I received the Jonathan Edwards Study Bible for free as a member of the Thomas Nelson Bibles Blogger Program. I am providing an honest and unbiased review. Note: this review contains affiliate links.
It’s 6:15 a.m. Your coffee is still too hot to drink and you’ve got fifteen minutes before the day starts. You open your Bible app, or the actual Bible if you’re old-school like me, and you read a verse. Maybe two. And then you close it, because life is already knocking on the door, and you walk away wondering if you actually got anything out of it.
This is the mess. Not the mess of unbelief, but the mess of busyness colliding with a genuine desire to know God deeply. Most of us don’t have three uninterrupted hours to cross-reference a passage with four commentaries before we decide what it means. We just want to open the Word and walk away changed.
And so we default to skimming. We read Scripture the way we read text messages: fast, surface-level, looking for the gist rather than the gold. Over time, that habit begins to starve our souls. We know about God, but we stop enjoying Him. We treat Bible reading like a chore to check off rather than a well we’re drinking from.
How many verses did I read today? How far did I get in this book and how much is left before I check it off and move on?
That’s exactly what the Jonathan Edwards Study Bible steps into. It doesn’t promise to make Bible study easier by dumbing it down. It promises something more: it hands you the notes, the framework, and the spiritual passion of a man who spent his entire life chasing one thing: joy in God, and invites you to chase it too.
A Colonial Puritan from the Great Awakening
Here’s something to remember about Jonathan Edwards: he wasn’t writing devotionals for likes and shares. He was a pastor, philosopher, and theologian in colonial New England who believed, with everything in him, that “the enjoyment of [God] is… the only happiness with which our souls can be satisfied.”
That’s not a social media quote farming for attention. That’s the entire thesis of his life’s work, and it’s the foundation of this study Bible.
The Jonathan Edwards Study Bible, edited by Matthew Everhard, takes Edwards’ actual writings—his sermons, his theological reflections, his personal devotional practices—and weaves them directly into the biblical text as study notes.More than a commentary, you’re getting Edwards himself, pointing you back toward the same conviction that fueled the First Great Awakening: that God is not a rule to follow but a fountain to drink from.
Practically, this means study notes drawn straight from Edwards’ work, articles on core doctrines, full-page essays on his theology and life, an introduction to his famous “Miscellanies” note-taking system (with space for you to build your own), his personal Resolutions for a life devoted to God, two ribbon markers, translator notes at the page bottom, maps, a concordance, two-color printing, Christ’s words in red, and a clean 9-point NKJV Comfort Print text.
Benefits of the Jonathan Edwards Study Bible
1. the Miscellanies note-taking system genuinely changes how you read.
Edwards kept a lifelong personal journal of theological observations. These are little insights he’d write down as he studied, prayed, and lived. This study Bible shows you that system, and gives you space to build your own version of it.
Picture this: it’s Tuesday morning, you’re three sips into your coffee, and instead of passively reading a paragraph and moving on, you’re pausing to write down one observation in the margin. Just a sentence. That tiny habit, repeated daily, is the difference between Bible reading as information intake and Bible reading as spiritual formation. You start to notice your own growth over months because it’s literally written in the pages.
2. The Resolutions are one of the most powerful features.
Edwards wrote 70 personal resolutions as a young man. These were commitments to how he’d live, think, and pursue God. Reading them can be convicting in the best way. On a hard day when your patience is gone and your prayer life feels dry, reading Resolution after Resolution from a 20-year-old who took his relationship with God seriously has a way of resetting your posture. It skips the guilt and says, “Here’s what devotion looks like when someone means it,” and it quietly invites you to mean it too.
The Jonathan Edwards Study Bible (NKJV)
Publisher
Thomas Nelson
Released
August 18, 2026
Binding
Leather, Hardcover
An Honest Watch-Out
Here’s my honest hesitation, and it’s an important one: Jonathan Edwards was a devout Calvinist, widely regarded as one of the most significant figures in the Reformed tradition. His theology is saturated with themes like God’s absolute sovereignty, predestination, and the total depravity of humanity.
If you come from a more free-will-emphasized tradition, some of these notes are going to sit uncomfortably. You might find yourself agreeing wholeheartedly with Edwards’ passion for God’s glory while quietly disagreeing with how he frames human choice and divine election.
This isn’t knocking Edwards or the Reformed tradition, it’s just honesty about what it is. This is not a neutral, denominationally balanced study Bible. It’s a window into one specific, deeply devoted mind, and that mind had firm theological convictions.
If you’re the kind of reader who needs every note to affirm what you already believe, you’ll find yourself underlining and then mentally arguing. That can actually be a good thing, I find that wrestling with a differing perspective sharpens my own convictions, but go in with eyes open.
The “Simple Theology” Impact
Here’s why this matters for your actual walk with God: understanding doctrine isn’t academic noise; it’s the scaffolding that holds up real, lasting joy.
When you understand why God’s sovereignty is good news, or why grace is scandalously unearned, your worship stops being emotional weather and starts being rooted conviction.
That’s Simple Theology in its purest form: understanding is the pathway to intimacy with God. A tool like this pushes you past shallow reading into a faith that can withstand a hard season.
The Verdict: Buy or Pass?
Buy this if: You want a study Bible that treats you like an adult capable of wrestling with theology, you’re drawn to Reformed thought or want to understand it better, or you crave a devotional rhythm that combines historical depth with personal note-taking practice. It’s especially great for anyone wanting to move from surface-level reading into something with real spiritual weight.
Skip this if: You desire a study Bible that’s theologically neutral across traditions, or you know upfront that Calvinist frameworks on sovereignty and election will distract more than they’ll deepen your study. In that case, look for a study Bible with a broader editorial team instead.
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