As some of you may be aware, Logos just launched the newest version of its popular Bible Study software program on 10/10/22. Logos 10 is here! As with every upgrade, Logos 10 adds new features to an already powerful way to study the Bible. If you read on, I’ll list the newest features pointing out three of my favorites. The links on this page will also entitle new Logos users to a 15% discount off any package plus 5 free extra books out of a list of 30. If you’re already a Logos user then by using one of the links on this page you can receive a 30% discount on any upgrade, plus the same choice of 5 extra free books is also yours! (Offer good until Christmas 2022!) If Logos is brand new to you and you would like a general introduction to it see my article here.
The Newest Features Available on Logos 10
The slogan for Logos 10 is “Live in the Word.” The object is to keep Scripture at the center where it belongs. The new features include:
Advanced Searching–one of the powerful uses of Logos has always been its search capabilities, whether in the Bible or other books in your library. The search feature is now even more powerful and simple to use.
Searching your Print Books–now you can tell Logos what books you have in your physical library. If the book exists in Logos you can use Logos’s searching capabilities to locate something on a particular page.
Expanded Timeline–the Timeline now has extra features including being able to focus on a particular individual, historical period, or theme.
More pop ups with more information–Logos 10 has added 10s of millions of informational tags. Just hover over a word to bring up extra information!
Translation–you can now choose a passage from a book that is in a language you don’t know and Logos will translate it for you!
All your sermons in one spot–If your sermons are in a Word Document format, you can now add them to Logos and keep them in Sermon Manager.
Finding Quotes–If you’re looking for a quote on a certain topic or idea, Logos now allows you to search from thousands of quotes. You don’t even have to have the book! Logos 10 will give you access to the quote, tell you who said it, and what resource it came from!
Toolbar–the location of the Toolbar has changed in Logos 10. It is now on the left side. If you don’t like it there, it can be moved to the top (its more traditional position). The tool bar now has new icons such as the search feature, and the preferred Bible icon. The Toolbar can also be minimized so that more room is available on the screen to see the books you have opened.
Speed!–Logos 10 is much faster than previous versions!
Church History–This feature helps people to understand doctrines in their historical context. There are dozens of new pages in the FactBook tracing various themes.
Favorite Features of Mine
Everyone is going to like/use certain features in Logos 10 more than others. Below are 3 of my favorites.
The Translation Tool
As noted above, Logos now includes the ability to translate from and into various languages. For example, if your primary language is English you may want to read a paragraph that’s in German or Latin. It’s no problem now in Logos. Just enable the translator tool and you can scroll through the document getting a side by side translation, or you can highlight a given sentence or paragraph and get a translation of that portion of the text. In the screenshot above I have the English text of Genesis 18 on the left with a German translation on the right. All that’s necessary is to click on the box that says to open or close sidebar (see picture above), then choose the language you want.
Adding Previous Sermons to Sermon Manager
If you have sermons that you didn’t create in Logos, now they can be put into Logos. The only requirement necessary is that it be a Word doc. In the example above, I have opened Sermon Manager and added previous sermons of mine by clicking the “Add” button in the upper right (in blue), choosing the sermon and importing it into Logos.
Searching Print Books
This screen shot shows the print books I have added to my Logos library. In the filter column I chose “Print Library.” I can now search any or all of these resources.
One of the nice features of any version of Logos is being able to search any book you have in your Logos library and find what you’re looking for in an instant. Now in Logos 10 you can do the same with your print library! Instead of thumbing through a book on your bookshelf looking for that particular quote you know is in there somewhere, you can now do it with Logos even if the book isn’t in your Logos library. Just go to your library in Logos, add the book to your “Print books,” and then you can do a search to find the quote you’re looking for.
To see the original video by FaithLife announcing Logos 10 and reviewing its features, click here.
The following is a guest post by Kaleb Cuevas from Logos:
Perhaps you have committed to a new Fall Bible study at church or are eager to dive into the latest new Bible study resource. Either way, you likely have the best intentions to stick with your new study on a consistent basis and increase their biblical knowledge. However, without the right mindset or frame of reference, you can easily lose interest and motivation.
Here are 5 strategies for helping you stay engaged by bringing your Bible study content to life.
1) Study for the right reasons
It is easy to view Bible study as an intellectual exercise. But acquiring information about the Bible is not a proper end in itself. Paul described the purpose of Scripture: “that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:17). If our studies do not equip us for good works, then they are unprofitable studies. As we read the Bible, our goal must be to ultimately apply it to our lives.
