Review: NKJV Study Bible

This Bible was formerly titled The Nelson Study Bible New King James Version. Copyright 1982, 1997, 2007.

I have a love-hate relationship with study Bibles. On the one hand, a new student of the Bible can get insights (philosophical, anthroplogoical, theological, spiritual, historical) into the verses and passages by reading the commentary. On the other hand, the human mind is a tricky thing. Bible students have been known to accept/merge the insights (wrong or right ones) into the passages and verses. Basically, if it's written on the page --even if it's not gospel-- it's taken as gospel. Depending on the denomination of the editor and publishing house, one can find some strange commentary. So yeah, we have to be careful about which study Bible one reads.

This Bible has the following features:
New King James Version of the Bible, Cross References with sub-headings and center column reference notes, Prophetic cross-references, Annotations (very accessible language), Introductions and Outlines to each Bible book, Time Lines, Articles on Christian doctrine, Bible time and Culture Notes, Charts, Word Studies, Maps throughout the book and Full-color maps at the back. an article on how to understand what the Bible means, Tools for Bible study, Teachings and Illustrations of Christ, Prophecies of the Messiah, Parables of Jesus, Miracles of Jesus, Prayers of the Bible, Subject Index to Annotations, and a Concordance. And, of course, a table of Contents, a list of Editors and Contributors, and Special Abbreviations..

The commentary on the thorn in the flesh ( 2 Corinthians 12) and the commentary on the gifts of the spirit (1 Corinthians 14) made me smile. I sometimes feel amazement, sometimes wonder, sometimes disgust, sometimes commiseration when I see how the commentators try to show their own viewpoints and interpretations. Thomas Nelson is pretty standard Baptist and although the editors and writers try to give as many opinions as possible, they often use the well-worn line "most interpreters agree,"( which is pretty loaded...after all we don't know which school of interpretations they are using) to direct the reader to their opinions and doctrines.  On the whole, though, it's a solid book. I did, however, find myself wondering how much they had updated the book. After all there have been so many new linguistic, historical, and archaeological discoveries since 1982. It doesn't seem to have been updated too much.

The type font is good. The Bible is solid, big and somewhat heavy but not unbearably so. The cover is aqua and dark blue pleather (I think) and there is one ribbon bookmark.
I got this book free in exchange for a fair and honest review.