Bibles Bible Studies Books

I am using this book to teach a Sunday School class in the fall. The participant portion is very informative and the leader portion will make it easy to teach the class.

This is an Excellent book about the book of Romans. It is easy reading and very understandable!

THIS BOOK REALLY HELPED ME TO UNDERSTAND PAUL'S WRITING. IT IS VERY ENLIGHTENING. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT ! :-)

Life Together is Bonhoeffer's description of community life at the Finkenwalde seminary, the underground seminary for the Confessing Church that he led until it was closed by the Nazis. Life Together provides a practical conclusion to Bonhoeffer's early concentration on ecclesiology. It is an excellent tool for both academic and devotional studies of the nature of community.

The Bonhoeffer Works edition of Life Together provides historical clarification with extensive notes from leading Bonhoeffer scholars. It is an excellent resource both for those who are studying Bonhoeffer academically and those who use this book in church groups.

I'm about half way thru this book. It is filled with info you need to know: the history of the early church; Roman politics, laws; what the Sanhedrin could/could not do; political/theological battles between the Pharisee and the Saducees; politics of Stephens death; theological dilemma of Paul (pre Damascus) if Jesus was the Messiah yet was crucified/hung on a tree; development of the early Christian theology. Every page has something intensely interesting to we Christians. Really makes Acts come alive. Really helps illuminate some of Paul's writings when you understand what was going on at the time and why he was defending himself at times. Exciting, interesting, keep your bible open and be ready for an adventure.

Frederick Fyvie Bruce was a conservative evangelical who had much influence in the British Isles. His work still stands as a testimony to his beliefs, in stark contrast to the majority of scholars in Britain who have capitulated to modernism, due to an abundance of the New Perspective on Paul gathering. As the influence of FF Bruce faded, the core doctrinal assumptions that he had cherished and articulated began to lose its vitality in the evangelical fold.

The basic confusion that has set in is due to editorial oversight that 'the historical Paul' is static and immobile. So I heartily enjoyed this read, as it was free from the debates of 'which Pauline theology' was being portrayed from the outset. Bruce singularly and emphatically went to work on the biblical text available to him, as his primary source.

The life of Paul is a complex one. His missionary work would fill a whole volume. His Epistles do. His theology has unsuccessfully been attempted to be formulated from the first century to the present day. In Bruce's work, we have a non-contradictory, chronological reading of Paul's life. This makes for good reading and assists in understanding the varying challenges Paul faced and stood up to, at specific times in his life.

Paul's motto, 'To Live Is Christ, To Die Is Gain', is made alive in the pages that repeatedly deal with his unique ability to prioritize this life subjected to the next. He lives for the upward calling and heavenly reward.

'Incorporation into this body is effected by personal faith in Christ, sacramentally sealed in baptism and sustained by the eucharist. For Paul, baptism symbolizes the believer's dying and rising with Christ. It is plain, however, that for Paul dying and rising with Christ was not merely a matter of sacramental theology or church doctrine, but of personal experience. This personal appropriation of the love manifested to mankind in the self-sacrifice of Christ was as real as his awareness of personal faith-union with Christ, and of that faith-union as the source of his Christian life.' pg 138

Soteriology is evidently a major theological issue in Paul's contribution to the New Testament. Bruce engages with the subject matter and frequently makes assessments that are fresh, yet are in keeping with the conservative convictions.

As I continued to read, I found Bruce's knowledge of the ancient Middle-East and modern Mediterranean a valuable help in establishing the social systems unique to each place and culture. He conveniently does not overstate the historical facts, but nicely highlights these cross-cultural boundaries that our first missionary had to contend with.

There is no better resource on Paul than this, given that there are hidden undercurrents in the New Perspective agenda.

