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1. Basic Introduction

First, it gives you an index of all of the books of the Bible and what page they are on.

Another really fun page is that throughout the Bible there are charts and maps, infographics, and this is an index of those. It’s a really helpful resource because you can really get a full picture of that time. Next, you’ll see some personal notes from John MacArthur. How we got the Bible is a HUGE question that a lot of people have so diving into that is really important.

Finally, as you are studying the books of the Bible, you can get a quick reference of who the author is and the approximate writing dates for each book of the Bible in the index too. This shows you how to study the Bible and what the abbreviations and special meetings are. If you see something in the Bible that has AD, you know that that does not mean after death. It means in the year of our Lord, which we are in now, 2022 AD.

2. Overview of Scripture

Another really cool thing that I love about this Bible is that it deep dives into the Old Testament and the Pentateuch (aka – the first 5 books of the Bible). It also talks about the major prophets and the minor prophets and the history behind each of them. Additionally, each book of the Bible has a basic breakdown of each book including the title, author, the date, the background, the setting, historical, and theological themes, and my personal favorite, an outline of the entire book.

Next, we’ll look at the actual Scripture in the Bible. You can see there is a Scripture verse on the top half of the page and then a line break underneath. Underneath the break, you’ll see a breakdown of each verse that provides an explanation of what each verse means. If you’re like me and have a hard time understanding what some verses mean, you can immediately go through, with the Holy Spirit’s help of course, and see what John MacArthur writes about the specific verse. I love this because as I’m reading, sometimes I don’t understand what’s going on. But MacArthur explains the verses so well and dives into the Greek word meaning. He’ll also ask you to go look at other verses or chapters too. Not only does he break it down verse by verse but phrase by phrase too. It’s AMAZING and incredibly helpful.

Then we move into the cross referencing feature which I love! You can find this in the center column. For example, in John 1:9, you’ll see it references to look at John 2:8 as well. So if you’re ever in church and the pastor is talking about one verse and then has you pop over to another part of Scripture, chances are he has a really good study Bible that helped him know where to go. Cross referencing is a really interesting way to study the Bible by looking at other parts of Scripture and seeing what is taking place there.

3. Resources Found in The Back of The Bible

Finally, make sure you take a peek at the back of the Bible too. The front of the Bible is not the only fun part! In the back there’s a map along with the daily Bible reading plan in a year. There’s a section on theology to where John MacArthur talks about topics like who is God, the Holy Spirit, salvation, election, angels, the church, etc. Another fun thing in the back is what’s called the concordance. This is where you can find where one specific word is located throughout Scripture.

You can literally pick up your Bible, go on vacation and be able to study Scripture. You don’t need a ton of resources, you don’t need your huge Bible bag, you only need this one resource. I hope you found this video helpful and enjoyed diving into this study Bible together. If you have any questions about the MacArthur Study Bible, comment below and let me know! I’d love to discuss more in depth with you. And if you already own a study Bible, take a selfie and post it in the Facebook community! We’d love to see your fave and get connected in our group.