Logos 9 Bible Software Review

Faithlife has released Logos 9 Bible software and here’s my launch day review! Up front, I’ll say that I have used Logos Bible nearly every single day since 2017. Because I believe in this tool, I am also an affiliate Logos partner. And, I got you a discount.

In case you aren’t familiar with Logos Bible Software, let me start by saying it’s the single most powerful piece of any Bible study tool I have ever used. And I’ve used more than a few! I have Logos on my laptop and on my Android tablet and because of that, I carry the near equivalent of a seminary library everywhere I go.

And with Logos 9, it’s even easier to deep dive into your Bible study.

It’s true that Logos is often discussed for use by pastors, teachers, group leaders and seminary students. And for good reason.

But I want to point out that I began using Logos before I was ever a student, teacher, and long before I ever shared a sermon. Logos 9 Bible software is suitable for all Christians who wish to study, explore and understand God’s word.

But, is it best for you? Let’s have a look…

Logos 9 Pros and Cons

What you’ll find in this review

1. Explore the features of Logos 9
2. Newest features
3. Best features
4. Mobile Apps
5. The cons of Logos Bible software
6. Is Logos 9 right for you?
7. A note to the pastors
8. An exclusive offer for my readers from Logos

Exploring the Features of Logos 9

To say that Logos 9 is a full-featured piece of Bible study software is a giant understatement. This tool is like having a digital Bible scholar guide your study. It will do everything you want, things you didn’t know you wanted, and more than you could imagine.

So let’s look inside!

The Newest Features

First up for the new features is the number one requested feature by Logos users: dark mode, and wow, is it crisp!

Expanded Factbook: Look up anything. In addition to People, Places, Concepts, you can now find Greek and Hebrew lemmas, word senses, manuscripts, authors, songs, resources, and more.

Counseling guide: A new guide to find what your library has to say on many common counseling topics.

Preaching mode for sermons, including a timer!

Best Features of Logos 9 Bible Software

As mentioned, I use Logos almost every single day in at least some capacity. Here are some of the things you can accomplish in your daily Bible study. Believe me, adding Logos 9 to your time in God’s word will have a profound impact on your faith life!

Daily reading and devotionals

At the very least, I’m in Logos as part of my daily reading. There are many reading plans you could use, or you could even build your own. You can share your plan and read along with family or with your study group.

Depending on which devotionals you may have in your Logos library, you can also track along with a devotional reading as well.

Layouts

With layouts, you can have a collection of books or Bible translations together so that you can easily switch between them. For example, I have a layout for daily devotional reading with 2 devotionals and 2 different Bible translations. I also have another layout for exegetical work that has the appropriate resources from my library, and I use another layout for the books I’m reading from my Faithlife library.

Guides and workflows

This feature will revolutionize your time in God’s word. When you click the tab for “Guides” in Logos 9 Bible software, you’re presented with a number of studies, workflows and guides:

• Passage Guide – Type a verse reference or section title from the Bible. (e.g., “Sermon on the Mount”).
• Bible Word Study – Type a word from the Bible, or use g: or h: to enter a Greek or Hebrew word.
• Theology Guide – Study beliefs in Christian theology.
• Exegetical Guide – Type a verse reference or section title from the Bible. (e.g., “God’s Love for the World”).
• Topic Guide – Study any topic from the Bible or related to church history.
• Counseling Guide – Type a counseling topic (e.g., anxiety, depression, conflict in marriage).
• Basic Bible Study – This workflow guides you through the basic process of studying a passage of Scripture. Bible study is more involved than Bible reading. Bible study begins with reading the passage, observing the details of the passage, identifying the main ideas and themes, looking into how others explain the passage, and determining the theological principles taught in the text that you can apply to your own life and share with others.
• Expository Sermon Preparation – Preparation, researching your passage, creating an exegetical outline, distilling the main point to preach, and developing a sermon outline. Upon completing the workflow, you will have researched a passage for the purpose of preaching on the passage and prepared a sermon outline to guide the preaching of the passage.
• Biblical Person Study – This workflow presents the basic steps you can follow to learn more about a person from the Bible. When you study a biblical person, you will find biblical passages related to the person’s life, review the key events the person was involved in, look for mentions of the person elsewhere in Scripture, and evaluate the person’s character qualities to discern what valuable lessons can be learned from that person’s life. With this workflow, you will learn more about a person’s actions and role across the whole of the Bible.

More guides and workflows!

You’ll also discover more tools than I could list here in the Guides and Workflows tab. They include:

• Different types of study (like inductive Bible study, passage exegesis, and person, place, theme or topic study).
• Bible reference guides (Biblical events, people, ancient literature and lots more).
• Topic Guides (atlas, sermons, illustrations, interactives and media).
• Word guides (Greek and Hebrew words, example uses, translation and textual searches to name a few).
• Sermon theme guides, Theology guides, and now…Counseling guides!

Mobile Apps

It would be an enormous short sighting if I forget to mention the Logos Bible apps!

Remember when I said I use Logos Bible software virtually every day in at least some capacity? More often than not, that has been with my tablet using the Logos Bible app for Android.

That’s where I do part of my daily reading, devotions and extra book reading from my Faithlife and Logos libraries. In fact, I have certain layouts saved that I use to teach from twice each week. That’s on my tablet and goes with me everywhere I go!

