you can draw up from even when you have just a little time just to read one Psalm.
Well, Alex, that's great advice to dig those deep wells. Thanks to all of you for encouraging not just young people, but everybody to read the Bible, to study the Bible, as you said, Stephen, even to delight in the Bible and take those moments to make the Bible part of our life and bring it into our daily life, as you all shared. So thank you for these encouraging words for all of us to study God's Word. That was Dr. Stephen Nichols with several of his students from Reformation Bible College.
And Chris, as we listened to what those students had to say, I thought it fit hand in glove with what R.C. said when the Reformation Study Bible was first released, and that is that he hoped it would spark a Bible study Reformation. We've been praying and striving for an awakening to the reality of who God is at this ministry since 1971. This is just another link in the chain of continuing that ministry outreach. So I would even ask our listeners to pray as we release this resource that God would be pleased to use it in the lives of millions of people around the world, not just now, but in years and years to come, because we desperately need the next generation to own for themselves the historic Christian faith.
And this resource can be a great help to that end. We'd like to send you a copy of this new student edition of the Reformation Study Bible. Contact us today online or by phone with a donation of any amount. Your financial support will help the teaching that you enjoy from Ligonier reach younger people around the world and begin getting the Study Bible on high school campuses around the country. Now would be a good time to consider a family member or friend who would benefit from receiving a copy of the student edition. So again, request your copy of the new student edition of the Reformation Study Bible today by contacting us at 800-435-4343. You can also make your request and give your gift online at renewingyourmind.org. Chris, thank you for being with us today, and we thank you, our listeners, for being with us for this special edition of Renewing Your Mind. This is the listener-supported outreach of Ligonier Ministries, and we hope to see you right back here next time. you
Whisper: medium.en / 2023-06-16 21:51:17 / 2023-06-16 22:00:46 / 9