Logos Bible Software | Knowable Word

Using Logos 9 to Teach the Bible

November 12, 2021 By Peter Krol

I use Logos Bible Software extensively every day. It is one of the programs I keep open constantly, so I can use it quickly and easily. I’m delighted that we’re able to give away a Logos 9 Silver base package for this year’s Bible reading challenge. One of my favorite things with the software is how it helps me teach the Bible.

By “help me teach the Bible,” I’m not referring to the study or preparation for teaching, though Logos also has much to offer in that realm. What I’m referring to here is the act of teaching. Logos offers a few features that provide the notes I take into any sermon, class, or Bible study.

Sermon Builder

The first tool is the Sermon Builder, which is essentially a word processor for Bible teachers. I write all of my sermons with it, and I prepare class notes or small group leader’s notes with it. The Logos Sermon Builder doesn’t quite have as much functionality as Microsoft Word or Google Docs, but it was fully designed with Bible teachers in mind. And for that reason, it is the best word processor I have ever used for sermons.

Here’s how Sermon Builder helps me to write my sermons or teaching notes:

I can tag any text as a “prompt,” which formats it in a way that stands out. My “prompts” are instructions to myself for when I speak. They could include time markers, reminders to speak more loudly or quietly, or notes for transitioning to the next presenter after me.
I can insert any Bible text right into my notes by simply typing the reference (such as “Matt 2:1-21) and hitting enter. Then the full text of the passage magically appears.
I can similarly insert quotations from other resources in my Logos library, and Logos will automatically footnote the source for me, should I need it later.
As I type my script, a counter at the top of the screen tells me how much time it will take to preach or teach this script. I do enough ad libbing that the number is never completely accurate, but I have learned how to adjust the automatic figure to give me a realistic sense of the timing. This helps me to make sure I’m pacing my material to fit within the time I have to teach it.
Any thing I format as a heading gets automatically sent to the sermon outline, which I can later export or grab as needed for printing on handouts.
All headings and Scripture texts get automatically sent to a slide presentation, which can be used to accompany the sermon or class.

Sermon Builder helps not only with the word processing, but also with the presentation itself:

The manuscript is automatically saved to my Faithlife account on the cloud, so it is backed up there and I can access it from any device. So I type the script on my laptop, but can preach it (or lead a small group) right from my iPad by simply opening it up there.
I can go into “presentation mode,” which cuts out any clutter in the layout and provides a timer right on the screen.

Sermon Manager

The other tool is the Sermon Manager, which provides a one-stop shop for organizing all of my teaching.

Some of my recent and near-future teaching.

I don’t yet use the Sermon Manager to its full extent, but I benefit most from the following:

I can take a look at which sermons I have preached based on the venue, calendar, or text.
I can track when I’ve taught the same passage in multiple venues.
I can access my entire library of teaching notes, in case I need to refer to something on short notice.
I can map out an upcoming series, and create templates to help me save time when I’m ready to draft my notes.

Conclusion

These tools provide another reason why I have come to depend so heavily on Logos Bible Software. And the truly wonderful thing is that these marvelous tools just keep getting better and better. New features are constantly being added to program updates. If you have been considering making use of Logos 9, perhaps this year’s Bible reading challenge could be your opportunity to acquire it.

Announcing Our 2022 Bible Reading Challenge

November 5, 2021 By Peter Krol

For this year’s reading challenge, we’re giving away a Silver base package of Logos Bible Software! Logos 9 Silver comes with many Logos features, such as the text comparison tool, sermon manager, interactive infographics, and the Bible books explorer. In addition, it comes with a library of over 250 resources, including the complete Tyndale and Holman New Testament commentaries, Tyndale Old Testament commentaries, 11 Bible dictionaries and encyclopedias, and John Goldingay’s 3-volume Old Testament Theology. See my reviews of Logos 9 here and here. This feature set and library of resources (which you can browse here) would cost over $10,900 if purchased separately, and as a package Logos 9 Silver normally costs $999.99. But—thanks to the generosity of Faithlife for sponsoring this year’s grand prize—this silver package can be yours for free if you can prove you’d know what to do with it.

