[.ca] New American Standard Bible - NASB - MacArthur Study ... (ISBN 0718020758)

My favorite Bible:
This is a great study Bible. MacArthur presents a great deal of intelligent insights and background information, as well as outlining every chapter in the Bible. The outlines alone are worth the price of the Bible. His beginning-of-book summaries are the best I've seen, covering each book's author and date of writing, historical context, and even exegetical problems and theological issues. About the New King James Version of the Bible: I started off as an NIV user (since that's the first Bible I ever really used). I always felt the NKJV was sort of a crutch for people who couldn't give up their King James words. But when I saw that MacArthur's study Bible was only available in the NKJV, that made me think again. Now I love this translation: it's both accurate and easy to read. I've read King James Only advocates and am unconvinced that the NKJV is the Enemy's work. For the reviewers who said that MacArthur only presents one point of view: isn't this what's expected? The whole purpose of a study Bible is that the author of that Bible's notes presents his understanding of Biblical passages, which you are then free to accept or reject (obviously, under wise council of other godly people and the control of the Holy Spirit). I have looked at many study Bibles, and they all do exactly that - Ryrie, Scofield, whoever. I am afraid that when other reviews say "he only presents one point of view" they really mean "he doesn't present MY point of view." Besides, in the beginning-of-book "theological issues" sections MacArthur at least deals with other points of view, something that most others don't do. A perfect example is the reviewer who mentioned 1 Corinthians 14. Obviously this fellow doesn't agree with MacArthur. Might I hazard a guess that the reviewer is charismatic? MacArthur appears to be a cessationist. But a study Bible is not the place to cover the issues in detail: if the commentary is not to overwhelm the Biblical text in quantity, probably the best that can be accomplished is to give one point of view. My advice would be to get a good book that covers those types of issues in detail: Wayne Grudem's Systematic Theology does a good job of that (while also taking a particular point of view, somewhat different from MacArthur's). Anyway, if you're looking for a new Bible that you'll love for years to come, get MacArthur's Bible.

Immensely Superior To NIV Study Bible:
For those of you who cant decide between NIV and Macarthur study Bibles, I'll give you sufficient reasons as to why you should buy the Macarthur Study instead of the NIV Study Bible. 1. The notes are much more explanatory than that of the NIV study. 2. There are more useful essays than the NIV study. Plus, theres even a section on the Intertestamental Period in which the NIV study does not include. 3. Uses a more word for word translation, that is the NKJV. Drawbacks: Christ's sayings are not in red-letter, but don't get discouraged, the superiority of the notes alone should persuade you to buy a Macarthur instead of the NIV Study.

Great Bible StudtyTool:
this book is a great help for Bible study. It uses the Bible to understand the Bible, by referring to different passages.

Good, as long as you're content with a single viewpoint...:
John MacArthur has a definite point of view that he believes in and emphasizes in this study Bible. He clearly knows his stuff within his tradition (Reformed / Conservative), but doctrines and viewpoints which Christians can (and do) reasonably disagree on get little or no coverage; deliberately I think. So I would call this study Bible "infuriatingly excellent". Excellent in what it *does* cover, but woefully lacking in what it does not. Readers with no previous knowledge or experience could easily come away thinking (as MacArthur does) that certain difficult passages are perfectly clear, when in fact, believers continue to wrestle with alternate meanings. I think a study Bible should point out passages that have generated disagreement... perhaps defending one viewpoint, but at least giving other views a hearing. I suspect that John MacArthur believes that there are enough even-handed study Bibles on the market already. But since MacArthur rarely seems to mention alternate interpretations, I would recommend other Study Bibles ahead of this one: my personal favorites are The Nelson Study Bible (NKJV) for a conservative viewpoint, and the New Interpreter's Study Bible (NRSV) for a more liberal point of view. Both are excellent and fairly even-handed... the Nelson being often overlooked, and perhaps the best single Study Bible around... i.e. if you can only have ONE, I think the Nelson Study Bible may be the best choice overall.

A resource for YEARS to come....:
Johnny Mac has put his life into getting this volume together and it shows. Filled with copious amounts of notes, maps, explanations and much more on virtually every verse of scripture, this is probably the BEST study bible on the market, bar none. My only caveats - there's a few small points here and there that I don't agree with, but they're open to discussion (i.e.- 2 Cor. 13 - Paul's thorn in the flesh).... but otherwise this is a pretty solid resource. He should've included a topical index like the New Open Bible does. Lastly, he needs to make this available in the ESV translation as soon as possible. Other than that- GREAT! I say get one right now.