The NLT Study Bible Blog

All for Now

SAH.Tyndale@gmail.com (Sean Harrison) — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 14:08:00 +0000

That's all for now on the NLT Study Bible blog. We very well might renew this blogging effort in the future, but for now I'm focused on other things. I would encourage you to join me over at DigitalBibleForum.com, where we're discussing all aspects of digital Bibles and digital Bible publishing.

Thanks to everyone who has participated in this blog in some fashion! It's been great fun and a rewarding experience, and I pray that it has been beneficial for all.

Mark 1:1-8 (Mosaic, Advent 2)

SAH.Tyndale@gmail.com (Sean Harrison) — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 13:00:00 +0000

Mark's Gospel announces, "This is the Good News about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God" (Mark 1:1). What is this Good News? It is the message that the Messiah has come, the promised king of Israel, and that he, the Son of God, died and rose again to establish his reign.

At the time of Jesus, the Jewish people were anticipating the coming Messiah. "Israelites increasingly looked forward to the coming of the Messiah, 'the Anointed One', a descendant of David who would be Israel's king" (NLTSB, note on Mark 1:1).

Mark begins with the promise of Isa. 40:1-11 and Mal. 3:1, where God had promised to send a messenger to announce his coming. John the Baptizer, Mark tells us, was that messenger. "John the Baptist was the voice shouting in the wilderness for people to prepare the way for the LORD's coming.... In Isaiah, this prophecy refers to the coming of the Lord, the God of Israel. Here it refers to the Lord Jesus (see 12:35-37)" (NLTSB, note on 1:3). John's role was to prepare the way for the Lord's coming by leading people to repent of their sins and cleanse their hearts for the Lord. They, having been baptized with water in repentance, would be ready to receive the presence of the Lord.

And John promised that the Lord would give his presence. "I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit!" (Mark 1:8). The NLTSB comments, "The baptism of Jesus brought the gift of the Holy Spirit, through whom sinful people become God's children (Rom 8:15-16; 1 Cor 12:13; Gal 4:6)" (NLTSB, note on 1:8). When we trust in God through Jesus, he gives us his Holy Spirit, and his presence assures us that we are his children (Eph 1:13-14). Through this, God gives us his comfort (Isa 40:1).

2 Peter 3:8-14 (Mosaic, Advent 2)

SAH.Tyndale@gmail.com (Sean Harrison) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 13:00:00 +0000

If God has promised that Christ will rule and bring a kingdom full of peace, joy, and light, then why is it taking so long? Why do we have to suffer in a world full of grief, pain, and oppression?

Peter's answer in this passage is simple: "The Lord isn't really being slow about his promise.... No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent" (2 Pet. 3:9). In order to receive God's reign with joy and peace, we must repent of our sins and turn to God for his forgiveness and salvation. Why does the Lord Jesus seemingly delay his return? Because when he returns, he will come with judgment, and those who have not repented will be destroyed. God does not want that to happen to anyone, so he is giving everyone ample opportunity to repent.

In the coming judgment, Peter tells us, God will destroy everything except the souls who trust in him and create everything anew. Those who have repented and put their trust in God for salvation through Jesus can look forward to the new creation with joy and eager anticipation -- it will be a wonderful world in which there is no sin or pain or death, "a world filled with God's righteousness" (2 Pet. 3:13).

But for those who have not repented and turned to God do not view this event with hope, but either with terror or by refusing to face it entirely. So rather than bemoaning the hardships we face, we should instead pray for opportunities to show God's love, helping people to turn to God in repentance and faith. Then they, too, can join us in "looking forward to the day of God and hurrying it along" (2 Pet. 3:12).

Psalm 85 (Mosaic, Advent 2)

SAH.Tyndale@gmail.com (Sean Harrison) — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 15:17:00 +0000

Psalm 85 is a remarkable prayer of faith, especially considering the situation in which it was written. The community of God's people has experienced blessings in the past, but now is experiencing hardship. So the psalmist prays that the "God of our salvation" will "put aside your anger against us once more" and "restore us again" (Ps. 85:4). What is remarkable about the prayer is the faith that the psalmist places in the Lord to act on their behalf: "Suring his salvation is near to those who fear him, / so our land will be filled with glory" (v. 9).

Each of us is in a similar place to the psalmist of Ps 85: Each of us has experienced many blessings in the past, and we owe God thanks and praise. Each of us, too, experiences hardship in various ways, all because we live in a world that awaits the full revelation of God's presence when Jesus Christ returns. So, each of us must choose: Are we going to be despondent about the situations of our lives? Are we going to be angry at God? Those responses are common. Or are we going to trust in God to rescue, forgive, restore, and bless?

A hope-filled response of trust in God is the too-rare response, but it is the most justified response, because God's character never changes, his abilities are unhampered, and he has promised to restore his people and his land "Truth springs up from the earth, / and righteousness smiles down from heaven. / Yes, the LORD pours down his blessings. / Our land will yield its bountiful harvest." (Ps. 85:11-12).

So, with the psalmist, let us respond in hope: "I listen carefully to what God the LORD is saying, / for he speaks peace to his faithful people. / But let them not return to their foolish ways. / Surely his salvation is near to those who fear him, / so our land will be filled with his glory" (vv. 8-9).

Almighty God,
give us such a vision of your purpose
and such an assurance of your love and power,
that we may ever hold fast the hope
which is in Jesus Christ our Lord
who is alive with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God now and for ever.
Amen.
(Bosco Peters; Devotions for Advent, p. 17)

Isaiah 40:1-11 (Mosaic, Advent 2)

SAH.Tyndale@gmail.com (Sean Harrison) — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 17:12:00 +0000

Advent, week 2 has hope as its theme. Our hope as Christians is for the living presence of Christ himself, and all that he means.

Isaiah 40:1-11 speaks to a people who have known God's favor, but have now experienced exile and apparent abandonment. The previous chapters of Isaiah, written in the era of Hezekiah king of Judah around 700 BC, warn the people of Judah against coming judgment for their sins against the Lord. Now judgment has come, and the people face a time of exile. "Throughout chs 40-66, Isaiah prophesied from the vantage point of the Exile having already become a reality. Therefore, the Babylonian exile provides the background for understanding these chapters" (NLTSB, note on 40:1--66:24). The violent exile of the Jews from Judah to Babylon not only brought death to thousands and misery to the ten thousands, it uprooted them from their land -- from the place where God had promised to be with them and bless them. Their hopes were crushed.