If you’ve been with us for the last few years, you’ve probably been expecting this post. Here I come, like the sun rising, going down, and once again hastening to its place to rise again. Like the wind blowing round and round, north, then south, and back again. Like streams running to the sea, and yet the sea is still not full. What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun. Viruses and societal turmoil are no match for our inevitability.

If you’re new to the blog, you’ll be delighted to know we do a reading challenge here annually. This is our sabbatical (7th) year for the challenge, so we searched high and low for the best prize we could think of to reward your toil at which you toil under the sun. We are deeply grateful to Faithlife for sponsoring this year’s grand prize.

Screen shot of Logos 9 Bible study and sermon builder

In our former days, most excellent Theophilus, we issued a 90-day Bible-reading challenge that had to begin on January 1 and end by March 31. But many folks have told us they would like to be able to get started over the holidays. While many are eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, or chasing a spirit of stupor, we hear that you—the readers of this blog, the champions of the covenant, the heroes who shine like stars in the midst of a present evil age—would prefer to redeem the time when you already find yourself away from your usual responsibilities.

And who are we to stand in your way? You think about all his commandments; you will not be ashamed. You are continually overcome with longing for his judgments. Though your life is down in the dust, you seek life according to God’s word. Therefore this year’s Bible reading challenge may commence immediately. In fact, perhaps it already commenced for you, and you’re only now realizing it.

Here are the rules:

You must read (not scan or skim) all 66 books of the Protestant Bible. You may choose the translation and reading plan (canonical, chronological, etc.). You don’t have to stop and meditate on every detail, but the Lord sees and knows when you are being honest about reading and not skimming. Listening to an unabridged audio Bible is acceptable. You may also use any combination of audio and visual reading, as long as you’ve read or listened to the entire Bible within the allotted time period.
You must read the entire Bible within a 90-day period.
The last day of that 90-day period must be between today and March 31, 2022. If you’d like to understand why we recommend such fast-paced reading, see our Bible reading plan for readers.
To enter the drawing, you must fill out the survey below, letting us know the dates you read and what you thought of the speed-reading process. Your thoughts do not have to be glowing, but they should be honest; you’ll still be entered into the drawing if you didn’t enjoy your speed-read.
Any submissions to the form below that don’t meet the requirements or appear to be fabricated will be deleted. For example: multiple entries with different data, date of completion not between November 5, 2021 and March 31, 2022, “What I thought about the experience” has nothing to do with Bible reading, or date of completion is later than the date of entry submission (please don’t try to enter the drawing if you plan to read the Bible; only enter once you have completed reading it).
In the first week of April 2022, we will randomly select one grand-prize winner from those who have submitted the form. To celebrate the reading challenge’s 7th anniversary, we’re also planning to have several second-prize winners. We’ll keep you posted on what those additional prize packages will include. We will email the winners for confirmation. The grand prize winner will need to set up a Logos account if they don’t already have one, and second-prize winners may need to submit shipping addresses. If a winner does not respond to our request for confirmation or a shipping address within 1 week, a new winner will be selected in their place.
Unfortunately, though they are terrific people doing marvelous work for the sake of Christ, staff members of DiscipleMakers are not eligible to win the drawing.

We will occasionally post links to the submission form on the blog between now and March 31. But you might also want to bookmark this page for easy access when you’re ready to submit your entry.

If you’d like a checklist to help you stay on pace, here are three. You may make a copy and update the dates, if you plan to start on a date other than January 1.

Or here is an iOS app that can help you track your plan. You may also want to consider making a reading plan in the Dwell listening app if you prefer audio.

You may now begin any time, and may this be the ride of your life.

Delightful Upgrade to Reading Plans in Logos 9

January 22, 2021 By Peter Krol

As I’ve made known numerous times, I am an avid daily user of Logos Bible Software. And the latest version made a significant upgrade to a feature I use more than almost anything else: reading plans. When I wrote my review of Logos 9, I wasn’t yet aware of the extent of the upgrade to reading plans. But now that I’ve been using it extensively for my new year’s speed-read of the Bible, I’d like to tell you about it.

Some of the upgraded reading plan features show up in the desktop app. But the most noticeable improvements are in the Logos mobile app. (In case you didn’t know, you can use Logos on both your desktop and mobile devices, and everything syncs perfectly between them.)

