About BibleRef.com
BibleRef.com is an ongoing project creating a comprehensive, free, original, online commentary of the entire Bible. Many people avoid deeper Bible study because they are intimidated. They see the Bible itself as too big, too complex, or too obscure to understand. Many Bible commentaries are filled with slogans, religious jargon, and ten-dollar words. It’s difficult for the common person to find a relatable commentary.To counter this, BibleRef.com is built around three core principles. These are Biblical Authority, Accessibility, and Discipleship. Each line of commentary, and every article, is weighed against these principles.
• Biblical Authority: the Bible is the first and most important resource for Christians. It is the ultimate judge of our beliefs, our actions, and our thinking. This calls us to emphasize explaining the gospel. It means letting the word speak for itself wherever possible. And, it means not favoring any theological system for its own sake.
• Accessibility: each person has the ability, the right, and the responsibility to read and understand the Bible. Our material is purposefully aimed at the non-expert. We strive to make this material easily read, easily understood, and easily shared. These resources are meant to give everyone the confidence to study the Bible. We do this by providing tools and encouragement. We will not use intimidation, or settle for content likely to leave someone confused or insecure.
• Discipleship: truly following Christ involves the entire person. This means thoughts, actions, words, and beliefs. Humility is essential to this process. And, humility applies to the BibleRef.com project as well! We are fully expecting to see changes as we follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. Discipleship also means a connection to the community of believers. That starts with direct access to God, and His word. It also means accepting the difficulty, and the mystery, of some aspects of our faith.
You don’t need a PhD in order to make sense of the Bible. At the same time, the Scriptures cannot be understood simply by skimming them. BibleRef.com is grounded in a conviction that understanding the Bible is possible for absolutely every person. Content published here is meant to show every reader that they can have a deeper understanding of the Word tomorrow than they do today.
As BibleRef.com continues to develop, each book, chapter, and verse of the Bible will be linked to specific commentary. Links between related verses, and to biblical themes, will also be part of the process. There are also many helpful features which are still in development! We highly recommend signing up for updates, once we've enabled them, in order to know when new content has been added.
Thanks for visiting! Have a look around, and enjoy your study of the Bible.
Donations to support our work can be made here: DONATE.
Authorship and Citations
Questions or concerns not addressed here can be directed to the Editor at contact@bibleref.com.BibleRef.com occasionally receives questions about authorship of our commentary. We have been asked for the name of the person who wrote the material, how to cite or distribute the content, and why there is no option available to leave comments.
Other than Bible text, credited to the respective publishers, everything on the BibleRef website is original unless otherwise noted. This content is composed by writers through our parent organization, Got Questions Ministries. Prior to publication, the material is edited for clarity, accuracy, and consistency by BibleRef.com's general Editor. For all practical purposes, commentary on BibleRef.com is co-authored by the Editor and whichever writer contributed the raw material for that passage.
As original content, material from BibleRef.com is subject to the basic protections of copyright law. In keeping with our ministry goals, all BibleRef.com works are approved for sharing, distribution, reference, copying, or even printing, so long as three conditions are met:
- •Content from BibleRef.com may not be used for any commercial purposes, or as part of any commercial work, without explicit prior written consent from Got Questions ministries.
- •Any use of our material should be properly credited; please make it clear the content is from BibleRef.com.
- •BibleRef.com content may not be altered, modified, or otherwise changed unless such changes are specifically noted.
BibleRef.com does not publicize the names of content writers. Our intent is to promote understanding of the Bible. Withholding the names of authors maintains a focus on the material, itself, rather than potential personal attacks. This also frees writers and editors to be honest and clear in pursuing our objectives, without temptation for personal pride or resume-building. Anonymity removes the temptation to compromise for the sake of avoiding controversy. Unfortunately, our ministry has also been subject to harassment, up to and including death threats, so safety is another reason we choose not to publicize the names of commentary authors. Academically and legally, an author's name is also unnecessary. Those looking to cite BibleRef.com can use the information given below.
Our decision not to allow comments is similar to our stance on bylines. Comment forums require large amounts of oversight, often attract trolls and bickering, and ultimately do not serve to further the interests of our ministry.
Academic or formal citations of our material can use the following styles, using John 1:1 as an example:
MLA:
"What Does John 1:1 Mean?" BibleRef.com. https://www.bibleref.com/John/1/John-1-1.html.
APA:
"What Does John 1:1 Mean?" (n.d.). Retrieved [insert date of access formatted: August 30, 2018], from https://www.bibleref.com/John/1/John-1-1.html.
Chicago Style:
"What Does John 1:1 Mean?," Got Questions Ministries, accessed August 30, 2018, [https://www.bibleref.com/John/1/John-1-1.html]
Other styles have their own conventions for how to cite an online article which does not name a specific author. Please refer to those styles for details on how to properly credit BibleRef.com.
If an author's name is absolutely required, you may reference our ministry CEO, S. Michael Houdmann.