'It is a mysticism of very exceptional order...but he (Paul) does not have a mystical theology.' pg 147

This is a worthy study on the fourth most important man of Christianity...Paul, former Pharisee, cheif of sinners and apostle to the Gentiles. The book abounds in historical references and notes. Paul is certianly a man
of his time. Bruce covers Paul's life from the fragments of quotes on his childhood..on through to
his end. Interspersed is chapters that Bruce provides additional insights like "Paul and the Historical Jesus",
"Flesh and Spirit" , "Baptism and the Lord's Supper in Pauline Thought", also "Paul and the Life to Come."
The weakness of the book is the frequent quotes from liberal scholars..like Karl Barth and others. Their arguements have no validity since their "higher criticism" deny the supernatural working of God in the life of Paul. Another weakness is that Bruce is of the Covenant Theology view...which tends
to mix God's purpose for Israel with His purpose for the Church.
But the strengths over come these weaknesses.

I'm about half way thru this book. It is filled with info you need to know: the history of the early church; Roman politics, laws; what the Sanhedrin could/could not do; political/theological battles between the Pharisee and the Saducees; politics of Stephens death; theological dilemma of Paul if Jesus was the Messiah yet was crucified/hung on a tree; development of the early Christian theology. Every page has something intensely interesting to we Christians. Really makes Acts come alive. Really helps illuminate some of Paul's writings when you understand what was going on at the time and why he was defending himself at times.

Paul, Apostle of the Heart Set Free, by F. F. Bruce is a well known work on the life of the Aposlte Paul and his contribution to the New Testament. It appears to derive its title from 2 Cor 3.17. Bruce has the following quote on page 21: "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there the heart is free." This is the first of many problems with this book. It is not an accurate quote of the verse which actually reads: "Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty."(NASB). I checked other versions and was unable to find one which translated the verse as quoted by Bruce. In fairness Bruce did not cite the version he quoted (in my opinion that is another failure on his part) so he may have the quote correct, but misquoting, or failing to provide a reference for a quotation this important at best demonstrates inattention to detail and at worst deliberate modification. This is unfortunate as I approached this book with a fair degree of anticipation. I was looking forward to learning about Paul and his influence on the early church.

For me, the fatal flaw in the book occurs on page 188 where Bruce writes:
"To keep the whole law was no easy task, but it was not impossible. The rich man who assured Jesus that he had kept all the commandments of the Decalogue from his youth was no hypocrite, and no more was Paul when, looking back on his earlier life from the perspective of twenty to thirty years' Christian experience, he says that "as to righteousness under the law" he was "blameless" (Phil 3.6),"

Fundamental to the need for the cross is the fact that no one can live a blameless life ...a life without violating the law. If it was possible to do so, even for one person, then Jesus did not need to die on the cross for our sins. Bruce appears to strike at the heart of this fundamental doctrine of Christianity. I disagree with Bruce on this. [Strike one]

On page 340, while recounting the story of Eutychus from Acts 20.9, Bruce says of this account that Eutychus was not dead but merely knocked unconscious by the three story fall and far from performing a miracle, Paul merely revived Euthychus "(perhaps performing some form of artificial respiration)". This statement severely troubled me as I tried to remember, without success, if Bruce had mentioned any miracles in the preceding 328 pages. I disagree with Bruce's conclusion on this event. [Strike 2]

Then on page 373 commenting on Acts 28.3-6, Bruce comments in a footnote that there are no poisonous snakes on Malta today and goes on to cite W. M. Ramsey suggesting that the snake Paul encountered was not poisonous either. Based on his comments regarding this and the incident with Eutychus I do not think that Bruce believes that miracles are possible. I disagree with Bruce on this item. [Strike 3]

I am not a new Christian. I have been studying the Bible and reading related books for 30 years. Much of the information in this book is, of necessity, based on speculation by the author. For that reason, the author must have the trust of the reader. When the author betrays either bias or error regarding facts which I as the reader have knowledge of, he loses credibility to be trusted in correctly relating information which I do not know. Well footnoted garbage is still garbage. The problems cited above are not a complete list of the issues with this book. However, they are sufficient for me to go against the majority opinion. Based on the above I believe this book to be an unreliable source of information.