For this year’s Bible speed-read, I’m following a detailed chronological plan. I call it “detailed,” because it pays no heed to chapter divisions. It might give me a 3-verse chunk, followed by a 7-verse chunk, followed by a 16-chapter chunk, and so on. I’m currently in the gospels, and it’s really fun to read every parallel scene back to back to back. It really highlights how different each gospel’s account is, even of the same event!

My Logos reading plan handles this sort of plan (and any sort of plan, really) very, very well. I read most often on an iPad, and here is a sample screen shot.

That’s it. A very simple interface, with only the portion of text I want at the moment. Those buttons at the bottom allow me to move to the next text assignment (or previous one) with a tap. The new text will then replace the current text on the screen.

You’ll notice that I’ve gotten rid of all footnotes, verse and chapter numbers, and section headings. I adjust that setting one time, and it applies to all passages I read from that Bible (in this case, the ESV) until I choose to add them back in. Give me the text; just the text.

Finally, do you see the speaker icon in the top right? A few Bibles, such as the ESV, have an integrated audio version available in Logos. When I tap that icon, the audio Bible (Hear the Word ESV Bible read by David Cochran Heath) begins playing. The audio begins precisely with whatever text is at the top of the current screen, even if it’s not the beginning of a chapter (audio track). At the end of the selection, the audio automatically stops, even if it’s not the end of the chapter (audio track). If I tap the “next” button at the bottom before the audio stops (sometimes I have to just beat the last word), the audio will continue with the next passage in the plan.

And if all that weren’t enough, I most love what the audio Bible does in between the beginning and end of a passage. When the audio begins each verse, a pulsating golden circle appears around the first word of that verse in the text and flashes for a second. That way, if my eyes drift from alignment with the audio, I can realign them at the start of the next verse (and every subsequent verse). When a portion of Scripture is longer than a single screen, the text automatically shifts (almost like a page flip) when the audio advances past the visible page.

This combination of features makes it easier than ever for me to read/listen to my Bible on my iPad while, for example, using my treadmill each morning. It requires very little manual tapping and scrolling, and gives me a sustained audio feed with associated visual stimuli to follow along with.

I just wanted to rave about one more reason to consider looking into Logos 9.

Logos 9: From Bible Software to Ministry Management

October 30, 2020 By Peter Krol

For more than 4 years now, I have used Logos Bible Software nearly every day, without regret. My only potential for regret has to do with having gone without Logos for the prior 17 years of ministry. Just this week, the good people at Faithlife released the software’s new version, Logos 9. And as usual, it’s nearly unbelievable how much goodness they thought to stuff into this system.

If You’re New to Logos

Logos 9 still functions basically like a Bible analysis program crossed with a research library. I’ve explained how it works in my reviews of older versions. Especially see the first two reviews, were I explain how it works generally, and how it can help with your personal Bible study.

Everything I’ve said in reviewing older versions of Logos hold true. I can generate, in seconds, an exhaustive list of repeated words in the book of Acts, as I prepare to begin preaching through it. I can click on one of those words anywhere in Acts, and have all instances of it instantly highlighted for visual referencing. I can write my sermons in Logos, integrating it directly with the Bible passage without having to keep switching between programs. I can generate a reading plan for any part of the Bible (or any other book in my library), with any parameters for the plan’s length or how I want the text broken up. I can take courses on various topics or books of the Bible.

But let me now explain some of the new features in Logos 9 and how I am using them.

New Features

Logos 9 makes it easier to create reading plans for any Christian book. I buy almost all my Christian books in Logos, so that they will directly interface with the Scripture. So it’s nice to set up a reading plan, with dates and checkboxes, to map out a plan to get through a book in a defined time period. And while I could do this roughly in Logos 8, it now is streamlined for a better reading experience. The auto-generated reading plans used to end abruptly in the middle of a sentence or paragraph, and now they are better organized around chapter divisions.

Logos 9 now has a pretty amazing way to visualize charts. For example, I can search for every reference to the Apostle Peter in the book of Acts (note: this is not simply a word search for the name “Peter,” but a search for every reference to the character Peter, even if only in pronouns). Then with a single click, I can turn it into a bar chart to visualize how frequently Peter pops up over the course of the book.

