The Companion Bible

A detailed review of The Companion Bible (ISBN 9780825421792). The text in this Bible is printed in a bold 7.75 to 8 point font in a (mostly) single-column, verse-by-verse format. The Bible features extensive 7 point textual notes with references to 198 appendixes included at the back of the volume, which contain detailed information and opinions on a variety of subjects. This Bible does not contain color maps or a concordance, but it does provide a general index to the appendixes. The appendixes promote futurist eschatology and are dispensational in character. Charles C. Ryrie stated that the editor of the Companion Bible, Ethelbert W. Bullinger, originated ultradispensationalism, the view that the Church began after Pentecost. This thumb-indexed volume is bound in burgundy (relatively flexible) bonded leather with a paste-down construction. It is sewn, lies open in Genesis, and comes with a single burgundy ribbon marker.

Detailed Contents

00:00 Dimensions, margins, layout, font … (three charts)
00:32 The box
00:42 The ISBN
00:52 Dimensions compared to a Local Church Bible Publishers’ 1917 Scofield and an Oxford 1967 Scofield
01:35 Page format
02:03 Page dimensions
02:23 Margins
02:53 The font in the text
04:33 Pronouns emphasized in the original are in blackletter (Gothic) font
04:53 Font in the notes
05:14 Paper qualities (thickness, weight, sheen, color, transparency)
06:07 Book introductions (7 pt font)
07:15 Books of the Bible generally begin on a separate page
07:45 The words of Christ are in black ink
08:05 Quotations from the Old Testament are in bold
08:53 Dates are sometimes placed in the margins
09:15 The 198 appendices
09:55 The general index to the appendixes
10:50 The paste-down construction
11:02 The black and white map of Paul’s missionary journeys
11:18 The sewn binding; it lies open and flat
12:07 A concern about the Cambridge Topaz
12:40 The ribbon marker
13:00 The presentation page
13:40 The ISBNs for various editions
14:28 The preface
14:38 It is not a Pure Cambridge Edition of the KJV
14:57 Charles C. Ryrie on Ultradispensationalism and E.W. Bullinger
15:29 A timeline of Bullinger’s life
16:15 More from Ryrie on Bullinger’s beliefs
17:33 Appendix 11 opposes the day=year equation
17:47 Appendix 12 – the Gospel is taught in the stars
17:56 Appendix 19 – Satan in the garden was not a literal serpent
18:23 Appendix 23 teaches that the Sons of God in Genesis 6 were fallen angels
18:27 Appendix 63 includes a section in the Psalms in the Anglican Prayer Book
18:55 Appendix 72 – the current dispensation is a parenthesis in God’s plan
19:10 Appendix 91 – Daniel’s 70 weeks
20:15 Appendix 94 – Critical editions of the Greek New Testament and the notes in the Companion Bible
20:54 Appendix 113 – the Kingdom is not the Church
21:25 Appendix 131 – Sheol is the grave
21:49 Appendix 140 – distinguishing various gospels; Paul taught more than one gospel
24:11 Appendix 155 – it was up to that generation to decide whether it would pass away before all those things were fulfilled (Mk 13.30)
25:11 Appendix 146 – the foundation and overthrow of the world (the gap theory?)
25:32 Appendix 156 - the Lord Jesus crucified on a Wednesday
26:05 Appendix 168 – the last 12 verses of Mark’s gospel omitted because spiritual gifts didn’t persist; the second century church not a continuation of the Apostolic church
27:36 Appendix 181 – the Church did not begin at Pentecost
28:47 A close-up look at the font, and the font compared to that in the Scofield Bible
29:31 How to use the notes, and a glance at ‘Structures’
32:15 Summary and the crimpled pages in the gutter