2) Consider the historical setting
Contrary to popular belief, the Bible was not written to 21st century Americans. Each book of the Bible was written by a specific person, to a specific group of people, in a specific culture, at a specific time, and for a specific purpose. If we miss these details, we are likely to misunderstand much of what we are reading. Many good study Bibles include much of this information in the introductions to books of the Bible, so we would recommend starting with one of those.
3) Use historical definitions of biblical words
Very few Greek or Hebrew words have an exact English equivalent. So we have to remember that the English words in a translation may not mean exactly the same thing as the original Greek or Hebrew. One way to get around this obstacle is to do a word study, examining every occurrence of a particular word in the Bible to see how it is used therein. However, this method is time consuming, so it might be helpful to acquire a good Bible dictionary that compiles such studies on major words in the Bible. It makes it easy to understand what a given word actually means when used in the Bible.
4) Keep it in context
All too often, we read the Bible as if it were a collection of unconnected verses. A single verse taken by itself can appear to mean something totally contrary to the author’s intent. We wouldn’t skip to a sentence in the middle of Moby Dick and expect it to make sense, so why do we do this with the Bible? One good example is Jeremiah 29:11. This verse is frequently claimed as a promise for God’s specific blessing on an individual. But when we look at the context, we see that God was talking to the Israelites, whom he had sent into exile for their sins. Only after being in exile for 70 years would God bring them back to prosperity. Those are “the plans I have for you” according to Jeremiah’s full context.
5) Understand the genre
The Bible is made up of 66 different books, and they include many different genres of literature. There are epistles and narratives, poems and parables, instances of wisdom literature and apocalyptic literature, and a host of other specific styles. Keeping them all straight can be confusing, but it’s a vital part of understanding what we read. Thankfully, there are tools to help us here as well, books that provide an overview for each book of the Bible—including the genre—along with a number of other important details.
5 Strategies for Bible Study was written by Kaleb Cuevas who is Marketing Manager for Logos Bible Software, a product of Faithlife, which uses technology to equip the Church to grow in the light of the Bible and offers 14 products and services for churches.
If this post on “5 Strategies” has piqued your interest in using Bible study software, you can check out Logos by clicking here.
I have enjoyed the 1&2 Samuel commentary in the Teach the Text series so much that I decided to request a copy from Logos Bible Software. Logos offers many additional benefits that are not possible with a hardcopy. Because I have previously reviewed the contents of this commentary, I will focus on the benefits offered by the Logos edition. If, however, you have not yet read my review of the commentary itself, I have included it as well.
The Benefits of the Logos Edition of the 1&2 Samuel Commentary in the Teach the Text Series
The first thing that Logos allows me to do is show you the beautiful layout of this commentary. In my first review I noted that the Teach the Text series is attractively presented. In the photos that follow, you will have an opportunity to see what I mean.
This sample page shows the colorful maps and photos that adorn the pages of the 1&2 Samuel commentary
Every author of the Teach the Text series follows a five-point outline. I have detailed these in the review below, but here I offer a photo of the introductory pages showing the five-point layout.
This photo shows the 5-point layout of the commentary. I have highlighted the heading. Logos allows you to use a highlighter pen just as you might in a hardcopy. The folder to the left of the highlighting also allows you to make comments on the portion you have highlighted.
The great benefit of Logos is that it allows you to interact with the text in various ways. Logos users will be familiar with some of the advantages that I list here. First, the ability to hover your mouse over something in the text and receive immediate information is extremely helpful. For example, how many times have you seen a textual reference in parenthesis and meant to look it up but never got around to it? With Logos you can simply hover over the textual reference and see it immediately without leaving the page. The photo below not only shows this feature, (the mouse is hovered over Matt. 12:34–see the lower righthand corner), it also shows an example of the layout of Chisholm’s 1&2 Samuel commentary. The photo shows the “Theological Insights” and “Teaching the Text” sections on 1 Samuel 16 (top of columns 1&3), while also showing another interesting feature of Chisholm’s commentary–a dialogue box that focuses on special issues (this one intriguingly entitled, “Divine Deception?”).
Logos allows you to see a Scripture reference immediately simply by hovering your mouse over it.
