Zondervan Publishing has just released a new study Bible, the Upside-Down Kingdom Bible, with notes, essays, and book introductions that, according to the Amazon listing, feature “a diverse set of trusted Christian voices and explores difficult issues facing Christians today, with features that are honest, nuanced, and filled with grace.” Should Christians use this study Bible?
Let me say upfront—stay away from this compromised woke study Bible!
The goal is to help Christians in an “exponentially polarized” culture to “think deeply and love widely.” And the result is, well, the opposite of that!
The notes in this 2011 NIV Bible, edited by Preston Sprinkle, focus specifically on a series of the aforementioned “difficult issues facing Christians today,” including “race and ethnicity, creation care, science, abortion, wealth and poverty, gender and sexuality, politics, baptism, technology, and others.” Anytime they believe these topics are directly mentioned, alluded to, or thematically present in the text, the notes give a supposedly biblical take, showing how the Bible “flips the wisdom of worldly kingdoms on its head.” The goal is to help Christians in an “exponentially polarized” culture to “think deeply and love widely.” And the result is, well, the opposite of that!
One of our writers and speakers, Avery Foley, took a look at a variety of the notes and essays in this new Bible (particularly the ones on the early chapters of Genesis), and here’s what she said about it,
Rather than showing how God’s Word is unique, giving us a set of glasses through which to view the world that is “upside down” to the world’s way of thinking, the writers take the world’s lenses of feminism, Marxism, evolution, and CRT and read the Bible through them.
That’s why many of the notes I read were sprinkled with references to man-made climate change, terms like “forced migration experiences,” and “systemic injustice.” From what I saw, these terms weren’t really defined, but all such terms are routinely used by “woke” and progressive Christians the same way the world uses them, so I think it’s safe to assume that the world’s definition is how they’re likewise being used here.
Also, this study Bible is supposed to be “nuanced,” and it certainly is. It’s so “squishy” on most controversial topics (but not certain “woke” ones—on some of those the authors took obvious positions) that the notes lose any authority, turning into “some people say this, and some people say that, but we can’t really know.” But in many cases, we can really know. For example, in Genesis we can know how and when God created!
(Avery will be releasing a more in-depth review of this Bible in a video coming soon to our AiG YouTube channel, so be sure to subscribe.)
Yes, Christians should “think deeply and love widely.” But we don’t “think deeply” from our own wisdom or by applying the world’s wisdom to our interpretations of the biblical text. And we don’t “love widely” by defining love according to how our culture defines it. We think and love according to the standard set in God’s Word! It must be our starting point and biblical truth: the lens through which we filter the world. This study Bible has it the other way around—in many cases, the world is the starting point and its wisdom the lens through which it filters the Word.
We think and love according to the standard set in God’s Word!
I warn Christians to stay away from this study Bible! You can find trusted study Bibles that honor God’s Word in our online store. And if you’d like to learn more about why Christians need to stay away from “wokism,” check out Bryan Osborne’s brand-new book, Woke Injustice.
This item was discussed Monday on Answers News with cohosts Dr. Georgia Purdom, Roger Patterson, and Avery Foley. Answers News is our weekly news program filmed live before a studio audience here at the Creation Museum, broadcast on our Answers in Genesis YouTube channel, and posted to Answers TV. We also covered the following topics:
Watch the entire episode of Answers News for January 15, 2024.
Be sure to join us each Monday at 2 p.m. (ET) on YouTube or later that day on Answers TV for Answers News. You won’t want to miss this unique news program that gives science and culture news from a distinctly biblical and Christian perspective.
Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,
Ken
This item was written with the assistance of AiG’s research team.
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