serious...
"These men (and women?) offer their personal explanations, interpretations, and opinions of what they understand the bible really means."
To some extent, yes. Most of the Bible is pretty clear and needs only to be obeyed, not "explained", but folks such as Ryrie and MacArthur add "color" and background to what the Bible teaches. Often it is in the form of giving cultural information, maps, dates, historical background, and/or showing how a certain passage connects with other passages in Scripture. They are a wonderful aid in studying Scripture, but one has to be very careful of the author of any study Bible. A liberal author (usually an unbeliever in Scripture and what it teaches) would be worse than no study Bible at all.
"And, of course, based on whether or not their interpretation makes any sense to you, ml, you are free to accept their explanations or not."
That is absolutely true -- I am responsible for my understanding of Scripture (as are we all) and I cannot blame someone else for my failure. That is why I have repeatedly said here that one should never take another's word about what Scripture teaches -- read, study, and learn it for yourself. I will say that Ryrie and MacArthur are both very good teachers of the Word of God and very reliable -- if you want to take a stance against something either of them says, you had better research your thesis well because they are well able to back their case.
BTW -- I cannot recommend any other study Bible since I have only used a few others and found them to be unsuitable.
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