Using the Bible

Introduction

2009-10-16T22:49:00.000+01:00

It is important for the Christian to be able to read and understand the Bible. But the two don't necessarily follow - reading doesn't automatically lead to understanding - at least an understanding that is true to the text. We can probably all give examples of people who have used the Bible to defend their point of view, against others who use the same Bible, sometimes even the same passages, to argue the opposite point.

The purpose of our 'Using the Bible' course is to give each of us a better understanding of how to read, understand and use the Bible in our daily lives. No previous knowledge is needed or assumed - if there is anything you don't understand just ask (you can do this in person or by using the 'comment' feature on this web site.

It is hoped that this web site will fulfil a number of functions. For those attending the course it will provide additional material that we could not cover in the various sessions throughout 2008. It will also be the place to download audio material and course notes if you want to go over sessions again. No doubt questions will come to mind after a session has finished, or as you do some further study...this is the place to ask those questions (you can do this anonymously if you wish!) so others can benefit from your questions as well has have the opportunity to provide their answers.

For those who can't participate on the course in person - this is also the place for you. Each month further material will be added so that you can keep track of what we're studying - and you too can take part in online discussions.

If there is one book that I would recommend (as well as a Bible) to complement this course it would be 'How to read the Bible for all it's worth' by G.D. Fee and D. Stuart. Copies will be available to purchase throughout the course. Alternatively it can be purchased from Wesley Owen online here.

Dates for all the sessions are given below. (They are all Thursday evenings, starting at 7.30pm).

1. 10th January 2008 What is the Bible?
2. 14th February 2008 Biblical Letters.
3. 13th March 2008 OT Stories.
4. 10th April 2008 Gospels.
5. 8th May 2008 Poetry.
6. 12th June 2008 Wisdom.
7. 10th July 2008 Prophets & Prophecy.
8. 11th September 2008 Visions & Apocalyptic.
9. 9th October 2008 Law & Ethics.
10. 13th November 2008 The Relationship between the OT & NT.
11. 4th December 2008 The Authority of the Bible.

If you also want to keep up to date with our conversations on Sunday mornings you may want to visit my blog at www.milkandnosugar.blogspot.com

God's Law and Christian Ethics today

2008-10-15T15:15:00.002+01:00

Chris Wright argues for a paradigmatic function of OT laws and narratives for Christian living today. What does this mean? Wright’s definition says: ‘A paradigm is something used as a model or example for other cases where a basic principle remains unchanged, though details differ. … A paradigm is not so much imitated as applied. It is assumed that cases will differ but, when necessary adjustments have been made, they will conform to the observable pattern of the paradigm.’ [from Living as the People of God].

Therefore we need to understand what the different laws meant in their original context. What is the principle behind the Old Testament laws? How do we apply that principle in a different world?

Read Leviticus 11:1-12, 44-47 and jot down any ideas you have about why the distinction between ‘clean’ and ‘unclean’ animals was drawn.

Over the years there have been numerous suggestions including:

1. For hygienic reasons.
2. The argument that there is no rational explanation.
3. It was a reaction to religious customs in other nations.
4. The unclean symbolised sin, the animals which chew symbolise meditation on the Law.
5. It was a restriction on hunting.
6. The clean animals were those used in sacrifice.

Some scholars argue that the underlying issues are wholeness, holiness, integrity and life. The animals classified as unclean are incomplete in some way and it was this incompleteness, lack of holiness, which the people of Israel were to reject. Their lives are to be marked by holiness which reflects God’s holiness. This is the major theme of Leviticus [see 11:44-45; 20:25-26].

If this is the principle underlying the food laws, how is it to be embodied in the new covenant when the food laws have been abolished? For some clues see Romans 8:9-16; 1 Corinthians 6:12-20; 2 Corinthians 6:14 – 7:1.

1. Christians have an obligation to reject sin and to follow the leading of the Spirit of God who gives life and we then live as his children, like him, i.e. holy.
2. We belong to Christ as parts of his body and should therefore avoid sin against our own bodies in which the Holy Spirit lives. We belong to God and are to honour him in integrity and holiness.
3. We should avoid partnership with wickedness. Note how Paul quotes Lev 26:12 among other scriptures.

The obedience of faith according to the NT
Paul describes his mission to the Christians in Rome ‘to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles, for the sake of his name, including yourselves who are called to belong to Jesus Christ’ [Romans 1:5-6 NRSV]. Obedience is required of all who call Jesus ‘Lord’ [Romans 1:4; 10:9-10]. Jesus himself commissioned his disciples to ‘Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you [Matthew 28:19-20].

Does this suggest that obedience to the Law has been replaced by obedience to Jesus?

This way of putting it depends on a false separation between the Law and God in the OT and between Jesus and his teaching in the NT. Obedience to God meant obeying his will expressed in the Law. Obedience to Jesus is expressed in keeping his commandments.

At the same time, in the Gospel of John, Jesus sums up his commandment in terms that disciples love one another [13:34], and the other Gospels give his summary of the Law in terms of the two love commandments, as we saw above.

At the same time the narratives and teaching of Jesus and Paul and the other NT writers were given in particular historical settings, in a world very different from our own.

What are the implications of the fact that the world of the NT is very different from our own for the ways in which we should apply the ethical teaching of NT books to our lives today?

We must be careful how we translate teaching given, especially in the NT letters which were written to particular people in particular situations, for us and our churches today.

Paul and the Law

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There is a vast amount of literature discussing this subject because on the one hand Paul says that Christians are not under Law but under grace [Romans 6:14] and ‘Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to everyone who believes’ [Romans 10:4], but on the other he writes Romans 3:31 ‘Do we then overthrow the Law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary we uphold the Law’ and in Romans 13:8-10 he quotes some of the Ten Commandments as summed up in the love commandment.

Read Gal 3:10-25.

Question: What is Paul saying about the purpose of the Law to the Galatians?

Your answer may include some of the following points:

1. He contrasts the Law which cannot justify a person in God’s sight with faith which is the key to life and the gift of the Spirit.
2. He says the purpose of the Law was to define transgressions [breaking the Law] until the one promised came.
3. He says further that ‘the Law was our guardian until Christ came’, and now that Christ and faith have come we no longer need the guardian. This suggests the Law had a temporary role.

But over against the temporary role of the Law in Galatians, Paul tells the Christians in Rome that God has condemned sin in the flesh of Christ, his Son ‘in order that the righteous requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit’ [8:4], which suggests that the Law’s demands are fulfilled in Christians, through walking with the Spirit.

How are we to make sense of this?

The Law as that which condemned those who broke it – all of us [Romans 3:23] – has come to an end for those who trust Christ’s death for them. ‘There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus’, that is for Christians, as Paul says in Romans 8:1.

Galatians is a special case because it is a letter written to rescue the Galatians from teaching which insisted that to be Christians, these Gentiles had to be circumcised and taught to obey the Law. It is against this that Paul writes and says what he says.

On the other hand the ethical commandments of God still show God’s people how to live but they can only conform to them by the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus and the Law

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It is principally in Matthew’s Gospel that we find references to Jesus and the Law but it is not always easy to understand the part he expected the Law to play in the lives of his disciples.

From the following references how would you sum up Jesus’ attitude to the Law? Mattew 5:17-48; 12:1-14; Mark 2:23 – 3:6 and 7:1-23.

Jesus clearly said that he had not come to abolish the Law and the Prophets but to fulfil them. This fulfilling in the Sermon on the Mount involved intensifying the demands of the Law so that it penetrated behind actions to attitudes of the heart [Mattew 5:21-30], opposed divorce for any cause, ruled out oaths and retaliation - teaching his disciples to love people like God does, including enemies.

Jesus’ teaching on the Sabbath is summed up in Mark 2:27-28. If we remember that he himself was the Son of Man we can understand his claim to determine what was acceptable on it – but he does not break the Sabbath; rather he brings out God’s intention for it.

What he does attack is the scribes’ use of their traditions to cancel the effect of God’s commandments.

All this suggests that Jesus took the Law very seriously as a guide to conduct provided it was interpreted as he explained it [see Mattew 28:20].

Once when Jesus was asked about the greatest commandment of all [Mattew 22:34-40] he replied in terms of Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18 and said ‘On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets’. By this last phrase, ‘the Law and the Prophets’ he may well have meant the Jewish scriptures, or holy writings.

How do the Ten Commandments [Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5] fill out those two basic commandments?

The first three commandments express one’s love for God.
Commandments 5 to 10 express love for one’s neighbour
Commandment 4 is a kind of hinge with elements of love for both God and neighbour.

Prophetic diagnosis and indictment

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The story of the people of God in the OT is a sad story of their failure to obey the Law of the covenant. God sent his messengers, the prophets to warn them time and again that disobedience would lead to disaster. Frequently their diagnosis of the wrongs of society was in terms of disobedience to the Ten Commandments.

Read Jeremiah’s temple sermon, 7:1-26, and identify which of the Ten Commandments he accuses them of breaking.

Notice in Jeremiah’s sermon the reference to their stubborn evil hearts, v.24, and to God’s servants the prophets. Even the sacrificial system no longer served God’s purpose as a means of forgiveness for those genuinely repenting. Instead it was regarded as a substitute for obedience, a kind of automatic forgiveness system.

How distinctive was Israel's Law?

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Attention is often drawn to law codes of other peoples of the Ancient Near East and sometimes parallels can be seen between them and the Law given to Israel. (See for example Fee and Stuart (pp.159-160). In an example from the Law Code of Hammurabi Fee and Stuart show that whilst there are similarities there are also distinctive features that mark the OT Law as different.

Consider this law, also from the Law Code of Hammurabi, and compare it t Exodus 22:7-9.

If a lord stores his grain in another lord’s house and a loss has then occurred at the granary, or the owner of the store house opened the store and took the grain, or he has denied completely that he ever received the grain; the owner of the grain shall set out the details in the presence of God and the owner of the store house shall give the owner of the grain, double the grain that he took.

What conclusions should we draw from the similarities? [Note that TNIV has ‘appear before the judges’ in vs. 8 and 9 but the NRSV has ‘before God’.]

1. The principle behind both expressions of law is the same.
2. It is not surprising that there should be some similarities between laws for the people of God and for other nations, both because the needs of people living together in society are often similar and because of God’s common grace is expressed in some common recognition of good and evil.

Grace and Law in the OT

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A point of major importance to grasp is that the Law of God was given to Israel in the context of grace and salvation. In the early stages of the story which led up to the great escape of Israel from Egypt God told Moses to tell the Israelites that he, the Lord, was setting them free and, he said, ‘I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God’ [Exodus 6:7]. This formula was the heart of the covenant relationship between God and the people. The Torah has been described as ‘the gift of God’s love intended to awaken man’s loving response’.

If you read the introduction to the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20:1-2 and Deutrtonomy 5:1-6 you will see that the implication is that the Israelites were God’s people because he had saved them by grace. The laws indicated how they were now to live in response and out of gratitude to such saving grace.

This was the reason the Psalmists found such joy in the Law of the Lord and regarded the fact that it had been given to Israel as a wonderful privilege. The whole of the longest Psalm, 119, is devoted to an expression of thanksgiving and joy in response to God’s gift of the Law.

Read Psalm 119:18, 33-36, 105 and then refer back to Psalm 1 and then think about the following question.

What do these Psalms tell us about the Psalmists’ attitude to the Law and the Lord?

In your answer you may have included:

The writer of Psalm 119 recognised his need of God’s help to understand and keep the Law whole heartedly but he saw the Law as an invaluable guide to the ways in which he should go.

The writer of Psalm 1 saw the benefits of daily meditation on God’s Law in terms of the stability, fruitfulness and the Lord’s protection which it gives.

What does Law mean in the Hebrew Bible?

2008-10-14T16:40:00.002+01:00

Let’s start by thinking about what ‘law’ means in the English language today.

What comes to mind when you hear people refer to the law or laws?

Your answer may include thoughts such as: thinking of rules and regulations, Acts of Parliament and so part of the law of the land, mabe you thought of observed regularities in the natural world like the law of gravity. You might have also included things like the rules of a game such as cricket.

