Bible Class 02
Al Krummenacher
Bible Class 02
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Know Your Bible
Week Two
Why is it important to understand what the Bible is?
It’s unlikely you will loosen a bolt using a screwdriver.
It’s unlikely you will learn astrophysics from a book of poetry.
We need to use the right tool for the right job!
If we don’t understand what the Bible is, we probably won’t use it correctly.
What the Bible is Not
The bible is not a magic 8-ball. The Bible does not have the answer to every question you want to ask
The Bible is not a History Lesson
The Bible contains a great deal of historical information, but its primary concern is not the factual transmission of historical events, places, and people.
Herodotus is credited with inventing the modern field of historical studies as critical reflection of past events based on factual evidence. (5th Century BCE)
Most of the Old Testament was written 8th -5th entry BCE, before Herodotus.
The Bible is Not a Collection of Fables
A fable is a succinct fictional story that illustrates a moral lesson. (example: Aesop’s “The Tortoise and the Hare”). The Bible , especially the OT, does contain some fables.
The Bible is Not Fictional.
It is based on actual people, historical events and real outcomes.
The Bible is Not an Owner’s Manual
Basic-Instructions-Before-Leaving-Earth
An Owner’s Manual gives instructions for how to operate something, troubleshoot problems, or fix broken systems. While the Bible does give advice, warnings, lessons, and illustrations,It is not intended to fix your life or solve all of your problems.
The Bible is Not a Systematic Theology
The Bible contains the writings of many people. These writings express a variety of perspectives, experiences and cultural understandings from the 6th century BCE until the 2nd century CE.
The Bible is Not A Dating App
No Swiping Left or Swiping Right. You do not get to pick and choose which parts you like and which you don’t (Jeffersonian Bible). Sometimes we learn the most from the parts we like the least!
The Bible is Not a Fortune Teller
The Bible does not predict the future! The Bible contains writings about past events that give us courage for dealing with present challenges and a great hope for the future.
Then What Is the “Bible”?
The Bible is, above all else, a love story. In the study of literature, the Central Idea, is a brief, overall summary of what the entire story is about, usually written in one sentence. It can be found in the beginning, middle, or ending of the story.
What is the Central Idea of the Bible?
The central idea of the Bible can be found in the Gospel of John
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that whoever who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life."
(Gospel of John, 3:16)
The Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, is the story of God’s love
• Establishing relationships
• Setting boundaries for those relationships
• Forgiving infidelity
• Offering second chances
• Reconciliation and Redemption
• Forgiving infidelity again
• Offering third, fourth, and fifth chances, ad infinitum
• Reconciliation and Redemption
• Rinse and Repeat!
Central Idea of the Old Testament
“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD alone. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.”
Deuteronomy 6:4-5
Jesus said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets;I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”
Matthew 5:17-18
The Central Idea of the New Testament
A Pharisee asked Jesus a question, “Rabbi, which commandment in the Law is the greatest?
Jesus replied to him, “ You shall love your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all you mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.
All of the Law and the Prophets depend upon these two commands.”
Matthew 22: 26-40
1. John 4:7-121. John 4:7-12
“ Everyone who loves is born of God and has a connection with God. The person who refuses to love doesn’t know the first thing about God, because God is love – so you can’t know God if you don’t love. This is how God showed his love for us; God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him. This is the kind of love we are talking about – not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to forgive our sins and repair the damage they’ve done to our relationship with God.
Dear friends, if God loved us like this, we certainly ought to love each other. No one has seen God, ever. But if we love one another, God dwells deeply within us, and his love becomes complete in us
– perfect love!
1st John 4:16-21
“God is love. When we abide in love, we live in God and God lives in us. This way, love has its way and becomes mature within us, so that we’re free from worry on Judgement Day – because our standing in the world is the same as Christ’s. There is no fear in love, mature love banishes all fear. Those who live in fear have not matured in their love.
We love because God first loved us. Those who say, “I love God,” but go on hating another person, is lying about loving God. For those who do not love a brother or sister whom they can see, cannot love God whom they have not seen. The command we have from Christ is this: Those who love God must also love their brothers and their sisters.”
The Happy Ending
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying:
“ Behold, God is making his home among mortals. God will dwell with them, and they will be His people. And God himself will be present with them; He will wipe every tear from their eyes; Death will be no more; Mourning and crying and pain will be abolished, for the first things have all passed away.”
Revelation 21: 1-4
Know Your Bible