Lesson 5: The Christian and the Bible

 

1.    Into Our History

 

 

  • Suggested Ice Breakers

 

o       Give an instance of when you attempted something unfamiliar without consulting instructions or someone with expertise?

o       If you could write a “for Dummies” book (e.g. Computers for Dummies), what would the topic be?  Using this label, what might we name the Bible (e.g. Life for dummies, God for dummies, etc…”

 

2.   Into the Bible

 

              a. What is its content?

 

                                                  i.      How many books:  There are sixty-six books divided into two main sections.  In our English versions, the first section contains 39 books pertaining mainly to the national and spiritual life of Israel.  We call this the Old Testament.  The second section contains 27 books pertaining mainly to the life of Christ and the church of the 1st century.  We call this the New Testament.[1],[2]

 

                                                ii.      What kind of books:  The books of the Bible are written in a wide variety of literary styles.  Here are some examples:  Poetry (Psalms); Historical Narrative (Acts); Romance (Song of Solomon); Personal Correspondence (Philemon); Symbolism (Revelation); Law (Deuteronomy).

 

b. What is its origin? (Read 2 Peter 1:20-21 and 2 Tim 3:16)   

 

1.  From God:  In the above passages we see that the production of Scripture was initiated and superintended by God himself so that the product is rightly called the “inspired” (lit. God-breathed) Word of God.   

 

2.  From Man:  Although Scripture is correctly labeled God’s word, yet God chose to use humans in its production.  We read, “Men moved (like wind moves a sail ship) by the Holy Spirit spoke from God” (2 Pet 1:20).  God used over 40 different authors from every walk of life (from different places and times; from three different continents; speaking three different languages) to communicate His pure word using their unique style and flavor.      

 

 

 c. What is its nature? 

                       

 1.  The Bible is God’s special revelation to man (Hebrews 1:1; cf. Psalm 19).[3]

 

Although the light of nature, and the works of creation and providence do so far manifest the goodness, wisdom, and power of God, as to leave men unexcusable; yet are they not sufficient to give that knowledge of God, and of His will, which is necessary unto salvation: therefore it pleased the Lord, at sundry times, and in divers manners, to reveal Himself, and to declare that His will unto His Church; and afterwards, for the better preserving and propagating of the truth, and for the more sure establishment and comfort of the Church against the corruption of the flesh, and the malice of Satan and of the world, to commit the same wholly unto writing; which makes the Holy Scripture to be most necessary; those former ways of God's revealing His will unto His people being now ceased.

                                                                                                - Westminster Confession

 

2.  Being the Word of God, it alone serves as our standard when it comes to faith and practice (2 Timothy 3:16).[4]

                                   

d. What is its message? 

 

The Bible from cover to cover centers around these three topics (Luke 24:25-27):[5]

o       Creation

o       Sin

o       Redemption

 

Discussion:  In Luke 24:25-27, we read that Jesus demonstrates to his disciples from the Old Testament that He was to suffer, die, I rise from the dead.  What do you think were some passages in the Old Testament that Jesus cited (e.g. Isaiah 53; Psalm 22)?

 

3.  Into Our Lives

 

“A Bible that is falling apart usually belongs to someone who isn’t.” 

 

  1.  Our Need to Read[6]

 

1.  Discussion: Reading over Psalm 19:7-13, what descriptions provided by the Psalmist imply our absolute need to read the Word of God?  If the Word of God is like food which we eat daily for life, what kind of attention should we devote to God’s Word – food for the Soul?

 

2.  Will you commit to read through the New Testament in a year?  If you read five chapters each week (Monday – Friday), you will have completed the New Testament in a year. 

 

  1. Our Need to Understand

 

Most people are bothered by those passages in Scripture which they cannot understand.  The Scripture which troubles me most is the Scripture I do understand.

 

                                                                        -- Mark Twain

 

1.  The Complaint:  Many complain that they don’t read the Bible because it is too difficult to understand.  Certainly, there are difficult portions in the Bible to grasp, however apart from these, the Bible is written for the average person, and therefore can be grasped by the average person.

 

2.  The Problem: 

 

a. Many times this difficulty is faced because people begin with books which might not be the best to start out in.  For example, many who are new at the Bible often begin with the book of Revelation and come away with anything but revelation.  This is a recipe for utter confusion, for in Revelation there are hundreds of allusions to the Old Testament, which then requires for one to have a grasp of the Old Testament prior to reading.

 

b. Many times this difficulty is faced because we believe that since the Bible is the authoritative word of God, then it should not be approached as if men wrote it.  As a result, people approach reading the Bible in unorthodox ways.[7]  But remember, the Bible is fully human as well as fully divine (like Christ), as such we must pay close attention to those human elements involved.  How do we do this? 

 

             3.  The Solution:  Approach the Bible like you would the Sunday news paper.

 

Discussion question:  When we read the morning paper, how do we approach different sections differently? 

