I just bought a new study bible and I wanted to get your opinion on something.
I was reading in Acts 15:1...
And certain men which came down from Judea taught the brethren and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved.
Here is what was written regarding that verse:
"During the early decades of the church, some professing Jews who had lived under Judaism disrupted the church by saying that no one could be saved apart from the Law and especially circumcision. These Judaizers came from Jerusalem proclaiming their message. The message of salvation involving works is as old as the need of salvation itself. Jesus and the apostles clearly teach that salvation is by God's grace through faith alone."
When they say "Jesus and the apostles clearly teach that salvation is by God's grace through faith alone," I am not sure whether I should keep this bible.
My opinion is that you do not get rid of that bible—unless you are fully persuaded in your own mind to do so. I say that because as long as it is a KJV bible, the text of it is profitable, even though most of the study notes are not!
That is the problem with study bibles, there are none containing notes from a Pauline dispensational distinction, and therefore most of the notes that are in them are from so-called bible "scholars" who do not rightly divide God's Word. I say “most of the notes” are useless because just like a broken clock is right twice a day, every once in a while those who wrote those notes get something right, although it is few and far between.
So if you do happen to keep it and read their notes, just take them with a grain of salt, and definitely dismiss their arguments as you did in your question, when they go against the rightly divided truth and the Pauline grace message. As you so aptly pointed out, they are actually saying the exact opposite of what the Lord and his apostles told Israel about salvation!
Matthew 19:16,17
And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.
So in summation, I would say keep the bible because God's words are always profitable and every once in awhile one of the notes might help, but for the most part, ignore what they write and just stick to the rightly divided word. But as long as you have a Pauline understanding of the Word, you are far more knowledgeable than any of those so-called bible "scholars!" That was how you were able to discern their error.
2 Timothy 2:7
Consider what I [Paul] say; and the Lord give thee understanding in all things.
On a personal note, I choose to study and preach out of a bible without some guy's study notes for all the above reasons, as I do not want to be influenced negatively. But, I do still have and, periodically, look at another bible of mine which is a study bible just to get further information regarding certain dates, historical geography, or topography of the bible lands, etc.
Hopefully this helps!
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I have the very same study bible that you speak of. It was edited by the Bible rejecting, yea hath God said crowd. I would be very wary of all the word “corrections” they made and a lot of the commentary needs to be taken with a grain of salt. Use study Bibles with a lot of discernment. I have become disillusioned with the whole “study Bible” concept. The majority of them have been written by Bible corruptors and Bible rejecters.
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