After the Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod selected the English Standard Version as the best overall translation for its churches to use, the idea of a from-the-ground-up study Bible took root. And so in 2003, the study-Bible effort began. This Bible to be was not going to be someone else's study Bible with added notes to give it a Lutheran patina, like the Concordia Self-Study Bible. This effort wanted to produce the best study Bible ever!
And so biblical experts from many Lutheran Church bodies around the world were asked to contribute their efforts. And to make sure that the notes were helpful to real readers--and answered real questions they had as they read the Bible--400 laypersons were included as volunteer readers. As they read through their assigned parts of the Bible, they wrote down questions they had from those portions of the Bible. This helped ensure that the notes answered real questions real people were asking, not simply producing an academic wunderkind.
Over seven years later, The Lutheran Study Bible (TLSB) is now in print.
What's Good
Book Introductions: The introductions are splendid. They don't hesitate to deal with topics that have afflicted Christendom in the last century, such as historical-higher criticism. The introductions don't succumb to viewing scripture as any other literature, but they do discuss form, genre, and literary devices when it's helpful. The introductions also include excerpts from Luther's introductions--an added bonus!
Book Outlines: The outlines, which grace the beginning of each book, are the best I've ever seen. I've seen outlines in some study Bibles that are nearly useless because they are too generic and broad to be of much help. Among the study Bibles now in print, the Reformation Study Bible is known to have excellent outlines. But TLSB's are even better! The outlines have enough depth to be truly helpful (at least three levels deep) and aid the reader in getting a good feel of the overall structure and flow of the books.
Key Terms and Phrases: TLSB has included this helpful section before the Pentateuch (Genesis through Deuteronomy), the Psalms, and the Pauline Letters. Given the challenging language of Scripture, especially as it deals with concepts that we don't deal with in our everyday lives, the "Key Terms and Phrases" is a good idea. It offers much help to make better sense of what various words and phrases in the Bible mean.
Drawings: Included in TLSB are several of Hugh Claycombe's line drawings of the Tabernacle, the temples, Jesus' route during Passion Week, and so on. If you've used the NIV Study Bible (or the Lutheran variant, the CSSB), you'll recognize these drawings. They are still some of the most helpful illustrations of their type to appear in study Bibles to date.
Articles: The articles are a strong point of this Bible! Unlike the ESV Study Bible (which I think has too many articles!), TLSB has the right balance. The articles cover many topics, from the mainly doctrinal, to being focused on living out what the doctrines mean, and especially those vexing the Church today. Women in the Church? It's in there. Homosexuality? Yep. The wrath of God? It's in there too. What happens at death? Not forgotten. These well-done articles are near the Scripture passages that bring out these questions for us. But the articles are written in such a way that they let God's Word shine on these questions to guide our steps, like Deacon Philip guided the Ethiopian in Acts chapter 8.
NOTES . . .
* Christological Focus: On every page, TLSB lets the Word of God do what our Lord says it is to do: "testify of Me" (John 5:39). A study Bible that helps the reader see Christ in the pages of Scripture does what Scripture is meant to do. Bravo, this alone is worth the cost of TLSB!
* Law-Gospel Distinction: Such notes weave their way through each chapter of Scripture and help one reflect deeper on the Word just read. How helpful in a study Bible, an aid that not only helps one understand the text better, but aids in one's devotional life as well. A home run here!
* Wordplay: TLSB often points out wordplay, and carefully explains when it happens. In almost all such cases, the wordplay is lost in our current translations. And so when TLSB highlights these instances in the notes, often including a transliteration so an English reader can hear the similarity in sound, the reader is greatly benefited.
* Patristics: Reflecting Lutheranism's continuity from the ancient Church as well as Lutheranism's catholicity, TLSB quotes the early Latin and Greek fathers more than most other study Bibles, except perhaps the Orthodox Study Bible. Since the Holy Spirit "calls, gathers, and enlightens the whole Christian Church on earth," we would be a shallow Christian church, indeed, not to consider the wisdom of our Church fathers as they meditated on the Scriptures. TLSB could have quoted the Church Fathers more, but something else would then have had to be reduced. TLSB strikes the right balance.
* Lutheran Sources: TLSB brings in our Reformation fathers, our Confessions (the Book of Concord), and even hymns from Lutheran Service Book in its study notes! While most of the study notes do not contain these (or the patristic citations), it is helpful and noteworthy when they do.
Dates at the Top of the Page: This simple chronology is a superb aid for study! For people who may have trouble keeping track of what happened when because the Scriptures are often not chronological, this feature really helps makes sense of the biblical timeline.
Confession: The Word of God is meant to be spoken! Within the Christian Church, we are to speak it back to God, speak it to each other, and we are all called to speak it to the world. TLSB consistently reminds the reader of this high calling to invite others to share in the joy that we have in the forgiveness of sins and adoption into God's family.
What Could Be Better
Typeset: The font size of the main text is like that used in other study Bibles. TLSB print is more crisp, clear, and readable, but it has some bleed-through on the paper. The font of the notes is bit smaller, but still clear. For some, the red lettering for the words of Jesus may be too light to read easily.
More Color Maps: Not enough of them. TLSB has only four color maps, unlike the ESV Study Bible, which has scads of them. What's the deal with that? TLSB doesn't even have one color map with the tribal allotments of Israel, or in the New Testament, of the Apostle Paul's journeys. The other maps are black and white drawings, which does not meet the expectations of the reader today.
Too Big: TLSB has so much good in it that it has become behemoth in size. If someone gets the larger-print Bible, probably a good idea, the Bible becomes too big to be a bring-it-to-church Bible. Don't drop this Bible on your toe (or you may find yourself misusing the Lord's Name!).
Because of its size, it makes sense to have these Bibles in place where we need to use them, such as for Sunday School. Can someone say to produce a version for the Kindle reader?
Include the Anaginoskomena (Apocrypha): Today, few churches have all of God's written Word as the Church has always recognized it to be. We know the Church can only recognize what is God's written revelation, not choose or decide it. Included in the Church's list of books was a category of Old-Testament like books considered "worthy to be read," even during worship, called the Anaginoskomena. Doctrine would not be derived from these books; they would only supplement the doctrines made known in the other biblical texts.
Among all the churches, only the Eastern Orthodox and Lutheran churches have preserved this distinction, with Eastern Orthodoxy much better than Lutheranism. The Protestant churches have jettisoned the Anaginoskomena all together. The Roman Catholic Church--on its own!--chose to declare much of the Anaginoskomena as fully canonical (what we call the Apocrypha), which the Anglican churches continue in their tradition.
In theory, the Lutheran Church still preserves this distinction of the Anaginoskomena. Our Confessions referenced books in the Anaginoskomena; our Lutheran fathers quoted them. But when we transitioned to English, we made our bed with the Protestants, and lost in practice the use of these Anaginoskomena books.
TLSB is a slight corrective. It lists Luther's introduction to these books (well, at least it's a good start to help bring these books back into the mind of current-day Lutherans). But sadly the books themselves and the notes that should go with them are missing. And so TLSB is incomplete and doesn't have the "books worthy to be read" that Luther's Die Bibel had, or even what our German Lutheran Bibles had, which were printed in North America 100-plus years ago.
Conclusion
TLSB is the best study Bible I've yet to see. It's many times better than the older Concordia Self-Study Bible. So if you have the CSSB, don't settle for second-best. Despite my few reservations, buy TLSB. It's the best study Bible in print. But even more importantly, read it and use it!