To these people, the Lord speaks words of hope. Isaiah 40:1-11 promises that God has forgiven their sins, and that he is coming to reveal his glory to them. When he comes, he "will rule with a powerful arm. See, he brings his reward with him as he comes" (Isa 40:10). "The Lord's rule is not like that of the unjust ... rulers whom he will judge. It is compassionate, just, righteous..." (NLTSB, note on Isa. 40:10). What God's people needed to hear was exactly this: that God will rule them once again, and that his rule will be pleasant and just, that he will care for his people tenderly. "He will feed his flock like a shepherd. / He will carry the lambs in his arms, / holding them close to his heart. / He will gently lead the mother sheep with their young" (Isa. 40:11). With this passage, God begins to assure his people that he has not abandoned them, but that he continues to watch over them and care for them, and that in due time he would come to them with power and rescue them from foreign rule, leading them gently into his kingdom. Throughout the rest of chs 40-66, the Lord says, "Comfort, comfort my people" through his prophet, who speaks words of comfort and hope for the future.

Isa. 40:1-11 is the background for the ministry of John the Baptizer, for he is identified in the Gospels as "the voice of someone shouting, 'Clear the way through the wilderness for the LORD!'" (Isa. 40:3; see Matt. 3:3; Mark 1:3; Luke 3:4; John 1:23). John announced the coming of Christ, urged people to repent of their sins, and baptized with water all who were willing. In this way John prepared the way for the Lord's coming -- those who underwent John's baptism had hearts that were ready to receive the Lord (see, e.g., Luke 7:29-30).

Now Jesus has returned to heaven, and we await his coming again, while we live in a world governed by powers foreign to God's kingdom. What is our hope? It is the same as Israel's in exile: That the Lord will come, establish his rule with justice and peace, and lead us gently as his people.

How can we prepare, and what is the basis of hope? John the Baptizer teaches us that we must repent of our sins and turn to God. Then we will experience his forgiveness, and have hearts that are ready to receive his kingdom. God's coming and his rule are not a source of hope for those who will not repent. But for those who repent, God's coming and his rule are cool water flowing over a thirsty soul.

Isaiah 11:1-16 (Mosaic, Advent 1)

SAH.Tyndale@gmail.com (Sean Harrison) — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 13:00:00 +0000

In addition to the four headline readings, Devotions for Advent, week 1, includes an additional "suggested reading," Isaiah 11:1-16. This passage brings us back around to a vision for the coming kingdom of the Lord, which we meditated on at the beginning of the week with Isaiah 2.

Isaiah 11 paints a beautiful picture of the coming kingdom of Christ. When Christ reigns as king on earth, all his decisions will be just and fair; there will be peace between nations and even among enemies in the animal kingdom; and those who worship the Lord will return from their exile in lands ruled by enemies of the Lord.

Not only is there a picture of the kingdom of Christ and its results, but there is a picture of the king himself. He will have the Spirit of the Lord, and the Spirit will give him wisdom, understanding, knowledge, strength, good counsel, and fear of the Lord. He will exemplify all that is good and right and true. Out of the beauty of his character will flow all that is good about his kingdom. This is Christ our king.

The picture fills our souls with longing, as it should.

"And as we catch glimpses of this Messiah-healed world, we long for its coming now. All of the best Advent hymns capture this spirit of groaning and longing for Messiah's better world. When we sing 'O Come, O Come, Emmanuel,' with its dark, unresolved melody, it cracks our hearts open with longing's wound. And yet, we know Messiah has come, even as we wait for him to come again. ... This Advent-like longing is at the heart of Christian spirituality. ... Advent is the time to acknowledge, feel, and even embrace the joyful anguist of longing for Messiah's birth and the world's rebirth" (Mathew Woodley; Devotions for Advent, p. 10).

Come, Lord Jesus, and heal your world. And heal our hearts as we long for your kingdom.

Matthew 24:32-51 (Mosaic, Advent 1)

SAH.Tyndale@gmail.com (Sean Harrison) — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 13:00:00 +0000

Jesus describes the circumstances surrounding his return and then encourages his followers to keep watch as they wait for him. In the NLT Study Bible, we put most of the discussion about the circumstances surrounding Christ's return in the parallel passage at Mark 13. So, following that lead, let us here focus on Jesus' encouragement to keep watch.

The core of this encouragement is in vv. 42-44, where Jesus says, "So you, too, must keep watch! For you don't know what day your Lord is coming. Understand this: If a homeowner knew exactly when a burglar was coming, he would keep watch and not permit his house to be broken into. You also must be ready all the time, for the Son of Man will come when least expected" (Matt 24:42-44, NLT).

This raises a natural question: What does it mean to "keep watch" for Jesus' return? How can we "be ready all the time"? I understand what it means to keep watch during the night for a burglar, but how does this apply to spiritual wakefulness and readiness? It surely does not mean that we must physically stay awake 24/7. So what does it mean?

According to the NLT Study Bible, "To keep watch is to maintain active, energetic, single-minded obedience to the Lord (see 25:13; 26:38-41)" (NLTSB, note on Matt 24:42). According to the following note on 24:45-51, Jesus told the following four parables (24:45-51; 25:1-13, 14-30, 31-46) in order to illustrate and exemplify what it means to keep watch for him.

The first parable (24:45-51) contrasts the faithful servant with one who is unfaithful. Key differences:

The faithful servant seeks to do his master's will, while the unfaithful servant seeks his own pleasure.
The faithful servant is loving toward others, while the unfaithful servant is abusive toward others.

The second parable, of the ten bridesmaids (25:1-13), contrasts those who are prepared for Christ's return (those who have oil) with those who are not prepared (who have no oil for their lamps). "While some have speculated that the oil symbolizes something specific (such as the Holy Spirit), it probably merely supports the point that proper preparation for the second coming of Christ is needed" (NLTSB, note on Matt 25:3). This parable leaves me wondering, what would constitute "proper preparation" for the Lord's return?

The third parable, of the three servants (25:14-30), also speaks of being faithful with what the master has entrusted to you. "To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have an abundance. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away" (25:28).

The fourth parable, of the sheep and the goats at the final judgment (25:31-46), also speaks of a difference in actions between faithful and unfaithful people. Those who do acts of love toward others are accepted, while those who refused to do what is loving toward others are rejected.

Based on these parables, I might summarize Jesus' message as this: To keep watch for Jesus' return means to be faithful to obey what you know of his instructions, which especially involves doing what is loving for others.

May the Spirit of God and the presence of Jesus give us all that we need to do as he has instructed.

1 Corinthians 1:4-9 (Mosaic, Advent 1)

SAH.Tyndale@gmail.com (Sean Harrison) — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 13:00:00 +0000

As we wait for the Lord's return, God himself provides us with all that we need to endure difficulties and hardships in this life.