 

a.   In a news paper, we find different kinds of writing: opinion; ‘objective’ reports; comics; raw data (stocks); poetry; advertisements.  Given the nature of each kind of writing, we approach each kind differently.  No one would want to interpret the Op/Ed section as ‘objective reporting.’  Nor does anyone approach the listing of stocks as they would the comics.  Also, in reading the news paper, we are taught to ask the five Ws: Who, What, When, Where, Why?

 

b. In the same way, we need to actively approach Scripture asking questions like, What is the style of this book?  Who is the author writing to?  What is he trying to say to them? And so on. [8]          

 

  1.  Our Need to Apply (James 1:22-24; Matthew 7:24)

 

William Bradford, the governor of the Plymouth Colony of pilgrims, insisted, "Those who believe in the Holy Scriptures are bound to observe its teachings. Those who do not are to be bound by its consequences” (Larry Burkett, What Ever Happened to the American Dream, p. 43).

 

            Discussion: 

·         According to James and Jesus in the passages above, why is it foolish to read and understand God’s word, but to not apply it to our lives? 

·         What do the metaphors of “looking into a mirror” and “building one’s house on the sand” suggest about the one who hears but does not do. 

·         How might we apply God’s word tonight in this study to our lives this week?

 

 


[1]  What do we mean by “Old Testament” and “New Testament?”  “The Hebrew word for testament is berith, meaning “covenant, or compact, or arrangement between parties.”  The Greek word diatheke is often translated “testament” in the King James Version.  This is a poor translation and is one of the corrections made in new versions of the Bible that regularly translate it as “covenant.”…The Old Testament was first called the covenant of Moses’ day (Ex.24:8).  Later, Jeremiah announced that God would make a “new covenant” with His people (Jer. 31:31-34), which Jesus claimed to do at the Last Supper (Matt.26:28; cf. 1 Cor. 11:23-25; Heb. 8:6-8).  Hence, it is for Christians that the former part of the Bible is called the Old Covenant (Testament), and the latter is called the New Covenant” (Norman L. Geisler and William E. Nix, A General Introduction To The Bible, 21-22).

 

[2]  Some may wonder why Protestant versions of the Bible do not contain the Apocrypha (which Catholic Bibles do include).  “The books commonly called Apocrypha, not being of divine inspiration, are no part of the canon of the Scripture; and therefore are of no authority in the Church of God, nor to be any otherwise approved, or made use of, than other human writings” (Westminster Confession, 1.3).

 

[3] It’s important to understand the meaning of “revelation.”  Christians, upon discovering some truth not understood or experienced previously, often say that they have received a “revelation from God.”  This is a poor way of expressing their experience.  In its technical sense, “revelation” refers to God’s disclosure of divine and authoritative truth previously not possessed by humans.  As such, only the Bible can properly be labeled “revelation.”  No believer seeks to append their particular understand of the Bible in written form as the 28th book of the New Testament.  What Christians are referring to is not disclosure, but discovery of a truth already revealed by God in his word.  We might call this “illumination” as opposed to “inspiration” (lit. God-breathed). 

 

[4] Concerning the authority of Scripture, Dr. A. A. Hodge says “Christ and his apostles always refer to the written Scriptures, then existing, as authority, and to no other rule of faith whatsoever—Luke 16:29; 10:26; 2 Timothy 3:15” (A. A. Hodge, Outlines of Theology, p.84). 

 

[5] God, before time began, had a plan to reveal himself to his creation by his word. The Westminster Catechism in “Question 5” asks, “What do the scriptures teach principally?” it answers, “The scriptures principally teach, what is man to believe concerning God, and what duty God requires of man.” The scriptures tell us about God and what man is in relation to God.

 

[6] “Most Christians neglect their Bibles not out of conscious disloyalty to Jesus, but because of failure to plan a time and place to read it” (John Piper, When I Don’t Desire God: How to Fight for Joy, p. 116).

 

[7] For example, one may randomly open up a Bible to a verse and arbitrarily read it to see what God would say to them that day.  On one occasion, a friend of mine who adopted such an approach to the Bible landed on a reference about Jesus going to the women at the well and derived the interpretation that he should wait by a water fountain for an opportunity to share the gospel.  This is a poor handling of God’s word.   

 

[8] In interpreting the Bible, there are guide lines to be met. Just as any form of literature, the Bible is to be treated as follows: It is historical; it refers to specific people, times, and places; and its context must be interpreted as received by the original audience. This is what we call the art of interpretation (Hermeneutics). The first step is to observe what you are reading. Author and audience are critically important when interpreting a certain kind of literature (genre). You won’t interpret poetry like you interpret a segment in history.  When the full scope what is being said in a certain type of literature is understood, then you can apply it to yourself and your hearers (your audience). You never want to misrepresent what God has entrusted to the Prophets and the Apostles.