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Happy is the person who finds wisdom and gains understanding. For the profit of wisdom is better than silver, and her wages are better than gold. Wisdom is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her. She offers you life in her right hand, and riches and honor in her left. She will guide you down delightful paths; all her ways are satisfying. Wisdom is a tree of life to those who embrace her; happy are those who hold her tightly - Proverbs 3:13-18 (NLT).

God proclaims you as wise if you pursue knowledge and understanding. And while our primary source of gaining this knowledge and understanding is the Bible, we also have the tremendous privilege in the day and age in which we live to learn from those who have traveled before us.

Hebrews 13:7, says, "Remember those who led you, who spoke the Word of God to you; and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith" (NASB).

Have you ever thanked God for the amount of wisdom that is available to you through good Christian books and magazines? Have you thanked God for the examples of holy men and women through the ages that have left behind their journeys and struggles on the printed page?

We have a tremendous amount of information at our fingertips. Sorting through that information is where many Christians struggle. Which authors can you rely on to be writing biblical truth as opposed to ecstatic experience or personal opinion? Are all books categorized as having a certain denominational slant (such as Charismatic, Southern Baptist, etc.), good - or bad?

I do not claim to know all the good authors or all the good books, but I have read quite a few and it has been suggested that I create a list of titles for others to read. This page on our website will be devoted to that very end. The books that will be listed here will consist only of books that I have read - so please do not suggest that I add a book to this list. You can suggest I read a book for consideration, but it will not be on this list unless I have had the opportunity to read it and agree with the content from a biblical standpoint. This is the only way I can submit these recommendations with a clear conscience. On the other hand, just because a book is not listed here does not mean you shouldn't read it. This will hopefully help you to better determine what books to pick up and what books to leave be.

I will add to this list often by listing new titles as I read them or as other titles I have read in the past come to mind. Also, these books are listed in no particular order or importance - I simply have listed them as I came across them on my bookshelves.

I trust you will dive into the discipline of reading (starting with spending plenty of time reading Scripture of course) and hope you will find these titles as helpful to you as they have been to me.

Pastor Al

Bible commentaries for every Christian

Listed below are commentary series that are written in a way that make them very readable for the common Christian. They come across as if you are reading a sermon as opposed to reading a technical book.

The John MacArthur Jr. Commentary Series, 27 volumes on the New Testament.

James Montgomery Boice, 23 volumes from selected Old and New Testament books.

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, selected New Testament books.

William Barclay: The New Daily Study Bible, 17 volumes

The Bible Knowledge Commentary, 2 Volumes: Old & New Testament, edited by John F. Walvoord & Roy B. Zuck

The Be Series by Warren Wiersbe

NIV Application Commentary Series

Holman Commentary Series

Bible commentaries for more advanced students of Scripture

(Listed below are commentary series that get a little more technical in their analysis of Scripture; sometimes digging into the Greek and Hebrew words along with their meanings)

New Testament Commentary Series - Simon J. Kistemaker & William Hendricksen

The Treasury of David (Psalms) - Charles Spurgeon (3 Volumes)

R.C. Sproul

Barnes' Notes - Albert Barnes

Henry M. Morris

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary of the Bible

Reformed Expository Commentary Series

New International Commentary Series

New American Commentary Series

Bible reference & Bible helps

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance

Hastings Dictionary of the Bible

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (4 Volumes)

The MacArthur Bible Handbook

Wilmington's Guide to the Bible

The Works of Josephus (A Jewish historian from Bible times)

The "All" Series - Herbert Lockyer (All the Doctrines of the Bible, All the Women of the Bible, All the Miracles of the Bible, etc.)

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Bible translations

There are primarily two processes of Bible translation from the original Greek and Hebrew languages (I am very much over-simplifying in my explanation - there are entire books written on this subject). One is word-for-word and the other is thought-for-thought.

Word-for-word translations try as best they can to simply translate the Greek or Hebrew words into English. This is not always possible to do while still having the sentence make sense in English, so some minor flip-flopping of the words is necessary at times. Word-for word translations tend to be more difficult to read and understand, but they do hold truer to the original meaning.

Some of the more popular word-for-word translations include:

King James Version (KJV), New American Standard Bible (NASB), New Revised Standard Version (NRSV), New King James Version (NKJV), English Standard Version (ESV), and the Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB). I can say that any of the above are worthy of your study, but some versions of the NRSV will also contain the Apocrypha, which is a collection of books that are definitely not inspired Scripture - the Catholic Church added these books many years after the canon of Scripture was complete.