Paul is thanking God for the Christians in Corinth (giving thanks is a standard section in the introductions to his letters). He moves quickly from thanking God for the Christians in Corinth, to thanking God "for the gracious gifts he has given you, now that you belong to Christ Jesus." The rest of the paragraph is an exuberant explanation of what these gifts are. Verse 7 captures the essence of it: "Now you have every spiritual gift you need as you eagerly wait for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ." Now that we "belong to Christ Jesus" (v. 4), we do not wait for him alone. Instead, we have his presence with us, represented by his Spirit, whose gifts fill the body of Christ. "To prepare our hearts to welcome the Lord, ... we must learn to recognize his presence in the events of daily life" (Pope John Paul II; Devotions for Advent, p. 8). He has given us his Spirit, individually and as communities of believers, so that we will learn to recognize his presence, listen to it, and be filled with his presence as we wait for his return. We can learn to hear his voice in the events of daily life. More particularly, we can learn to hear his voice and experience his presence through the other members of the Christian community as we come together for worship (v. 5 mentions this process, which Paul describes in greater detail in ch 14).

We need "every spiritual gift" that God gives us, as we wait for the return of Christ. To say this is merely to make an application of the fact that we need Christ's presence with us by his Spirit. According to Paul, we have all that we need, thanks to God. We have his presence, we have his Spirit, and we have his gifts. And so we can be confident that he "will keep you strong to the end to that you will be free from all blame on the day when our Lord Jesus Christ returns. God will do this, for he is faithful to do what he says, and he has invited you into partnership with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord" (1 Cor 1:8-9).

Let us, then, cultivate a purposeful awareness of Christ's presence and his Spirit as we wait for him. "Our spirit should be quick to reach out toward God, not only when it is engaged in meditation; at other times also, when it is carrying out its duties, caring for the needy, performing works of charity, giving generously in the service of others, our spirit should long for God, and call him to mind" (John Chrysostom; Devotions for Advent, p. 9). "Let us then be imitators of His patience" (Polycarp; Devotions for Advent, p. 8).

Psalm 25 (Mosaic, Advent 1)

SAH.Tyndale@gmail.com (Sean Harrison) — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 13:00:00 +0000

David's prayer in Psalm 25 plays a counterpoint melody to the harmony of Isaiah's vision in Isaiah 2:1-5. Whereas Isaiah saw a great vision for the future reign of God, David prays from the midst of human struggles, conflicts, enmities, temptations, and sins.

Unlike Isaiah's vision in Isa 2:1-5, David's prayer in Ps 25 bears a strong resemblance to life as we live it on earth. He mentions to the Lord his enemies, and the possibility of being disgraced, defeated, and ridiculed. He is well aware of "the rebellious sins of my youth" (25:7) and "the traps of my enemies" (25:15). He even exclaims, "My problems go from bad to worse" (25:17), as he describes his pain and the vicious hatred of his enemies.

David's prayer is, at the same time, surrounded by the harmony, not of a perfect world, but of hope and trust in the Lord to save. In Ps 25:1-3, "the psalmist expresses confidence that the godly will be vindicated and his enemies will not succeed" (NLTSB, note on 25:1-3). In 25:4-7, "the psalmist turns to the Lord for instruction in wisdom. He confesses his past failures and acknowledges that his hope lies with his merciful Savior" (NLTSB, note on 25:4-7). And in 25:15-22, "the psalmist expresses confidence in the Lord, commits to a life of integrity, and prays for rescue" (NLTSB, note on 25:15-22). These paragraphs of David's prayer are filled with hope and trust in the Lord, yet they are not polyanna wishes -- they are rooted in a life that has been filled with grief and hardship, rooted deep in the soil of human life on earth. The circumstances of David's prayer make it earthy and real. But it breathes the air and soaks in the sunshine of hope in the Lord. "Biblical hope does not mean wishing for an event to turn out favorably. Hope trusts the Lord's will and gives the courage to face disappointments" (NLTSB, note on 25:5).

David's prayer plays the melody of our own lives, but he plays that familiar tune to the harmony of hope for God's justice, mercy, and peace. Here is where David's prayer departs from our own experience of life, because we often do not go to the Lord with the same faith and hope that he has. David's prayer is thus a model for us, an exemplar of responding to hardship in the light of God's presence, God's sovereign rule, and God's love.

One thing about David's prayer, which we don't see in any English translation, supports this understanding of it: "This psalm is a Hebrew acrostic poem; each verse begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet" (NLTSB, note on Ps 25). This means that Ps 25 was written to be memorized, meditated on, and to serve as instruction in the hearts of God's people. We would do well to take it to heart.

From the middle of life, let us long for the Lord and pray with David, "O God, ransom Israel from all its troubles" (Ps 25:22).

Isaiah 2:1-5 (Mosaic, Advent 1)

SAH.Tyndale@gmail.com (Sean Harrison) — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 13:00:00 +0000

Isaiah envisions a future time when "the mountain of the LORD's house will be the highest of all" -- when people recognize God's rule and revere his name, when the nations listen to his instructions and do as he says. At that time, conflicts and wars will cease as "the LORD will mediate between nations and settle international disputes." Nations will be at peace with one another, not because their grievances have been suppressed, but because they have been resolved by the LORD.

Isaiah calls this future time "the last days." "In the NT, [this expression] is used to refer to the period that began with the coming of the Lord Jesus (Heb 1:2) and more specifically to the period immediately preceding the end of the present age (2 Pet 3:3)" (NLTSB, note on Isa 2:2). Hebrews 1:2 refers to Jesus' first advent as "these final days" -- "These final days refers to the historical era inaugurated at Christ's coming (see Isa 2:2; Acts 2:17). Whereas the revelation of the OT era came in a wide variety of forms over time, God's ultimate revelation was given through his Son, Jesus" (NLTSB, note on Heb 1:2). 2 Peter 3:3 also talks about the last days, and the note comments, "Peter was not merely predicting an event in the future; he was speaking about his readers' situation. In the NT, the last days refers to the period from Jesus' first coming to his second coming (see Acts 2:17; Heb 1:2)" (NLTSB, note on 2 Pet 3:3).

The last days are "already, and not yet" -- just like everything else about our Christian hope. Jesus has come, and he has established his kingdom over earth, and he has instructed his students to teach everyone to obey him (Matt 28:18-20). At the same time, Jesus has not yet come again, and we long to see his kingdom established. When we read Isaiah's description of that future time when God's rule has spread over all the earth, it sounds like a far cry from our own time, and every other time in human history.

And so we wait for the coming of the LORD. Come, Lord Jesus, and establish your name as the highest name on earth. Come, Lord Jesus, and teach the nations to walk in your ways. Come, Lord Jesus, mediate between the nations and settle international (and local!) disputes.

In the meantime, as Isaiah urges, "Come, descendants of Jacob" -- and all who wait for the Lord -- "let us walk in the light of the LORD!" (Isa 2:5).