Here's a partial list of contents from the alphabetical table of topics:

-70 Weeks of Daniel
-666
-1000 Years
-144,000
-Abomination of Desolation
-Abrahamic Covenant
...
-Demons and Unclean Spirits
-Dispensationalism
-Dispensations
-Elders (24)
-Eschatology
-Eternal Life
-Ezekiel, Eschatology of
-False Prophet
...
-Isaiah, Eschatology of
-Israel in Prophecy
-James, Eschatology of
-Jeremiah, Eschatology of
...
-Midtribulationism
-Millenial Sacrifices
-Millenial Temple
-Millenial Views
...
-Trumpet of God
-Typology
-Vengeance
...
-World Empire
-Wrath of God
-Wrath of the Lamb
-Zechariah, Eschatology of

Since the book is an encyclopedia not a polemic (unlike other LaHaye and Ice books), it reports/describes, rather than advocates for the authors' particular endtimes view (pre-trib, pre-mil dispensationalist). It's a helpful book for those who know what they're looking for; otherwise, to read this alphabetical reference from start to end, as if it were a narrative, might seem random or confusing.

As the name implies, this is an encyclopedic reference for Scriptural prophesy. In the front of the book is a list of topics (table of contents) of all 140+ topics discussed, and then an index of charts. A short introduction from LaHaye and Hindson follows that discusses the need for such a book. Topics are then laid out in alphabetical order and covers topics from all prophetic writings in Scripture, not just those found in Revelation.

This book hails from the Pretribulational-Premillenial standpoint, as do LaHaye's writings. It is key to know this in purchasing this book. He defines and critiques other views, such as Post-Tribulation Rapture and Amillenialism.

This is a superb book for reference regarding literal-exegetical prophetic teachings and a basic discussion of allegorical alternative views. This is not a book for the theologian, as the title also aptly states (the POPULAR Encyclopedia...), and is great for the beginning student or the teacher of prophetic theologies.

I would give this six stars if I could, it is really really good. One reviewer gave this book one star - he doesn't know what he is talking about: ignore him.

Tim LaHaye, Jerry Jenkins, and others in the Pre-Trib circle, such as Ed Hindson, Tommy Ice, Chuck Missler, etc., continue to put forth the same deceptions that Hal Lindsey popularized decades ago. The notion of a pre-tribulation rapture is foreign to scripture, it is foreign to the teachings of the early Church, and it is grooming the Church for destruction through ignorance and lack of preparation for what is really coming. These men are novices and not prophecy "experts" or "scholars" by any stretch of the imagination; they are those who tickle the ears of gullible Christians. Why continue to be deceived? Tim Cohen, in his excellent book, "The AntiChrist and a Cup of Tea," provides biblically sound and testable evidence to show that the coming AntiChrist is known NOW. Not only that, the same author (Tim Cohen) has now put out the strongest presentation on the whole issue of the rapture EVER offered to the saints of God in Christ: "The REAL Rapture". If you really want to know the truth about the timing of the coming rapture, then you need to hear Tim Cohen's "The REAL Rapture" (based on a volume in his forthcoming "Messiah, History, and the Tribulation Period" series (see Prophecy House's web site, prophecyhouse dot com, for details on these items).

This book is written by several authors and gives varying opinions on the topics of Bible Prophecy. I found the book informative and consider it a must have. I find myself picking this book up to read many times a week. It is not a read from front to back type of book as it is an encyclopedia and arranged by topics. I have purchased one and gave it to a pastor who will be doing a study at my church but I missed the book so much that I purchased one again to keep for myself. The authors provide Biblical scriptures as references to prove points and I must say I can actually talk about The Revelation and other Bible prophecies in the gospels now with some knowledge.

A very insightful book by a modern day prophet. This is an excellent choice for Christians that want to re-evaluate and re-affirm their beliefs and a superb tool to use while witnessing to others about Christ.

This book is an excellent Bible study tool. It is perfect for beginnng Bible study students, but I would also recommend it as a guide for small group or home Bible studies.. Francis Schaeffer was a very spiritual (but not religious!) man with a great amount of integrity. I also recommend his commentary on Romans 1-8. If you feel that religion has let you down and want to know what the God of the Bible has to say about it, read this book, including Two Contents, Two Realities at the end. An excellent way to equip yourself in a world filled with contradictions.

