Thanks to Bible software programs such as Logos 3, Christians can grow deeper in God's Word faster and more efficiently than ever before.

Scripture tells us that we should grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Life, on the other hand, pulls us in a different direction with an endless to-do list. Sadly, studying God's Word takes a back seat more times than it should—even for pastors and seminary students.

Bible study software programs like Logos 3 were developed to speed the discovery and learning process. Rather than spending time looking for and paging through reference books, let a programmed search engine find all the relevant information you'd want in a fraction of a second.

Want to dig deeper into a passage, unpack a single word, or find sources related to a topic? Simply enter the word or phrase and click Go! Logos 3 quickly launches a detailed report. Released in May 2006, developers have spent thousands of hours redesigning the main interface, building new tools, and making things faster behind the scenes. While the software boasts over 100 new features, we will look only at some of the more popular ones.

Library In A Laptop
One advantage of using a Bible software program is the ability to take different versions of the Bible, commentaries, and other resource material along with you on a laptop. Rev. Dale Durnell of Cordell First United Methodist Church in Cordell, Oklahoma, has been a Logos user for nine years. "While it's not always as cozy as cuddling up with a good book," he says, "having access to multiple resources on my computer monitor at the same time is a lifesaver."

While those who have been using Logos for a while will notice some nice changes in release 3, some folks simply appreciate the sheer volume of resources that are integrated with the software. Mike Johnson, a church planter with New Tribes Missions, uses Logos to disciple new believers in Northern Asia. "In my line of work, it is not easy to maintain an adequate paper library," he says. "And keeping the tools available while traveling is practically impossible. E-books, and specifically Logos Bible software, has been the perfect solution for me; thousands of good-quality Bible study books all safely stored on my little laptop's hard drive."

The engine behind Logos 3 is the Libronix Digital Library System (LDLS), which allows publishers to integrate their works into Logos 3. More than 7,000 titles from over 100 publishers are formatted for the LDLS. Users can purchase additional libraries of works and commentaries from their favorite pastor or author and easily integrate them into Logos 3. Many collections include the recently created reverse interlinear Bibles like the ESV English-Greek Reverse Interlinear New Testament, which was co-published by Logos and Crossway Books.

Mike Breen, an attorney and seminary student, also appreciates the value of having a portable library at his disposal. With over 2,500 books accessible from within the software, he says, "There is no way I could tackle my seminary studies, practice law, and raise a family without the hours I save using Logos."

Brad Burke, author and M.D., used the software extensively to write his book series, An MD Examines. Using Logos software during a five-year sabbatical from medicine, he was able to write twelve books on God's character that include hundreds of Scripture verses.

"When I first started using the software, I couldn't believe how fast I could move through the Bible," says Burke. "All I had to do was simply click on a reference, click on a commentary, click on word study guide, click on the original Greek or Hebrew word, and I had instant access to the same resources used by the greatest theologians in the world."

Many of the new features in Logos 3 can be accessed through one of the three options on the Logos Home Page, the main interface to the software. Let's take a look at some of the more poplar features in this release.

Passage Guide
When you want to study a passage of Scripture, simply enter a verse or a phrase and click "Go." From a list of commentaries that you can configure, choose those you want to explore. Other options include cross-reference, literary typing, important words, sentence diagrams, maps, and music.

On the right side of the screen is a list of powerful tools: Passage in Parallel Versions, Passage in All Versions, and Search Entire Library for Passage. Perhaps one of the most highly revered tool and one that was completely redesigned for this release is the Exegetical Guide, which displays with the other tools.

Exegetical Guide
Many pastors, like Richard Lyall, associate minister of St. Mark's Haydock in Lancashire, UK, find the Exegetical Guide most helpful. This feature provides detailed information on passages from original-language Bibles such as Greek and Hebrew, shows visualizations of syntax, grammar references, lists the important words, and allows you to hear the pronunciation. It can also include parsing, translation, and Key Links to other original language resources.

Bible Word Study
The Bible Word Study gives you instant access to lots of information about words and is powered by the ESV Reverse Interlinear Bible. Logos 3 looks up a definition and displays entries from the dictionary, root words, and creates a concordance that shows every use of that word in the Bible. With the ESV Interlinear Bible feature, the top line displays the English Bible text and the lines below show the original text in Greek or Hebrew, along with transliterations, parsing, and Strong's Numbers.

Johnson of New Tribes Missions, a Logos user since 2005, says he is quite fond of Logos' flexible searching options (especially in the original language). The Bible Word Study report shaves hours off his word studies. "I almost always have one of them open, along with an original-language text," he says. "In the world of original-language searching, there is nothing so precise as the syntax search, and it has helped me answer many important textual and grammatical questions this year." With Logos 3, this is the first time that syntactically tagged Bibles (communicates information about how words in a sentence relate to one another) are available in a commercial Bible software package.

Biblical People Add-In
If you have a hard time keeping track of who begot whom in the Bible, then you'll love the new Biblical People feature. This powerful tool, which took two years to complete, shows relationships between every person named in the Bible. It even cross-references all the names for multiple spellings and languages.

Since many relationships don't always fit a tree-like structure, people from the Bible and their relationships to each other are shown as a graph. When encountering numerous individuals who share the same name, they will be differentiated by a relationship or a Bible reference. Links are provided to other people who share the name.

When the gender is known, the node will be colored blue for males and pink for females. Many times, the person's main role or job description (prophet, carpenter, king) displays as well. "As a genealogist myself, I love the new Biblical People add-in," says Durnell. "Start with Abram and see his ancestors and descendants—it's really great."

Collections And Workspaces
While the Logos Home Page makes searching the Bible easy for new users, more advanced users like Breen prefer to customize the interface for their areas of interest and study. For instance, Breen has built numerous customized collections, organizing various works, commentaries, and Bibles in ways that allow him to conduct fast searches for relevant information. For example, he groups dictionaries and lexicons together for quick searches on theological topics. He also has specialized collections of theological lexicons and encyclopedias.

Breen does the same sort of customization with workspaces, depending on what he is studying. For instance, he has a Gospel of John workspace that has several Bibles, including a Greek version, a Greek lexicon, and several commentaries available for instant access. They can all be linked together to scroll in unison. He does the same thing with a Greek workspace, Romans, etc.

Features Galore
One of the many new features is the ability for a user to put a collection of notes and sermons into the program. These materials can be cataloged and searched along with everything else. Dr. Tommy Mitchell, a speaker and author for Answers in Genesis, uses this feature a lot. He also appreciates the Microsoft Word add-in that allows him to directly insert verses into his articles and presentations. And as a mainline protestant who regularly works with the Lectionary, Durnell says the Lectionary add-in has been a real blessing to him.

Logos makes it easy for users to learn the software. A free tutorial video CD is included in every base package of Logos software, as well as 70 free online tutorials found on their website. They also offer special training workshops around the country.

Logos offers a variety of products, each with its own set of collections, books, and add-ins, from the smaller Christian Home Library to the full-blown Scholar's Library: Gold, which contains more than 700 titles worth more than $11,700 if purchased separately. To learn more about 100 new features in Logos 3, and to see a comparison of their entire product line, visit logos.com.

Pam Sheppard is a freelance writer from Northern Kentucky. She also serves as the National Editor of Answers magazine.