Self-Study Bibles (LCMS APPROVED)

[Lacko]

im thinking of purchasing a self-study bible which is consistent with the LCMS... if anyone has any advice for me i would greatly appreciate it...

im obviously thinking of Concordia Publishing House since it is the official publisher for the LCMS and im considering this Bible in particular:

http://www.cph.org/cphstore/product.asp?category=79997&part%5Fno=011785&find%5Fcategory=79997&find%5Fdescription=Concordia+Self%2DStudy+Bible&find%5Fpart%5Fdesc=

thank you for your time

[SPALATIN]

im thinking of purchasing a self-study bible which is consistent with the LCMS... if anyone has any advice for me i would greatly appreciate it...

im obviously thinking of Concordia Publishing House since it is the official publisher for the LCMS and im considering this Bible in particular:

http://www.cph.org/cphstore/product.asp?category=79997&part%5Fno=011785&find%5Fcategory=79997&find%5Fdescription=Concordia+Self%2DStudy+Bible&find%5Fpart%5Fdesc=

thank you for your time

If you can hold out another year or two they will have the ESV Study Bible by Concordia instead of the NIV.

[Lacko]

If you can hold out another year or two they will have the ESV Study Bible by Concordia instead of the NIV.
i can always just buy both...

im curious as to why you believe that the ESV study Bible will be better than the NIV

im sorry if this is an uninformed question

[tschenks]

CPH has a Concordia Edition Deluxe ESV bible right now which includes a CD-Rom with the ESV too. It's not a study bible but has the Small Catechism and some other Lutheran info in the back.

The Concordia NIV self-study bible might be up to 25% off now. It has a brief description from Luther's Works for each book of the bible and half of each page is footnotes which makes it difficult for me to read the actual scripture text.

[Lacko]

It has a brief description from Luther's Works for each book of the bible and half of each page is footnotes which makes it difficult for me to read the actual scripture text.


that sounds very good to me... im very used to reading footnotes...haha ive spent a lot of time in university.

[SPALATIN]

i can always just buy both...

im curious as to why you believe that the ESV study Bible will be better than the NIV

im sorry if this is an uninformed question

Your question is a good one and I will answer thusly.

Zondervan is a Reformed Bible Society and their NIV translation is filled with terms that would embrace their theoligical stance. Where you see the words "Sovereign God" is their own personal slant to what the Greek or Hebrew really say. The translation is okay, but not the best. ESV has it's problems as well but is more conservative in translating than NIV. NASB is probably more closer to the original meanings of the transcripts than either NIV or ESV but it is not as easily read.

[tschenks]

NASB isn't that difficult to read it's just that they don't force it to flow off the lips easily like some bibles. That doesn't bother me so I use it for personal devotions.

Then I take my ESV to bible class where everyone else is still using NIV. :cool:

[Lacko]

Your question is a good one and I will answer thusly.

Zondervan is a Reformed Bible Society and their NIV translation is filled with terms that would embrace their theoligical stance. Where you see the words "Sovereign God" is their own personal slant to what the Greek or Hebrew really say. The translation is okay, but not the best. ESV has it's problems as well but is more conservative in translating than NIV. NASB is probably more closer to the original meanings of the transcripts than either NIV or ESV but it is not as easily read.
i would like to ask a further question... i would like to know if the NIV published by Zondervan is the same as the one published by CPH?? and if not what is the difference.

[SPALATIN]

i would like to ask a further question... i would like to know if the NIV published by Zondervan is the same as the one published by CPH?? and if not what is the difference.

The NIV is Zondervan, however the CPH Self-Study is Concordia. NIV is not a "Bad" translation" but it is not as good as others.

[LutherNut]

i would like to ask a further question... i would like to know if the NIV published by Zondervan is the same as the one published by CPH?? and if not what is the difference.

The copyright for the NIV text is held by the International Bible Society and is published through Zondervan Publishing. CPH has licensing rights to reproduce the NIV text from Zondervan.

The Concordia Self-study Bible is basically Zondervan's "NIV Study Bible" with some additions and corrections made in the study notes. It also conatins some Lutheran introductions to each of the books of the Bible including comments made by Luther. It's not a bad Bible to have as long as you are aware of some of the textual issues with the NIV translation.

CPH has been toying with the idea of an ESV Study Bible for several years. I guess that they are proposing one to be available within the next two to three years.

[C.F.W. Walther]

AAT Bible by Dr.William F. Beck
Not a self study bible but Beck felt that the Revised Standard Version undermines the Heilsplan (plan of salvation) by cutting down the prophecies of the coming Savior in the Old Testament and the important truths about Christ in the New Testament. The section "What Does the Text Say?" at the back of this Bible gives examples of these changes in the Revised Standard Version (http://www.innvista.com/culture/religion/bible/versions/rsv.htm) and the New English Bible (http://www.innvista.com/culture/religion/bible/versions/neb.htm) and how they differ from the renderings in An American Translation.
This translation has been acclaimed as the most significant Lutheran contribution in the span of some 450 years since Martin Luther translated the Bible into German. However, it is a Bible not only for Lutherans but also for every English-speaking person. It is a faithful translation, not a paraphrase.