Then I can do the same with respect to the Apostle Paul:

Does a cursory glance at those two charts suggest anything to you about how Luke’s focus shifts over the course of the book? Of course, we could identify that shift in focus by simply reading the book over and over. But in seconds, Logos gives me precise data, in a variety of attractive formats, and without having to count these observations myself.

Logos 9 has a wonderful new tool called the Bible Books Explorer, which gives me quite a bit of data at a glance. Timelines, author and audience info, major themes, etc. But what I love the most in this new tool is a quick way to visualize connections between Old and New Testaments. For example, here is a diagram showing which OT books Luke directly quotes in either his gospel or the book of Acts.

And I could click on any of the specific books to generate either a list of which verses in Luke-Acts quote the OT, or a list of which OT verses are being quoted. I could make similar diagrams/passage lists not only for direct quotations, but also for simple allusions to OT texts, or for bare echoes of OT texts. Or I can make a single diagram/passage list for all of them combined!

A Place for Ministry Management

While those features (and many others I could list for you) are pretty cool and really useful to my study, the biggest new features have more to do with providing a place to manage my ministry.

Logos 8 introduced the sermon editor, which basically added a word processor that was interconnected with the Bible. So, for example, I can simply type a verse reference (such as “Acts 1:1-8), and the Logos sermon editor will automatically paste the full text of those verses into my sermon notes if I want.

But in Logos 9, the sermon editor has morphed into a sermon manager. It still has the full word processing capabilities and interconnectivity. But now it also has a place for me to map out an entire sermon series (like a set of lesson plans). I can sort sermons by series, venue, or date. I can view them in a table, or a radial calendar format, and have it all linked up with my church’s calendar or a liturgical calendar. I can click on any sermon’s title to open up the sermon notes themselves, and I can track which sermons have been preached at multiple locations.

This manager is a one-stop shop for planning out an entire teaching ministry. It doesn’t have to be focused on sermons, but would work just as well for any Bible study leader or Sunday school teacher and their teaching notes or lesson plans. This is simply wonderful.

Logos 9 has a similar new feature for a counseling or discipleship ministry. It has a Counseling Guide which can quickly suggest resources and Scripture passages on hundreds of topics, along with a place to keep track of and organize private notes.

Conclusion

With Logos 9, this software now does much to assist not only your personal Bible study but also your teaching or leadership of others in Bible study. I am delighted to commend it for your consideration. Keep in mind, though, that if you are already a commentary junkie, Logos might only accelerate your journey toward overdose. But if you have disciplined yourself to love and study the biblical text itself, inviting outside resources to join you as conversation partners and not personal trainers, Logos will serve you exceptionally well.

You might think it’s easy for me to say that, since Faithlife offered me a complimentary upgrade to Logos 9 in exchange for an honest review. But my review here is thoroughly honest. While my upgrades have come to me at no cost, I have deposited large amounts of money into shaping my Logos research library into just what I want it to be. And if I could go back to the beginning of my ministry knowing what I know now, I would absolutely have sought to raise the additional funds to provide myself with this inestimable tool.

They have made it easier than ever to benefit from this powerful software regardless of the size of your budget. You could spend thousands of dollars to squish a world-class theological research library into your pocket; or you could spend about $30 just to get access to some dizzyingly powerful study tools. Take your pick, or find something in between. I don’t think you’ll regret it. Check out Logos 9.

Logos 8: The Speed We Need

November 23, 2018 By Peter Krol

I use Logos Bible software every day. I am impressed by the sheer power of what it can do. It does for my Bible study what an automobile does for my personal transportation: It gets me where I want to go, when I need to go, by whatever route makes most sense at the time.

With Logos installed on my laptop, my iPad, and my smart phone, the only time I use a physical Bible any more is when I want to sit and read at length. Now I could also do that with Logos, but why would I when there are so many fantastic reader’s Bibles these days?

The good people at Faithlife gave me a complimentary upgrade to Logos 8 in exchange for an honest review. So this review will focus on the new features in this version of the software. If you’d like to see what I think of Logos in general, see my reviews of earlier versions:

Speed

The biggest and best improvement is the speed of the software. This has always been my biggest complaint, and I’m far from the only one to have lodged it. Logos has typically been slow and ponderous, like an obese Moabite king oppressing the people of Benjamin.