Advent Mosaic

SAH.Tyndale@gmail.com (Sean Harrison) — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 18:06:00 +0000

This fall saw the launch of Holy Bible: Mosaic, an innovative new devotional Bible. The weekly Scripture readings are based on the Revised Common Lectionary, and are accompanied by devotional reflections and artwork from every century of the Christian church, every continent, and every major Christian tradition. It is a feast for the eyes and the spirit.

Earlier this week I returned from a week at the Evangelical Theological Society and Society for Biblical Literature annual meetings in New Orleans. While there, we handed out several hundred Mosaic Devotions for Advent (along with several hundred cards advertising NLTinterlinear.com). The response to Mosaic was very strong and very favorable.

During the four weeks of the Advent season, I plan to post five posts per week based on the Scripture readings and meditative focus of each week in Holy Bible: Mosaic and Devotions for Advent. The focus of the first week is "Longing," and the first post on Isa. 2:1-5 will be published this coming Monday morning.

I invite you to read through Devotions for Advent with me and join me in discussing these Scripture readings and the devotional reflections from Mosaic.

NLTinterlinear.com, Day Two

SAH.Tyndale@gmail.com (Sean Harrison) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 20:55:00 +0000

We had a stunning first day out of the gate with NLTinterlinear.com. At least, I was stunned, and so was the server. We got so much traffic that our server couldn't take the load, and died a bloody, memory-swapping death. A friend commented: "I heard that your server crashed and you need ... to point to new servers. First off congratulations, since your site is popular enough to crash the servers! :-)".

So, we stayed up late, got up early, and have now moved the site to another, more robust location. Ah, growing pains! It's a good kind of pain.

Thank you to everyone who has expressed interest in and enthusiasm for the new site. Here are some of the comments that we have already received:

"I haven't used this extensively yet, but the functions you've included seem incredibly useful. I can't wait to recommend it to the teachers and leaders of our church. . . . And will you have Hebrew tools available soon? Thanks for developing this great resource!"
"I love the variety of tools! An interlinear and a reverse-interlinear. And the Greek text. This will prove to be very helpful. I'm sure this will become a standard resource for many of our leaders, especially those who haven't yet invested in Bible software such as Accordance or Logos."
"This is a game changer for me!!!"
"Just realized today that NLTInterlinear.com parses AND provides glosses for Greek words...WOW, what an OUTSTANDING resource."

Thanks, folks. What other input do you have for us?

NLTInterlinear.com

SAH.Tyndale@gmail.com (Sean Harrison) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 17:20:00 +0000

Today we are announcing the beta release of NLTinterlinear.com, a new website dedicated to helping people study the Bible in the original languages alongside the NLT text.

The website is based on a detailed morphological matchup between the Greek New Testament and the NLT text. The matchup is produced by James Swanson, an author and editor who has devoted his career to writing and editing concordances, and lexicography based on semantic domains. This matchup allows us to produce an interlinear that includes an exhaustive Greek-English Concordance of the New Testament.

One of the benefits of using the NLT for this kind of study is that the NLT translates the meaning of each Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic word in context. So, for instance, in the above screenshot of the concordance for χαρις ("grace, favor"), the NLT text on the right highlights all of the different ways that this word is translated into English. This enables us to see very easily the full range of meanings that is possible for a given Greek word, a benefit that is not available when using more "woodenly literal" translations.

I am personally very excited about this release. As one of the men who attends our Wednesday evening Bible study said, "This tool will help average people like me to understand the language of the Bible so much better." And as Jim Swanson said to me in an email, "The site is just beautiful. I could go on and on about the various features. . . . Thanks for making my vision and long work come to harvest time."

So visit the site (NLTinterlinear.com), sign up for free, and take it for a spin. And then please let me know your thoughts and suggestions here in the comments or using the on-site feedback link.

Exploring Scripture with the NLT Study Bible

SAH.Tyndale@gmail.com (Sean Harrison) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 14:50:00 +0000

This fall our weekly home Bible study group began reading through the Bible. Our basic aim is to read each week's passages around the dinner table with our families, then to meet as families and discuss the passages that we have read. Since reading plans are part of my job description, I created a reading plan for us to use, which you can download here (254KB PDF).

Unlike other Bible reading programs, this one is designed to take four years to complete the OT, two years to read the NT, Psalms, and Proverbs. That is because this reading plan is designed for dinner-table Bible reading, and one-year Bible reading plans are too fast for that, especially if you want to allow time for conversation about the passages that have been read. On days that we read together as a family (which is approximately half of the evenings most weeks), we like to spend about 30 minutes reading and discussing Scripture, and about 30 minutes reading another book (we're currently working on Little Britches by Ralph Moody, a book and a series that I would certainly recommend both for enjoyment and for life lessons).

Our weekly family Bible reading brings me to the topic of this post. This week, I am beginning a series of blog posts called "Exploring Scripture with the NLT Study Bible" (label: Exploring Scripture). Every week, I plan to choose one or more passages from our family reading and explore some question or interesting issue in the text, using the NLT Study Bible as my first point of entry, but going beyond it as far as time allows. My aim is not to pimp the NLT Study Bible, at least not directly, but to see what are its strengths and weaknesses in daily, family use. I expect that this process will highlight places where the NLTSB is strong, but I also expect that it will uncover weaknesses that should be remedied. Ultimately, my aim is to prepare for the inevitable process of creating a second edition.

So I want to extend a serious invitation to you. First, what questions about the text would you like to see addressed in this series? Second, if you would like to read through the Bible with our Bible study group, please let me know by getting in touch with me, and come share your own thoughts in the comments each week or on your own blog. Or, if you just want to do something similar in your own -- reading the Bible with the NLT Study Bible and writing about it -- let us know that, too (comments on this post are a good place to do that), so that we can follow along with you on your journey.

Technical Difficulties Resolved, Future Plans

SAH.Tyndale@gmail.com (Sean Harrison) — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 21:58:00 +0000

We've been having some technical difficulties with the blog for the past couple of weeks, but now our crack team of web programmers has solved them, so things should be able to continue normally. My plan is to continue to keep you apprised of developments with the NLT Study Bible, and with "NLT study" as a general topic. For example, coming up soon I plan to discuss the NLT Study Series, an innovating and exciting series of Bible studies that we are publishing, beginning this fall with Genesis, John, James, and Romans.

I also will continue to interact with content in the NLT Study Bible, issues of translation, and studying with the NLT. Looking forward to it!

But let me ask you: What other kinds of topics would you like to see addressed on this blog?

