“The Grace and Truth Study Bible”: A Review

Book Review Score – 10 out of 10

Book Title: The Grace and Truth Study Bible (published by Zondervan Publishers, 2021)

I received this study Bible as a Christmas gift from my brother-in-law David Gundersen in 2021 and I decided to use it as my source for my Bible reading plan in 2022. It’s been a while since I have used the NIV in a Bible reading plan. In fact, even though it was one of the first Bibles I read as a new Christian; so, it may be about 30 or so years since I read an NIV cover-to-cover.

Each book contains a different scholar or pastor and you will enjoy commentary from the likes of Derek W.H. Thomas, Christopher Ash, David Gundersen (my favorite), Raymond C. Ortlund, Jr., Daniel L. Akin, Andrew D. Naselli, Jason Meyer, Patrick Schreiner, Andreas J. Kostenberger, and Robert L. Plummer, Jr.

This study Bible also includes some standard features you will find in other study Bibles: a table of weights and measurements, concordance, maps, and introductions and overviews of each book.

One criticism: the paper was pretty thin and hard to read in dimmer lighted rooms.

Two strengths:

1. The overviews given before each book are very helpful. They focus less on peoples, places, and times and more on the culture and historical backgrounds, along with the theme of each book. They also seek to place the book’s place in the context of the whole Bible.

2. The verse-by-verse commentary is exceptional. Some study Bibles just comment on words in verses, but this study Bible covers every verse. Less lexical explanations and more explanation of the text as a whole. If you buy this study Bible, you have bought a single-volume commentary on the Bible.

This would be a great resource to give a new Christian or someone who is unfamiliar with the Bible. The NIV, while it may not be a word-for-word translation, captures the essence of the test more often than not. And it’s still the most readable major translation that we have.