Zondervan - Niv, Understand the Faith Study Bible: Grounding Your Beliefs in the Truth of Scripture

NIV UNDERSTAND THE FAITH STUDY BIBLE By the Editors of Christianity Today NIV Understand the Faith Study Bible Copyright 2015 by Christianity Today All rights reserved The Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by Permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Published by Zondervan Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA www.zondervan.com New International Version and NIV are registered trademarks of Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. The NIV Concordance copyright 1982, 1984, 2011 by Zondervan.

All rights reserved. eISBN: 9780310422488

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Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 2014957573

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The books of the New Testament are indicated by italics.

Im in the process of remodeling my garage, which for the most part means adding new electrical lines to run my many power tools. After laying out the conduit that holds the wires, Im ready to attach wires to outlets and switches. Some of the wiring will be a little complicated. What to do? I have two options. I can find a book that simply shows in a colorful diagram that if I want to do X with a switch, here is how to wire it. Thats practical electricity.

Or I can read up on how electricity actually works in a home. I can try to understand which line supplies power, which is neutral, and how the current will go back and forth through the line. Then I can use that information to figure out how to wire the garage. Thats the philosophy of electricity. The first solution worksas long as everything works. But what if after wiring everything, I supply power to my garage and all my circuit breakers shut down? Those colorful diagrams cant help me.

My problem is more complicated than that. Only if I have a grasp of how electricity works will I be able to solve my problem. To know Christian doctrine is to know the philosophybetter called theologyof who God is and how the Christian life works. While its sometimes easiest to consult practical handbooks of Christian living, its crucial that Christians also know theology. Because some problems cannot be solved until we grasp what is going on theologically. I have a friend who had been striving to be the perfect father, husband, employee, church volunteer and public citizenand as a result his emotional rope was fraying.

He realized that the reason he was striving, striving, striving was that he was trying to prove to God that he was worthy of his love. Even though he had been in church for decades, he had somehow bought into a theology of works righteousness, which is about earning Gods favor. When a friend reminded him of the doctrine of gracethat God forgives our sins and covers us with love while we were sinners, long before we could even begin to think about earning itwell, he broke down and cried in gratefulness. Yes, good theology can make you cry. And it can make you praise. And love.

Mostly lovelove God and neighbor. And thats why weve crafted the NIV Understand the Faith Study Bible. It may sound like a Bible just for intellectuals. Nope. Its for anyone who bumps into problems not necessarily addressed in purely practical handbooks on Christian livingwhen the diagrams dont seem to fit reality. And its especially for those who want to deepen their love of God and grow in their love of neighbor.

This Bible could be called The Loving God Bible for that reason. It could also be called The Grace of God Bible. Because the classic doctrines of the Christian faith dont merely point to abstract truths or what were supposed to believe to be good Christians. In the end, all Christian doctrine is about how God is great and gracious. And the better we understand that, the more overwhelmed we are with gratefulnesssometimes to the point of tearsand that only prompts us to praise God and love our neighbor more than ever. Mark Galli Editor, Christianity Today General Editor, NIV Understand the Faith Study Bible Evangelical and Global Every Christian tradition has a theological tradition. Some verses and teachings are more central than others.

Few, if any, Christians today assert that they alone know and follow Gods truth and that all other Christians live in error. We recognize today that every branch of Christianity has some theological gift to bring to the banquet of Christian teaching. Understand the Faith is an attempt to bring a variety of traditions together, especially the centrist, orthodox and evangelical streams. A single doctrinal Bible cannot do everything, and weve chosen this portion. At times well point to the teachings of Eastern Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism, especially where classic evangelicalism is in agreement. But this is a broadly evangelical Bible.

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