But what about the Hebrew Bible?

In the OT there are over 600 commandments that the Israelites were expected to keep as a sign of their loyalty to God. These are recorded in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Although there are times when the whole of the OT is referred to as ‘The Law’, often ‘The Law’ referred to the body of text from Exodus 20 to the end of Deuteronomy. [Note that the Books of the Law also include Genesis, and there are also parts of Exodus 20 – Deuteronomy that are not simply ‘law’].

But what does all that mean for me today?

The Hebrew word which is translated ‘law’ is the word 'torah' which means something broader than our concept of law. It means something like ‘instruction’ or ‘directions for living’. Does this help to explain how the stories of Genesis are part of the Law? They contain examples of people who live according to God’s directions, and people who don’t. From now on we refer to OT Law by using a capital letter, recognising that at times it contains ‘laws’.

Law and Ethics

2008-10-14T16:36:00.001+01:00

Session Aims

By the end of this session you should be able to:

understand what ‘Law’ meant in the OT
explain how it functioned in the lives of God’s people
comment on the distinctiveness of OT Law in comparison with law in other ANE societies
describe Jesus’ attitude to the Law
account for Paul’s apparently ambivalent attitude to the Law
explain how biblical laws might be related to Christian ethics today

Most people who have been introduced to the Bible at some time in their lives know that it contains laws and that laws are connected with behaviour. The study of behaviour is called ‘Ethics’, so clearly law and ethics are related. Laws require certain behaviour and prohibit other forms of behaviour. There is obviously more to behaviour than is prescribed by the law. Kindness, generosity and love are not governed by laws because they go beyond what the laws require. But this means that laws govern some forms of behaviour but don’t tell the whole story.
The big questions which arise when it comes to using biblical laws today include the relevance of the OT laws, the teaching of Jesus which sometimes seems to set the OT laws aside, followed even more emphatically by Paul and the writer to the Hebrews.

To listen to these sessions click the following links.

Audio: Part One

Audio: Part Two

Click here to download the course handout for this session.

Handling Visions and Apocalyptic Literature

2008-10-03T10:24:00.001+01:00

a. Understanding the literary context of particular visions and dreams will often help us to see what the vision or dream meant to the seer or dreamer. It may take the rest of the story to clarify things as in the case of Joseph [both the one in the OT and the one in the NT], but if we are patient, matters will become clear.

b. With apocalyptic writing we need to try to see the big picture and not be too anxious if some of the details are beyond us. Certainly it is a mistake to concentrate on the details and pretend we can give an equivalent interpretation of each to weave fanciful interpretations of today’s events [the Common Market and all] from them. Remember the text must have meant something to the 1st century readers for whom it was written.

Revelation 12

2008-10-03T10:22:00.001+01:00

Here are a few pointers that may help as we seek to make sense of this key passage in the book of Revelation.

The woman of 1-2 represents the people of God, from which the Messiah comes.
The dragon is Satan.
The casting down of the stars in 4 illustrates Satan’s power, and may have echos of a victory of the devil over angelic powers (but note what is coming).
The child is Jesus.
The snatching up of the child probably refers to the resurrection and ascension – following the crucifixion.
Verses 7-12 make it clear that Satan has been defeated, through the cross, but knowing that his time is short Satan now turns his attentions to the church.
6 & 14 are talking about the same thing – notice that you don’t read this as this, then this, then this…
The dragon now turns his attention to the church.

Revelation

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a. Outline / Overview

The book of Revelation unfolds like a drama, the early chapters setting the scene and introducing us to the cast of characters, and to follow the plot towards the end you need to know what has gone before.

Chapters 1-3. The characters we are introduced to first are John, Christ, and the church.
Chapters 4-5. With breathtaking visions, as the curtain is pulled back on heaven, we are told that God reigns in sovereign majesty, but He is the lion and the lamb having redeemed humanity through suffering.
Chapters 6-7. The drama itself starts to unfold in the form of a vision of seven items: 4 items providing one picture, 2 items providing 2 sides of another reality, an interlude of 2 visions, seventh item is revealed.

1. White horseman – conquest
2. Red horseman – war
3. Black horseman – famine
4. Pale horseman – death
5. The martyrs question, ‘how long?’
6. The earthquake – who can stand?
a. 144,000 sealed
b. A great multitude
7. God’s wrath: the seven trumpets of 8-11.

Chapters 8-11. God’s judgement is revealed in the form of seven trumpets.

Hail and fire, mixed with blood; third of the earth burned up including trees and green grass.
Blazing mountain thrown into the sea; third of the sea affected.
Star fell from sky; waters became bitter and many people died.
Sun, moon and stars struck leading to darkness.
5 months of torture and agony at the hand of (the barbarian hordes)
A third of the people killed (in a great war).

The interlude talks of God’s exultation of his ‘witnesses’ even though they die.

7. The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of Lord and his Messiah.

Chapters 12-22. Offer the details of that judgement and triumph.
Chapter 12 is the key and reveals the defeat of Satan whose final end has yet to come, but in the meantime he seeks vengeance on God’s people.
Chapters 13-14. This took the form of the Roman Empire.
Chapters 15-16. The doom of the Roman Empire.
Chapters 17-22. The tale of two cities. Rome is eternally condemned. The people of God dwell in the city of God eternally.

Introduction, 1:1-3
John’s letters:
a) A general letter to all the 7 churches, 1:4-20
b) A particular letter to each of the churches, 2:1 – 3:22
Vision of heaven, 4:1 – 5:13
Events leading to the final revelation of the kingdom of God, 6 - 22
a) Messianic judgments of the 7 seals, 6:1 – 8:5
Includes an interlude between the 6th and 7th seal, ch. 7.
b) 7 trumpets, 8:6 – 11:19. Includes an interlude, 10:1 – 11:13
c) Interlude on the Church in conflict with the powers of evil, chs. 12 – 14
d) 7 cups of God’s wrath, 15:1 – 16:21
e) The Reign and Ruin of the City of Antichrist, 17:1 – 19:10
f) The Revelation of Christ and the City of God, 19:11 – 22:5
Epilogue, 22:6-21

b. Audience
John wrote from exile in Patmos to Christians (“true Jews”), many of whom were experiencing persecution and even death for their faith – but not all. The Roman Emperor thought of himself as god and certainly expected to be called lord ahead of all others.

c. The imagery

1. The imagery must have been familiar to Christian readers / hearers in the 1st century from the OT or contemporary culture.
2. Some images functioned like political cartoons, so the beast was a standard image for a world empire
3. Some images are fluid, the woman of ch. 13 is good, of ch. 17 is evil, the Lion is the Lamb.
4. John himself interprets six of the images [1:17-18; 1:20; 12:9; 17:9; 17:18] even if his explanations may have been obscure to the authorities.
5. Some images refer to specific things [the lampstands], others are more general [ the four horsemen]
6. We must see the visions as wholes rather than find particular explanations for parts
7. There is no detailed chronology

Daniel

2008-10-03T10:17:00.001+01:00

Take some time to read Daniel 7-12.

What did you make of it?

Hopefully as you now later come to read Revelation you will recognise bits and pieces that John has picked up on. Here are a few historical pointers that might help get to grips with Daniel 7-12.

The main world power at the time when Daniel was alive was of course Babylon.

Within the book of Daniel we read of this empire being overthrown by the Medes & Persians.

In time this was overcome by Greece and the conquests of Alexander the Great (a rapid campaign from 334-330 BC).

Upon his death, aged in his 30s Alexander's kingdom split into 4 under: Ptoemy I (Egypt and Palestine); Seleucus (Babylon and Syria); Lysimachus (Asia Minor); Antipater (Macedonia and Greece).

The eighth ruler of the Seleucid Empire was Antiochus IV Epiphanes who overthrew the priest, looted the Temple and replaced the worship of God with a Greek form of worship (168-167 BC).

Temple worship was restored in 165 BC under the rebellion of Judas Maccabeus.

The references to ‘kings of the north’ probably refers to the Seleucid kings of Syria and the ‘kings of the south’ the Ptolemaic rulers of Egypt. The struggle between these two battling empires went on from the time of Alexander’s death down to the era of Antiochus IV.

Apocalyptic Literature

2008-10-03T10:14:00.002+01:00

Read Revelation 12. Why is it so difficult to know what this is all about?

Some of the reasons it is difficult to know what it is all about include:

1. Use of bizarre imagery, ‘a woman clothed with the sun’, v.1; ‘a great red dragon’ v.3.
2. Unexpected events such as a war in heaven, v.7.
3. Obscure time references, 1260 days, v.6; ‘a time, and times and half a time’ v.14.
4. Apparent fantasy.

This kind of writing flourished 200 BC – AD 200 but, as we have seen, examples are found earlier in Ezekiel, Zechariah and Daniel – although the date of Daniel (and particularly the apocalyptic part) is often dated in the 2nd century BC. There are also apocalyptic passages in Matthew 24 and its synoptic parallels, 2 Thessalonians 2 and above all in Revelation.

The word ‘apocalyptic’ comes from the Greek word ‘apocalypsis’, the first word of the book of Revelation in Greek and it means ‘revelation’.

Apocalypses have some common characteristics. These are:

1. Concerned with God bringing a violent end to history. (Apocalyptic literature was often born out of persecution or oppression).
2. Written works rather than spoken first as in most of the prophets (carefully crafted and highly stylised).
3. Cryptic language and pseudonymity – that is written in the name of a famous person from the past. (But not in the case of Revelation).
4. Images in the form of fantasy. (Not everyday images as in parables).
5. Divide time into patterns and a predilection for the symbolic use of numbers.

Five kinds of Vision

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1. Visions of God or of His council (e.g. Isaiah 6, 1 Kings 22:19-23)
2. Visions of some future event (1 Kings 22:17, also Amos 7:1-6)
3. Visions based on a play on words. So Jeremiah 1:11-12 is based on the fact that the Hebrew word for almond tree and the word for ‘watching’ sound very similar. Seeing the one triggered the thought of the other in Jeremiah’s mind.
4. Allegorical visions in which each item stands for something else. So for example in Zechariah 5:5-11 a basket represents the iniquity of the people. When the cover is removed inside is a woman who represents wickedness. This evil is removed to Babylon, meaning the exile. You can see how complicated things can get and the use of a commentary can help with the Hebrew.
5. A combination of two or more of the other four types (e.g. Daniel 7).

From our study in this unit so far we have seen that visions and dreams and strange imagery is found in different literary genres including narratives and prophecy. But the kind of literature which is particularly rich in this kind of material is called ‘apocalyptic’.

Visions and Dreams

2008-10-03T10:11:00.000+01:00

In the Bible we read of people who have visions or dream dreams which function as a form of revelation of matters otherwise hidden from human beings.

Sometimes the message is given through the dream. For example Joseph was given divine instructions through an angel or messenger of the Lord in a dream about Mary and Jesus [Matt 1:18-21; 2:19-20] and the message is described by the narrator as the Lord’s command [Matt 1:24]. Sometimes the dreamer needs someone else to interpret for them. This was true of the butler and baker who met up with Joseph in an Egyptian prison. Joseph was given the gift to interpret dreams by God [Gen 40]. Sometimes (e.g. Daniel 4) the interpreter is reluctant to provide the interpretation of the dream. Sometimes the puzzle is left a puzzle and only gradually unfolds for readers in the course of events. For example, Joseph’s early dreams that antagonised his brothers and disturbed his father [Gen 37:5-11]. Also Peter came to work out the meaning of the vision in Acts 10 as events unfolded with Cornelius.

The question then arises, is there a way of understanding the different kinds of visions, a way of classifying them so that we know how to begin to understand how to interpret them? Adela Collins has suggested there are five kinds of vision found in Jewish and Christian literature.

Introduction

2008-10-03T10:08:00.001+01:00

Books of the OT prophets often include strange visions [e.g. Ezek.1] and an unusual form of writing known as ‘apocalyptic’ which sometimes seems like some of the fantasy literature which is so popular with children and some adults today. In this unit we will study how to understand this kind of writing.