They claim Logos 8 is 10 times faster than Logos 7. This doesn’t make it quite as zippy as Jehu, the maniacal charioteer. But it does make it such that I no longer have to find something else to do between the time when I click to open Logos and the time when I can get down to business.

There’s not much more for me to say, but this is quite a big deal.

Markup

A new feature called “Canvas” enables you to take a text and mark it up however you see fit. You can color-code repeated words. You can move clauses around to visualize sentence structure. You can underline, circle, draw arrows or insert graphics.

I’m not the most visually-oriented guy, but this feature shows much promise for those who want to mark up their text

Workflows

The feature that has my greatest interest is “workflows.” Workflows are templates for common tasks—such as studying a passage, preparing a sermon, etc.—that simplify your process. I used to look things up myself, find the right Scripture and supplemental resources, record my notes haphazardly, and move toward a finished product on my own.

But now, I can set up a workflow to capture all the steps I always try to follow. Logos then takes me through the template, step by step, each time I come to a new passage.

Logos 8 comes with quite a few built-in workflows, including basic Bible study, character study, word study, topic study, passage exegesis, and expository sermon preparation. I find these built-in templates to show off the power of what Logos 8 and its workflows can do. But I also find these built-in templates rather unhelpful for the proposed tasks. The biggest issue is that the built-in workflows are doing a great job showing off all Logos 8 can do! In the process, they take you far and away from the text and into the bowels of research and commentary about the text.

But have no fear, Logos 8 enables me to create a custom workflow that does what I want it to do. The “Inductive Bible Study” workflow in Logos 8 is way too quick to bring in commentaries and cross-references—without offering enough help to first wrestle through the text and its train of thought.

So I created my own custom workflow called “OIA Bible Study (Focus on the Text).” This workflow walks straight through the Bible study principles in Knowable Word, presenting a series of questions that require you to toil over the text.

If you decide to use Logos 8, you can find my workflow here to try out for yourself. And if you don’t like it, Logos 8 lets you create your own.

Conclusion

If I knew 20 years ago what I know today, I would have acquired Logos Bible software at the start of my career as a missionary and preacher. This exceptional tool has proven to be a faithful companion and a valued guide. Perhaps it can serve this role for you as well.

Here is a link if you would like more information.

You and Your Pastor Could Win a Free Copy of Logos 7

October 12, 2016 By Peter Krol

For the month of October, Logos Bible Software would like to honor pastors who work hard and serve well to care for the flock of God. They invite people to publicly thank their pastors for their labors. And, by thanking your pastor, you will enter both yourself and your pastor to win a free copy of Logos 7 Gold.

Logos 7 is an amazing bit of software, which I use extensively every day. I recommend it highly. Click to see my review. Click here to get a 10% discount on a new base package (and send a small commission our way). Or, go thank your pastor and enter to win a Gold package for free.

Ask Better Questions in Small Group Bible Study

September 28, 2016 By Peter Krol

This week, the Logos Talk blog published a guest post Ryan and I worked on together, called “How to Ask Excellent Bible Study Discussion Questions.” The post abridges some of the lengthier material from our series on how to lead a Bible study. If you’d like to lead a small group discussion well, we recommend you master these four kinds of questions:

Launching questions
Observation questions
Interpretation questions
Application questions

Check it out!

Better Than Wine: Logos 7 Now Available

August 22, 2016 By Peter Krol

A few months ago, I made the acquaintance of Logos Bible Software (version 6). And like a mare among Pharoah’s chariots, this software captivated my heart with a single glance of the eyes (Song 1:9, 4:9). Logos 6 had hair like a flock of goats leaping down the slopes of Gilead (Song 4:1) – and, thanks to the software, I finally understand both how mountainous Gilead truly is and why said goats would want to leap down its slopes. So a new love was born. Because Logos has been so helpful to my Bible reading and Bible study, I’ve barely touched a physical Bible since I began using the software.

If you want to learn the basics of what Logos does and how, I refer you to my previous two-part review:

And this short video explains the essence of Logos: a theological library and a feature set.

