raise the Lord, everybody. People are always looking for the best of something, the best movies, the best TV shows, the best pizza, the best football team, and the list goes on and on. So, it is only natural that some Christians have been asking, “which is the best study Bible to own?”
This is a question you might expect from a non-believer or new believer, but it is something you might not expect from a “seasoned” believer. Yet you hear it all the time. What are the best bibles for men? What is the best bible for women? We can add the questions What is the best man’s bible? What is the best translation for women? Where does it end? The Bible does not write study notes for a specific gender.
In the beginning, there were the Holy scriptures. There were the earliest Scriptures and bible verses were handed down from generation to generation orally, around 2000 BC. Add to these the book of Job, possibly the oldest book of the Bible, IT was written about 2000 to 1500 BC. Then there were the stone tablets of the “Ten Commandments” given around 1500-1400 BC. From there we get everything from the Old Testament Hebrew books to the Septuagint and the Apocrypha all BC, before Christ. After Christ’s death, 45-100 AD, the New Testament was written. Once this was done God designed it was necessary to pull it all together into one great gift, the biblical text we call The Bible.
When Christ Jesus was about to die on the cross, He said “it is finished.” Meaning the real work of salvation was done. Now it would be time for Christ’s exploits to be chronicled on paper, to have become part of “the New Testament. Between the Old and New Testaments, it was God’s intention that everything man would need to survive in this world as men of God, would be in this book.
The bible tells us in 2nd Timothy 3:16 NIV All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, it also tells us this in
2nd Timothy 2:15 NIV Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.
The world today has a never-ending need to reinvent and try to improve on everything in creation from the wheel to the sandwich. Look at the church, we now have a denomination for every different interpretation of doctrine. We have finetuned the Body of Christ to fit the needs of every believer, and we have done the same with God’s word, the Bible.
Here is a list of different translations found on the online bible website BibleGateway.com:
21st Century King James Version (KJ21)
American Standard Version (ASV),
Amplified Bible (AMP),
Amplified Bible, Classic Edition (AMPC),
BRG Bible (BRG),
Christian Standard Bible (CSB),
Common English Bible (CEB),
Complete Jewish Study Bible (CJB),
Contemporary English Version (CEV),
Darby Translation (DARBY)
Disciples’ Literal New Testament (DLNT),
Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition (DRA),
Easy-to-Read Version (ERV),
Evangelical Heritage Version (EHV),
English Standard Version or ESV study bible (ESV),
English Standard Version Anglicized (ESVUK),
Expanded Bible (EXB), 1599 Geneva Bible (GNV)
GOD’S WORD Translation (GW),
Good News Translation (GNT)
Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB),
International Children’s Bible (ICB),
International Standard Version (ISV),
J.B. Phillips New Testament (PHILLIPS)
Jubilee Bible 2000 (JUB),
King James Version (KJV)
Authorized (King James) Version (AKJV),
Lexham English Bible (LEB)
Living Bible (TLB),
The Message (MSG),
Modern English Version (MEV)
Mounce Reverse-Interlinear New Testament (MOUNCE)
Names of God Bible (NOG),
New American Bible (Revised Edition) (NABRE),
New American Standard Bible (NASB)
New American Standard Bible 1995 (NASB1995),
New Catholic Bible (NCB), New Century Version (NCV),
New English Translation (NET)
New International Reader’s Version (NIRV),
New International Version (NIV),
New International Version – UK (NIVUK),
New King James Version (NKJV),
New Life Version (NLV), New Living Translation (NLT)
New Matthew Bible (NMB),
New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
New Revised Standard Version, Anglicized (NRSVA),
New Revised Standard Version, Anglicized Catholic Edition
This just scratches the surface; the list does not even include bibles put out by individual Televangelists in their own ministries.
Questions like “what is the best reference bible for men” are what has led us to this ball of confusion. Did our heavenly father intends for us to have a plethora of Bibles tailored to our every whim or doctrinal notion for everyday life? I think not.