How are we to understand these fantastic visions and the closely associated phenomenon of dreams? And what are we to make of the bizarre imagery which comes in the second half of Daniel [chs 7 – 12], Ezek 38-39; Zech 9 – 14 and the book of Revelation? We haven’t the space to cover all of these examples but we will look at Revelation as an example of apocalyptic.

If you read Ezekiel 1 you will find that there are a range of images used. These include:

Open heavens.
Storm cloud surrounded by lightning and brilliant light, glowing metal in the centre of the fire.
Something like four living creatures each of which like a man but with four faces and four wings. They seemed linked together and moved as one. They were like burning torches and they moved like lightning.
Remarkable wheels beside them, wheels within wheels and full of eyes. They and the living creatures moved together and the sound was like rushing water.
Above the heads of the creatures a platform ‘sparkling like ice and awesome’. Above the platform what looked like a throne and on the throne someone like a man like glowing metal in his top half and fire in his bottom half. He was surrounded with brilliant light, like a rainbow. ‘This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD.’

Visions and Apocalyptic

2008-10-03T10:05:00.002+01:00

By the end of this session you should be able to:

1. Know the nature and different kinds of visions and dreams in the Bible and the role they play in some of the narratives.
2. Understand the principal characteristics of apocalyptic literature.
3. Know how to grapple with the problems in understanding the book of Revelation.

Click here to download the handout for this session.

Audio Part One

Audio Part Two

Audio Part Three

Are there Prophets in the NT?

2008-10-02T12:34:00.001+01:00

The book of Revelation opens with a reference which suggests it is a prophecy [1:3] and closes with another similar reference [22:18]. But the book of Revelation also describes itself as a letter and as apocalyptic (which we will study in the next unit). For now remember Fee & Stuart’s key point about prophets addressing primarily the people of their own day.

One of the roles in which Jesus spoke of his mission was that of a prophet [e.g. Mk 6:4, see Luke’s longer account, 4:16-30]. OT prophets like Jeremiah and Isaiah had suffered similar rejection in their time.

Peter explained the events of the Day of Pentecost in terms of the fulfilment of Joel’s prophecy that God would pour out his Spirit on all kinds of people and they would prophesy [Acts 2:16-18] and in 1 Corinthians among other things Paul deals with the gift of the Spirit which enables someone to prophesy [12:10, 29; 13:2; 14].

What is the significance of verses like Matt 7:15; 24:11; Acts 13:6; 1 Cor 14:29; 1 John 4:1?

These verses teach that there will be false prophets inside and outside the church and these need to be tested.

Micah

2008-10-02T12:32:00.001+01:00

a) Historical Background

i) 1:1 names 3 kings of Judah. Waltke in the New Bible Commentary gives the following dates from Jotham [740-32 BC] to Hezekiah [715-686], in other words over a generation later than Amos.
ii) During this period Assyria rose to power, conquered the northern kingdom of Israel in 722 and all but wiped out the southern kingdom. Only Jerusalem survived.
iii) Interestingly Waltke comments that Micah’s poetic and abstract language makes it less tied to its particular historical background.

b) Any pattern to this book?

Simundson writes, ‘The book seems more a collection of materials than a carefully planned, coherent work. Abrupt transitions, sudden shifts between condemnation and promise, and alternations in personal pronouns and gender, abound’ [p. 535]. He goes on to indicate four different ways in which the content has been analysed:

i) chapters 1 – 3; 4 – 5; 6 – 7
ii) chapters 1 – 2; 3 – 5; 6 – 7
iii) chapters 1 – 5; 6 – 7
iv) As i) but isolating 7:8-20 as a liturgy spoken by the people

He also says a majority of scholars attribute most of chapters 1 – 3 to Micah, but little of chapters 4 – 7.

How then is the book of Micah different from the book of Amos?

What sort of explanation might account for this rather disorganised collection of oracles?

It looks as though the book of Micah is not as carefully organised as the book of Amos. Quite why this is the case is a difficult question to answer but something like this might account for it.

1. A period of oral transmission where Micah’s prophecies were passed on by word of mouth, especially by those who remembered what he had said when what he had foretold came to pass.
2. Followed by hasty compilation perhaps as the disasters were happening.
Notice the message he was called to announce. He spoke powerfully of the Lord’s coming judgment, [1:3-7; 2:3-5] but without any joy [1:8-12].

Read 2:1-11; 3:1-12 and summarise the prophets theme.

1. The prophet’s theme in 2:1-11
a) The powerful plan to take the land and homes of the powerless and because they have the power they carry out their plans.
b) Therefore the LORD is planning disaster for them and their fields will be given to others.
c) Their prophets are false, denying Micah’s message and prophesying plenty of wine and beer. They plunder their own people.

2. The theme of 3:1-12
a) The leaders love evil, plunder and destroy God’s people so God will not listen to them.
b) The prophets lead the people astray and say good things to those who feed them. Time will be when they can say nothing. But Micah is different [v.8].
c) The leaders, political and religious, have overthrown justice and get away with murder and act according to what they can get – each has his price. They have a baseless confidence in God. Jerusalem will be destroyed.

3. Note especially 3:12 because that prophecy was remembered later [Jeremiah 26:18].

A Look at Amos

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a) Historical Background

i) The heading [1:1] gives us the approximate date because Uzziah of Judah reigned from 767 – 740 BC and Jeroboam II of Israel from 782 – 753.
ii) Motyer [New Bible Commentary] says we do not know the exact date because we do not know the date of the earthquake but he suggests a date around 760. This agrees with Fee & Stuart (p.174).
iii) At this time God’s people were divided into two kingdoms: Israel in the north and Judah in the south. Amos was sent to speak to Israel. As Motyer indicates, Israel was enjoying a time of prosperity and political independence. It was also a time when the poor were exploited.

b) Patterns in the Book

Motyer shows that the book has been carefully edited [p. 793] Notice for example the pattern of 1:2 – 3:8
1:2 The Lion’s roar: the Lord’s voice [A]
1:3 – 2:3 Against pagan peoples [B]
2:4 – 3:2 Against the chosen people [B]
3:3-8 The Lion’s roar: the prophetic word [A]

It is possible that 1:3 – 3:2 reports Amos’ address as he proclaimed his message to the people of Israel. It would have been a very powerful speech. Can you see how he would have attracted the support of the crowd by denouncing Israel’s neighbours, including Judah, the southern kingdom, before bringing the same kind of judgment to bear on Israel, the northern kingdom, a section he deals with at greater length and reaching a climax in 3:1-2.

[It is important to think oracles.

What do we learn about Amos from 7:10-17?

1. How he was a man of prayer who pleaded with the Lord to spare the people. But the Lord showed him that punishment was inevitable because the people did not measure up to the Lord’s plumbline.
2. Amaziah the priest of Bethel warned King Jeroboam that the prophecies of Amos would undermine morale among the people because he was announcing their coming exile.
3. When Amaziah told Amos to go back to Judah and earn his living as a prophet there, Amos replied that he was not a professional prophet but a shepherd and fruit farmer. He was only prophesying because the Lord had told him to. He also predicted disaster for Amaziah’s family and exile for Israel.

Interpreting the Prophetic Books

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If we are going to interpret the prophetic books and apply them today we first need to know something about the historical context into which the prophet was speaking. Then we can study the form and content of the message itself.

Historical Context

Larger Context

Of course God spoke to his people throughout history, through people like Abraham, Moses and David. But the writings of the prophets in the OT only cover a small part of the total OT history, about 760 BC – 460 BC (Amos – Malachi). This was specifically the era of ‘covenant enforcement mediation’. These were years characterised by:

1. Unprecedented political, military, economic and social upheaval.

2. An enormous level of religious unfaithfulness and disregard for the original Mosaic covenant.

3. Shifts in populations and national boundaries.

By 760 BC Israel was already divided into the Northern Kingdoms, (Israel) and the Southern Kingdom (Judah). Both kingdoms were rebellious towards God but the north’s rebellion was greater (If we think back to our original time line of the OT remember that there were no ‘good’ kings recorded in the history of the north). Amos (760) and Hosea (755) announced the impending disaster to Israel of their continued rebellion and Samaria finally fell to Assyria in 722 BC. Following this the mounting sin of Judah occupied many prophets including Isaiah, Jeremiah, Joel, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk and Zephaniah. Judah was taken in to exile by the Babylonians in 586 BC. After this Ezekiel, Daniel, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi announced God’s will for the restoration of his people – following a period of exile.

Specific Contexts

As well as this general context it is also helpful (vital) to know something of the specific context into which a message of God was spoken. The message is to a specific people, in a specific time and place, following certain events and behaviour…

Read Hosea 5:8-10. A good commentary will identify this for you as a ‘war oracle’ – the judgement of God carried out through battle. The date is 734 BC. The audience is Israel (north). The situation is war. Israel and Syria had attacked Judah (2 Kings 16:5) and been beaten back with the help of Assyria (2 Kings 16:7-9). God sounds the alarm, destruction is sure, but Judah too will get its due.

Types of Oracle:

A war oracle is composed of:
Call to alarm description of the attack prediction of defeat

A lawsuit: (Isaiah 3:13-26)
summons to court charge or accusation evidence of covenant disobedience verdict or judgment

A woe: (Habakkuk 2:6-8)
announcement of distress reason for distress prediction of doom

A promise: (Amos 9:11-15)
‘In that day’ announces a future Restoration and return Covenant blessings

Foretelling the Future

If you look in a dictionary you would get the impression that prophecy is about foretelling the future. There are some Christians who want to see all the prophets as saying things about Jesus and his coming – i.e. way in the future. The prophets did announce the future but it was almost always the immediate future – i.e. it was their future (not ours).

Less than 2% of OT prophecy is messianic. Less than 5% specifically describes the New Covenant age. Less than 1% concerns events yet to happen. For example have a look at Ezekiel 25-39. Almost all of these prophesies were fulfilled within decades of them being spoken. But 37:15-28 describes the New Covenant age.

The Prophets as Poets

As we have seen before poetry is not confined to the Psalms. There were times when the Prophets wrote/spoke using poetic language – therefore we need to be ready to recall what we said before (e.g. be careful of taking poetic language literally).

Which are the Prophetic Books?

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In the Hebrew Bible they make up the second ‘section’ – the Law, The Prophets, The Writings.

The former prophets: Joshua – 2 Kings (tend to be included as ‘historical’ books)

The latter prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah Ezekiel and Daniel (major prophets) and then the 12 minor prophets – Hosea to Malachi.

The reference to Major and Minor prophets has nothing to do with their importance - simply their length. The four longer books are the Major Prophets and the 12 shorter books are the Minor Prophets.

What is a Prophet?

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Jeremiah was one of the OT prophets. He was called to be a prophet - and this call is recorded for us in Jeremiah 1:4-10. From this account of Jeremiah's call we can learn:

1. At a specific time in history ‘the word of the Lord came to’ Jeremiah.
2. The message was that it was God who had appointed Jeremiah to be a prophet.
3. Jeremiah’s response [v.6] shows that he understood this task to involve speaking. This is confirmed by the following verse in which the Lord says Jeremiah is to say whatever the Lord tells him. V.9 underlines that the words he speaks will be the Lord’s words.

Now read Exodus 6:28 – 7:2 and 2 Kings 22:14.

From these verses we learn that a prophet is:

1. Someone who speaks for God.
2. Someone who don’t necessarily want to be a prophet.
3. Can be male or female.

Another role of the prophets was to remind the people that they were a covenant people, having entered a covenant with God at Mount Sinai. As a part of this covenant there were blessings for obedience but also curses for disobedience (E.g. Leviticus 26). One of the roles of the prophets was to remind the people of God’s standards and to warn them of wrong behaviour and the serious consequences of this behaviour. So when the prophets brought their warnings they were reproducing God’s word – they were not inventing something of their own.

Because a prophet is often challenging people over wrong behaviour his/her message is not always welcomed! From reading the OT it seems that the prophets often led lonely lives, they were persecuted, some were even killed. It was not an easy job.

Read Jeremiah 27-28. How do you think Jeremiah felt about this?