But in this review, I want to focus on the new features available in Logos 7 that you couldn’t get in Logos 6. As you can imagine, Logos 7 has many more new features than those on my list. But these are the features I believe ordinary people would most appreciate as they learn to study the Bible.

1. Repeated Words

Logos 7 has a “Concordance Tool” that will supercharge your observation of repeated words like never before. With Logos 7, you can:

Generate a list of the most repeated words within any defined chunk of text.
- Whole Bible? (Top 5: Lord, not, all, God, said.)
- Books of Moses? (Lord, not, all, people, said.)
- Exodus? (Lord, Moses, people, all, said.)
- Exodus 1-19? (Lord, people, Moses, said, all.)
- Exodus 1? (people, all, Egypt, midwives, Israel.)
See exactly how many times each keyword occurs, and in exactly which verses. (“People” = Ex 1:7, 9, 9, 12, 13, 20, 22)
Export this list to a spreadsheet to save or print.

Logos 7 also has a helpful feature when a Bible translation is open, called Corresponding Words. Once I’ve discovered that “people” is the most repeated word, I can hover my mouse over the word “people” in Exodus 1:7. Logos then automatically highlights every instance of the word “people” in the entire chapter. This sort of analysis used to take me 30 minutes or more, and now I can do it with Logos in about 10 seconds.

The Concordance Tool is incredibly robust. It can show me every instance of not only the word “Pharaoh” but also the person Pharaoh. The former occurs only 4 times in Exodus 1, but the latter occurs 17 times (including “a new king” in Ex 1:8 and “he” in Ex 1:9). No physical concordance can provide such information so quickly. Take a peek yourself, through this short video.

2. Logical Outlines

Logos 6 had logical outlines for every New Testament book, and Logos 7 now adds this feature to every Old Testament book. These outlines break out every sentence and phrase into its parts, showing how the parts are related to one another and flow from one to the next. These outlines give quick access to observation of the passage’s basic grammar and train of thought. And this careful observation paves the way for more vigorous interpretation and application.

3. Text Comparison

Logos 7 lets you quickly examine different translations of the same passage side by side. The software automatically highlights the differences so you can explore how the translators’ choices may affect the way you’d read the verse. You can do this yourself with 5 or 6 open Bibles and excessive jumping from tome to tome. Or you can do it in seconds with this lovely software.

Conclusion

I was delighted to receive a pre-release copy of Logos 7 in exchange for an honest review. And I’m happy to say I heartily recommend it. If you take my warnings to heart, and don’t allow Logos to distract you too much from the text, this software will help you get more out of your Bible study, faster. And for a limited time, readers of this blog can get 10% off a base package (new Logos users only), along with a free commentary on James. Once you try Logos, I bet you, too, will end up among the choirs of Jerusalem, crooning “rightly do they love you” (Song 1:4).

Use this link or the coupon code KNOWABLE7 to get 10% off a Logos base package (new users only). Disclaimer: If you buy Logos with the code or links above, this blog will receive a commission. Thanks for supporting this work so we don’t have to neglect our own vineyards (Song 1:6).

Logos Bible Software, Part 2: Does It Help With Bible Study?

June 17, 2016 By Peter Krol

Last week, I wrote about Logos Bible Software’s unlimited power to search resources and give historical background on the Scriptures. This week, I would like to ask, “How well does it assist observation, interpretation, and application in Bible study?”

Discipline Required

Please use me responsibly

I must confess, Logos has so much power that using it can sometimes feel like bringing an ICBM to a game of darts. Will I hit the bullseye? Without a doubt. But what else might I hit in the process?

What I mean is this: My task in Bible study is to know God through understanding the text, and Logos helps tremendously with understanding the text. But it’s way too easy for me to let Logos help by taking me away from the text to other resources and expert opinions. For example, I’m glad to know what ancient Jewish rabbis and modern scholars have to say about Exodus 1; I must consider such things. But first, I must know what Exodus 1 itself says. And with a powerful tool like Logos I might trick myself into thinking I’ve learned Exodus 1, when in fact I’ve learned more about what others have said about it.

