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Bible 101 Introduction:
Most people have a Bible but they do not understand it. To them it is a mystery,
hard to understand. Written in a manner different from today’s writings by
people they have never heard of, to a particular audience. We want to start with
what I call Bible 101 in understanding the basics of the Bible 1)
God
Gave Us The Bible, 2
Timothy 3.16-17 a)
The Bible is the product of two elements:
inspiration and revelation 2
Peter 1.20-21 i)
Inspiration is the means God used
to achieve His revelation. ii)
Revelation is the sole authority
of God iii)
Inspiration involved man in an
active sense. The prophets received from God what he in turn related to others.
The prophet wrote and taught what God had revealed to him. iv)
Illumination occurred when man
comprehended and understood the truth. b)
The Bible was inspired by God for a purpose: to
reveal His will- Hebrews
1.1 i)
For man to understand the will of
God, Ephesians
3.3-4 ii)
Later expressed in Ephesians 5.17 iii)
Man can understand what God wants
man to do (1)
Some do not believe this due to
their doctrine of Calvanism in which man is so totally depraved he can not
understand or do the will of God without some other divine intervention. Such
makes the Bible useless or secondary to God’s direct intervention. (2)
Consider what the 119th
Psalm says about God’s word:
v. 15; 27; 100; 159 c)
The problem is man does not study or know how to
study the Bible, 2
Timothy 2.15 i)
It written so we can understand ii)
It is our responsibility to study
and determine what God wants us to do- use the Bible as our proof text instead
of pre-text. 2)
The
Bible--Two Main Sections a)
Old Testament – from the beginning of man to the
last writing before the birth of Christ. i)
Genesis to Malachi covers about
4000 years of time. Genesis 4000 BC to 400 BC. ii)
About 30 writers – Moses wrote
around 1500 BC and Malachi around 400 BC. iii)
Moses wrote Genesis which covers
2500 years b)
The
New Testament – from the birth of Christ to the final revelation i)
Covers about 95
years ii)
Written from about 45 AD to 95 AD
– Matthew to Revelation iii)
Written by 9 to 10 writers –
Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Peter, Paul, James, Jude, and the Hebrew writer 3)
The
Dispensations a)
The
Old Testament and New Testament contains three Dispensations i)
Dispensation – the manner or way
God dealt with mankind, Hebrews
1.1-2 ii)
Important to understand which
dispensation man was under since each is distinct b)
Patriarchal Dispensation (Starlight) i)
God spoke directly to the fathers,
the heads of families ii)
They offered their own sacrifices iii)
They were their own priesthood iv)
From
Genesis to Exodus 15 all mankind was under the
Patriarchal system. v)
Gentiles remained under this
dispensation, Ephesians
2. 12,14 c)
Mosaic Dispensation, Exodus 15 (Moonlight) to John i)
Giving of the Law at Mount Sinai
to the children of ii)
A distinct priesthood, Levitical iii)
A distinct place of worship iv)
Distinct sacrifices v)
Moral and civil law vi)
Written down, Romans
3.2 d)
Christian Dispensation, Hebrews
1.1-2 (Sonlight) i)
Christ is our High Priest ii)
He is our sacrifice for our sins,
propitiation iii)
The law of liberty iv)
From Acts to Revelation 4)
The
Books of The Bible a)
Old
Testament i)
Five Books – Genesis, Exodus,
Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuternomy (1)
Called the Pentateuch meaning the
5 books; The Torah meaning the instruction or the law. (2)
Covers from the creation of man to
the death of Moses and the children of ii)
The next 12 Books are History (1)
Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 & 2
Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings, 1 & 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther (2)
Originally Judges and Ruth were
not separated, neither were Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles divided into different
books. (3)
From entering iii)
The next 5 books are Poetry or
Wisdom literature (1)
Job – during the time of Abraham (2)
Psalm, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and
the Song of Solomon—addresses the heart of man. iv)
The next 17 books are the prophets v)
Five Major prophets – during the
Mosaic Dispensation (1)
Isaiah 769 BC the divided kingdom (2)
Jeremiah 629 BC (3)
Lamentations
– the seize of (4)
Ezekiel 595 BC time of exile (5)
Daniel 608 BC time in exile vi)
Twelve Minor Prophets from
Pre-exile to Post-exile (1)
Hosea 785 BC (2)
Joel 800 BC (3)
Amos 787 BC (4)
Obadiah 587 BC (5)
Jonah 862 BC (6)
Micah 750 BC (7)
Nahum 713 BC (8)
Habakkuk 626 BC (9)
Zephaniah 630 BC (10)
Malachi 397 BC b)
New Testament – Birth of Jesus to the final
revelation i)
Four Gospels – Matthew, Mark,
Luke are the Synoptic Gospels that covers the life of Jesus. (1)
John
written to confirm the deity of Jesus as the Son of God (Mosaic Dispensation_ (2)
Acts the beginning of the church
(Christian Dispensation) ii)
Thirteen Epistles (Letters) (1)
Nine Epistles written to churches
– Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians,
Colossians, 1 & 2 Thessalonians (2)
Four Epistles written to
individuals – 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon iii)
Eight written to Hebrew Christians (1)
Hebrews, James, 1 & 2 Peter,
1&2&3 John, Jude, and Revelation Conclusion: 1) The chapters and verses were added by man to aid us in our studies. Unfortunately the chapter and verse breaks comes in the middle of a thought rather than at the end. 2) The common thread through out the Bible is Jesus. 3) The Old Testament looks forward to the coming of the Messiah. 4) The Gospels contain the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. 5) The rest looks at the sacrifice of Jesus and what is means to us.
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