A new study Bible that emphasizes in its reference commentary notes the central themes of grace and truth throughout Scripture is now published by Zondervan. The NIV Grace and Truth Study Bible (Zondervan, 2021) is the first study Bible to be included in Zondervan’s Premier Collection Bibles, which feature the highest Bible craftmanship with hand-bound goatskin covers, elegant art-gilt page edges, premium European paper, and three double-sided satin ribbon markers. In addition to the NIV editions in English, Vida Publishing has simultaneously released this Bible in Spanish as the NBLA Biblia de Estudio Gracia y Verdad (Vida, 2021).
Bible Gateway interviewed Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr. (@albertmohler), the general editor of the NIV Grace and Truth Study Bible (website).
How did a study Bible help you early in your Christian faith?
Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr.: I was a teenager when I first received a study Bible, and it was like having the lights turned up in a room. All of a sudden, I wasn’t just sitting there trying to figure out what the tabernacle was, but I had a note in the Bible that explained the tabernacle to me. That study Bible helped me follow scriptural arguments and answer questions—all in such a way that I never confused the notes about the Word of God with the Word of God itself. It fueled my appetite for Scripture, because there was an even greater exhilaration of reading the Word of God. I’ve been a huge encourager about study Bibles ever since I first started the serious study of Scripture.
[Read the New International Version (NIV) Bible translation on Bible Gateway]
How does the Grace & Truth Study Bible differ from other study Bibles?
Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr.: For one, this study Bible takes a particular team of scholars and seeks in a unified way to help believers understand how grace and truth is revealed on every page from Genesis to Revelation.
Second, the Grace and Truth Study Bible is accessible. It’s immediately useful for mature believers and to those who may be confronting the Word of God for the first time. It’s a study Bible made to be essential equipment for any believer. As such, it’s built to be carried and used in the Christian’s daily life.
Third, the notes in this Bible are very fresh. They concisely and faithfully present what needs to be said about their corresponding Scripture references. Whether it’s an introduction to a book or an explanation of a single verse, term, name, or place, we sought the clearest explanation possible.
Though there were a lot of challenges in this project, we have great thankfulness for the final copy of the Grace and Truth Study Bible now in our hands.
How do you respond to the current thinking in society that denies the existence of absolute truth? And how is this Bible an antidote for that worldview?
Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr.: Our society is very selective and confused about its redefinition of truth. For instance, many people do not believe any absolute truth of morality, but they do believe in the absolute truth of gravity.
Christians must be clear about truth. It was Jesus who said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). In the opening chapter of the Gospel of John, Christ himself in the incarnation is described in these terms: “We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).
Truth is indispensable to human life. Many of those in the world of philosophy, sociology, entertainment, and mass media want to act as if they don’t believe in any form of objective truth. The fact is they’re very selective in that assessment. At least most of them believe that if you drop a rock, it’ll fall according to the law of gravity.
We’re hoping people will read the Word of God and understand that all of God’s truth is objectively true—objectively real—because it’s God himself who is truth.
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For Genesis 22:1-2, the study note includes the statement, “God is always good, even when he does not appear to be so.” Why is that a good and effective way to reflect the idea of grace and truth?
Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr.: One cannot separate the good, the beautiful, and the true. One of the most fundamental theological principles of the Christian worldview is that it’s only in our finitude and in our fallenness that we see any distinction between grace and truth. The good, the beautiful, and the true are one because God is one. He is truth. He is grace. He is beauty. He is goodness. If we see God in existence and in his self-revelation, he is good because he is always good. There is no lack of goodness in him, in any respect at any time. That study note reminds us that our understanding of Scripture begins with our knowledge of the infinite perfection of the God of the Bible. Where we find a troublesome text in Scripture, the problem is in our understanding, not in the reality of the one, true, living God.
How should people use this Bible to get the most out of it?
Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr.: I’m glad to say there’s no right answer to that question, because different readers will read differently. Even as the same reader, I read differently at different times with different texts in different settings. For example, if I’m reading a text from the New Testament and I see the name Mary, one of the first things I think is, “Which Mary is this? Mary, the mother of Jesus? Mary, the sister of Martha? There are other Marys in Scripture.” Sometimes I really need to settle that in my mind before I go further in the text.
Most of the time, I would read an entire paragraph and then look at the notes. There’s not a right answer to that question. I think the reader is likely to use the notes differently, depending upon the passage, but the good news is that you cannot do it wrong by either reading the entire passage or just going immediately to the note. Sometimes that holy curiosity is just a good thing.
Where do you suggest a person who is only somewhat familiar with the Bible start reading it?
Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr.: I almost always direct people to the Gospel of John. We understand that every single word of Scripture is God-breathed. Thus, to read any texts of Scripture is infinitely profitable, but we also understand there are certain passages that are easier to understand. That’s even referenced in the Bible itself. The fourth Gospel has shown itself through time and across cultures and languages, often to be the most accessible place in Scripture to begin reading and study. In my Christian life, I discovered that to be true. I’ve taught and preached through the Gospel three times in my ministry. You will never outgrow the Gospel of John, but it’s a great place to start.
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What is a favorite Bible passage of yours and why?
Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr.: One of the great anchors of my life is Deuteronomy 29:29: “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever.”
Everything in Scripture has been revealed to me. Whatever God has not revealed can wait until the glory that is to come. Even then, because God is infinite and I’m finite, there will be things I’ll never know.
The beauty of the text is to remind us that revelation is one of God’s greatest gifts. There are those things known to God alone—the secret things, the things revealed—but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever. God is not only there; he speaks. He speaks to us in his Word, and this Word belongs to us and to our children forever.
What are your thoughts about Bible Gateway and the Bible Gateway App and Bible Audio App?
Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr.: I was president of the Southern Seminary before the word “internet” really entered into the normal vocabulary, so I can certainly remember a time before such resources existed online. Now we have a whole digital world of incredible resources to study the Bible.
I use Bible Gateway over and over again. I’m astounded at the wealth of materials available for the study of God’s Word in just a few short clicks. What an amazing gift. Scholars have studied the Word of God for centuries: sometimes by candlelight or by lamp, sometimes in a monastic room alone, sometimes in a congregation of Christians huddled together. Right now, Christians can go to that digital world—where, frankly, there are so many dangerous toils and snares—and find some of the most incredible resources for the study of God’s Word. For those resources, I am very thankful.
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The NIV Grace and Truth Study Bible is published by Zondervan, a division of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Inc., the parent company of Bible Gateway.
Bio: R. Albert Mohler Jr. has been called “one of America’s most influential evangelicals” (The Economist) and the “reigning intellectual of the evangelical movement” (TIME.com). The president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, he writes a popular blog and a regular commentary, available at AlbertMohler.com, and hosts two podcasts: The Briefing and Thinking in Public. He is the author of many books, including We Cannot Be Silent and The Prayer that Turns the World Upside Down, and has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA TODAY, and on programs such as NBC’s TODAY, ABC’s Good Morning America, and PBS NewsHour. He and his wife, Mary, live in Louisville, Kentucky.
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The post How Grace and Truth Are Central Themes Throughout the Bible: An Interview with Dr. Al Mohler appeared first on Bible Gateway Blog.
