It would be difficult to overstate my excitement about Crossway’s forthcoming ESV Gospel Transformation Bible (coming in September 2013). Bryan Chapell serves as the general editor, with Dane Ortlund as managing editor.
The video above allows some of the contributors to explain what they are seeking to accomplish in this unique resource. You can also download a sample and sign up for email updates about it.
I am unaware of anything quite like it.
Note the following from Bryan Chapell’s introduction:
Faithful application typically answers four questions:
- What to do?
- Where to do it?
- Why to do it? and
- How to do it?
Previous application-focused study Bibles have emphasized the first two of these questions.
The Gospel Transformation Bible, while not ignoring the first two questions, seeks to be a primary resource for the latter two. Contributors’ notes indicate how the unfolding gospel truths in any given passage of Scripture motivate and enable believers to honor their Savior from the heart—in short, how grace transforms them.
Our goal is to make plain the imperatives of God’s Word, while undermining the human reflex to base God’s affection on human performance. Contributors have therefore indicated how the indicatives of the gospel (i.e., the status and privileges believers have by virtue of God’s grace alone) provide motivation and power for God’s people to honor him from the heart.
You can find out more about the contributors and the editions here.