This book is exactly what it says--25 basic Bible studies. It's all Scripture with brief comments by Dr. Schaeffer. I strongly recommend it for new Christians as well as for older Christians who may need some "brushing up" on the basic tenets of our faith.

The interelinear portion of this book is great and many of the other reviews have done a fine job of explaining why. I would just like to add how awesome the concordance is that comes along with it. It is arranged by strongs number (rather than the english word) and thus makes it a much more useful tool for finding relevant cross-references. I definitely prefer it to a Strongs concordance and consider it to be my favorite concordance bar none. This book is just an incredible tool for the serious studant of the Bible.

I recommend it to anyone who is looking for a bit of insight into the original wording of the scriptures. I'd prefer an Aramaic interlinear, but this one is a good buy until that comes along.

Print is a little small but crisp and clear, binding is good.

If you really want to understand the New Testament you need an easy way to find the original Greek word behind the words you read in English and then, a list of quotations in English of all the contexts in the New Testament where that particular Greek word is employed. That is exactly what this book efficiently does. This is probably the most valuable "next book" beyond the New Testament itself.

This book has really helped me in my bible studies to get the most accurate translation, from the original spoken language of the bible to english. Example, Baptism is a translation of the true meaning immerse.

This interlinear is good in that each Greek word has a Strong's # above it, to easily find the word in a Greek dictionary that uses Strong's numbering system. However, if you are serious about delving into the Greek, it seems that you would eventually want to at least learn the Greek alphabet, in which case you would not need these numbers to look up Greek word definitions. Also, the type is easy to read. Also, the book contains a Greek concordance at the back, to quickly see where a particular Greek word is located in the NT.

First, let me preface this review by stating that I am an extreme novice, in the serious study of the scriptures, so don't regard my opion too highly.

I do not trust any one completely, when it comes to the matter of my own salvation, which is very much dependent on my understanding of scripture. I have what I regard as a healthy contempt for doctors of divinity, and conferred degrees; all people are subject to common human frailty, and are thus subject to being deceived, no matter what seminary they attend, whatever academic degrees they have obtained, and however sincere they may be. Once a concept is accepted as true, it generally is highly resistant to being rejected, even after the light of truth has revealed it to be error. What I am trying to say, is that generally, children in a Baptist Sunday School class, generally grow up to become Baptist theologians, and Lutheran children likewise usually grow up to become Lutheran theologians, and so on. I know that all theologians have their own particular set of presuppositions and biases, and these biases necessarily affect their interpretation of scripture, even though they may strive valiantly to resist all subjectivity, when called upon to perform the holy, sacred, and even frightening work of translating the scriptures.

McReynold's has chosen a scheme of scripture translation, which only renders a single English word, for each Greek word. That is, he has not sought to enter into speculation regarding which shade of meaning a Greek word has, depending on the context of the passage, nor I suppose, it's grammatical placement (where the word is placed in the sentence), as well as other factors that I am not seeing, due to my great ignorance. This may seem like a severe drawback, and to some extent it probably is. However, consider that it has the advantage of being relatively free from the theological presuppositions and biases of a translator, who sincerely tries to help along the scripture, to say what he believes it is trying to say, and you will then see that McReynold's translation is inherently more trustworthy in this respect. To my knowledge, no other interlinear, nor Bible version, is translated this way.

Being that I am so easily deceived, because I have virtually no background in Greek, I find this interlinear to be a preventive bulwark against the subtleties of man. Better yet--if I understood biblical Greek fluently, I could generally dispense with using interlinears; but for now, they are a necessary help, to bridge me over to the original writings, to some degree at least.

This is a revised review. Mine was the first review posted in the Kindle section for this book. The next day, I found several reviews for PRINTED EDITIONS of this book posted.

Nobody has refuted what I've said about the Kindle version!

---------------------------

I have the printed versions of both volumes
For the Love of God: A Daily Companion for Discovering the Riches of God's Word, Volume 1 and
For the Love of God: A Daily Companion for Discovering the Treasures of God's Word
of this wonderful series of meditations on scripture, whose schedule follows Robert Murray M'Cheyne's through the Bible in a year, and I give THEM 5 stars.