It could not have been easy being told by God to tell the people that they were to submit to their enemies, and that this was all a part of God’s plan. No wonder they preferred the message of the false prophet. Notice that when Jeremiah delivers the words he does so in the first person – speaking directly the words of God.

Biblical Prophets and Prophecy

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By the end of this session you should be able to:

1. Know what a prophet is.

2. Know which books in the Bible are called prophetic.

3. Understand how to interpret prophetic writings.

4. Consider the relationship of NT prophets to those in the OT.

Click here to download a copy of the session hand out (link available early October)

To listen to part one of this audio click here.

To listen to part two of this audio click here.

Song of Songs

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This book is a lengthy love song. Why have we included this in the category of wisdom (and not everyone does)? The questions of who to love and how to love are among the most basic choices in life and for the Christian it is important to make these choices in a godly way.

The book has a long history of misinterpretation due to two common hermeneutical mistake: Totality Transfer and Allegorising. Totality transfer is the tendency to think that all the possible features and meanings of a word or concept come with it whenever it is used. For example, the assumption that ‘God so loved the world’ includes a romantic element – God was in love with us. But ‘I love peanut butter’ has no romantic overtones either!

There are other love songs in the Bible, particularly the prophets (Isaiah 5:1-7, Hosea 2:2-15) that are allegories speaking of God’s love for Israel. The mistake here is to conclude that all love songs therefore fulfil this function and see Song of Songs as being an allegory about God and Israel or Christ’s love for the church.

Why can we be confident that this is not the case? There are none of the clues pointing to Israel’s history, no national symbolism – instead it concentrates on the love between two people (4:1-4, 5:2-6 etc).

Considerations for interpretation and application
Try to appreciate the overall ethical context of the Song of Songs. Monogamous, heterosexual marriage is the context for sexual activity.
Be aware of the genre – love poetry (OT and ANE) – the context of which was attraction in marriage. There is a strong moral overtone.
Read the Song of Songs as suggesting godly choices rather than describing those choices in a technical manner.
The Song of Songs focuses on very different values from those of our modern culture – where we are more obsessed with sexual technique than with virtuous romance.

Proverbs

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It is something of a light relief to turn from the heavy questions of Ecclesiastes and Job to the advice on how to live well and avoid folly that is found in the book of Proverbs. But there are some traps for the unwary. Proverbs are concise, memorable statements of truth often in poetic form. Their purpose is to bring order and control to life. Sometimes their ‘flavour’ is a simple observation of the way things are in life, but others seem to be recommending certain behaviour.
For example Proverbs 14:17 is an observation whereas 19:17 seems to be recommending kindness towards the poor.

There are similarities between proverbs and parables. The basic word for ‘proverb’ in Hebrew is mashal, the same word which is sometimes translated ‘parable’. It too refers to a wide range of forms from simple poetic sentences [Prov 12:6-7] to an extended discourse [6:6-11].

Proverbs: Some Hermeneutical Guidelines

1. Proverbs observe what works in human affairs but do not carry a divine guarantee of success. Certain outcomes are likely if you follow a particular path but are in no way automatic. (Job and Ecclesiastes alerts us to this fact.)

2. Proverbs are not to be taken too literally or woodenly but to be considered for underlying principles.

What does Proverbs 22:26-27 have to say in the current economic and housing situation? If we were to take this literally no Christian would ever take out a mortgage. (But should they? – What about Muslims and debt?) Or is the point that we should be cautious and not hasty when entering into debt.

Proverb 29:12 does not mean that if your boss listens to lies you have to become wicked. Rather it is a reflection on the reality that an unwise leader who listens to lies is likely to end up surrounded by a corrupt government. Whereas if the leader listens only to the truth that will help to keep the government free from corruption.

Proverbs 15:25. Clearly not intended to be taken literally as we know proud people … and widows who… We should understand that God opposes the proud and is on the side of the widow (needy, voiceless, oppressed…) and that God will eventually right the world’s wrongs.

3. Each proverb should be considered alongside the rest and in the context of the whole of Scripture. [The overall context – as with other parts of the Bible we have looked at.]

4. Proverbs are worded to be memorable, not as complete statements of the truth. They are written to create a memorable picture in your mind or include pleasing sounds to the ear. Proverbs 10:31 is an acrostic – helps memory. Many of the rules of poetry apply.

5. Some proverbs need to be ‘translated’ to be appreciated. They express their truths in relation to practices and institutions which no longer exist.

For example 22:11. This is extremely unlikely in this day and age – especially as we have a queen! A better way to understand the last part of this proverb may be something like, ‘make a positive impression on people in leadership’.

Or take 25:24. We do not live in a society where we have flat roofs and lodging on them was not only possible but common. Therefore we might better think of this as saying, ‘better to live in the garage than in a spacious house with a wife you should never have married’. The purpose is to be careful in your choice of husband or wife. A hasty marriage based on physical attraction can turn out to be an unhappy marriage.

The authority of the Wisdom Literature is not that it should be read in terms of ‘do this’ or ‘believe that’ but ‘ponder this’ and ‘think about that’.

Below are some guidelines from Fee and Stuart (225-6) to help us interpret the proverbs.

Proverbs are often parabolic (like parables) – they are pictures pointing beyond themselves.
Proverbs are intensely practical, not theoretically theological.
Proverbs are worded to be memorable, not technically precise.
Proverbs are not designed to support selfish behaviour – just the opposite.
Proverbs strongly reflecting ancient culture may need sensible translation so as not to lose their meaning.
Proverbs are not guarantees from God, but poetic guidelines for good behaviour.
Proverbs may use highly specific language, exaggeration or any of a variety of literary techniques to make their point.
Proverbs give good advice for wise approaches to certain aspects of life, but are not exhaustive in their coverage.
Wrongly used, proverbs might justify a crass (stupid or dull), materialistic lifestyle. Rightly used, proverbs will provide practical advice for daily living.

Proverbs: Overview
Note this broad outline of the book of Proverbs, which in the TNIV is implied by layout and headings.

1:1-7 Introduction
1:8 – 9:18 Advice on wisdom
10:1 – 22:16 Proverbs of Solomon
22:17 – 31:31 Five further collections

Read the Introduction [Prov. 1:1-7] and identify the purpose and theme.

The purpose is to provide understanding for prudent behaviour, that is practical advice. The theme is given in v. 7. The fear of the Lord means to hold him is deep respect or awe sufficient to make you do his will.

Job

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The suffering and perhaps the patience of Job [James 5:11] are proverbial. The different speeches of Job and his friends which comprise most of the book wrestle with the question of human suffering and in particular apparently innocent suffering.

The book begins with a prologue that lets the reader know what lies behind the events which have been so disastrous for Job, but Job and his friends have not read these chapters!

Read Job 1 – 2, a peep behind the scenes, into heaven itself. Why has God allowed Job to suffer and what message does the writer expect the readers to have in mind as they read the speeches through the main part of the book?

God is proud of Job. He is an outstanding example of godliness. God rejects Satan’s idea that Job fears God only because God blesses him so much. The events which follow then are a test of Job’s loyalty to God. There is a divine purpose at work even in undeserved suffering even when that purpose is hidden from the sufferer and his friends.

The friends display an admirable sympathy [2:11-13] but then begin several rounds of speeches in which they come up with an explanation which is plainly wrong in Job’s case. They say Job must have done something wrong to deserve this, however much he protests his innocence. They therefore call on Job to repent. But Job cannot confess to wickedness of which he is unaware. Job is frustrated at God’s incomprehensible antagonism and unavailability. The friends’ explanations which run along the lines of conventional wisdom are rejected by God himself at the end. Ellison has an important insight here. He comments that the replies of the friends were not rejected because they were untrue, but because they were too narrow. ‘Job’s agony is caused by the breakdown of his theological world-picture’ and their picture is no help [p. 792].

In chapters 38 – 41 God at last speaks to Job of his awesome almighty power and says that he, God, is answerable to no one. The keys to understanding God’s speeches are the irony and the questions.

Read Job 42:1-6 which is Job’s response. Is this an answer for someone in Job’s position?

Job recognises that the LORD God is far greater than someone whom human beings can call to account and that he, Job, has spoken from a totally inadequate knowledge. He therefore humbles himself before Almighty God. This answer will not satisfy people who want to put themselves on the same level as God and think that they can judge Him. But for someone who recognises who God is and what he has done in the rest of the Bible – particularly in His Son – it is wise to recognise that for us God’s ways are past finding out but we can trust His loving purposes for us.

This book ‘works’ by inviting readers to enter the different perspectives or viewpoints expressed as human attempts to understand what is beyond us, but also readers are invited to recognise that above all things is God the Creator and sustainer of all. Ellison concludes, ‘The book does not set out to answer the problem of suffering but to proclaim a God so great that no answer is needed.’

Ecclesiastes

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The book of Ecclesiastes is perhaps most famous for the verses:
‘Meaningless, meaningless, everything is meaningless’ 1:2,
‘there is nothing new under the sun’ 1:9,
the passage on being a time for everything, 3:1-8, and
the apparent warning to young people found in 12:1.

The theme or the question that this book seems to be asking is how do you live wisely when the only certainty in life is death – it deals with the question of ‘does it even matter how you live if the only certainly in life is death’.

Certainly there are parts of Ecclesiastes that seem cynical and may even seem out of step with the rest of the OT teaching. Read 1:2,14; 2:15; 3:19; 9:9-10; 11:8-10.

What do you think? Why was a book like this included in the Bible?

Surely even those with the strongest faith go through times when we can identify with such thoughts.

So why is it there?

The book largely acts as a ‘foil’ (contrast) to the rest of the Bible – this is what it would be like if God was distant (or non-existent), and that this life was all that there was. It leaves us cold, unfulfilled – it is all meaningless.

But as the last 2 verses remind us this is not a life without God, and there is an afterlife.

Wisdom Literature in the Bible

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Three OT books are commonly known as Wisdom Literature: Ecclesiastes, Proverbs and Job. Many people also include Song of Songs in this category. As we saw last time a number of the Psalms are ‘wisdom Psalms’.

We also find ‘wisdom’ in the NT, often within the teachings of Jesus.

Read Matthew 7:24-29. This is an example of how Jesus is teaching how to make godly choices in life. It is therefore right to see Jesus as a teacher of wisdom - but of course he was much more than that.

Proverbs 9:10 teaches that it is the fear of the Lord that is the beginning of wisdom.

Wisdom Literature

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By the end of this session you should be able to:

know where the principal wisdom literature in the Bible is found,
be able to identify different kinds of wisdom writing,
understand the point of Ecclesiastes, Job, Proverbs and Song of Songs and what they contribute to the Bible,
know some basic principles for rightly interpreting this literature.

Wisdom literature is identified more by its content than its form. When the Bible talks about wisdom it is talking about the ability to make godly choices in life. So the parts of the Bible that are considered Wisdom Literature deal with the issue of how to make particular choices in life and also about how to deal with larger philosophical questions such as why does God allow suffering, or what is the purpose of life?

To download the notes for this session click here.

Listen to the audio - part 1.

Listen to the audio - part 2.

Unpacking the Psalms

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A Psalm of Lament

There are six elements that appear in one way or another in almost all of the lament Psalms. These elements are:

Address. To whom is the Psalm prayed – God.
Complaint. The trouble is honestly spelt out.
Trust. Trust in God is expressed – why complain to God if you don’t trust in God?
Deliverance. Pleads for deliverance.
Assurance. Assurance is expressed that God will deliver.
Praise. God is praised for blessing, past, present and future.

Read Psalm 3 and identify each of these six elements.

Addrss - Verse 1. Expressed simply. No long clever words!
Complaint - Verse 1-2.
Trust - Verses 3-6.
Deliverance - Verse 7.
Assurance - Verse 8.
Praise - Verse 8.

This Psalm is not intended so much to instruct but as to guide. We can use this Psalm when we are at our wit’s end.

A Psalm of Thanksgiving

The elements of many thanksgiving Psalms are as follows:

Introduction. Testimony of how God has helped.
Distress. The situation from which God gave deliverance.
Appeal. The appeal made is reiterated.
Deliverance. The deliverance of God is described.
Testimony. A word of praise is given.