NLTSB Online, version 2

SAH.Tyndale@gmail.com (Sean Harrison) — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 17:00:00 +0000

Tyndale has just released the next version of the online NLT Study Bible. Here is Laura Bartlett, marketing manager for the NLT, to tell you about it. -SAH

NLT Study Bible Online: Public and Private Note-Taking
by Laura Bartlett

We've launched phase two of the NLT Study Bible online! This release makes the online study Bible even more user-friendly with the addition of a few new features, especially public and private note-taking.

Private notes: Create comments alongside the text just as you would write notes in the margins of a print Bible. Every time you log on to your account, those notes will be there. Only you will be able to see these notes. Make notes on a single verse or any range of verses within a book.

Public notes: You can create comments alongside the text that anyone using the NLT Study Bible can see and respond to. Benefit from others’ insights, ask questions, and understand the Bible better together. You can toggle on and off the NLT Study Notes, public notes and private notes so you can decide what sets you want to see.

There are a few other nice upgrades which you may notice makes browsing and searching the text a bit easier, including the ability to independently scroll the Bible text and notes, and increase or decrease the font size.

The NLT Study Bible was the first study Bible to launch with full online access available to owners, and now this is the first online study Bible to offer both public and private note-making.

If you already have an NLT Study Bible online account, this feature has already been activated in your account. If you don't have an account, sign up for a 30-day free trial here (or purchase an NLT Study Bible--each copy has a unique user code so you can create an account). If you have previously used a trial account, your account has been re-activated for 30 days so you can try out the new feature.

Smyth-Sewn Genuine Leather

SAH.Tyndale@gmail.com (Sean Harrison) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 13:51:00 +0000

I am pleased to report that this fall the NLT Study Bible will be available in Smyth sewn, genuine leather bindings (black and burgundy). I have always preferred sewn bindings and genuine leather covers for their durability and beauty. Most Bibles by most publishers are glued, and the glues have gotten quite good. But a sewn binding is still more durable than a glued binding, and Smyth sewing is the highest quality sewing process -- it uses durable binders' thread and creates a lie-flat binding that can last for a long, long time. For instance, the Smyth sewn, genuine leather NASB ultrathin reference Bible that I bought in 1987 and used daily for over 10 years is still in very good condition. I would expect that the Smyth sewn NLT Study Bible should be a very durable, high-quality product as well.

In addition to the genuine leather editions of the NLT Study Bible, there are two new "LeatherLike" bindings, chocolate/chocolate, and chocolate/dusty blue. My personal copy of the NLT Study Bible is the chocolate/tan binding that was so popular last year, and it has served me well. The LeatherLike covers that Tyndale uses are very nice, with a good tactile feeling (and perhaps even a hint of real leather scent? I might be imagining it...).

While we're talking about bindings, what bindings of the NLT Study Bible are you most interested in seeing? Please let me know in the comments!

Review in Bible Study Magazine

SAH.Tyndale@gmail.com (Sean Harrison) — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 13:36:00 +0000

Bible Study Magazine reviewed the NLT Study Bible for its March–April issue, and has posted the review online: It is the fourth item down on the magazine preview page.

So Many Translations: How Do I Choose?

SAH.Tyndale@gmail.com (Sean Harrison) — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 20:30:00 +0000

Mark Taylor, Mark Strauss, and I gave a presentation this afternoon at CBE in Dallas entitled, "So Many Translations: How Do I Choose?" I've posted a PDF of our notes here.

Bible Trivia #1

SAH.Tyndale@gmail.com (Sean Harrison) — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 15:46:00 +0000

On Thursday, one of my teammates at Tyndale asked a couple of Bible questions:

Can anyone name the second capital of the Northern Kingdom of Israel? (No Wikipedia. I used that.)

For two more points, can you name all three in order?

For three more points, do you know the years they served as capitals (I don’t have the answer to this…yet)?

"Hmmm," I thought. "Interesting questions. I'll bet the NLT Study Bible can answer them." So I went to the NLT Study Bible online, and within five minutes I had the answers:

Shechem (931-909) – 1 Kings 12

Tirzah (909-886 BC) – 1 Kings 15:21, 32-34

Samaria (886-722 BC) – 1 Kings 16:23-24

That was fun.

Retrospective Reflections #2: The Bible

SAH.Tyndale@gmail.com (Sean Harrison) — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 13:00:00 +0000

N.B. This has been a difficult post to write, which is why I have delayed in writing it. Thank you for your patience. -SAH

What did I learn about the Bible from serving as the general editor of the NLT Study Bible? That's the second question that Mark Taylor asked me to address in my “retrospective” talk to our scholarly contributors at the SBL (Society for Biblical Literature) annual meeting.

When I began working on the NLT Study Bible, one of the questions that interested me was, How does the Bible fit with the rest of what we know historically? Do academic biblical scholars still find it to be largely reliable in light of all of the evidence that can be adduced?

What I found is that, without minimizing some of the difficulties that exist, the text of the Bible holds up extremely well under historical scrutiny. Historical scholarship that is not biased by outdated or antagonistic assumptions generally finds the Bible text to be historically reliable and accurate. There are remarkable correspondences and harmonies between the biblical record and what we know from other sources, such as the Egyptians, Babylonians, Assyrians, Persians, Greeks, and Romans. The common perception that the Bible is unhistorical is definitely unjustified.

As regards theology, it is perennially difficult to systematize Scripture while taking every part of it seriously from a historical and linguistic perspective. At the same time, the Bible has a deep coherence that belies that description. In the process of editing the NLT Study Bible, I grew a lot in my appreciation for that coherence.

At the same time, I grew in my skepticism toward those who claim that they have the One True And Right Way of understanding the theology of the Bible. The mind of God, the author of Scripture, is infinite, whereas the minds of human beings are very finite. What this means in practical terms is that we have something to learn from people in every Christian tradition. That's why I have sought to minimize the impact of any single tradition in the NLT Study Bible, and to include authors who represent a variety of perspectives.

I learned, much more than I had understood before, that the Bible does not submit itself to our minds. We must come to it and submit to it, heart and soul and mind and strength. It does not allow us depend on our own understanding, or to be confident in ourselves in any way. Instead, it provokes us to the deepest confidence in it and in the God who authored it, and a humble thankfulness for what he has given. The Bible brings us the words of eternal life.

Finally, I learned that my knowledge of the Bible and theology is too limited. I need to read the Greek NT more often, and the Septuagint, and learn Hebrew so I can read the Hebrew OT. I need to study theology more deeply and broadly, and spend more hours wrestling with the meanings of individual passages. That's going to take a long time -- the rest of the days allotted to me, and may God make them productive for his kingdom.