The bible tells us differently in 1 Corinthians 14:33 KJV says, “For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.” The question should not be “what is the best bible for whatever” because there is truly only one Bible and one Gospel.
The Bible is not just a bunch of words printed on paper. It was written to provide a deeper understanding of life, written under the junction of the Holy Spirit, and is therefore spiritual in nature. Hebrews 4:12 NIV tells us “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints, and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart”]
The word of God, like God himself, meets you where you are. If you approach it from a spiritual perspective, pray before you start, the Holy Spirit will help you find all the answers to your every question.
The most important question for both woman and men are “what translation works best for you?” “King James Only” just does not work for everybody.
The entire Bible was originally written in Hebrew and Greek. When you read it in English or whatever language you are reading, you naturally want it to be the best possible translation. Who wouldn’t? It is important to know that your Bible translation is accurate. For those of us who read English, it is obvious that there is no shortage of translations available. But if you are going by the most accurate original Hebrew and Greek then you need to narrow it down. You do not want a version that is so stylized that you cannot recognize the doctrine or the spirit behind God’s word. I have read some translations that are so stylized that I could not even recognize them as scripture.
When it comes down to a good bible study, for young men or women, you need to use a good study bible. A good study bible is one that has commentary on the key verses at the bottom of each page and has great content references for related scriptures also. Also, a good study bible will also have a good concordance built right in. A parallel Bible might also be something you might want to look into, a parallel bible means a bible that has two translations displayed side by side to help give you more insight into the scripture you are studying. For example, I sometimes use a King James, NIV, parallel bible. One last thing you need for a good bible study is prayer, pray that the Holy Spirit will open the scriptures to you, that is His job. See John 16:13.
As far as what are good bible studies for men the bible is loaded with wisdom for men and women. For men, a good bible study is Love. Throughout history men have had trouble understanding what love is, and that there are several types of love, and it is important that we know what they are and how to express them. There is Phileo love, known as “brotherly love” or familiar love, there is eros love or romantic love, and most important of all, Agape love, otherwise known as Godly, or selfless love.
The best example of Agape love can be found in 1st Corinthians chapter 13, known as the “love chapter.” If you start your study with this chapter, you get a particularly good idea of how God shows His love toward us, and how we should show our love toward each other. Knowing what real love helps us in every relationship, especially in marriage.
It is generally believed that men have the biggest problem expressing their love.
Another good scripture to study concerning love is Ephesians 5:25-28, here we see God specifically speaking about love between husband and wife, also there is
1st Peter 3:7, but you should always read scripture in context, reading what comes directly before and after the specific scripture. Other scriptures include
Ephesians 4:32, Ecclesiastes 9:9, and Ephesians 5:28 – 5:31
are just a few scriptures to get you started on God’s plan for your scriptural journey.
There are some tools you may want to use to augment your bible study. For example, A “Bible background commentary” covers the cultural background of the books of the Bible verse by verse. Knowing the background cultural information is extremely helpful when seeking the full context of a scripture. An English dictionary can also be helpful because sometimes vaguely knowing the meaning of a word and not its exact meaning can make a significant difference in your interpretation. There are large print bibles for those with vision difficulties.
We have already of course mentioned the study bible and the concordance for god’s people, also you can get a separate concordance that will be more exhaustive than one attached to a study bible. There are also “topical” bibles and any number of books written by credible authors designed to help you enhance your men’s bible study.
So, to answer the original question, there is no “best bible” for men or women for that matter. The Life applications study bible is another great option to use on a daily basis for bible study. What is important is the amount of work you put into your devotional time and study of God’s word and the resources you have available to help you. I pray this will be helpful to you for your next bible study guides and remember to pray before you start each study. A Godly man will develop a daily reading plan, and find a great book for translation, and a good study guide. God bless you all.
Resources:
(containing Amazon Affiliate links)
The New Strong’s Expanded Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible
The New Combined Bible Dictionary and Concordance
NIV, Life Application Study Bible, Third Edition