"Helpful" Tools
Are they helpful, or do they distract from the true meaning of the text?
How do you choose the right Bible for you?
This is a question asked by many believers, and it goes further than just translations. Bibles today have tons of special features added by the publisher that are supposed to help the reader understand what is going on. These features include things like red letters, subtitles, introductory articles, and much more. While some of these features are somewhat helpful, sometimes they can be detrimental to the reading and interpretation of the text.
This article is meant to be a guide to some of the most common features, helping you to figure out when to acknowledge them and when to ignore them.
1. Red-letter Bibles
Is there really anything other than a red-letter Bible these days?
It has become common to print the Bible with the words of our Lord printed in bright red ink. Helpful, right? That way we know which words are most important — those spoken by Jesus.
Except that isn’t how it works.
All of the Bible is important because all of It is inspired by the Holy Spirit.
“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17 ESV)
Plus, sometimes we can get it wrong.
Pop quiz!
Wait a second . . . there’s a question about that?
Yes! In fact, while red-letter editions of the Bible almost, if not always, have this verse as being spoken by our Lord, the tone is so similar to the opening words of John 1 that theologians debate whether the verse records words spoken by Jesus to Nicodemus or commentary by John. (Personally, I lean toward it being John’s commentary.)
So, be attentive to tone while using a red-letter Bible
2. Subtitles
Once upon a time, Bible publishers stuck short phrases at the top of each page to let readers know what was being discussed in a certain passage.
But no more! Now, we stick subtitles smack dab in the middle of the passage!
This bugs me in two ways.
A: It interrupts my train of thought. Plus, I have seen way too many people get confused and think that the subtitle is actually part of the passage. It’s not!
B: I want to read the passage myself, not have the publisher tell me what it’s about.
3. Editing the Format of the Psalms
While I don’t want the publishers’ subtitles, I do want the Psalmist’s!
When the Bible is printed nowadays, we put the original context of the Psalm up above it in addition to our subtitle. You know, when it says, “A Psalm of David,” or “By the Sons of Asaph.”
But, in actuality, that is part of the Psalm itself! In the Hebrew text, it is considered the first verse of the Psalm.
Unfortunately, by delegating it to a subtitle position, we are so apt to gloss over it.
Don’t!
That context is important!
4. Italicized Words
OK, so I actually like the idea behind this, but it leads to confusion for modern readers.
If you use a KJV Bible, you may notice that certain words are italicized. (My NASB also does this. I don’t know what other translations do.)
This does NOT mean that we are emphasizing those words!
If a word is italicized, that means the word was not in the original Hebrew, Greek, or Aramaic text. That word (or phrase) was added to make the text smoother and easier to understand in English.
In our modern day, italicized so often means we are emphasizing a word that people can get confused about this feature. I have seen people look at a phrase in the Bible and go, “Oh, this must be really important since it is italicized.” If anything, it is less important — at least to our interpretation of the text — because it is not in the original text.
I wish publishers would use something else to indicate this, but I am glad that they want to indicate it. Just be aware that when reading the Bible, italicized means “added” not “emphasized.”
Conclusion
I hope this helps you as you read your own Bible. I know that some of these things were actually a shock when I first learned them, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they came as a shock to others as well.
Did you learn something new from this post? If so, let me know in the comments!
Thanks for reading, and happy Bible studying!
Woow this is soo good, God bless you sister! 🤍