Read Psalm 138 and identify these elements.

Introduction - Verses 1-2.
Distress - Verse 3.
Appeal - Verse 3.
Deliverance - Verse 6-7.
Testimony - Verse 4-5, 8.

Homework Question: Read Psalm 110 and answer the following questions.

1. What kind of psalm it is.
2. Its structure or pattern.
3. Its meaning addressed to David.
4. How Jesus might have understood it [see Mark 12:35-37]

Scroll down for an answer (as opposed to the answer).

1. It is a royal psalm, and possibly messianic. This means it was related to the hope of a new king like David who would be God’s agent in putting Israel and the world to rights. Possibly it was originally used at a coronation in the temple in Jerusalem and spoken by a court prophet. This makes the second ‘Lord’ of line 1 the king.

2. There are various ways of outlining the structure

a) based on the opening words of vs.1 and 4 each of which introduces words God has spoken. In technical terms each is a divine oracle. The first part is an invitation to the human king to recognise that God himself is the real King. The second is a promise of the king’s priestly role.

b) You might detect something of a chiasm in the overall pattern along these lines:

The LORD God will give you victory, vs. 1-3 [A]

The LORD will make you a priest, v.4 [B]

The LORD will give you victory, vs. 5-7 [A¹]

3. The last two lines of v.1 reflect an Ancient Near Eastern custom of lesser princes acknowledging a superior power. Historically it might have been written to celebrate the capture of Jerusalem by David and promising that the LORD God will extend his empire. David will also be a priest but of a different order from that of Aaron. There are not many references to David acting as a priest but see 2 Sam 6:13,17-18 and his arrangements for service in the tabernacle were later carried over into Temple worship.

4. It is difficult to guess what Jesus himself thought although the reference in Mark 12 possibly hints at his status. But the writer to the Hebrews exploits this reference fully [chs 5 – 9].

Psalms

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The Psalms is a book of poetry. Fee & Stuart describe the Psalms as ‘musical poems’. It is important to remember that the language is figurative, that is picture language, designed to appeal to the emotions. We should be careful therefore about reading doctrine out of such writing.

Because the Psalms are musical poems, they are written to the mind through the heart. Therefore we must be careful, in our application, not to look for significance where none is intended. So where the author uses synonymous parallelism we should be looking for the overall message. For example in Psalm 19:1-2 we should not think that the author is saying that the heavens do one thing and the skies do another.

Also within these musical poems there are times when the author uses hyperbole – or exaggeration – to express a point strongly. We need to be careful to identify this and not read these poems literally.

When reading metaphors it is important to look for the intent of the metaphor, and not to press them too far or to take them literally. Psalm 23 is not saying that God wants us to behave like sheep, or to leave the city life in order to live in a pastoral, rural setting.

Different kinds of Psalms

There are different kinds of Psalms. These are:

laments, individual or corporate
thanksgiving
praise
salvation history
covenant renewal
royal and enthronement
songs of Zion
Wisdom
Songs of trust

The characteristics of each type is given below:

1. Laments, individual or corporate: The largest group in the Psalms with over 60. They express the struggles, suffering and disappointment of people when times are hard. Individual laments include 3, 22, 31, 39, 42, 57, 71, 120, 139, 142. Corporate laments include 12, 44, 80, 94, 137.

2. Thanksgiving Psalms: these are the opposite and appropriate for occasions of joy and blessing. There are 6 community psalms of thanksgiving, 65, 67, 75, 107, 124, 136. There are ten individual psalms of thanksgiving, 18, 30, 32, 34, 40, 66, 92, 116, 118, 138.

3. Hymns of Praise: these acknowledge God for who He is as Creator (8, 19, 104), Protector (66, 100, 111, 114, 149) and Lord of history (33, 103, 113, 117, 145-147).

4. Salvation history Psalms: a few psalms recalling God’s deliverance of his people, especially from Egypt. 78, 105, 106, 135, 136.

5. Covenant renewal litergies: renewing the covenant of Sinai or the choice of David (e.g. 50, 81, 89, 132)

6. Royal and enthronement Psalms: the celebration of the monarchy and the coronation of kings (2, 18, 20, 21, 24, 29, 45, 47, 72, 93, 95-99, 101, 110, 144

7. Songs of Zion: celebration of Jerusalem (46, 48, 76, 84, 87, 122).

8. Wisdom: guidelines for the good life (36, 37, 49, 73, 112, 127, 128, 133)

9. Songs of trust: the response of God’s people to His faithfulness (11, 16, 23, 27, 62, 63, 91, 121, 125, 131)

Fee & Stuart say that the Psalms served these purposes and

· to connect the worshipper and God
· to accompany worship
· as the hymn book of the Second Temple.

Patterns

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One of the ways that we are able to recognise poetry in the Bible (if using a good modern version) is that it is laid out differently on the page - you will see more white space around the words.

As well as the layout on the page (which is done by modern day editors etc) it is also possible to identify poetry by patterns that are the creation of the author, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

One of these patterns is known as parallelism.

Parallelism
If you read Isaiah 40:28-31 you will see that ideas are often expressed in more than one way (look at verses 29, 30 and 31).

Notice the parallel ideas and pictures from Psalm 95: 1-7.

1. In v.1 ‘sing for joy’ ‘shout aloud’ and the Lord Rock of our salvation [metaphor]

2. In v.2 ‘before him with thanksgiving’ ‘extol him with music and song’

3. In v.3 ‘the great God’ ‘the great King’

4. Verse 4 is interesting because it begins with a reference to ‘his hand’ and ends with a reference to ‘him’. In between ‘the depths of the earth’ ‘the mountain peaks’; a kind of contrast. A similar contrast can be found in v.5.

5. In verses 6-7 ‘bow down in worship’ ‘kneel’, ‘the LORD our Maker’ ‘our God’, ‘people of his pasture’ ‘flock under his care’

This use of parallelism enriches the message by highlighting what the author is trying to say. Within the Bible we will find four kinds of parallelism:

1. synonymous parallelism: where the same idea is expressed in both lines

2. antithetical parallelism: where opposite things are said

3. synthetic parallelism: where one idea is added to another

4. climatic parallelism: where the second idea raises the significance of the first

Have a look at these parallels from the NT.

Matt. 6:10; 7:7f [synonymous parallelism]
Matt. 5:3ff [synthetic parallelism]
Matt. 6:13 [antithetical parallelism]
Matt. 11:17 [antithetical parallelism – in each half and in the overall]
Matt. 10:40 [climatic parallelism]

Acrostic Poems
An acrostic poem is where each line of the poem starts with successive letters of the (Hebrew) alphabet.

Psalm 25 – each line (verse) starts with successive letters of the alphabet.
Psalm 37 – each stanza (in this case 4 lines) starts with successive letters of the alphabet.
Psalm 119 – each group of 8 verses starts with successive letters of the alphabet (each of the first 8 verses starts with Aleph, each of the next eight verses start with Beth etc). [Also see the Hebrew letters listed in NIV, TNIV etc.]

Chiastic Patterns

One way of setting out Matthew 6:24 would be:

No one can serve two masters [A]

Either he will hate the one [B]

and love the other [C]

or he will be devoted to the one [C¹]

and despise the other [B¹]

You cannot serve both God and Mammon [A¹]

You can see this is a more complicated parallelism with AA¹, BB¹ and CC¹. At the same time the way I have laid it out on the page suggests an indentation towards the middle which is then reversed towards the end of the verse. This pattern is known as a chiastic pattern, or chiasm, after the capital Greek letter chi, written like a capital X. The stress often comes in the middle of the pattern, so here C and C¹. Note: chiastic patterns depend on the order of words in the original languages so they do not always come out quite so clearly in English translation.

This verse also illustrates another feature of the biblical text known as inclusio. This is where the opening line and the closing line are parallel in ideas and form a kind of brackets around the whole. This is one useful way of seeing what makes a unit of text.

Set out Psalm 90:1-2 in such a way as to show its chiastic structure.

Lord, you have been our dwelling place [A]
Throughout all generations. [B]
Before the mountains were born [C]
Or you brought forth the whole world, [C1]
From everlasting to everlasting [B1]
you are God. [A1]

Homework – look at Amos 5:10-13 or Jeremiah 2:5-9 and demonstrate their chiastic nature.

Suggested answers below:

Amos 5:10-13

10 There are those who hate the one who reproves in court and detest the one who tells the truth. [A]

11 You levy a straw tax on the poor and impose a tax on their grain. [B]

Therefore, though you have built stone mansions, you will not live in them; [C]
though you have planted lush vineyards, you will not drink their wine. [C1]

12 For I know how many are your offenses and how great your sins. [B1]

There are those who oppress the innocent and take bribes and deprive the poor of justice in the courts. [A1]

13 Therefore the prudent keep quiet in such times, for the times are evil.

Jeremiah 2:5-9

5 This is what the LORD says: "What fault did your ancestors find in me, that they strayed so far from me? [A]

They followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves. [B]

6 They did not ask, 'Where is the LORD, who brought us up out of Egypt and led us
through the barren wilderness, through a land of deserts and ravines, a land of drought
and utter darkness, a land where no one travels and no one lives?' [C]

7 I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and rich produce. [D]
But you came and defiled my land and made my inheritance detestable. [D1]

8 The priests did not ask, 'Where is the LORD?' [C1]

Those who deal with the law did not know me; the leaders rebelled against me. The
prophets prophesied by Baal, following worthless idols. [B1]

9 "Therefore I bring charges against you again," declares the LORD. "And I will bring charges against your children's children. [A1]

Simile and Metaphor

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A simile is a comparison between people or things with something else which throws light on the description of the people or the meaning of the thing / concept / idea. The clue to the presence of a simile is the use of like / as.

Here are five examples of similes:

They came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts [Judges 6:5]

The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. [Matt. 13:44]

Every teacher of the law… is like the owner of a house [Matt. 13:52]

His appearance was like lightning and his clothes were white as snow [Matt. 28:3]

Descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore [Heb. 11:12].

Metaphors describe something in terms of something else, so creating a picture which throws light on the thing described. So when Jesus said, ‘I am the Good Shepherd’ [John 10:11] he was using a metaphor ‘shepherd’ to describe his role and he contrasts his way of being a shepherd – laying down his life for his sheep – with that of others.

For example in Psalm 119:105, Lamp and Light are metaphors for the word of God.

Imagery

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Language can be used to report facts, describe a state of affairs, tell stories, or paint pictures. Many people have misunderstood parts of the Bible by not recognising the kind of language which is being used. For example in Isaiah 55:12 the prophet is describing the coming joy and celebration in God’s new world.

You will go out in joy
and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and the hills
will burst into song before you,
and all the trees of the field
will clap their hands.

Lines 3 and 4 may remind some readers of, ‘The hills are alive with the sound of music’ but it has been seriously proposed that the last two lines mean that God will give the trees hands to clap with! This is a failure of imagination and a blind spot with regard to poetic language. In this unit we are exploring biblical language in colour! We will look at biblical imagery, explain simile and metaphor and the patterns found in poetry. One Bible book is completely written in poetic forms – the Psalms – so we will look at some of them.

Poets create pictures using words. They will seek to use words that invoke a vivid image in the mind of the reader.

Biblical Poetry

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By the end of this session you should be able to:

appreciate some of the functions of poetic language
know how to distinguish and understand similes and metaphors
recognise different patterns in biblical poetry and appreciate their significance
be able to recognise different kinds of Psalms

To download the course handout for this session click here.

To download Audio part one click here

Audio part two.

How does Acts teach today?

2008-04-21T14:38:00.002+01:00

One of the big questions we need to consider as we look at the book of Acts is how does Acts teach today? Is the intention that we do what the 'early church' did? Is Luke simply writing down what happened then - or is he writing down a model of how things are supposed to be today? Which bits are simply about ‘then’ and which bits are also included to show us how to do church ‘now’?