Retrospective Reflections #1: Project Management

SAH.Tyndale@gmail.com (Sean Harrison) — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 14:00:00 +0000

Recently I was in Boston at the Society for Biblical Literature annual meeting. Tyndale was hosting a dinner, as we have done for the past several years, for the scholars who work with us as contributors. This year, Mark Taylor asked me to share my thoughts about the NLT Study Bible project in retrospect: What I learned about project management, what I learned about the Bible, what I would do differently if I had it to do again, and what we should expect over the next few years by way of revisions and updates. Here are some of the things that I said, with more detail than I was able to provide in a short 10~12 minute presentation.

What I learned about project management

First, project management is both simpler and more difficult than I could have imagined.

It is simpler, because we don't really need to develop complex systems for managing a large project like the NLT Study Bible. Instead, we simply need a few very straightforward practices that help us to ensure we are on track for completing the project.

Early on, we spent a lot of time and effort developing complicated tracking systems. We made the classic mistake of trying to understand the entire task set for every subproject at the beginning, and then to build a schedule around it. We would list every task in a subproject, the number of days it would take to complete each task, and then build a schedule from the results. We kept thinking that, if we only spent more time analyzing what needed to be done and how long we thought it should take, we would be able to manage the project well and control the schedule effectively. But in fact, it doesn't work that way: Tasks kept taking longer (always longer) than we thought they would, and so the schedule kept slipping as we tried to re-work our estimates of time. It was overly complicated and incessantly frustrating to try to manage the project this way.

As it turns out, we were making it more complicated than we needed to, and (perhaps more importantly) we were approaching project management from the wrong direction. The establishing of a schedule is not completely dependent on the list of tasks that need to be done, because there are creative ways to combine tasks and otherwise fit the process to the time that is available.

In the end, there is a much simpler way of managing a large project than to try to establish comprehensive process/task lists for every subproject. A revolution in my thinking took place when our team (Tyndale Bible editors) together read the book Getting Things Done by David Allen. The GTD approach is, essentially, to do a review of projects every week and establish a list of "next actions." Then, you work through these next actions.

After reading GTD, I put it to use in managing the NLT Study Bible project, and found it to be a liberating and empowering methodology. As applied to the NLT Study Bible, it involved first estimating what needed to be done on each subproject, from which we estimated a schedule. This was not done in complex detail, but simply in broad terms based on experience over many years with many Bible projects. From this we developed a "bound book date" commitment (which we kept!). Then -- simply -- it required reviewing each active subproject each week and doing the next thing that can be done at every point in time, with priority going to the task that is next in line on the schedule. This approach is several orders of magnitude more "simple" than trying to analyze all the required tasks and their duration as the basis of a schedule.

Nevertheless, the second thing I learned is that project management is much more difficult than I could have imagined, for two reasons: First, it requires intense spiritual commitment and psychological stamina. A long, involved project like a study Bible goes on for a long time -- in our case, we spent about 7.5 years developing it from the time the prototypes were approved to the day the final pages went to the printer. I know that others have been able to work more quickly (in this regard, I'd be interested in hearing Justin Taylor's experiences managing the ESV Study Bible project). But either way, there is no way around the fact that managing a large project requires longevity of stamina that few other things I have been involved with require. Second, it requires (even in a simplified management methodology) tracking and carrying in one's heart and mind a very large number of different projects. It takes a lot of energy to keep track of so many things, and it can be wearying.

In my case, I was both managing the project and serving as the general editor, so I would constantly be putting on either my project management hat or my editor hat. It is hard to be a project manager while doing substantive editorial work, and vice versa. One way I handled it was to do all of the project management that I could for a day, then dive in and edit manuscripts without looking up for the rest of the week. This was the only way that I could develop the necessary depth of focus to do the substantive editorial work that I needed to do.

The third thing I learned about project management is that relationships are both the oil and the fuel that make the project run well. Throughout the course of the NLT Study Bible project, I sought to pay attention not just to the tasks at hand but also to the people who were involved in the project. When I sent an email about a task, I would often also ask about the contributor's life and experiences, and if the contributor told me some detail (such as, "I am going to the Philippines for six weeks to teach" or "My son is having trouble in school right now"), I would ask about it and interact with it. Very often, the personal conversations would take on a life of their own, and I found myself developing friendships with many of the contributors. On several occasions, I was able to meet with contributors when traveling through their home areas or, as often was the case, at the Evangelical Theological Society and Society for Biblical Literature annual meetings. Developing these relationships was one of the most rewarding parts of the project for me.

But it was not just personally rewarding, it was also beneficial to the project and to Tyndale House Publishers, my employer. Building good relationships means that people enjoy working together and want to be involved in the project and to do their best from the heart, and not (just) because there is a deadline hanging over them. There were times that I had to be the bad guy by insisting that things be done by a particular date, but for the most part people were responsible and did their work with pleasure in a timely way. Many of the contributors have said to me, on different occasions, that they have enjoyed working with me and this project much more than other projects they have been involved with. This is good business, in addition to making the whole project much more rewarding for everyone.

What would I do differently if I had it to do again?

First, as I discussed above, I would worry less about procedures and systems, and more about making realistic assessments. We worked hard to establish "standard procedures" that we would follow for developing and editing the subprojects. There was a sense in which I was trusting the procedures. These procedures were often useful and trustworthy. But often enough, a particular manuscript needed to be handled in its own way because of what we were given as a draft.

Second, I would move earlier in the project to dealing with the books of the Bible in "order," Genesis to Revelation. At the beginning of the project, I was dealing with the books of the Bible in whatever order they arrived as drafts from authors. This approach was justified, because I couldn't control when a particular scholar would finish making a draft. However, having things out of canonical order was difficult for various in-house departments such as copyediting and typesetting, because our systems are designed around working through a Bible in batches, from Genesis to Revelation. It also made it difficult for me to understand intuitive how far along we were. In retrospect I was too slow in moving to a canonical order for the project. Once we made the switch, it meant that some NT manuscripts suddenly sat unattended for a couple of years while we worked from Genesis forward. But it immediately made the whole project intuitively understandable, and things started falling more readily into place in a variety of ways. The value of that was enormous for everyone who was involved.

Third, I would probably delegate more to others, if I could find an effective way to do so. Now, I admit that I still have mixed feelings about delegation. In serving as the general editor, I reviewed everything -- every change, every addition, every deletion -- in addition to giving everything my own editorial reading. Although other editors read all the manuscripts alongside me, and we had scholarly general reviewers read everything, and there were copyeditors and proofreaders reading behind me, nevertheless I was the primary editor. On the one hand, there was definitely a benefit in doing things the way we did them. It was beneficial, I believe, to have a unified voice for the entire NLT Study Bible, and the feedback we have gotten is that it is uniformly well written -- so there is a payoff to having one soul fully involved in everything. On the other hand, it meant that the project took a long time -- I was the primary bottleneck. Toward the end of the NLT Study Bible project, I was working with the idea, "Delegate everything that I can." This proved to be an effective management philosophy, because it meant that I focused my attention only on those things that actually needed it. Next time, I would like to take it further.

