I just came across this article, "We Are the Web," by Kevin Kelly of Wired Magazine. It’s about 2.5 years old now, but it’s a great history of where the Web has come from and where it’s headed. In case you have not seen it before here’s the link: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.08/tech.html

In an earlier post I mentioned that one major producer of Bible software actually suggested that aside from the Bible itself, major reference works like lexicons and grammars are about the only electronic resources one would want to use on a computer. Commentaries, individual books, and theological journals (just to name a few things) would continue to be used in printed form, not in electronic format. The article went on to suggest that because software companies go out of business and software formats change, a large investment in electronic resources for your computer did not make sense.

Deciding which Bible software program is right for you can be a daunting task. The previous post was mostly a history lesson, intended to show how we got to the present situation. Now, assuming you’re new to the world of Bible software, the question is, "How to get started, and which path should I choose?" I will start with the situation of a complete beginner with no previous Bible software experience, and make some suggestions for this case.

In an earlier post I said that I would cover Bible software in future post(s). I realize it is going to take more than one to do this topic any justice at all. For several years now I have been teaching two courses on the use of software and Internet tools for New Testament exegesis (master’s level elective) and for biblical exegesis (D.Min. level). Every year the list of available programs and resources gets longer. It’s best to start with some basics.

On one of my earlier posts about using commentaries in Bible study, I was asked a question about what commentaries to use and how to pick them. It occurred to me that this is a topic I cover in my Introduction to Exegesis class and it would probably be of benefit to comment on it here. What I’m talking about is not which commentary to use on a particular Bible passage or book, but the more general notion of how do I choose commentaries for my personal library. Related themes are (1) How many commentaries do I need?

A recent comment on my post "Using lexical tools in Bible study" asked a question about the lexical tools keyed to the Strong’s numbers in the NeXtBible Learning Environment.

Beyond the use of commentaries, another important area in personal Bible study is the use of lexical tools (dictionaries and word study helps). In many cases these reference works are somewhat more objective than commentaries in dealing with the meanings of words and phrases because they are not always directly tied to the meaning of specific passages, but are attempting to cover the range of meaning across numerous passages.

The current NET Bible logo uses as background an image of an ancient Greek manuscript of the Gospel of John (P66) which fades into the English translation of the NET Bible, suggesting the transparency between the NET Bible as a translation and the original language text of the New Testament.

In a previous post we talked about different kinds of commentaries and how they can help the Bible student understand a particular passage more effectively. This time I would like to give some specific tips on using whatever commentaries you have available, regardless of whether they are fairly technical or more popular.

Occasionally I’m asked by both seminary students and people at church about the use of commentaries in one’s personal study of the Bible. First, let’s define what a commentary is: Commentaries are books that contain comments (observations) on the biblical text. Usually the comments are arranged in verse order, that is, in the same order as the text of the Bible.