Of course there is nothing different about Acts, that is not true of the rest of the Bible. It is just that sometimes we can be tempted to suspend the lessons that we are learning about how to read the Bible and simply think we should adopt practices simply because they did it in the 'early church'. There is no question of the church adopting many of the practices we read about in the OT - we instinctively respond, 'that's cultural'. So why do we sometimes respond differently to Acts?

As a guide we should understand that 'unless Scripture explicitly tells us we must do something, what is only narrated or described does not function in a normative way – unless it can be demonstrated on other grounds that the author intended it to function in this way'.

A lot of what Luke tells us was about how the church was then – but as we explore and read how they were, and more importantly try to explore why they did things the way they did, we start to see principles that help us work out the way we should do things today.

Here are two Principles for Understanding Acts:

1. The Word of God in Acts that may be regarded as normative for Christians is related primarily to what any given narrative was intended to teach.
2. Historical precedent, to have normative value, must be related to intent. Was this passage written with the purpose of establishing a precedent?

Stories in Acts

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Just as with the gospels it is helpful to have an overall idea of the big story of Acts. This is best achieved by reading it through a few times making mental notes of things like, key people, key places, recurring themes. As you read ask yourself, ‘why did Luke write this book?’

Fee and Stuart divide Acts into 6 sections as the story moves from a Jewish setting in Jerusalem with Peter as a key figure to a predominantly Gentile church with Paul the key figure and the goal Rome the heart of the Empire. This division is 1:1-6:7, 6:8-9:31, 9:32-12:24, 12:25-16:5, 16:6-19:20, 19:21-28:30. [See Fee and Stuart for details (110-112, or 97-99].

Any decision on Luke’s purpose must include 1) the Gentile mission and 2) how the Holy Spirit was central to that mission. Luke leaves out too much to say that his purpose was simply church history. When Luke does record events there is no sense of conformity – i.e. things didn’t happen the same way everywhere – therefore he was not setting out the model of Christian or church life.

How might we read a story from the book of Acts?

Read Acts 16:11-40

Context
To help make sense of this story we need to look at the larger picture. In 13:1-3 we see that Paul and Barnabas were sent off doing the work of the Holy Spirit. 15:36-41 tells us how Paul and Silas came together. 16:6-10 tells us what they were doing in Macedonia.

Structure and Plot
1. Arrival in Europe and Paul’s party head for Philippi [vs.11-12]. Note the ‘we’ suggests that Luke himself had joined the party.
2. Down by the river side – the conversion of Lydia, [vs. 13-15]
3. Paul heals a girl and he and Silas are jailed, [vs. 16-24]
4. The earthquake and conversion of the jailer, [vs. 25-34]
5. Released from prison and farewell to Philippi, [vs. 35-40]

Points of View and Characters
Verses 11-24 are told by Luke as an observer, but 25-40 must have been told by someone else – maybe the jailor. Characters include Lydia, Jailor, Paul and Silas.

Setting
The setting includes the significance of Philippi being a Roman colony. Roman colonies were cities settled largely by retired Roman soldiers who would take up arms again in an emergency. Life in the colony where these soldiers were Roman citizens was expected to reflect life in Rome itself.
The wealthy status of Lydia, considering the very expensive cloth in which she traded.
The customs and privileges of Roman citizenship are alluded to.

Contribution
This tells the story of the significant expansion of Christianity to the continent of Europe and in this regard is part of the agenda of 1:8. It also illustrates some basic principles in Christian evangelism [vs. 14-15, 30-31].

Plot, Purpose and Character

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When trying to understand a story within a gospel it is helpful to have an idea of the overall outline or structure of the whole gospel. To help us in this process we might look at things like: the kinds of things Jesus teaches about, who Jesus is talking to, geography. So, for example, in Mark, we find a turning point in 8:27-9:1 where Jesus asks his disciples who he is. Before this Jesus deals largely with crowds and individuals in public. After this time he deals largely with his close group of disciples in private telling them about his coming sufferings in Jerusalem.

A rough outline of Mark’s gospel might look something like:

Mark’s Gospel

1. The prologue, 1:1-13 which tells the readers what the characters in the stories
which follow do not know.
2. The ministry in Galilee, 1:14-8:21
3. The turning point for the disciples, 8:22-9:13
4. Galilee again and then towards Jerusalem, 9:14-10:52
5. Jerusalem, 11:1-13:37
6. The Passion and Resurrection, 14:1-16:8

But within this larger story there are lots of smaller stories.

Task: Read Mark 2:1 – 3:6 and list the stories included in this passage. Note where each begins and each ends.

Answer:

2:1 – 12. Jesus heals the paralysed man.
2:13 – 17. Jesus calls Levi and has dinner at his house.
2:18 – 22. Questions about fasting.
2:23 – 28. Picking corn on the Sabbath.
3:1 – 6. Jesus heals on the Sabbath.

Question: Is there a common theme running through these stories and how do they contribute to Mark’s bigger story?

Answer: Hostility to Jesus by the religious leaders leading to them wanting to see Jesus dead.

Sometimes there are stories within stories. Look at Mark 5: 21-43. The story of the woman subject to bleeding is told (25-34) within the story of Jairus’ daughter (21-24 and 35-43). This raises the suspense when hearing the story for the first time.

Look at these verses again.

1. Outline the plot of these verses.
2. Can you see anything the two stories have in common?
3. What is the purpose of these stories and what do they contribute to the larger story?
4. What do we need to know about the setting in time, place and society?

Answers:

21. Setting the scene
22-24. Crisis 1 – Jairus’ daughter is dying and needs healing.
25-28. Crisis 2 – the introduction of the woman with bleeding who also wants healing.
29. Resolution 2 as she is healed by touching Jesus.
30-31. Jesus wants to know who has touched him.
32-34. The woman comes forward. It is her faith that has healed her.
35. Crisis 1 deepened by the death of the girl.
36. Jesus urges Jairus to believe.
37-43. Resolution 1. Jesus goes in and heals the girl.

Common features: Both female. 12 years suffering – 12 years old. Faith in Jesus.

Purpose and Contribution: Shows what can happen for those who trust in Jesus.

Helpful additional information:

- the status and wealth of Jairus and the significance of him therefore kneeling before Jesus

- the affect the woman’s condition had on her life

- funeral customs of the time

- that Jesus spoke in Aramaic

As with OT stories we can learn a lot about the characters in a story.

For example how would you describe Jesus and Jairus from the story we have just read.

Jairus: He was a good and loving father who was very fond of his little girl. Desperate when she became so dangerously ill that he was prepared to try anything to see her healed so in contrast to other religious leaders he went to Jesus and approached him with great respect and some faith. He must have been encouraged when Jesus went with him but frustrated when their journey was held up over some woman. Devastated when the news of his little girl’s death arrived, he tries to hold on to the words of Jesus, to trust him. When he saw the mourners his faith must have shrivelled to almost nothing. Overwhelmed by the transformation Jesus brought and never forgot his debt to Jesus.

Jesus: Ready to turn from the crowd to answer the appeal expressed in faith by an individual. Aware of an outflow of divine power when the woman touched him but he also wanted to confirm her faith so he asked her to own up. He then encouraged her pointing out the significance of her faith. It was for faith he appealed to Jairus when the news of his daughter’s death arrived. He showed compassionate concern for him. He confronted the death rites with the hope of life. He resisted the opportunity to make this a public display taking only his closest friends and the girl’s parents with him. With wonderful gentleness he took the girl’s hand and spoke to her in Aramaic and she got up. Practically he told them to give her something to eat but not to advertise the miracle.

Stories are Stories

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We know that Jesus taught in parables, but he used a whole variety of forms in teaching. These include hyperbole (Matt. 5:29-30), proverbs (Matt. 6:21), similes and metaphors (Matt. 10:16), poetry (Matt. 7:6-8), questions (Matt. 17:25) and irony (Matt. 16:2-3) to mention a few. It is important that we recognise the form of the passage we are reading. If we fail to appreciate that Matthew 5:29-30 ishyperbole and instead take this as a teaching of Jesus that we should take literally then the consequences would get the church in a lot of trouble with the authorities. Not taking a passage literally is not the same as not taking it seriously. This passage talks of the serious conseqences of sin and therefore we should be prepared to take all steps necessary to guard ourselves against sin.

There is quite a lot of overlap with what was said last time regarding understanding OT Stories. So we should be looking out for:

1. Structure and Plot
2. Purpose
3. Points of view
4. Larger context
5. Characters
6. Setting in time, place, society and culture

But we need to recognise that within the gospels there are other kinds of genres as well as stories.

For example:

1. Matthew 1:1-16 and Luke 3:23-38 [Genealogy].
2. Matthew 5:17-48 [Sermons, sayings, teaching]
3. John 1:1-18 and Mark 1:1-13 [Introductions, Prologues]
4. Luke 6: 21-23, 27 [Proverbs, poems]

The purpose of the stories, which were spoken long before they were written down was to bring the ‘good news’. Therefore we can ask of each story in the gospels, ‘how is this good news?’

The Kingdom of God

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To make any attempt at properly interpreting the Gospels we must have a clear understanding of the concept of the Kingdom of God in the ministry of Jesus. The basic theological framework of the entire NT is eschatological – dealing with end times. Most Jews in Jesus day thought they lived at the brink of time. So to be eschatological meant you were looking for the end. 'This age' was characterised by sickness, sin, demon possession… 'The age to come' by the presence of the Spirit, righteousness, health, peace…

The new age, referred to as the kingdom of God meant the time of God’s rule. Jesus came announcing that the kingdom was at hand and giving signs – healing the sick, raising the dead, welcoming sinners, cast out demons…Everyone was watching expectantly and then he was crucified. Then he rose again, and rather than restore the kingdom to Israel, he returned to the Father and poured out his Spirit. And this is where the problem lies. The new kingdom has started to be revealed, but the current age had not yet come to an end.

Jesus had come to usher in the beginning of the end. The kingdom was already and not yet. We are therefore living between the times. There is a tension. So when we pray, ‘your kingdom come’ we look forward to the end of this present age, but we also pray for the breaking in of the kingdom in the present.

One of my first essays at college was 'How could 'the kingdom of God' be both present and future in the ministry of Jesus? Are there other translations of basileia tou theo (kingdom of God) in the gospels which could help explain how it could be both present and future?'

Here are a few extracts from my conclusion:

...we have to conclude that maybe we are supposed to wonder at exactly what
Jesus meant [when referring to the kingdom of God]. The Kingdom of God contains
many mysteries and secrets...
...Throughout his ministry, Jesus demonstrated that Satan had been limited in his powers. The gospel writers recognised Jesus to be the Messiah, (Mk. 8:29). He was fulfilling OT prophecy, (Mt. 8:17, 11:4-5). This was evidence of the present reign of God. A reign that would not be recognised by all. Yet, Jesus also looked forward to the end of time, when victory would be complete, Satan would be destroyed, and the kingdom of God would come about in all its fulness and splendour...
We must recognise that the tension between these two ideas is vital. As Stein comments, this tension helps us to understand out situation. "To lose sight of the 'not yet' leads to a triumphal enthusiasm that is ultimately doomed to disappointment and disillusionment. The fallen character of this world and our sinful nature will see to that. On the other hand, to lose sight of the 'already' leads to defeatism and a defensive mentality that thwarts the spreading of the gospel throughout the world. Kept in proper perspective, Jesus' teaching leads to an optimistic and aggressive evangelism as well as an awareness that in this life we are still 'strangers and foreigners on the earth'" [Stein, R. Jesus the Messiah (Leicester: IVP, 1996)].

Context: Historical and Literary

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It is always important to consider context whenever we read any passage from the Bible. When we read the gospel stories we need to remember that Jesus was a Jew living in first century Palestine. It is therefore important that we try and learn as much as we can about what life was like then. This information will give us a better understanding of the things that Jesus did and said. This information comes from reading commentaries and other books - not just from reading the Bible.

As we saw in the last section the gospels are four versions of one story. And therefore when we read a story in one gospel we should see if it is also told in one or more of the other gospels. It is important that we do not do this in order to fill in the gaps that each of the authors leaves with information from the other gospels - and then try to make sense of our newly created 'complete' story. Remember what we said in the last section - that what we have is God's word to us, not our reconstructions.

