Valley Pastor Publishes Study Bible He Prepared in Longhand

SUN VALLEY —  Bookstores receive a steady stream of new study Bibles--those instructional Scriptures crammed with explanatory notes--but a San Fernando Valley pastor has just published one of the largest ever such works by a single person.

Remarkably, the Rev. John MacArthur of the large Grace Community Church wrote entirely in longhand about 12,000 of his study Bible’s 20,000 entries. And he reworked with a pen the others, which were written on typewriters by seminary teachers on the church grounds.

“Pretty crazy, isn’t it?” said MacArthur when asked why he doesn’t use a typewriter or computer. “I don’t have time for the learning curve.”

Writing and editing the old-fashioned way may not be incongruous for a study Bible that espouses that ol’ time religion.

“The MacArthur Study Bible,” issued last month by Word Publishing, follows the fundamentalist Protestant tradition of a literal reading of Scriptures, a rejection of contemporary biblical scholarship and a relatively confined view of valid Christian beliefs.

For instance, MacArthur says that the Bible describes creation as occurring over six 24-hour days and indicates that the Earth is no older than 10,000 years, far short of the billions of years scientists estimate.

Commenting on the Gospel of Mark, which is widely regarded as providing the narrative basis for the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, MacArthur rejects all theories of literary dependence by the gospel authors.

At Word Publishing in Nashville, David Moberg, associate publisher for Bibles, said that some Bible students and ministers would not accept such a conservative approach to the Bible. “But for every one of those, probably 100 lay people will appreciate the clarity and thoroughness of the notes, and not be concerned with finer theological points,” Moberg said.

Lay Christians “have a hunger for ideas, getting it right and finding out on their own,” observed Joel Carpenter, provost of Calvin College in Michigan and author of a new book on U.S. fundamentalism, “Revive Us Again.”

That would account in part for a steady stream of new study Bibles, but Carpenter suggested that Bible publishers also are seeking new niches in the religious market--women, college students, youngsters, men’s movements and admirers of well-known pastors.

“The Spirit-Filled Life Bible,” which has sold 500,000 copies since it was published in 1991, was aimed especially at Pentecostal and charismatic Christians. The Rev. Jack Hayford, senior pastor of Van Nuys’ Church on the Way and a leading Pentecostalist, was the general editor for that study Bible from Thomas Nelson Publishers, the parent company of Word Publishing. A photo of Hayford is typically featured in advertisements for that Bible and related books.

Although Hayford was credited with its overall editing, “The Spirit-Filled Life Bible” identified more than 65 contributors of essays, introductions and notes.

The team approach is conventional today for Protestant and Catholic study Bibles, regardless of the work’s anticipated market, largely because of the time consumed in research.

MacArthur’s one-man effort has been called reminiscent of annotated Bible translations by prominent, conservative Bible teachers such as Cyrus Scofield, whose “Scofield Reference Bible” (1909) was the standard for one brand of fundamentalism for decades.

According to Richard Mayhue, dean of the 255-student Master’s Seminary on the Grace Community Church grounds, “John MacArthur’s fingerprints are found throughout” his study Bible.

“Our faculty provided 40% of the initial drafted notes, mostly for the Old Testament,” Mayhue said. “In some cases, John discarded the notes and rewrote the whole thing; in other cases, he severely edited them.”

Describing the effort in his church’s newsletter, MacArthur noted that the 1984 “New International Version Study Bible” was produced by 61 scholars in 10 years, while his study Bible was completed in two years, with the help of seminary teachers and “dozens of secretaries” at the Sun Valley complex.

Nevertheless, MacArthur admitted in an interview this week that the material “was largely refined from 28 years of sermon preparation” at the church where nearly 8,000 people attend services each Sunday. With 16 other full-time pastors on the church staff, MacArthur said he gets 25 to 30 hours a week for studying and writing--far more time than most pastors can afford in their schedules.

The church on Roscoe Boulevard was the scene of picketing last Saturday. About 50 Catholics protested a conference at the church of “Ex-Catholics for Christ,” which reflected MacArthur’s teaching that Roman Catholics are not true Christians and need conversion.

MacArthur has also denounced in his books and radio programs the beliefs of tongues-speaking, charismatic churchgoers as biblically invalid. Drawing other theological lines in the sand, MacArthur has rapped some evangelical churches for making their congregations “seeker-sensitive” through marketing approaches to newcomers that soft-pedal sin.

“Quite frankly,” said Mayhue, “some people will reject wholesale our new study Bible because John MacArthur is a conservative. On the other hand, large numbers of people will welcome it because they believe John is a reliable Bible teacher.”

Word Publishing’s Moberg said that 110,000 copies have already been printed, although 40,000 of those were purchased by MacArthur’s “Grace to You” radio and tape ministry, located in Santa Clarita, to mail free to listeners who request a copy.

Another push for sales planned by Word will come March 11-15, one month before Easter, when Grace Community Church will host an International Conference on the Bible, with speakers such as former Southern Baptist President Adrian Rogers and Moody Bible Institute President Joseph Stowell, among others, including MacArthur.

And for all MacArthur’s aversion to computers, the audio portion of the conference will go live on the Internet, said Moberg. “People might be able to download transcripts of the presentations and go on-line with them after their talks,” he said. Word Publishing is also looking into transmitting video coverage of the conference by satellite, he said.