Challies Reviews the ESV Study Bible

Earlier I said that I think the ESV Study Bible is the most significant study Bible of my lifetime.  I continue to hold that position.  The number of Study Bibles written in my lifetime is relatively small.  Within that group, many were written by one individual.  Whereas, the ESV Study Bible was written by an all-star team.

This team approach shows up in that the notes do not take a firm position on controversial areas.  You can read Tim Challies initial review here.  Challies notices that the ESV Study Bible does not definite itself narrowly theologically.

Controversial Theology

One concern people are likely to have when considering a new study Bible concerns the theological perspective offered in the notes. Does this particular study Bible take a Reformed or Arminian position on salvation? A complementarian or egalitarian perspective on gender roles? An amillennial or premillennial position on the end times? I looked through many of the notes seeking what this Bible says on some of the more common controversies: end times, spiritual gifts and soteriology. I found this an interesting comparison with the Reformation Study Bible. It seems to me that the Reformation Study Bible came from a much more narrowly-defined theological position; it was Reformed, it was cessationist, it was amillennial. The ESV Study Bible, on the other hand, offers a wider or less-defined perspective. Where the doctrine is clear and undisputed among Evangelicals, so too are the notes. But where doctrines are controversial and within the area of Christian freedom or disputable matters, the notes tend not to take a firm position, even when the author or editor is firmly in one camp or the other. Whether this is positive or negative may well depend on the individual reader.

Click here to read the whole thing.