A: The Dake’s Annotated Reference Bible has many unique and original
notes that can be helpful to the student of the Bible. About 40,000
are sold each year. Therefore, as a second or third reference Bible
for the Bible student who is established in the faith and has a
good grasp of Bible doctrine, it is an acceptable choice. However,
as a primary study Bible or for use by anyone who is still learning
basic doctrine, it is a bad choice because it will lead the student
toward false doctrine in certain places. Also, the user of this
Bible should know the history of its author.
Finis Jennings Dake (1902-1987) was an Assembly of God preacher
and was prominent in Pentecostal and charismatic circles. Among
other things, he claimed to have received a special anointing that
enabled him to quote hundreds of verses without having memorized
them. In 1937, he was convicted of transporting 16-year-old Emma
Barelli across the Wisconsin state line “for the purpose of debauchery
and other immoral practices.” He pleaded guilty and spent the next
six months in a Milwaukee jail while writing a commentary on the
Bible. He soon moved to Cleveland, Tennessee, where he spent much
of the remainder of his life as a pastor in the Church of God and
then as an independent Pentecostal pastor. As to recommendations,
Jimmy Swaggart wrote, “Finis Dake was a scholar unparalleled. I
owe my Bible education to this man.”
The notes in Dake’s Bible will support Charismatic gifts such as
tongues and the requirement of works both to get and to keep salvation.
For instance, in his note on 3John 2 he
gives three kinds of blessings that are God’s will: material prosperity,
bodily healing and health, and soul salvation. He states, “If any
one of these blessings was not the will of God, would it be the
wish of this most beloved apostle? If such blessings are the will
of God for one man, they are for all men alike who will have faith
for them, because in the gospel there is no respect of persons.” This
is what is commonly known as the health and wealth gospel of the
Charismatics. Unfortunately, it is unscriptural and it makes Paul
to be faithless and out of the will of God.
Another example of doctrinal problems can be found in the note
on John 10:26. Dake gives three things
men must do and continue in to receive eternal life: believe, hear
His voice, and follow Christ. Of following Christ, he states, “not
only at the beginning of a Christian experience, but daily and
throughout life.” This is a works salvation doctrine that requires
continued faithfulness in order to
“receive” eternal life. This is one of the teachings found throughout
Dake’s Bible.
There are other problems as well, but this should give you the
idea. If you want to know more, I suggest the article in Christian
Research Journal, Volume 27, Number 5 on the Dake’s Reference Bible.
Many of the details in this answer are taken from this article.
Till He comes,
Pastor David Reagan