The hovering feature is also helpful when there are abbreviations in the text that you’re not sure of. Furthermore, when an author references a certain source, if you have that source in your Logos library, you can hover your mouse over it and pull up the reference to that source. This is especially helpful if the author is referring to a Hebrew word and quotes BDB (Brown, Driver, Briggs Hebrew Lexicon) as his source, or is referring to an ancient text that you may have available in your Logos library (such as Hallo and Youngers’ The Context of Scripture, which contains translations of ancient Near Eastern texts). Since the internet has become such a great source of information, modern authors will sometimes give website addresses in the footnotes. If you’re reading a hardcopy you have to jot down the reference and then open your computer to check it out. Again, it’s probably one of those things you’d like to do, but may never get around to. In Logos, it’s just a button click away! All you need to do is click on the web address and Logos immediately takes you there!
There is a dropdown menu in Logos that provides a number of advantages including a special “reading view,” which is the view I have been using for these photos. A really nice feature I have recently discovered is the “read aloud” option (see the menu on the left and go halfway down). If you’re tired of reading, or prefer someone else to read to you, you can click on this function and Logos will read the text to you! You can also click on “show table of contents” in this panel and immediately go to any part of the book. The following photo shows the drop down panel with these and other options. I have also chosen this page from Chisholm’s Samuel commentary because it illustrates the verse by verse commentary section, it shows an example of a chart (partially blocked by the drop down panel), and it shows an example of the “Key themes” box which summarizes in a few words the important ideas of the text under consideration.
Note the drop down panel in the left column which gives the Logos reader many options.
Besides highlighting text (mentioned above), Logos also allows you to copy text. So if you are making notes for a sermon or Bible study, or you are writing an article, all you have to do is use your cursor to highlight the text, right click, and click copy. Logos even supplies the footnote so you don’t have to remember where you got the information from. This is especially convenient if you’re writing a paper because you don’t have to go to the trouble to compose the footnote! These are just a few of the wonderful features of reading in Logos. I’m sure as time goes on, I will discover others. As I promised, below is a review of Chisholm’s Samuel commentary. If you haven’t previously read it, please continue in order to gain a fuller appreciation of this book.
General Observations on the Teach the Text Commentary Series
The “Teach the Text Commentary Series” was commissioned to help the busy pastor and to fill a void in commentaries that are both scholarly, and yet practical. The aim is to present the “big picture” of a biblical book by dividing it “into carefully selected preaching units, each covered in six pages” (p. ix). There are 5 main areas of focus within these 6 pages: 1) Big Idea; 2) Key Themes; 3) Understanding the Text (this is the longest section including such subjects as context, outline, historical and cultural background, interpretive insights, and theology); 4) Teaching the Text; and 5) Illustrating the Text (pp. xi-xii). It is important to keep this structure and the necessary restrictions in mind when evaluating each commentary in this series.
Such an approach is clearly not intended to be exhaustive. So is there room for a commentary series with this more generalized approach? I believe there is. My own classroom teaching experience has demonstrated to me the need for students to gain the “big picture” of a biblical book. It is important to be able to summarize the main themes and key ideas of a book. Oftentimes people read or study a biblical book and have no idea of how to summarize its main message(s). The “Big Idea” and “Key Themes” features of this series go a long way in aiding the reader to achieve this goal. Therefore, the structure of the Teach the Text Commentary series is not only helpful to the pastor, who may be consulting it for his weekly sermon, it is also beneficial for the beginning student.
Before making specific remarks on Chisholm’s 1&2 Samuel commentary, I would also like to add that the “Teach the Text Commentary Series” is attractively presented. Each hardback volume is printed on heavy-duty paper which is ideal for the many helpful maps, photos, and illustrations contained in each commentary.
Comments on 1&2 Samuel Commentary
Chisholm begins his 1&2 Samuel commentary with a brief 7-page introduction. He summarizes these books by noting the three main characters (Samuel, Saul, and David) and by stating, “David is the focal point of the story” (p.1). Saul acts as a foil to David, while “Samuel’s support of David becomes foundational to the narrator’s defense of David” (pp. 1-2). The high point of the book is the Lord’s covenant with David, securing his dynasty and proving faithful even in the midst of David’s sin. Chisholm divides 1&2 Samuel into 7 sections based on “its major plot movements, revolving around the theme of kingship” (p. 4). His outline is as follows: 1) Prelude to Kingship (1 Sam. 1-7); 2) Kingship inaugurated (1 Sam. 8-12); 3) Kingship Fails (1 Sam. 13-15); 4) Kingship in Limbo (1 Sam. 16-31); 5) Kingship Revived (2 Sam. 1-10); 6) Kingship Threatened and Preserved (2 Sam. 11-20); and 7) Epilogue (2 Sam. 21-24). One potential weakness is that this outline is not clearly delineated in the commentary that follows. Perhaps Chisholm’s reason for ignoring this is because he does not find “clear-cut structural markers” in the text (p. 4), but sees the divisions above as related to plot development.