The reason that we read the other gospels is that they help us to identify what is different. Is the context of a saying different? If so then why did the author place it here? Is some information missing / added? If so, why?

It is also helpful to bear in mind what each of the authors was trying to do. The following acts as a basic guide.

Matthew, written to prove that Jesus is the Messiah, the eternal King, to a mainly Jewish audience in about 60-65.

Mark, written to present the person, work and teachings of Jesus, to Christians in Rome in about 55-60.

Luke, written to present an accurate account of the life of Jesus presenting him as perfect human and Saviour (1:1-4) to Theophilus, Gentiles and people everywhere, in about 60.

John, see 20:31, for new Christians and searching non-Christians in about 85-90.

Once again, we should not be afraid of the differences we find in the gospel - as if these prove that the gospels are just made up stories, with no basis in history. Instead we recognise and acknowledge the central role of the Holy Spirit - the same Holy Spirit who will help us as we seek to understand and apply God's word to us.

One Story - Four Versions

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The four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are stories all based around the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. Events that, I believe, took place in history. So why do we need four versions of the same story, and if they all are supposed to be true then how come some of the stories that are in more than one of the gospels are sometimes told differently by the different authors? If one version is 'true' then the other must be 'false'.

To answer this question we need to remember what we have said before about Point of View and Purpose. Remember that everything and everyone is biased. There is no such thing as an 'objective' view. So when Matthew, Mark, Luke and John sat down to write their accounts of the life of Jesus they had a specific purpose in mind. Matthew, for example, was writing for a predominantly Jewish audience and he wants to demonstrate to them that Jesus is the Messiah. And so he chooses stories from the life of Jesus that can be linked to OT prophecy - and then explicitly points this out to his readers (e.g. Matthew 2:17-18, 4:15-16).

We also need to remember that the gospels were written years after Jesus' death. There is debate as to the dates that the gospels were written, but as a rough guide, I take Mark as written first (55-60), then Luke (60), Matthew (60-65) and finally John (85-90). But the stories and sayings of Jesus would have been passed on orally and sometimes in writing from the time of his life. Disciples listened and learned from their teacher. That's what disciples did. They lived in an oral culture. So this time gap should not cause us concern. Following Jesus' death and resurrection these stories and teachings would have been passed on to others. And in time Matthew, Mark, Luke and John would have collected together parts of this material (written and spoken) and then selected which bits they were going to use and which bits they would leave out. Many of the sayings of Jesus would have been passed on without reference to their original context and so the gospel writers were free to place these sayings in new contexts. Whilst we might look at this today and think that this is no way to record 'history' we must remember that in the first century this is exactly the way that history was recorded. What was important is the overall sense - if that is successfully communicated the historian has done his/her job - even if there are discrepancies with individual minor details.

If you read all four gospels you will notice that Matthew, Mark and Luke are similar to each other whereas John is very different. For this reason Matthew, Mark and Luke are sometimes called the Synoptic Gospels. If you imagine a whole variety of sources (written and oral) about things that Jesus had said and done. Some of that material would no doubt have come into the hands of more than one of the gospel writers, but other bits would be unique to one writer or another. It is widely believed that Matthew and Luke had access to what Mark had already written - this is why there are some passages that are almost identical in all three of these gospels. Other sources were only available to Matthew and Luke - and so these stories appear in their gospels, but not in Mark - or they appear in Mark, but in a slightly different form.

One of things we need to ask - and we will do this in the next section - is what are the differences between the different accounts and what is the significance of that difference.

But remember that as Matthew, Mark, Luke and John went through this editting and writing process they were inspired and guided by the Holy Spirit. Therefore we can be confident that what we have - one story in four versions - is what God intended, and it is (in this format) therefore God's word to us.

New Testament Stories

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Last time we looked at OT stories. This time we will be focusing on NT stories - found in the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) and the book of Acts (which was written by Luke - who also wrote the third gospel). Many of the things that we said about OT stories apply to NT stories - things like plot and character. But there are some additional things for us to consider with the gospels and Acts.

By the end of this session you should be able to:

Understand the reasons and significance for the differences between the gospels
Know some of the different genres included in the gospels
Realise the significance of identifying the plot and purpose of a gospel
Be able to identify and understand a single story and its contribution to a gospel
Have developed your skill at describing the portrayal of character
Know how to understand parables
Have an overall view of the structure and purpose of the book of Acts
Know how to read and use stories in Acts

To download the course handout click here.

To download audio of this session click here: Part One

Download audio: Part Two

Interpreting OT Stories

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Below are a few principles for interpreting OT stories.

1. An OT narrative usually illustrates a doctrine that is taught directly elsewhere.
2. Narratives record what happened (the good, the bad and the ugly).
3. Ask, ‘Is this a good example to follow, or not?’
4. Most OT characters are far from perfect (a bit like us really!)
5. We are often not told whether something that happened was ‘good’ or ‘bad’ – we’re left to work it out from what we know elsewhere in the Bible.
6. All narratives are selective and incomplete.
7. A narrative has a particular, specific, limited purpose – it won’t answer all our theological questions.
8. Narratives teach either explicitly or implicitly.
9. God is the hero.

When looking to interpret OT stories we should:

try and find out as much as possible about the historical context
be aware of the larger literary context
look at the plot to see how the story unfolds
be aware of the point of view of the author
look to find the purpose of this story - why has it been included?
look at the characters: what do they do and say? What example do they leave us?
pray for God's help as we look to understand His word.

Characters

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Every biblical story contains characters. Some of these characters are developed characters (e.g. Abraham or Ruth). When we read about the developed characters we should be looking to see what we can learn from them in the story that we are reading. These lessons will be either explicit or implicit. Explicit lessons in a narrative usual come via the narrator. Being able to distinguish what is being taught implicitly requires skill, hard work, caution and prayer.

For example, in the book of Ruth, some of the points that are made implicitly include:

Ruth was converted. ‘Your people, my people, your God, my God’.
Boaz was a righteous Israelite, which was not true of all. (Glean in my fields (Leviticus 19:9-10), it might not be safe elsewhere).
This story is part of the background to ancestry of David, and therefore Jesus.

We are not told these things explicitly in the story but we are supposed to understand them to be true from a reading of the story. Implicit is not the same thing as hidden.

Exercise: What kinds of things would you include in a character reference for Ruth?

Other characters might actually be a group of individuals, who for the sake of the story have been blocked together as one. An example might be the 400 false prophets in 1 Kings 22.

The characters are presented to us by what they say and do – and this is affected by the point of view of the writer. So we need to be aware of what the writer is trying to do. Is the writer guiding the reader to be sympathetic or critical of different characters? We also need to remember that this may change during the narrative as the character changes. For example Joseph goes from a precocious, proud, spoiled brat to a mature God-fearing, forgiving character.

Most of the characters that we come across in the Bible have both good and bad moments - just like you and I. Even the 'heros' have their low points. Therefore we should not assume that every example is one that we should follow!

Context

2008-03-19T08:49:00.002Z

Every story has a context. Biblical stories have a literary context and an historical context. The literary context is to do with where they are in the bigger picture of the Bible. The hisorical context is to do with where they are set, when it happened, the culture of the people of the day etc.

Literary Context

To best understand a particular story we need to see how it fits within its literary context. Of course the widest context is the context of the whole Bible, and therefore we need to have read the whole thing. Not a bad exercise, but take your time! But even if we have not read the whole Bible (and most Christians haven't) we should at least read a few chapters around the story we are looking at, or even the whole of the book that it is in.

Each OT narrative is being told on three levels.:

The Top Level: The whole universal plan of God (creation, fall, sin, redemption, Jesus’ birth, life, death, resurrection…)
The Middle Level: Focuses on Israel (Abraham, slavery in Egypt, Exodus, Promised Land, sin and rebellion, God’s patience and warnings, exile, restoration).
The Bottom Level: Individual narratives.

To do justice to any narrative you need to see it as a part of the middle and top levels as well as the bottom level. Therefore when we read an individual narrative we need to see if it is part of a larger compound narrative (e.g. Joseph), and then ask how it fits into the story of Israel, and also into God’s universal plan of redemption.

Historical Context

The time, place and society in which the story took place will of course impact what happened and therefore something of the meaning of the story. Because today’s readers are far removed in so many ways from the culture in which the Bible stories occurred we need to make sure that we learn as much as possible about this cultural setting. This will be done from a wider reading of the Bible and commentaries, study Bibles, Bible dictionaries etc.

Purpose

2008-03-19T08:44:00.002Z

Although the Bible might seem like a long book it covers hundreds of years of events across a number of nations. Clearly the bits that were written down were important and were written down for a purpose. This is true of all biblical stories. They are not just there because they are nice stories – every single one has a purpose. Our job is to discover that purpose, and it often has something to do with God and His people.

All biblical stories are told from a point of view. This could be a narrator or one of the characters in the story, for example. The point of view from which a story is told will affect the point of the story. Imagine telling Genesis 22 from Isaac’s point of view, how might this affect the point?

Plot

2008-03-19T08:38:00.002Z

All stories have a plot. At the most basic level we might think of this as nothing more than a beginning, a middle and an ending. It is the ending which usually brings the most satisfaction, challenge or disturbance.

Within this broad scheme we often find that narratives take the following form:

i) conflict or crisis
ii) complication – which makes the initial conflict / crisis worse
iii) sudden shift – a different view which creates the possibility of the
resolution of the conflict / crisis
iv) unfolding of that resolution

So when reading a story we should ask, ‘what is the shape of the plot?’

Exercise: Read Genesis 22:1-19 and outline the plot of the story. [Try this on your own before reading one suggestion below.]

1. Initial crisis: God’s surprise command to Abraham to go and sacrifice his son.
2. Crisis for Abraham is intensified when Isaac asks him where the lamb for the
burnt offering is.
3. The sudden shift comes with the intervention of the angel creating the possibility
of a different ending.
4. Abraham’s finding the ram resolves the crisis and Abraham’s actions are commended
by the angel of the Lord.

Often the plot of a narrative is more complicated than this – even though the basic structure remains the same. There can be lots of additional information given in setting the scene etc. There may also be a plot within a plot.

Are Biblical Stories Historical?

2008-03-19T08:22:00.002Z

Yes…But. Obviously when you are writing about something that has happened you cannot write down everything. You have to choose what to include and what to leave out. And issues like why you are writing, or who you are writing for, will influence what you leave in or take out. We must recognise that everyone is biased - and that includes you and me. I am not writing this blog from an unbiased position. I believe in God. I believe that the Bible is the story of how God has interacted with His people throughout history. I believe that one of the ways that we can get to know God better is through reading and understanding the Bible. And therefore I believe that reading, understanding and applying the Bible is vitally important for a Christian who wants to know how to live for God in 2008. I also believe that it can be very easy to read and misunderstand and mis-apply the Bible.

And so the stories that are recorded in the OT have been carefully selected from everything that went on, and they have been written down and preserved because they are deemed worthy of our attention. The author therefore has an agenda and the story is presented with this in mind and from the author’s point of view.

So biblical stories record what happened but also look to promote faith in the true God. We should also bear in mind that the writing of history in the OT times had very different rules to how we record history today. Today we have tape recorders, video cameras, satellite phones etc. all which make it possible to record exactly what was said by a particular person, and to preserve that information. The OT was an oral rather than a written culture and therefore what was important was the overall sense of what happened rather than specific details and words.

And so the stories in the OT are historical, but they are not just historical, they are more than that.

Old Testament Narratives

2008-03-15T19:38:00.004Z

By the end of this session you will be able to:

know that stories have a structure and plot
know that stories embody points of view
know that stories have a purpose and contribute to larger contexts
apprectiate the significance of characters and settings in time, place and society
be able to employ the skills of interpreting OT stories

Stories make up over 40% of the OT and as the OT makes up over three-quarters of the Bible, this is therefore the single most common type of literature in the Bible.

The following books in the OT are exclusively or largely narrative. Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Joshua-Job, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Jonah, Haggai.

Next time we’ll look at the NT stories – Gospels and Acts.

