Digging into Church History

In a different post, we showed you why the Reformation Heritage KJV Study Bible is the perfect resource for family and personal devotions. Now, I want to build on that and share a few more reasons why this is such a great resource for personal and family Church history study.

Church History

I’m learning that it’s worthwhile to teach my children a bit of church history. It shows them that our faith has a long and rich heritage.

One of the great things about this study Bible is that it contains summaries of each century of Church history. Starting in the 1st Century and ending in present times.

These articles will familiarize you with the major events and issues that the Church faced throughout the years. Also, you’ll become acquainted with many of the more important historical Church figures. This may seem like a minor addition, but it’s helpful, teaching me a lot that I didn’t know before.

Creeds and Confessions in Church History

When looking at Church history, it is important to look over creeds and confessions. They clearly show the Church wrestling to establish orthodoxy and reject heresy.

Several of these are included in the Reformation Heritage KJV Study Bible including the:

• Apostles’ Creed
• Nicene Creed
• Athanasian Creed
• Belgic Confession
• Canons of Dort
• Westminster Confession of Faith

And, instead of just giving you the text, you’re also provided some introductory information. It’s important that you know how these texts are related to Christendom! Also, you can see how the Church battled for the truth of the Bible throughout history, all in one resource.

Catechisms

Additionally, this study Bible is awesome for learning, and teaching, doctrinal categories. Specifically, if you couldn’t guess by its name, the study Bible is great at explaining doctrines in the Reformed tradition. There are catechisms (Heidelberg, shorter Westminster, and larger Westminster) in the end matter.

Personally, I have found the catechisms to be a great tool for teaching my children. They are easy to memorize and provide several related passages, teaching them the most important doctrines of our faith. Also, it’s simple enough to take a question or two a week and incorporate it as a part of your time of family or personal devotion. Not only will you get to know more about the Bible, but you’ll be better equipped to defend what you believe.

Christian Living

Whether you’re a new believer or a seasoned veteran, you’ll find the “How to Live as a Christian” collection of articles to be extremely helpful. Each of these articles cover various topics related to Christian living, such as: living by the Ten Commandments, fellowship with other Christians, why & how to pray, handling criticism, enduring affliction, and being a godly spouse.

These articles are wonderful for showing how the Bible practically applies to everyday life and teaching children how they ought to live.

Standing Tall on Their Shoulders

It may be easy for us to gravitate to modern writings and resources, but we should not neglect those who have walked before us. Those voices have a wealth of wisdom that we’d be foolish to not glean from.

So, this is why I find the Reformation Heritage KJV Study Bible to be immensely beneficial to the Church today.

The rich history of our faith has been brought forward in such a way that Christians can learn from these great theologians easily. No need to step into a time machine or head to a seminary library. I plan on making this study Bible a part of my daily studies for years to come. Just as it’s a resource in line with the heritage of the Reformation, I hope that this Bible becomes a heritage in my family.