Chisholm packs a lot of information and insight into each 6-page unit of commentary. The information provided on historical and cultural background, though not found in every section, is very helpful for the beginning reader and student. Topics include foreign gods such as Baal or Dagon, divination, the Amalekites, or documents of the ancient Near East that have parallels with biblical material. This information enriches the presentation, as do the color photos that frequently accompany them. At times Chisholm includes side boxes that deal with special issues such as “The Problem of Genocide” or “The Legal Background of Tamar’s Request.”
Two characteristics of Chisholm’s exegesis that I found particularly helpful include his attention to certain words, and parallels and/or contrasts between biblical characters. Chisholm does an excellent job of paying attention to words or phrases found in 1&2 Samuel and demonstrating their connection with another incident in 1&2 Samuel (or the Former Prophets, meaning Joshua-2 Kings). For example, he notes that the expression “terror filled his heart” in 1 Samuel 28:5, in reference to Saul, only occurs one other time in 1-2 Samuel. It is found in the story of Eli’s demise as his “heart trembled over the fate of the ark of God” (p. 184). This kind of verbal connection suggests the author is comparing the circumstances of Saul and Eli. Similarly, Chisholm frequently points out similarities between incidents or characters in 1&2 Samuel with other biblical characters or incidents. One example is the similarities between the actions of Absalom in 2 Samuel 13-14 with Abimelech in Judges 9 (p. 252). This attention to biblical typology is extremely helpful when interpreting a narrative text (see my discussion in Family Portraits, p. 11).
Considering the constraints placed upon him by the commentary’s design (6 pages per literary unit), Chisholm’s overall treatment of the text of 1&2 Samuel is excellent. There is, however, one exception. Although 2 Samuel 2:1-5:5 can legitimately be viewed as a structural unit, treating it in the 6-page format does it a great injustice. This material is too important and too theologically rich to be skimmed over so briefly. Dividing this section by episodes, or even by chapters, would have been a better approach. This imbalance is all the more noticeable when the following section (2 Sam. 5:6-25), arguably less “meaty” than 2 Samuel 2-4, is given the full 6-page treatment. (For Chisholm’s reasoning on this see my interview with him which was conducted after this review.)
Perhaps the greatest challenge in writing a commentary of this kind is providing illustrations for the text. This is certainly a subjective task. Certain illustrations will ring true with some, while others will find them unhelpful. In an interview I conducted with Chisholm (click on link above), I discovered that this section was added by the editors, not by Chisholm himself. While I would not endorse the use of every illustration suggested in this commentary, I do believe a sufficient job has been done. The editors themselves point out that this section of the commentary is intended to provide “general ideas” and to “serve as a catalyst for effectively illustrating the text” (p. xii).
In conclusion, Chisholm’s 1&2 Samuel commentary achieves the aims of this series admirably. He is a scholar of high caliber and is a well-established expert on the entire corpus of the Former Prophets. Pastors, students, and others wanting to become grounded in the message of 1&2 Samuel will benefit greatly from this commentary. I used it for my own 1&2 Samuel class this past semester and will continue to do so in the future. I heartily recommend it to others.
(Many thanks to Logos Bible Software for supplying this review copy of Robert Chisholm Jr.’s 1&2 Samuel Commentary in the Teach the Text Commentary series in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.)
As noted above, Logos now includes the ability to translate from and into various languages. For example, if your primary language is English you may want to read a paragraph that’s in German or Latin. It’s no problem now in Logos. Just enable the translator tool and you can scroll through the document getting a side by side translation, or you can highlight a given sentence or paragraph and get a translation of that portion of the text. In the screenshot above I have the English text of Genesis 18 on the left with a German translation on the right. All that’s necessary is to click on the box that says to open or close sidebar (see picture above), then choose the language you want.
If you have sermons that you didn’t create in Logos, now they can be put into Logos. The only requirement necessary is that it be a Word doc. In the example above, I have opened Sermon Manager and added previous sermons of mine by clicking the “Add” button in the upper right (in blue), choosing the sermon and importing it into Logos.
