My first overall impressions of the ESV Study Bible were very positive and my esteem for it continues 
to rise. Here are some more thoughts about this wonderful new tool
1. I mentioned in my last post about this new resource that its sheer size would limit where I took it and how I used it. That has turned out to be true - sort of. While it is too big to lug around for hospital visits and can look imposing at a patient's bedside, I still bring it along with me - but keep it in my car. You see, I can't part with it. I may use my pocket sized ESV at the beside, but I keep my ESV Study Bible nearby - you know, just in case. The notes and resources in it are so helpful and so spark my curiosity that I can't part with it. Its mere presence makes me feel prepared to answer my own questions and those of others. Sure, this habit reflects my own drive to engage in theological discussions, but that is just how useful this new tool has become to me.
2. The notes do reflect a Reformed bent, but not oppressively so. Schreiner's notes on Romans allow a little wiggle room for Arminians as do the notes on other books, most of the time. But the notes are always reflect a conservative, evangelical viewpoint, which is just what I want. The notes also do go beyond offering mere background information or just a straight interpretation of some passage as most study bibles do by offering responses that often amount to systematic theology leading to application.
3. From front to back, the introduction, articles, and notes often reflect a very passionate and Puritan understanding of spiritual formation and worship. I love it! From the Preface to the ESV which quotes the words the Moderator of the Church of Scotland uses when handing a Bible to the new monarch in Britain's coronation service, "This Book [is] the most valuable thing that this world affords. Here is Wisdom; this the royal Law; these are the lively Oracles of God", to the notes and John Piper's article, "Reading the Bible in Prayer and Communion with God," this study Bible emphasizes the joy and experience of knowing and communing with God through his Word. There is a sense of worship that permeates the ESV Study Bible that persuades you that the contributors were not merely concerned with presenting solid scholarship, but with presenting scholarship that sparks worship. This is obviously not a study bible for purely academic-minded readers.
4. But the ESV Study Bible does lack a few things. First, it could really use an article summarizing Old Testament and New Testament history, like my New Oxford Annotated Bible (1991) has. Most of the historical info one needs is scattered throughout book introductions and in the notes, but 2 articles that give one an overview of the activities of the Assyrian, Babylonian, and Persian empires in relation to Israel would have been helpful for the Old Testament, and one article on relevant stuff for the New Testament would be helpful too. Second, I miss red lettering. I like to see the words of Jesus in red because it helps me locate specific passages in the gospels quickly and develop a snapshot outline of passages. Third, a second ribbon marker would be nice. Fourth, so far I have not been able to find a good summary of Hebrew parallelism like the one in my New Oxford Annotated Bible. Considering how much poetry there is in the OT, this is a great omission. But all of these things that I say this new study Bible lacks, except for the additional marker ribbon, just might be in there somewhere in some article or note that I have overlooked. This book is so big I will be discovering new treasures for years.
All in all, this is simply the best study Bible available today. Considering giving one for Christmas? You can't find better prices than at Christian Book Distributors. My copy was about $56 dollars from CBD, and my local Christian bookstore had the same edition for $96. Wow. CBD even beats Amazon last time I checked.
Roger E. Olson has a fine new book called 
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