The Android and iOS Logos apps are full featured and can accomplish nearly everything the desktop and web versions do. I often have word or exegetical studies open on my tablet and my Bible and notebook with pens open beside that on my desk.

The Challenges of Logos Bible Software

You probably saw the “cons” mentioned at the beginning of this review. To begin, the Android version has a few bugs. They aren’t monumental, just visual and quite honestly, I don’t know if it’s just my tablet or not.

When I switch between landscape and portrait on my tablet while using Logos, it often distorts on the screen and requires me to re-launch the app. Also, when I switch apps on my tablet while using Logos, upon switching back it shows me a different book than the one I left.

Truthfully, I could contact Logos support but It just doesn’t bother me enough to do that, and like I said, it could be my tablet.

Unfortunately I cannot speak to the iOS version, but for what it’s worth, my friends tell me it’s amazing.

Three more commonly heard cons about Logos

First, I myself am guilty of believing these in the past about Logos Bible Software. Along the way, I have come to realize that behind the truth, there are inaccuracies in them.

1. Logos is too expensive. If you look at the base packages and not what’s in them, then like me, you’ll walk away thinking it costs too much. Perspective: I recently read about a pastor who calculated his ‘pastoral library’ of books to have cost him around $45,000. And he has to fit all of those books, which go largely unused, on bookshelves.

The Gold and above packages contain literally thousands of dollars worth of books. While they cost a fraction of their print book equivalent, those packages are not for everyone. They are well suited for the scholar, the seminary student, the teacher or the pastor.

You could spend as little as a few hundred bucks and still walk away with a library worth several times as much. What’s more, you could add only the resources you’ll use plus a free and several steeply discounted books each and every month. You don’t have to jump into the top base package, and you can always upgrade when you need to.

Granted, that will take longer and may end up costing you more in the long run. However, if you don’t have the budget to jump into a larger package at once, buy only what you need when you need it.

2. Logos is hard to learn. Yep, I’m guilty of this one, too. I actually sat on this software for months before realizing what a Biblical treasure is at our fingertips! Yes, it took time to learn and I’m not a master by any means, but there is hope.

You may be tech-savvy enough to leap right into Logos Bible Software and grasp what’s going on, but not all of us can do that. What I discovered is that there are tons of amazing training videos Faithlife has put together to teach us how to use this powerful software.

And guess where you’ll find them? Right in your Logos dashboard. Not even joking, I overlooked them for far too long.

And yes, if you try to plug and play this software, you may frustrate yourself. Take the time to learn how to use it.

3. Logos is just for (pastors, scholars, theologians, professors, etc). So not true. Any Christian will gain loads of understanding God’s word by using Logos Bible Software. If you don’t believe me, go sign up for a free Faithlife account, download the basic Logos 9 free version, watch some videos to learn, and prove me wrong.

Is Logos 9 Bible Software Right for You?

I’m going to be as honest as I can be here. Logos Bible software is not for everyone. Some of you just can not make the switch from paper books to a digital library, and I understand that. It’s still my belief though that a Logos 9 base package would benefit the time you spend in God’s word when used alongside your Bible and notebooks. After all, I do that all the time!

Others may not have the time or the inclination to learn how to effectively use Logos 9 Bible software. If learning how to use new software excites you, this may be for you. On the other hand, if it makes you sweat to think about learning to use new tools, then maybe not.

If it’s not within your means to invest in a Logos 9 base package, I also understand that. I started with the free version and added to it along the way. If you don’t have the budget for Logos Bible software, then by all means, start with the free version and add to it when you can. And don’t forget, Faithlife gives away free books every month and they are valuable resources!

If you do have a budget that allows you to invest little or much into your Bible study and sermon or teaching preparation, then my strongest recommendation to you would be to do the research and invest wisely, whether it be Logos 9 or something else.

Logos 9 Bible software however comes at the top of my recommendations and for good reason. It will save you time in lesson or sermon preparation while providing you with study and ministry tools that are unmatched in the world of Bible study software.

Exclusive Offer for My Readers

Our friends at Faithlife have allowed me to give you an exclusive offer and I think you’re going to like this!

Right now, if you purchase Logos 9 Bible software or any additional add-on through any of the links in this post, you will save 20% by using the discount code PARTNEROFFER9, or you can get Logos 9 at 20% off + 5 free additional books of your choice from a special selection!

If you’re looking for a lighter package, I’ve got you covered. Through this link, you’ll get Logos 9 Fundamentals for half off + 5 free books, only $49.99. This one is for first time base package purchasers only.

One Last Note to the Pastors

If you are a teaching or shepherding pastor, from a missionary-pastor to you, my heart is with you and your work.

Please allow me to take a moment and provide a little more that really pertains to your calling as you faithfully teach and instruct.

At no other time in history has there been the kinds of demands you now face as a pastor. In order to effectively and faithfully teach others, above all else, you need the guidance of the Holy Spirit, a life devoted to prayer, and solid personal study in God’s word.

You also need the resources that will not only help you understand, but to give that understanding away to other people, many of whom never pick up a Bible and who rarely pray.

Maybe those are books that already fill your office. Or maybe it’s another Bible study software that you’ve come to rely on. But if it’s not, then I encourage you to consider investing in your life, ministry and calling by investigating what Logos 9 can do for you.