Views & Reviews: The Life Application Study Bible
The multiplication of Bibles has no end. They are available in every colour and hue, size and shape, with footnotes directed to every age, occupation, and interest group imaginable. Some seem to have merit, and others have little or none. One of the popular current offerings is a large volume called the Life Application Study Bible (LASB). The one I have beside me now uses the New American Standard Bible text, and it was published by Zondervan in the year 2000. However, the study notes were apparently produced earlier by Tyndale House Publishers.
Along with the usual outlines, maps, and background material found in many study Bibles, the LASB has thousands of footnotes intended to show the reader how the text applies to daily life. A noble aim, but does it succeed? In my view the result is certainly mixed. This is not a Bible I would recommend to others. Its publisher claims the LASB is the best-selling study Bible on the market today. That could be a good thing. But perhaps it simply shows the lack of doctrinal clarity and spiritual depth in too many North American churches, and in the people they serve.
Sample a few notes on critical issues and you will find the LASB trying desperately to ride the fence–likely in an attempt to find acceptance with as many as they can, and sell as many Bibles as possible. “How long did God take to create the world?” They are unsure whether it was in six days of 24 hours each, or whether “each day represents an indefinite period of time (even millions of years).” Thus they leave the door open to evolution. And what of the flood of Noah’s day? Was it a worldwide cataclysm, or merely a local event? All the LASB will admit is “a universal flood was certainly possible.”
In matters of Bible prophecy–the rapture of the church, the tribulation, the millennial kingdom–the LASB is chronically non-committal. Some say this, some say that, and it does not really matter anyway. This latter ploy is frequent, and it reflects the common ecumenical cry, “Let’s ignore doctrine and be one big happy family.” So, in discussing whether creation took only six days we read in the LASB, “It is not important how long it took God to create the world, whether a few days or a few billion years, but that He created it just the way He wanted it.” But this is careless and grossly misleading. Far from being “not important,” our understanding of the plain words of Genesis carries with it huge implications about the trustworthiness of the Bible and the high place given to man by his Creator. Even the plan of salvation is affected.
It is not possible in this brief review to deal with some of these things. But I do want to say a word about the life application notes that provide the main rationale for this volume. Some are fine, but many involve simplistic and superficial applications of the text. Further, the editors sometimes depart from the more likely explanation of biblical events to espouse unusual and largely unsupported explanations.
As an example, consider the account of the famine in the land of Canaan in Abraham’s day (Gen. 12:10-20). Instead of trusting the Lord to provide for him in the Promised Land, Abraham heads down to Egypt in search of food. There are indications that he was not walking with the Lord at the time. He immediately conspires with Sarah to deny their marital status, in order to save his own skin. And it is striking that we have no record of him worshiping God until he later returns to Canaan (13:3-4). The LASB rightly describes this as “a test of Abraham’s faith.” But they tell us “Abram passed” the test because he made use of the intelligence God gave him! This book is not recommended.