“Why does your magazine quote so many Bible verses?”

January 2013 – Grace & Truth Magazine

QUESTION: Why does Grace & Truth Magazine directly quote so many Bible verses and have so many references to book, chapter and verse in it?

ANSWER: This question, asked by one of our readers, caused me to examine several back issues of our magazine to get an idea of what he meant by “so many references.” I discovered that our writers average three references to book, chapter and verse per page. I also discovered that our readers will find an average of two direct Bible quotations per page.

This bit of research led me to ask myself another question: How does our referencing to and quoting from the Bible compare to that of other Christian magazines? The three I examined only quoted directly from the Bible an average of 10 times in 40 pages, compared to 80 times in 40 pages in Grace & Truth. And they only occasionally referenced their comments to a Bible book, chapter and verse.

Why do we have so many specific references in our magazine? Because, from its beginning in 1933, Grace & Truth Magazine has sought to be good, healthy food for the family of God that will help readers “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Pet. 3:18 NKJV). Many tell us that reading our magazine is like having the Bible with them. And over the years many have written to tell us that quoting Bible verses has led them to take up the challenge of 2 Timothy 2:15: “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

I am very thankful for the opportunity to answer this question because our goal is not only to present articles that are consistent with the Bible, but also to get our readers into it – book, chapter and verse.

Answered by Larry Ondrejack