I want to invoke the curse at the end of Revelation (21:18-19), which states that if anyone adds to the words of the prophecy, all the nasty things that Revelation describes will come upon them. Seems appropriate, don’t you think?
Why? A valid question.
The comments in Study Bibles appear to have the same authority as Scripture because they are printed right there on the same page. That’s scary. Hence the Revelation curse. In fact, since the comments often attempt to clarify an unclear text, they seem to have more authority than God’s word. Obviously, discerning readers will view the comments critically and take them with a grain of salt, but most people don’t do that.
I can’t count the number of times during a Bible discussion someone says, “Well, my Bible says…”. I ask, “Is that your Bible, or a note in the margin?” It’s usually a Study Bible comment...
<idle musing>
A man after my own heart! I have had people say the same thing about a note in their study Bible. In their mind, if it is on the same page as the text, it is equal to the text in authority. I have but one answer, "NO!"
</idle musing>
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