The potential problem here, of course, is not with the software but with the person using it. I’ve written about mistakes we can make with commentaries and the curses of study Bibles. Every one of these cautions applies to a tool such as Logos. For example, word studies and topic studies can do a lot of damage when they take you away from the context of specific passages. And Logos makes it easier than ever to move away from the contexts of specific passages.

OIA in Action

With those cautions out of the way, how does Logos help with observing, interpreting, and applying (OIA) the Bible?

1. Notes & Highlights

I’ve never seen anything like Logos’s ability to take notes and highlight text. I can customize formatting, colors, shapes, and styles. I can go free-form text or copy and paste. I can attach notes to one verse or to many. I can link ideas together. And I can keep it all easily filed and searchable for later use.

2. Reading Plans

I couldn’t be more impressed with Logos’s approach to reading plans. If I want to read the Bible, Logos is going to be where I turn. I can customize a reading plan any way I want. Start and end dates. Defined passage limits and breakdowns. Schedule it every day or just certain days each week or each month. I will use Logos for my annual read-through, as I no longer will have to squish a full-year digital schedule into my speed-reading approach.

Here’s another example. My church’s preaching team is scheduled to meet on August 6 to overview the book of Exodus for our next sermon series. I would like to prepare by reading Exodus 5 times. So I had Logos create a reading plan as follows: “Read Exodus, Exodus, Exodus, Exodus, Exodus every day, in the ESV, divided by story units, beginning today and ending on August 5.” It spit out a schedule with check boxes and breakdowns. Each day, Logos’s home screen (either desktop or mobile, doesn’t matter) presents a link to open that day’s reading. Easy peasy. If I miss a day, I can adjust the rest of the schedule with a few clicks. I can also adjust the translation manually each time I start the book over.

3. Typography

Logos can turn any Bible translation into a reader’s version, with no headings, chapter or verse numbers, or footnotes. Or I can turn those features back on. I can do one verse per line or paragraphs. Basically, I can make the text look any way I want it to look. Whatever will assist my study is there.

4. Quotes and Illustrations

Once I’ve done my own observing and interpreting, I can then turn to my library of commentaries and resources. I can find quotable quotes or illustration ideas to stimulate application. All is easily searchable and well packaged.

OIA on the Horizon

The features I’ve mentioned so far are available in any Logos base package. Logos also has a subscription package (called Logos Now) that gives you access to beta features that will show up in the next version of the software. If you want them now, you can have them for $8.99/month. [August 2016 Update: These features are now built right into Logos 7.]

1. Repeated words

With a Logos base package, I can see a word cloud of repeated words. But I have to guess from the font sizes which ones occur more frequently than others. If I simply want a list of repeated words and their frequency, Logos Now gives me access to the “concordance tool.” And this tool offers much more than a typical concordance. I can get repeated words for a single book or chapter (or any defined text range). I can search within the list for similar concepts. I can print, rearrange, or save the list for later.

2. Auto highlighting

Logos Now has a “corresponding words” tool that will automatically highlight those repeated words for me.

3. Old Testament logical outlines

Logos base packages give you logical outlines for every New Testament passage. These are extremely helpful for tracing the flow of thought within a passage. But to get such outlines for the Old Testament you must subscribe to Logos Now or wait for the new version.

Recommendations

In conclusion, if you have the discipline not to jump away from the text or into a useless sort of word study, you’ll find powerful assistance here for your Bible study.

If your interest in the Bible comes as an academic or theologian, Logos will be indispensable to you. I bet you couldn’t find a better research tool.

If you are a pastor, missionary, or Bible study leader, you may at first find Logos’s price tag prohibitive. However, think of Logos not as luxury software but as your library. If you take what you’ve spent on books and save it up for a year or two, I bet you’ll be able to afford a decently sized package. You’ll likely also want to make future book purchases through Logos. The larger your library, the more power you give to your research assistant.

If you’re an average person studying the Bible without a sizable book budget, Logos may not be for you. You can still do excellent OIA Bible study without it. However, if the search functions and reading options intrigue you, you may want to consider trying the Logos core engine, which is free. You won’t get much of a library with it, but you’ll have access to the biblical text and primary software features. If you like it, you can always grow your library later.

Also, I must say Logos has a steep learning curve. I had to watch 2-3 hours of training videos before I felt like I could control the beast and unleash it in my study. But I am convinced it was worth it. I can’t wait to continue building my library and getting new features.