Those are some of the things I learned about project management from editing the NLT Study Bible. In the next installment, I will talk about what I learned about the Bible.

Contributor Interview: Henry M. Whitney

SAH.Tyndale@gmail.com (Sean Harrison) — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 14:00:00 +0000

Henry M. Whitney served as a freelance content editor for the NLT Study Bible.

Tell us about your involvement in the NLT Study Bible.

My job description was to anticipate the questions of the “person in the pew” and see if the NLT and study notes answered them well.

What other work have you done as an editor?

My main editing work has been to copy edit term papers, theses, and dissertations written by nonnative-English-speaking students at graduate institutions, mostly Westminster Seminary.

Of all the parts of the NLT Study Bible that you worked on, which was the most interesting to you? Why?

There was the everyday experience of seeing writers connect scriptural dots in ways I wondered why I hadn’t thought of. Sometimes I’d agree, but sometimes not. For example, I’m still not sold on the interpretation of the psalter as an integrated, developed whole, but the notes posited the existence of threads that certainly looked plausible and that I wouldn’t have thought of.

Which part of your work was the hardest? Why?

I’m not much of a lateral thinker, so coming up with good “why this and not that?” questions was hard.

You worked for, what, 20 years in PNG as a translator? And you have a very precise mind for language, meaning, and theology. In light of all of that, how was it for you to work on the NLT Study Bible and with the NLT?

It was about 19 years. As I was working on the NLT Study Bible, I kept hearing the voice of my translation instructor from 1980 (!) insisting that the Living Bible was not a paraphrase but a good example of what a real translation into a minority language in a preliterate, pre-Christian culture could be. I think the NLT1 was a big improvement over the LB (as one would expect given the different objectives and available resources), and the NLT2 is even better. We have been reading the NLT1 in family devotions, but now that my copy of the NLT2 has arrived, of course we’ll make the change.

What other projects have you worked on recently?

My day job includes copy editing monographs by leftist professors (who accurately note that the house is on fire and describe the causes, then propose to douse the fire with kerosene) and by occasional little-known Christian writers. Lately I’ve spent considerable time converting the files of one of Tyndale’s competitors’ study Bible notes and theological works from the format used in typesetting hard copy to formats for reading on personal and handheld computers. My freelancing still involves copy editing academic papers.

Is one of them particularly meaningful to you? Why / In what ways?

I find most of the monographs interesting, even if I often see the same names in the bibliographies. While I’m frustrated that the church doesn’t seem to be dealing with the problems described therein, I’m heartened when biblical solutions come to mind, and my prayer is that believers who attend the institutions that put the books in their libraries will read them, apply Scripture to the problems, and so heal the sick and free the oppressed in Christ’s name. I don’t really interact with the content of the works I do code conversion on, so my primary growth there is in discovering ways to automate the tedium.

Is there anything else you would like to say?

Just that I enjoyed working on the project and was sad to see it end.

A Gift to Translators

SAH.Tyndale@gmail.com (Sean Harrison) — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 18:00:00 +0000

Tyndale House has a long-standing partnership with Wycliffe Bible Translators, whose vision is to "make God's Word accessible to all people in the language of their heart." Every copy of the NLT contains the following statement on the copyright page:

Tyndale House Publishers and Wycliffe Bible Translators share the vision for an understandable, accurate translation of the Bible for every person in the world. Each sale of the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, benefits Wycliffe Bible Translators. Wycliffe is working with partners around the world to accomplish Vision 2025—an initiative to start a Bible translation program in every language group that needs it by the year 2025.

One of the partners that Wycliffe and Tyndale work with is the Seed Company, whose vision is "creatively networking God's people around the world to translate the Bible into every language for his glory." In short, the Seed Company works with nationals to do the work of Bible translation into their own language, rather than following the traditional model of sending western missionary-translators to complete a Bible translation themselves.

Roy Peterson, president of the Seed Company, giving the NLT Study Bible to a group of Nigerian translators (Fall 2008).

This past fall Tyndale House had the opportunity to give a gift of NLT Study Bibles to the Seed Company. Roy Peterson, president of the Seed Company, distributed these Bibles to a group of Nigerian Bible translators and then sent us a thank-you note with a roll of photos of the event to enjoy.

May God bless these men and women who are involved in translating the Bible in Nigeria, and may he bless the work of the Seed Company in helping to make it happen. And may the NLT Study Bible be blessing to those who are involved in the work.

Contributor Interview: Gary M. Burge

SAH.Tyndale@gmail.com (Sean Harrison) — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 13:00:00 +0000

Gary M. Burge is a Professor of New Testament at Wheaton College, where he has been teaching since 1992. He has been a part of the NLT translation team from the beginning and was the author of the study materials for the Gospel of John in the NLT Study Bible. On his Wheaton faculty profile page, he states the following perspective on his work:

As I teach New Testament at Wheaton, I want my students to grasp how knowing the unique world of the Middle East in antiquity shapes how we read the New Testament today. Jesus’ cultural reflexes were different than ours and unless we understand him in his world, we risk misrepresenting his story. The setting of first century Palestine must be the lens through which we read the gospels. This has been the passion of my career since the 1970s and I want my students to inherit it.

Dr. Burge recently gave me the following interview for this blog.

Tell us about your involvement in the NLT Study Bible.

I first began working on the NLT quite a few years ago when I was invited to join the translation team for the Gospel of John. It was an inspiring assignment which brought together respected scholars who were able to work within the tradition of the Living Bible and yet go back to the original Greek, use modern translation techniques, and produce a truly dynamic translation. Then I was asked to work on the study notes for the gospel in the NLT Study Bible. This meant writing an introductory article, comments on the text of John, and numerous sidebars — short studies that are threaded throughout the Bible. The most rewarding aspect of the assignment was remembering how many people would benefit from these efforts. It was that vision that kept each of us going in our various tasks.

Why did John, among all the books of the Bible, draw your interest?

I think that my interest in John parallels that of the church. It is with good reason that John has always been the beloved gospel of the church. It has a depth of meaning that is remarkable. It has symbols and double meanings that are a delight to untangle. And because it is a gospel that bridges two cultures — Jewish and Greek — it speaks of Christ in universal terms that almost anyone can understand. Which explains why John not only is ideal reading for non-Christians and new-Christians, but John continues to fascinate scholars year after year. Popular expositions of John appear every year — as well as a trainload of academic articles.

Is there an example of a symbol or double-meaning that you have enjoyed untangling in John, that has led you to deeper insight?

