I N A pril , 1967 an event occurred which was of unusual interest and significance to Bible-believing Christians throughout the entire English-speaking world. It was the occasion o f the presentation to the Christian public of the New Scofield Reference Bible. A com mittee of nine thoroughly evan gelical and thoroughly qualified Bible scholars worked for ten years in preparing this compre hensive revision of the famous Scofield Bible notes. Although the notes have been thoroughly re vised, it should be clearly under stood that it “ still remains the Scofield, because the interpretive system that Dr. Scofield taught is the basis of the annotations in the new edition. Scripture truths have been the criterion that the committee has followed; but the committee has always borne in mind that it is the Scofield Bible that it has been working on.” Before discussing in any detail the significance of the revision of the notes and the in frequent changes of words in the King James text, this reviewer would desire to pay tribute to the monu mental task which the late Dr. C. I. Scofield accomplished in his original “ Scofield Bible” which was first copyrighted in 1909. Dr. Scofield had spent over 30 years of intensive study of the Word of God and in collaboration with other well-known Bible scholars of his day, had prepared the comprehensive system of notes which has been of inestim able value and blessing to count less thousands upon thousands of Christian people during the past 60 years. The Oxford Press very wisely recognized the value o f these notes and has kept the Christian world supplied with these editions of the Word of God, both to its own profit and for the spiritual profit of millions of people during these past 60 years. However, the time had come when it seemed necessary to update the notes in order to make them fit into pres ent-day facts as revealed in late
The New Scofield Reference Bible
by Dr. Charles L. Feinberg
Biblical record; hence there was no need to fill the pages with com paratively meaningless names. Hence the date 4004 B.C., that was given as the date of the ori gin of the earth, has been elimi nated, for it is recognized by practically everyone that the world actually is much older than that. It is to be noted that the theo logical system outlined by Dr. Scofield in his original notes has been diligently followed. This in cludes the various explanatory sections dealing with the great cardinal doctrines found in the Word of God. It also includes the study of the various dispensations which are revealed in the Word of God. To be sure, the world his tory of the past 60 years has evi denced the p in -po in tin g and sharpening of certain prophetic conclusions that Dr. Scofield had suggested in his notes. These de velopments have been given prop er attention. The cross-reference system which Dr. Scofield used has been extensively enlarged, so that thousands o f new cross-ref erences have been added to make a systematic study of the Word
archaeological discoveries, recent historical events, and perhaps a more generalized interpretation of the p rophetic portions of Scripture. According to the chairman of the committee, “ Chronology has been provided in keeping with modem findings. No dates prior to 2000 B.C. are given because of lack of evidence on which to fix such dates. Between 2000 and 1000 B.C., approximate dates are written. After 1000 B.C., events are dated with reasonable preci sion, when this is possible.” This wise decision on the part of the committee will eliminate the con fusion which has arisen in con nection with the dates found in the margins of many of the King James editions of the Bible. The chronology, of course, was the product o f Bishop Ussher and was based upon the chronological lists recorded in the Old Testa ment. Since this system of dating first appeared, archaeo log ists have discovered that certain gen erations have been completely omitted in the various genealo gies, because the individuals did not contribute materially to the
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THE KING'S BUSINESS
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