Use this link or the coupon code KNOWABLE6 to get 10% off a Logos base package. Disclaimer: If you buy Logos with the code or links above, this blog will receive a commission. Thanks for supporting this work so we can help ordinary people learn to study the Bible!

Logos Bible Software, Part 1: Unlimited Power

June 10, 2016 By Peter Krol

A core value of this blog is that ordinary people can learn to study the Bible. That means you don’t need specialized software to know God through his word. But can good software help? Absolutely, as long as you move in the right direction. Software is a tool that will accelerate your momentum. Start off in the right direction, and you’ll go farther than ever before. Shift your direction just a bit, though, and you’ll find yourself in a desert waste wondering if you missed an exit somewhere.

So when the good people at Faithlife offered me a review copy of Logos Bible Software, I was eager to try it. How much farther could it take me in my Bible study? So I’ve used it for detailed study, daily devotions, rapid reading, and sermon preparation. I was curious to see how the software would hold up in these different uses, and I wanted to know whether Logos would help or hinder OIA Bible study. And the more I use Logos, the more a single word comes to mind: power. In this post, I’ll write about the software’s power. Next week, I’ll write about how well it supports OIA Bible study.

More Power!

In order to show the power, I need to set the stage. Logos Bible software is not merely a software package; it is a digital library. Imagine hiring a research assistant who, knowing you’re studying Exodus 1 today, finds everything in your home library that references Exodus 1. And then finds everything in your church library. Then, the researcher taps into everything from 36 seminary libraries. And the Library of Congress. And Google. Now before you can say “over-realized eschatology,” you’ll have access to virtual piles of ancient Jewish texts, manuscript variants, commentaries, atlases, and dictionaries; and you can sift through them until Jesus returns. You don’t have to spend hours or weeks finding these things yourself. Your assistant beheads every possible resource and serves it up on a silver platter. That’s Logos.

And Logos goes beyond libraries; its power extends to the Scriptures themselves. With Logos, and studying Exodus 1, I can do any of the following in seconds:

Find every reference to the Nile River in Scripture. List everyone and everything that goes into, comes out of, or exists near it.
Discover two other Bible characters named Puah.
Identify every New Testament reference to Exodus 1.
Open a list of 126 cross-references—and not just references but the full text of the verses.
Outline the passage based on literary forms (speech, narrative, names list, etc.).
Search the Bible for every case of infanticide, childbirth, revolt, or slavery.
Learn the Hebrew word behind the translation “fruitful” (Ex 1:7) and search for every occurrence of that word in the Old Testament. Search for every use of that word, or for just particular forms or tenses of that word.
View artwork that portrays the Israelites enslaved in Egypt.
Get a word-by-word grammatical analysis of every form and part of speech.
Learn that, outside of Exodus 1, this very Pharaoh is referenced 8 more times in Exodus, 3 times in Acts, and 2 times in Hebrews.
View sentence diagrams of the entire chapter.

I could go on. I can quickly find photos of Egypt and the pyramids. I can highlight the text and create my own notes on it. I can find an infographic with the birth order of Jacob’s 12 sons. I can make a list of every time a Pharaoh speaks in the Bible, and I can order the list based on what kinds of people the Pharaohs speak to. I can generate a list of quotes or sermon illustrations for the topics within the passage. I can completely customize a reading plan for the Bible or any book in my library.

Recommendation

Where Logos shines most brightly is in its power to search resources and give historical background. Before studying Mark 13:1-37 with Logos, I had never seen Jerusalem’s temple mount from the Mount of Olives. At a few clicks, I could see breathtaking photos from multiple angles, and all I could say was, “Wow.”

Here is incredible power. The only limit to what I can seek or find is my imagination.

If you would like unbelievable access to oodles of historical research and search capacity, I am happy to recommend Logos to you. With this link, or the coupon code KNOWABLE6, you can get 10% off.

Next week, I’ll consider further how well Logos supports the steps of observation, interpretation, and application.

Disclaimer: If you buy Logos with the code or links above, this blog will receive a commission. Thanks for supporting this work so we can help ordinary people learn to study the Bible!