Category: Logos

Tools of trade: Logos 10

With the right tools, you can make every minute count.

It started 15 years ago when I bought a Bible study package from Logos. I’d used several other Bible software packages, but Logos was lifechanging.

Following the initial tutorials, I was finding words and phrases in English and original languages, comparing views in commentaries, and pursuing cross-references and themes faster than I could type. I was adding highlights and searchable notes as I read. In one hour, I could complete what previously took a whole morning.

Each year I add more resources, gradually building a library for everything I need for my research into the kingdom of God. That includes:

Continue reading “Tools of trade: Logos 10”

Wenham shows us how to approach the Psalms (free book)

Gordon Wenham’s excellent book “The Psalter Reclaimed: Praying and Praising with the Psalms” is free this month (Nov 2021).

Gordon Wenham’s ebook, The Psalter Reclaimed: Praying and Praising with the Psalms is free this month (November 2021).

I’ve learned heaps from Wenham about understanding the Old Testament in context. Particularly, his commentaries on Genesis (2 volumes, WBC) and Leviticus (NICOT) and Numbers (TCOT) are so insightful, and Story as Torah: Reading Old Testament Narrative Ethically (T&T Clark, 2000) makes sense of difficult passages.

In this book, he guides us to the Psalms, showing us how to:

  1. celebrate the God revealed in the Psalms
  2. present our needs to him
  3. read Psalms in the context of the whole story of Scripture
  4. understand Psalms in light of the Messiah
  5. apply the ethics of the Psalms
  6. handle the imprecatory Psalms

He then pulls it all together with a specific example from Psalm 103, before the final chapter on how the other nations fit with the Psalms.

Do you treat the Psalms as stand-alone songs? Or were they assembled in a meaningful way, so that one Psalm relates to the others around it? How do you read them in context?

Chapter 7 shows how. From Psalm 103: The Song of Steadfast Love:

Continue reading “Wenham shows us how to approach the Psalms (free book)”

Zechariah: a kingdom perspective (free commentary)

Free commentary containing the 2021 blog posts on the Book of Zechariah.

Here is a free commentary on Zechariah for you to download (PDF, 1MB). It contains all our 2021 posts on Zechariah, including the introduction (below). Enjoy.

Continue reading “Zechariah: a kingdom perspective (free commentary)”

Ephesians: a kingdom perspective (free commentary)

Here it is. Our first commentary on a book of the Bible, from the perspective of the kingdom of God.

We covered Ephesians over six months. Those 50+ posts have now been compiled into a free, downloadable commentary.

As the reverse of the title page explains, you have permission to use it yourself, share it with others, use it academically — basically anything except selling it for profit.

Here’s the PDF (1 MB). This is the best format for general use. Enjoy.

Update 2022-04-18: commentary updated (typos fixed, quotations included).

For Logos users

If you use Logos Bible Software and would like to compile this as a Personal Book, here’s the DOCX (600 kb) and cover (62 kb). Continue reading “Ephesians: a kingdom perspective (free commentary)”

Using Logos Bible Software

Logos is the most powerful and efficient Bible study tool I’ve ever used. You can use it to like a Kindle app to read biographies on your tablet (iOS or Android), or you can use for PhD research of superbly hyperlinked and fully indexed academic resources on your computer (Mac or PC).

The new version released this week has integrated all the notes I’ve made in 10 years of using Logos — more than 7,000 annotations to my Bible, covering every book except 2 John.

It’s also telling me I’ve added 43,000 highlights to other books in my library. Top five: Continue reading “Using Logos Bible Software”

Best commentaries

A commentary might help you study better. But how do you know what to choose?

For serious Bible study, you benefit from hearing what others say about the text. But how do you know which commentaries to buy?

Several commentators have chosen their favourites at BestCommentaries.com. Like everyone, they have their bias (Evangelical, with a Calvinistic bent), but it’s still a good indicator.

And the good news is that you’ll find many (not all) of the top commentaries for each book of the Bible on sale at Logos this month (May 2018).

Which Bible book will you study next? Pick up the commentary. Continue reading “Best commentaries”

Time for some commentaries

Need help with Bible study? Get an expert on your tablet.

Update 2018-03-20: Logos March Madness winners are in. I’m buying NICOT/NICNT @ US $745 (less the volumes I already have).

Serious about Bible study? It helps if you have a friend who can tell you all about the text. Ideally, this friend would know the situation the text addressed, appreciate the nuances of its language, and tell you how other people have understood it. Sounds like a big ask?

You can have friends like that with you wherever you go. They’re called commentators. Commentaries are available for whatever level of Bible study you want. This month (May 2018) could be your best chance to get the good ones.

So what level of commentary do you need?

Continue reading “Time for some commentaries”

Free commentary on Mark’s Gospel

Download a good commentary on the Gospel of Mark, free.

Free book of the month from Logos for September 2017 is David Garland’s commentary on Mark. It’s an Application Commentary on the NIV translation (NIVAC). For each passage, it gives you the original meaning, the bridging context to our time, and the contemporary significance. At over 600 pages, it’s worth around $30 as an ebook or $44 as a hard back. If you’ll ever study the Gospel of Mark, grab it now. Continue reading “Free commentary on Mark’s Gospel”

Ecclesiastes: a meaningless book?

How do you take a book that tells you everything is meaningless?

How would you respond if a mature-aged person told you that everything is meaningless? You might conclude, “Well, I guess the poor cynic is right about himself.”

So, is the book of Ecclesiastes meaningless? Or is it a sharp tool to carve away the meaningless layers and sculpt something of significance from our existence? Continue reading “Ecclesiastes: a meaningless book?”