The Scriptures transformed the life of George Robert Crow (1924-2007) in the United States. He then came to India and touched hundreds of lives with God’s amazing grace. He left an important legacy: an indigenous Study Bible, produced with an Indian colleague. Their intention: to help followers of Christ to study and apply the Word in their daily lives. He also started Grace Ministries, to translate and publish this Study Bible into major Indian languages. Malayalam is one such language.
The text of the Malayalam Study Bible belongs to the Bible Society of India and is used with their kind permission. GM is thankful to BSI.
The producers and publishers of this Study Bible believe in the full divine inspiration of the Bible. That is, we believe that God Himself inspired the original writers of each of the 66 books so that they wrote down, word for word, in the languages they used (Hebrew, Greek, and a little Aramaic), exactly what God wanted them to write. Therefore we have no hesitation in calling the Bible the Word of God. Our highest authority for believing this is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. In Matthew 4:4 He taught us that words found in the Old Testament had come “from the mouth of God”. He said that not the smallest part of a single letter of the law of Moses would pass away until all of it was fulfilled (Matt 5:18).
He stated that words written by David were “by the Holy Spirit” of God (Mark 12:36). He said that what was spoken to the leaders of Israel was “the word of God”, and that “the Scripture cannot be broken” (John 10:35). He taught that His own teachings had come directly from God the Father in heaven (John 12:49; 14:24). He stated that the Holy Spirit of God would lead His apostles “into all truth” (John 16:13), and His apostles taught that all the Old Testament Scriptures were given “by inspiration of God” (2 Timothy 3:16), and that Old Testament prophecy came though holy men of God who “spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:21).
THE NOTES: Our sole purpose in writing and publishing these notes has been to provide the reader with a help in better understanding the Word of God, and so put it into practice more fully. They represent many years of hard work. Great care has been taken to try to expound what is in the text of the Bible, and not to present any preconceptions or prejudices we may have. It is, of course, quite possible that we have not always succeeded in this, and the reader may sometimes find mistakes in matters of fact or errors in the interpretation of a verse or a passage. If these things are pointed out to us, and we are convinced of our error, we will be most happy to correct any such thing in future editions. Truth is what we constantly aim at, and anything less than the truth in our thinking and speaking and writing is unacceptable and painful to us, as it should be to everyone who reads this. May God alone be praised if those who use our Study Bible come to a better understanding of the truth through it. We are in hearty agreement with the psalmist who wrote, “Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory, because of your mercy and because of your truth” (Ps 115:1). In this we will have our joy and satisfaction.
We have provided a great many references throughout the notes and in a brief concordance at the end. We hope all these references are accurate, but are aware that mistakes in proof reading are always possible and may be found here and there. If the reader discovers any such mistakes we would appreciate having them pointed out to us.
The notes are the sole intellectual property of GM. We pray that these study notes will help you to know God and walk in His ways.