Double meanings appear throughout the gospel and they say two things: One, that the reality we see contains deeper truths which only the grace of God can reveal to us and two, that our inability to comprehend leads to lives of deep irony. Nicodemus serves as the most obvious example. Nicodemus must be born again. The word “born again” can also be translated “born from above” in Greek. But Nicodemus cannot comprehend and so is trapped in his own ironic misunderstanding. He must return to the womb? No. Rebirth means experiencing the Spirit of God. It really means being born “from above.” Without divinely-given insight to our lives, we simply become ironic. The wedding jars in Cana are another example of double meaning. On the one hand, Jesus is solving a problem at a wedding: They have no wine. On the other hand, the story means more. Jesus is filling a vessel for ritual use with new contents. He is supplying “wine” to a setting that is without. He is replacing ritual washing water with his own gift to Judaism. The same double meaning comes up at the end Jn 2. When Jesus predicts the destruction of the Temple and its rebuilding, he is not just talking about the stone structure in Jerusalem. He’s talking about his own body — which, as John makes clear, is the Temple of God.

What other work have you done with the Gospel of John?

I guess the Gospel of John has been an interest of mine for a long time. In 1987 I published a book on the doctrine of the Holy Spirit in John called The Anointed Community. After this I wrote a seminary/college textbook on John (Interpreting the Gospel of John, 1992), a commentary on John’s letters (The NIV Application Commentary: Letters of John, 1996), and a full length commentary on John’s Gospel (The NIV Application Commentary: The Gospel of John, 2000). In between I’ve published various articles here and there on John’s writings. Presently I’m fascinated by the new discovery of the Pool of Siloam, its use as a ritual bath, and what this means for John (who refers to it).

All right, what does the Pool of Siloam mean for John?

If the pool of Siloam in south Jerusalem refers to ritual washing — and not just water collection either for private or ritual temple use — then it symbolizes something important for John. Water appears in Jn 1 in Jesus’ baptism, in Jn 2 in the jars containing ritual washing water, in Jn 3 as the prerequisite cleansing offered to Nicodemus, in Jn 4 as living water — which refers to ritual cleansing water (every Jewish ritual bath had to have “living water” in it), Jn 5 has a man trying to get into water for healing, etc. You can see the pattern. John is concerned to probe how it is one might be made clean — not hygienically, but in relation to God. This is an enormous Jewish concept in the first century. Now we can add Jn 9 to this list. The healed man is told to wash in Siloam, and now we see that it is a ritual bath he is told to go to. And John’s spin on the story is that since Siloam means "sent" in Hebrew, and Jesus is the "sent one" from God, so he is told to bathe, to be cleansed in the bath whose only analogue is Christ. Jesus is either presenting people with new water or replacing old water throughout this gospel.

What is the most important thing that people should learn from studying John?

John’s gospel helps to shape a Christian worldview. Just the first 18 verses of the gospel sets the stage. John shows us how the world is in desperate darkness and incapable of extricating itself from the desperate situation it is in. And the only hope is for God to intervene unilaterally — like light piercing the darkness — to reveal who God is and what our true circumstances have become. Light both judges (by showing the truth) and saves (by showing us the way out). In John’s Gospel, these themes are played out like a drama and characters either retreat to the darkness or embrace the light. Here’s a hint: notice how often a crowd watches something Jesus has said or done. And then the crowd splits. Choices are made. Honesty is required. John hopes that we (the audience) will see ourself in those crowds and make the right choices.

Do you have any other suggestions for people as they undertake the study of John?

When reading John, pretend you don’t know much about Matthew, Mark and Luke! Let it stand on its own terms. For example, no miracle is called a “miracle” in John, they are called “signs.” John wants you to ask why. But to call them “miracles” is to rob them of the mystery John is infusing into the story. Here’s another example: throughout the gospel we’re told that “the hour” is coming. This is the “hour of glorification” when Jesus goes to the cross. But wait. John wants us to see that this hour is not a time of crisis (he leaves that theme to the other gospels). The hour of the cross is a time of glory when Jesus “lifted up” for all to see his glory and he begins his ascent to the Father. John is like a great artist, highlighting nuances of Jesus’ life and its meaning in ways we’d miss otherwise.

How does John’s calling miracles “signs” infuse the story with mystery? Or, what is the significance of that for John?

The word “sign” means that something lies beneath the surface. Something has to be explored and interpreted. On its own, the world is incapable of seeing the light for what it is. In fact, the world prefers darkness. So while the word “miracle” points to a sheer act of power, “sign” implies that the miracle has a veiled meaning which can only be discerned with great care. This permits John to lend mystery to the story in matters such as foreshadowing and veiled allusions. There are seven signs in John and each of them have this veiled quality. Jesus feeds 5,000 in chapter 6, but it is more than a nice meal. It is a return to Moses’ miracle of manna in the wilderness. And more, it is a foreshadowing of Jesus himself — the Bread of Life — who will give his life on the cross and so feed the world.

What other projects have you worked on recently?

A strong interest of mine has also been the Middle East and the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. This came about because I was a student once in the Mideast and have returned now over 20 times to all the countries between Iraq and Libya. In 2003 I wrote Whose Land? Whose Promise? What Christians are not being told about Israel and the Palestinians. This was received very well both here and internationally and won two awards. This has been very gratifying. Currently I’ve just finished a massive (500 page) introduction to the New Testament (The New Testament in Antiquity) with two colleagues, two smaller books on how the Bible’s culture shaped a particular spirituality lost to us today (The Bible and the Land, 2009; Jesus the Middle Eastern Story Teller, 2009), and I’m in the process of writing a book on how the New Testament views “holy land.” Here I ask some tough questions of Christian Zionism and wonder aloud how the New Testament might speak to us today about some who are eager to make divine claims to territory (“holy land”). It has been a fascinating journey this year and I hope it will provoke many of us to revisit the scriptures on this important subject.

Is one of them particularly meaningful to you?

The textbook was a huge 5 year project that it is inevitable to feel invested in it. But I’d have to say that my work in 2003 (Whose Land? Whose Promise?) on Israel and my current effort (The Land in the New Testament) are very close to my heart. So many of us in the western church do not have an accurate read on what is happening in these countries. And worse yet, we use our Bibles to answer questions in ways that have never been done before in Christian history. And frequently the answers we provide are simply wrong. Many of us have contributed to the suffering of Jews and Arabs in Israel/Palestine because of our faith rather than being agents of hope and peace. It is very gratifying to feel as if you are speaking truth to a conflict and helping the church see things differently. I am regularly asked to speak publicly on this issue around the country thanks to these writings, and I do so eagerly. It is what I care about deeply.

Thank you for taking the time to talk with us today.

Do you, our readers, have any further questions for Dr. Burge, especially in relation to his work on the NLT Study Bible?