[Lacko]

everyone's insight has been greatly appreciated, thank you

i was further looking at the concordia publishing house website and i came across the "Concordia Commentary" and i found it interesting... i was wondering if anyone knew anything beyond the sales ad on this website...

http://www.cph.org/cphstore/Category.asp?find%5Fcategory=80145&find%5Fdescription=Concordia+Commentary+&find%5Fpart%5Fdesc=

[tschenks]

Too expensive for me.

[ricg]

The copyright for the NIV text is held by the International Bible Society and is published through Zondervan Publishing. CPH has licensing rights to reproduce the NIV text from Zondervan.

The Concordia Self-study Bible is basically Zondervan's "NIV Study Bible" with some additions and corrections made in the study notes. It also conatins some Lutheran introductions to each of the books of the Bible including comments made by Luther. It's not a bad Bible to have as long as you are aware of some of the textual issues with the NIV translation.

I don't have a copy in front of me, but my understanding is that Zondervan limited the changes Lutheran theologians were allowed to make to the study notes. I think this is explained in introductory notes. Please don't take this as being hyper-critical. Zondervan has good notes, and the Concordia SB improves on them, but I just wanted to add that the improvements did not go as far as intended.

Another suggestion, while more a commentary than study notes, is Kretzmann's Popular Commentary, available for free here:

http://www.kretzmannproject.org/home.htm

[C.F.W. Walther]

I don't have a copy in front of me, but my understanding is that Zondervan limited the changes Lutheran theologians were allowed to make to the study notes. I think this is explained in introductory notes. Please don't take this as being hyper-critical. Zondervan has good notes, and the Concordia SB improves on them, but I just wanted to add that the improvements did not go as far as intended.

Another suggestion, while more a commentary than study notes, is Kretzmann's Popular Commentary, available for free here:

http://www.kretzmannproject.org/home.htm
This is great to be able to have Kretzman's commentaries. All I've had is the NIV study Bible from Zondervan and three of the "The Interpreter's Bible" commentaries.

[Lacko]

I don't have a copy in front of me, but my understanding is that Zondervan limited the changes Lutheran theologians were allowed to make to the study notes. I think this is explained in introductory notes. Please don't take this as being hyper-critical. Zondervan has good notes, and the Concordia SB improves on them, but I just wanted to add that the improvements did not go as far as intended.

Another suggestion, while more a commentary than study notes, is Kretzmann's Popular Commentary, available for free here:

http://www.kretzmannproject.org/home.htm
thanks for this link..

[JFox1]

I like the NIV, but I think the ESV is even better. The NASB is more literal and the American Standard Version of 1901 even more so. My favorite translation is the Modern Language Bible aka New Berkeley Version by Gerrit Verkuyl.

[SPALATIN]

The one bible I would advise against getting is any of those which show a direct transliteration from Greek. If you are studying Greek use an NASB or ESV bible to compare it to, but don't use the transliterated version as it only tranlates word by word and doesn't give an accurate translation of what is said. Greek in many ways is like German.

If you translated the phrase word for word from German "Throw some hay over the fence for the cows" it would read

Throw over the cows, the fence some hay. Greek is very similar

You would use sentence structure that means something in our language.

[filosofer]

I don't have a copy in front of me, but my understanding is that Zondervan limited the changes Lutheran theologians were allowed to make to the study notes. I think this is explained in introductory notes. Please don't take this as being hyper-critical. Zondervan has good notes, and the Concordia SB improves on them, but I just wanted to add that the improvements did not go as far as intended.



I don't think there were any restrictions. I was finishing seminary when Robert Hoerber began working on the footnotes for CSSB. He never said anything, and I knew all the reviewers/editors and never a word about restrictions.

I suspect the placement and graphics might have been restricted (in terms of printing, etc.)

In Christ's love,
filo

[filosofer]

everyone's insight has been greatly appreciated, thank you

i was further looking at the concordia publishing house website and i came across the "Concordia Commentary" and i found it interesting... i was wondering if anyone knew anything beyond the sales ad on this website...



The Concordia Commentaries are excellent, but rather dense (meaning a lot of "stuff" packed in). Most of the authors are either my sem classmates or instructors at one time or another, so can't be all bad!!! :)

In Christ's love,
filo

[JFox1]

Have you tried the God's Word translation? It doesn't come in a study Bible. It was originally to be a revision of William F. Beck's translation, but the God's Word to the Nations Bible Society decided to do a new translation instead. My only problem with it is that it doesn't use theological terms such as covenant, grace, justify, and repent. They was substituted with words that have the same meaning. For example, the New American Standard Bible renders Titus 3:7, "so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life." God's Word renders Titus 3:7, "As a result, God in his kindness has given us his approval and we have become heirs who have the confidence that we have everlasting life." :preach:

[tschenks]

If anyone is interested, there is an LCMS comparison of the various bible translations available at http://www.lcms.org/pages/internal.asp?NavID=3668

[Faithandblood]

I have always used the NIV, except when I fell for the KJV only crowd, anyways I have recently bought the Concordia Study bible (NIV) and am really enjoying it. I had been using the ESV McAuthor Study Bible but our theological differences start to frustrate my study time. Since I am new with Lutheran Theology the notes have been a world of help and I look forward to studing the scriptures now. I have found it to be a great help going through the Small Catechism with Explanation with theology. I am also doing a study on Law and Gospel.
Back to the point, I am enjoying the CSSB!

In Christ,
Charles