Bible 101. February 21 and 28: - Who wrote the Bible and why? March 5: - How did we get the Bible?

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1 What questions are we going to answer? Well, your questions... and also... Tonight: - How is the Bible put together? - What is the Bible? February 21 and 28: - Who wrote the Bible and why? March 5: - How did we get the Bible?

2 What do I need to participate? - Strictly speaking, nothing! - Though a Bible helps. - And having questions helps... Seriously, bring questions. - Most importantly, a desire to engage with the Bible on its own terms and a desire to see God working in the past and in the present! Feel free to contact us outside of class, too: Kevin: ; kwwarren@gmail.com Wesley: ; wt.joseph@gmail.com

3 A Prayer for Beginning: The First Psalm Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or take the path that sinners tread, or sit in the seat of scoffers; but their delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law they meditate day and night. They are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season, and their leaves do not wither. In all that they do, they prosper. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; for the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

4 Some Cautions: - Education and knowledge are good but they aren't everything! Knowledge puffs up but love builds up! (I Corinthians 1:8) - Spiritual passion is good but it isn't everything! (And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries... but do not have love, I am nothing. I Corinthians 13:2) - In short, what matters is faith working through love (Galatians 5:6). If you come to the Bible with faith that God is using this text to increase your love for him and others, you'll be alright! - There is an incredible amount written about the Bible. Much of it's OK, some of it's good and some of it's not worth the time. Always ask yourself, What are this person's assumptions about the Bible? What is their reason for writing this?

5 What to Expect: - Reading the Bible is both an art and a science! - You'll know more but also wonder more - You'll feel more comfortable with the Bible but less comfortable with what it says. - You'll have many of your questions from tonight answered but you'll have many more. - You'll know more about how to read the Bible... and you'll read it more!

6 The Bible is a Collection of Smaller books: With two main Divisions: Old Testament / Hebrew Bible / Tanakh New Testament

7 What's in a name? The Old Testament and New Testament - Testament: a will, a person's last wishes, or a covenant between God and humanity. - Covenant: a set of promises that God makes about how he will deal with humanity - Jeremiah speaks of a new covenant Jeremiah 31: and Jesus does too! - Matthew 26:28 - These two covenants are different: Abrahamic/Mosaic/Davidic covenant vs. Jesus - But the new does not end the old: it fulfills it! - And the old does not give way to the new: it is what the new now makes truly possible - So we can't say, Oh, that's just the Old Testament. As Christians, we interpret all of God's actions in light of Jesus and we find the same God of ultimate love throughout the whole Scriptures.

8 What's in a name? The Old Testament, Hebrew Bible and Tanakh - Is Old Testament derogatory? - Hebrew Bible reminds us that these are not originally our Scriptures: that they are a gift which requires humility and gratitude - TaNaKh a Hebrew acronym based on the different sections! - T = Torah, Teaching or Instruction (not Law ) - N = Nevi'im, Prophets (Former and Latter) - K = Ketuvim, Writings

9 Divisions of the Old Testament / Hebrew Bible / Tanakh Our Bibles: divided up by genre - kind of writing LAW HISTORY POETRY MAJOR PROPHETS MINOR PROPHETS

10 Divisions of the Old Testament / Hebrew Bible / Tanakh Tanakh: divided up differently. This is the way Jesus had the Scriptures! TORAH/TEACHING FORMER AND LATTER PROPHETS WRITINGS Blue red green yellow

11 The Law / Torah: - Creation - The Fall - The Flood - Abraham, Isaac, And Jacob - Moses and Egypt - The 10 Commandments and the Law - Wanderings in the Wilderness - Moses' Farewell Original History: How We Became God's People Why call it Law? Why call it Torah / Teaching?

12 History / Former Prophets - Entry into and Conquest of Canaan - Samson, Gideon - David and Solomon - all the kings of Israel and Judah - destruction of Jerusalem and exile into Babylon - return from Babylon and rebuilding of the Temple Why call it History? Why call it the Former Prophets? Living as God's People: Take One

13 Poetry / Writings - Psalms and songs - Proverbs and Wisdom Writings - Also History! - Reinterpretation Of Israel's history - History of the Return from exile - Two books about Women! - Lamentations - Daniel Why call it Poetry? Why call it the Writings? Everything Else! Living as God's People: Part Two and also What is God's World Like?

14 Major and Minor Prophets / The Latter Prophets - Isaiah - Jeremiah - Ezekiel - Book of the 12 Why call them the Prophets? Why call them the Latter Prophets? How has God been present with his people?

15 When was the Old Testament written? - covers a time period from c BC to c. 400 BC Likely told, collected, written and edited between c. 900 BC and c. 200 BC but especially around 600 to 500 BC And who wrote it? - the Jewish people, a diverse and sometimes argumentative bunch!

16 On to the New Testament! - divided up into 4 parts First part is the Gospels: these tell the story of Jesus' life. Gospel = Good news of an emperor's enthroning or victory in battle, a completely new Genre as literature, unique to the Bible Matthew, Mark, and Luke called the Synoptic Gospels because their stories are quite similar Synoptic = Seeing Together John is different from the other 3 and has a complementary picture of who Jesus is

17 Second part is History: the book of Acts. This tells stories about what Jesus' disciples did after Jesus ascended into Heaven. Gradually moves from Palestine and Jewish Christians to Rome and Gentile Christians, from Peter (Jesus' top disciple) to Paul (who persecuted the Church, then became its most famous church planter) But Acts is also part of a two-volume book: Luke/Acts. It continues all of the Gospels' stories, But especially has themes in common with Luke.

18 Third part are Letters, or Epistles. 13 traditionally attributed to Paul but some may be written By others in his spirit and style after his death. But they're all still good letters! Paul wrote to The churches he had founded to address problems or confusions. We also have the Catholic or General Epistles, which are not explicitly addressed to a specific church. But they were written to specific churches. Similar to Paul's letters in that They address confusion or problems churches had, written by someone the churches knew And respected.

19 Fourth part is The Revelation to John or the Apocalypse of John. Most difficult book in the NT! Written to Christians who were persecuted. They were being forced to either offer sacrifices To the emperor as a god or to continue to confess that Jesus was Lord and God. This book Was written to help them make sense of what they were going through and to continue to Stay faithful to Jesus. Lots of different ways to interpret this book! Is it the future? Is it the past (to us, at least)? Is it A book that speaks to all times and places?

20 When was the NT written? - 45 to 95 AD or maybe 55 to 130 AD Remember Jesus' lived from c. 6 BC to c. 30 AD And who wrote it? - Christians traditionally the 12 disciples, those closely associated with them, And Paul But maybe a wider variety of Jewish Christians from Palestine, Jewish Christians from other Countries, and Gentile Christians as well

21 What is the Bible? We could spend all night and the rest of our lives Talking about this question... What do people think the Bible is? How has it changed lives? How has it affected society? But we only have time for a few... Scripture is the manger in which the Christ lies. As a mother goes to a cradle to find her baby so the Christian goes to the Bible to find Jesus. Don t let us inspect the cradle and forget to worship the baby. - Martin Luther Not all these quotations are endorsed by HRC or even by me! But they are important, Representative quotations to get us talking about what the Bible is.

22 Before next week: 1. Try reading something from the Bible you haven't read before. See what happens! 2. Ask some people in your life: What do you think the Bible is? How has it played a part in your life? 3. As we go through 365, one of the questions we will ask is what is the Bible? How does It interpret itself? What does it say about itself? NEXT WEEK: Who wrote the Old Testament and Why