Unfortunately, the Kindle version is a technical disaster.

First, the "schedule" of readings in the front of the book consists of scanned images-- not searchable text. (Some of the images are even crooked!)

Second, each daily meditation is presented WITHOUT its date.

This means that you can't easily find the meditation for a random date. Instead, you need to look at the scanned images near the front of the book and write down the four passages (usually about a chapter each) and do a search (of your entire Kindle collection!) for "Genesis 18" (or whatever).

If the publisher would put the dates with each meditation, that would be a quantum leap forward (to 4 stars!). Give us a text-based schedule of meditations, and I'll give it 5!

This has been one of the most inspirational devotional I have read. It is definitely a great tool to use when reading the word of God.

D.A. Carson has not reinvented the wheel, but has reminded us of a reading plan from the 1800's that guides us through reading the Bible in one year (plus NT and Psalms a second time). His commentary is rich in gaining insight to the whole Bible. I am in third year of using this reading plan and only wish I had started 40 years ago.

In a day when "devotional" has come to mean lovely thoughts bearing little relationship to the biblical passage, this book challenges, encourages, and draws the reader into the text. Based on Robert Murray McCheyne's one-year reading plan, Carson brings to life one of the four passages read each day. I can't wait to get vol. 2,

Carson has wisdom that I was continually surprised with each new devotion. He has an amazing ability to place a chapter in its biblical context, helping the reader understand why it's important. His writing is very well crafted as he puts profound concepts in simple terms. I highly recommend this book for the spiritual edification of all believers and unbelievers alike.

This thorough but not exhaustive work (like the bible) of the flow of biblical history in the book of Genesis is hard to put down----it's that good. All main areas are covered. Where Schaeffer brings in controversy he gives us fair warning. This book should be read as a unity with "No Final Conflict". "If we won't listen, we won't understand."

There is a basic mystery that holds true, that we came into being: 1. from nothing to something 2. everything began with an impersonal something 3. everything began with a personnel something, or 4. there is and always has been a dualism; there are no other choices, and 1,2, and 4 quickly erode when analyzed. The bible gives us structure, without it we are only left with an "existential leap"----a blind faith. Schaeffer says, "we who are finite can never exhaust the finite". Yes, even the finite.

Wish you well and blessings
Scott

This was my first Schaeffer book, so I was unsure of what to expect. I consider myself rather picky with regard to religious subject matter. Mr. Schaeffer's book was enjoyable, and I will try another one. While "Genesis" did not really have any significant new ideas, it was well communicated and easy to follow, even for laymen or the casual reader.

If you are unfamiliar with Genesis and the conservative approach to its interpretation, this is a good book. It is not scholarly or philosophical, in my opinion, but it remains substantial - which many people will find refreshing.

This is a great book for all Christians to read. It puts creation back into perspective and establishes all the solid biblical proof for why creation had to exist in both space and time. Unbelievers will scoff but in this book believers will be reminded of who they are and where they came from.

One of Schaeffer's best that I have read.He looks at the start of time for us not God, since God is eternal.It really made me stop and think. Also to look at Genesis in a whole new way

Francis A. Schaeffer (1912-84) was an American Evangelical theologian and philosopher whose works were very influential on Evangelical thinking. In this fascinating book, Dr. Schaeffer takes a look at the first eleven chapters of the book of Genesis, which many Christian thinkers seem to find irrelevant to a truly Christian worldview. On the contrary, Dr. Schaeffer shows that the early history of man, as contained in the beginning of Genesis, is crucial to understanding why man is the way he is, and how God works with and through man.

I must say that this is a truly mind-expanding book that goes a long way towards giving the reader a truly Christian view of the man and the world that he inhabits. I mean, how is man "fallen," and what was and is his relationship with God? These are crucial questions to understanding the very foundational concepts of our religion, and the answers are contained in this book.

This is a great book, and a true classic of Christian thought. I do not hesitate to say should be read by all believers.