Thought-for thought translations generally will look at an entire sentence or even paragraph in the original languages and then translate what the entire section is trying to say. This is why some translations will look quite different in a particular verse from others, but if you read farther along you will see that the focus and meaning of the passage is usually very close. Thought-for-thought translations attempt to simplify the English they use as much as possible and put the sentences in paragraph form like a normal book for a more fluid feel and ease of reading. Unfortunately in doing so I am afraid they make some biblical principles simple that are not meant to be simple, and can inadvertently cause the reader to miss some of the deeper meanings of God's Word. But all-in-all these translations help open up Scripture to those who may struggle with the more difficult to read, word-for-word translations.

Some of the more popular thought-for-thought translations include:

New International Version (NIV), Today's New International Version (TNIV), New Living Translation (NLT), and the New Century Version (NCV). I do not recommend the TNIV.

You can also buy Bibles that are known as paraphrases. These are not translations from the original languages and must be understood as such. While they are very enjoyable and easy to read, the accuracy of what God originally said is often lacking. The most popular paraphrase of the last 40 years is called The Living Bible (TLB). The writer, Kenneth Taylor, actually wrote most of this work on the train back and forth from his job. He simply read a verse from his New American Standard Bible and then rephrased it in easier to understand English (His original intent was simply for his own family devotions with his children, not for publication). While doing your own paraphrase like this is a great study tool on a personal level, many times the writer can miss the meaning of the passage fairly easily. Besides the Living Bible, a popular paraphrase that has come out more recently is called The Message (MSG) by Eugene Peterson. Also, J. B. Phillips did a paraphrase of the New Testament called The New Testament in Modern English (I like this one more so than the other two mentioned above, but it is only available in the New Testament). William Barclay employs his own paraphrase imbedded into his commentaries that I mentioned earlier. As far as I know Barclay's was never compiled separately as a stand alone New Testament.

One other Bible translation that is worth mentioning is called The Amplified Bible (AMP). I am not sure how to categorize this one. The translation itself resembles many of the word-for-word translations, but there is a generous use of parenthetical thoughts and added adjectives. In the middle of the verses there will be several parenthesis that expand upon the meaning of key words and phrases, adding the translator's view of a more in depth understanding of each verse. While I like this translation, you MUST understand that the addition of the parenthetical thoughts and the adjectives is in essence a commentary by the translators and NOT necessarily the original intent of the true meaning as the Holy Spirit inspired the authors.

There are numerous other translations and paraphrases that are a little farther off the beaten path, and I would be hard pressed to recommend any of them. But if you have a good strong grasp of Scripture and its meaning, by all means take a look at a few.

The bottom line is that all of the major translations (not necessarily the paraphrases) get the doctrines of Scripture across to the reader in an accurate way - and none of them contradict each other in any major ways when you understand the context of what is being said. They may use different words at times, but they remain true to the original Greek and Hebrew as best as mankind can - although many will be flavored with the denominational leanings of the translators. Which is why you want a Bible that lists a team of translators from across the board of evangelical scholars; meaning you don't just want a Baptist Bible or a Charismatic Bible or a Catholic Bible. When the translation team is all of one mind denominationally, every passage they come across that is not clear or can support their leanings will be translated in that way more so than how the original lends itself.

I recommend that you have many different translations in your personal library and that you compare them often to widen your own understanding of God's Word. You can also purchase Parallel Bibles that have 4 or more translations of Scripture side-by-side for ease of use.

For what its worth, I personally use the New American Standard Bible (NASB), the English Standard Version (ESV), King James Version (KJV), Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB), and the New King James Version (NKJV) more often than not in my study and sermon preparation, and I preach my sermons and teach my Bible studies primarily out of the NASB. When I sit down to read large quantities of Scripture at one sitting, simply for the pleasure of reading, my choice is quite often the New Living Translation (NLT), but I quite frequently also use the New International Version (NIV) and the Amplified Bible (AMP).

Whichever translation or paraphrase that gets you into reading your Bible on a more regular basis is a good one. So choose your favorites and get busy reading!

Bible study resources

Here you will find a comprehensive collection of resources. The links provided below will take you to over 10,000 individual biblical and historical resources. We have listed locations to Bible Versions, Commentaries, Historical Reference, Language Studies, and many more.

This Digital Library makes every effort to utilize the best available resources for its students. However, this does not mean that Grace Church of South Park or the pastor, elders, and deacons endorse the entire content of each resource. And as the digital world goes, links change and/or disappear. Please let me know if a particular link is no longer working - Pastor Al