Click here to download the course handout.

Click here to listen to part one of this session.

Click here to listen to part two of this session.

The Problem of Cultral Relativity

2008-02-20T07:52:00.002Z

This is the problem which recognises that there is a gap between the culture of the 1st century and the culture of the 21st.

But what do we mean by ‘culture’? One way of thinking about culture is to think of it as all the things that we do that we take for granted and hardly think about. The words that we use, the accent we speak with, the kind of food we eat, the sort of clothes that we wear, the way that we behave. If you grew up with people who were all like you then it might come as a shock when you go and live somewhere different to suddenly be aware that everyone else speaks slightly differently. Maybe they dress differently and suddenly you stand out in the crowd. The thing with culture is that we're often not aware of it until we come across someone different - and this means that there is also the danger that we assume that everyone does things the same way we do, or we assume that our way is the right way! When we are reading the NT letters one of the problems we will face is that we assume that the people then were the same as us and therefore we will make mistakes when trying to apply these letters to our lives today.

With this in mind we have a four-fold task in interpretation and application.

Understand what the text meant then. [This is sometimes called exegesis].
Establish the differences/distance between then and now – culture, language, time, situation…
Establish the theological principles in the text.
Understand what the text means now. [Sometimes called hermeneutics].

But how do we know which teachings are bound up within the culture of the first century and which ones provide principles that carry over into today? To help in this task we bear the following points in mind.

Distinguish between core issues (sin, redemption, Christ’s death and resurrection, God’s grace…) and peripheral issues (women’s head coverings, spiritual gifts…).
What does the NT see as inherently moral/immoral (e.g. adultery, idolatry, greed, gossip…these are always seen as being wrong) and what is not (e.g. footwashing, eating meat sacrificed to idols, women's head coverings…these are not always seen as wrong although there are some situations where they are). Some issues Paul teaches on are not inherently sinful – but their use and abuse has made them an issue in the church.
On what matters is the NT teaching uniform and on what matters isn’t it. Teaching on the importance of love is uniform throughout the NT. But there is not a uniform witness on the role of women in the church. Phoebe is a deacon, Junia is listed as an apostle, Priscilla is a co-worker with Paul. Sometimes Rome is seen in a favourable light, at other times it isn’t. Keeping your money verses giving it away.
We need to distinguish within the NT itself between principle and specific application. 1 Corinthians 11:2-16. The principle is that nothing should distract from the glory of God when the community is worshipping. In the NT this led to head covering for women. Today it might lead to question the suitability of other kinds of dress in church.
What cultural options were open to the author? Homosexuality, for example, was both affirmed and condemned by writers in antiquity, yet the NT has a singular stance against it. When it comes to issues like slavery or the place of women in society there was only one cultural standpoint. And whilst the NT reflects the prevalent cultural attitudes it often goes beyond general opinion. (For example whilst Paul no where suggests that slavery should be abolished he does teach that slaves should be treated well, with respect, even as 'a brother' because they are human beings made in the image of God.)
Keep alert to differences that are not so obvious. For example, there were few educational opportunities for women in the first century – not so now. Democracy did not exist then.

But we need to recognise that there are difficulties and challenges as we seek to apply God's word to our lives and there will be times when different Christians will understand things a little differently. This is where it is vital that we remember that we are called to love one another. When two people fall out over a different understanding of a passage it doesn't matter who's right or wrong - if they are working/preaching/teaching/writing... without love then it is all a waste of time and will count for nothing.

Basic Approach to NT Letters

2008-02-19T21:28:00.002Z

1. Context and Occasion
When looking to make sense of one of the NT letters one of the first things we need to do is to try and reconstruct as much as possible about where the letter was written, to whom it was written and why it was written. Some of this information we will be able to work out from the passage itself. If we look at 1 Corinthians we know it was written by Paul to the church in Corinth, and we know some of the issues he was dealing with, from what Paul writes. But other information such as when it was written, what was Corinth like in the first century, how long had the church been there... For the answers to these and other questions we will need to consult a commentary or a study Bible etc.

2. Composition
It is helpful to try and construct an outline of the letter - this need not agree with the headings in your Bible. You will have had to read the whole letter through a number of times before starting this exercise. This will give you the big picture, and have highlighted some of the major themes and arguments. It might also have alerted you to recurring themes.

3. Content
Are there things that you don't understand? Are there words that the author repeats often? What is the author talking about? What are the issues/situations - do you understand these?

4. Contribution
Once we know what issues we think the letter is looking to address what contribution does the letter make to the debate? On what grounds are the points made? Is the argument persuasive?

5. So what?
If the letter was making that contribution then what contribution does it make today? We will consider how we answer that question in the next section.

What is an 'occasional document'

2008-02-17T22:41:00.002Z

One thing we must always remember about NT letters is that they are what is known as 'occasional documents'. This means that they were written by someone, to someone else, for a particular reason. They were not written primarily so that I could preach on them, or so that you could do a Bible study in housegroup.

The first thing that can be said about many of these letters is that we do not know the exact reason they were written. We have the answers but not the questions. So where Paul is, for example, giving instructions on the need for women to remain silent in church, we do not know the exact situation which gave rise to this issue. On top of the fact that we only have the answers and not the questions we must add the fact that the answers are addressed to a culture that is very very different from our own.

So how then do we read and understand and apply these occasional documents to our lives today?

New Testament Letters

2008-02-16T21:30:00.005Z

By the end of this session you will be able to,

be able to identify letters in the Bible,
understand the significance of calling letters ‘occasional documents’,
be able to outline one of Paul’s letters,
know how to interpret a letter.

Click here to download the handout for this session.

Click here to download audio part one.

Click here to download audio part two.

There are a few letters in the Old Testament (e.g. 2 Samuel 11:14-15) but none of the OT books is a letter in the same way as is true in the NT. Most of the NT books are letters and this is why it is so important that we know how to read and understand them.

22 NT books are letters. It is therefore vitally important that we know how to deal with this type of biblical genre. Most of these letters were written by Paul. Paul wrote Romans-Philemon, 13 of the 22 NT letters (leaving Hebrews (author unknown); James, 1&2 Peter, Jude and 1-3 John and Revelation (written by John).

Some of the NT letters do not demonstrate all of the characteristics of what we might typically expect to find in a letter. Hebrews ends like a letter (13:22-25). James begins like a letter (1:1), 1 Peter begins and ends like a letter (1:1-2; 5:12-14), 2 Peter begins like a letter (1:1-2) its ending is more ambiguous. 1 John 5:13 suggests it’s a letter. 2 & 3 John begin and end like letters. Jude begins like a letter and has a similar ambiguous ending to 2 Peter.

When you write a formal letter the top of the page might look something like:

Your address goes in a block here

Their address goes in a block here

Date goes here

Dear ..... goes here,

Then the main body of the text appears. Followed by,

Yours .........

And a signature.

We could call this the form of the letter. Letters written in the NT generally, but not always, have the following form:

1. Name of the writer.
2. Name of recipient.
3. Greeting.
4. Prayer request or thanksgiving.
5. Body.
6. Final greeting and farewell.

Have a look at a few NT letters and see if you can identify the different elements. (They will not all be there all of the time.)

Reading the Bible

2008-01-05T23:18:00.001Z

2 Timothy 3:16 tells us that the whole Bible is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness. The Bible is an important key for us as we seek to live as followers of Jesus in 2008 and beyond. But it is not just important to read the Bible, we also need to learn to understand and interpret it properly.

Here are some reasons for learning to interpret the Bible.

1. Every reader interprets what they read in the light of ideas/experiences he/she already has. Sometimes this might be helpful - at other times it may lead us in the wrong directions.
2. An English Bible is already a translation or interpretation.
3. Different people interpret the Bible differently. Is one interpretation better than another?
4. Heretical cults often base their beliefs and practices on the Bible. What do you say to the JW on your doorstep?
5. Strange ideas get into orthodox churches. Do you check everything that the preacher says - would you even notice if he/she started teaching things that weren't in the Bible?

During this course we will become better equipped to use and understand the Bible. But, here are some initial pointers as we begin to better understand and use the Bible.

1. It is important to interpret any particular text according to its genre. So we will treat history as history, poetry as poetry, letters as letters, and so on.

2. The text should be read in its context: why did the author write what is written and what did he expect his first readers to understand?

3. From this we can see that people should not take isolated texts out of context to make them say what they want them to say. On that basis people could argue for almost anything from the Bible and sometimes have. It is necessary to listen to what the writer was actually saying.

Next time we will look specifically at how we go about reading and interpreting NT letters. This covers most of the NT books, except Matthew-Acts (Session 4), and Revelation (although this is a letter it is covered under the topic of ‘Visions and Apocolyptic’ (Session 8).

Language and Translations

2008-01-05T23:17:00.004Z

Obviously the Bible was not written in English. The OT was written in Hebrew, and Aramaic – some of Daniel and Ezra. The NT was written in Greek. Most of us do not have a sufficient grasp of these languages and therefore we need an English translation of the Bible. Even if we could read Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek the original texts no longer exist - so we would have to make a choice as to which copied manuscripts we were to read.

When we use a translation we are trusting in the work of someone else - that they have done a good job in giving us the best translation possible. But there are lots of translations available - are some of them better than others? The answer to that question is 'yes'. So how do I choose a good translation?

For a detailed answer to that question I recommend 'How to read the Bible...' chapter 2, pp. 33-53, but for a brief overview, keep reading.

If you have more than one translation of the Bible you will already be aware that different versions say slightly different things. Sometimes this may simply be that the words are in a slightly different order, sometimes the punctuation might be different, and at other times the words may be different - sometimes this will not affect the overall meaning of the verse, but at other times it may. So which translation will be the best? Which one should we use?

The Question of Text
The first thing to ask is which text is the translation based on - as we've already said, the originals no longer exist. But hundreds, thousands of copies of copies do exist. These copies were all written by hand, and unfortunately some mistakes crept into these copies - and when these copies were copied the mistakes were copied too. So generally speaking - older manuscripts are more likely to contain less errors than more recent manuscripts. Also with so many copies the differences can be compared. Are there lots of copies with one particular word, but only a few with a different word? Which of these seems to make the most sense in the context? Can we explain how the mistake might have been made? These are all questions those analysing the manuscripts will be asking.

The Authorised Version (AV) - also called the King James Version (KJV), is not a good translation of the Bible because when it was written (1611) it was based on poor, late manuscripts. More recent translations, such as the New International Version (NIV) are based on much older manuscripts that have been discovered by archaeologists since 1611.

So, for example, 1 Samuel 8:16 says:

'Your goodliest young men and your asses' (KJV),
'the best of your cattle and donkeys' (NIV).

The NIV is based on the usually reliable Greek translation of the OT written in Egypt in around 250-150 BC. The KJV is based on a medieval Hebrew text. It is also easy to explain the mistake - the words for young men and cattle in Hebrew are almost identical, only one letter is different. In addition the context of the verse leads to the conclusion that 'cattle' is probably the better (original) translation. [You will notice that the NIV does include the alternative 'young men' as a footnote - the translators do not shy away from these questions, instead they highlight them for us to help us as we seek to understand and use the Bible].

Another example is found in Mark 1:2,

'As it is written in the prophets ...' (KJV)
'As it is written in Isaiah the prophet...' (NIV).

The NIV is found in all the earliest texts, and with only one exception, is the only text known before the ninth century. But at some point after this one copiest 'corrected' Mark's original. This copiest noted that the quotation that follows in this verse is not purely from Isaiah (40:3) - part of it comes from Malachi (3:1). This copiest therefore thought it best to remove 'Isaiah' from Mark's original. This later version was the one used for the KJV, but the NIV is based on much older manuscripts that were in existence long before this 'correction' was made.

Sometimes when a panel are working together on a translation they cannot decide which is the best translation of a verse. The best translations will include a footnote to highlight this fact. 1 Corinthians 13:3 is an example here - but note that the overall meaning/sense of the verse is unaltered whichever version of the verse we choose.

The Question of Language
How do you take words and ideas from one language and best translate them into another language?

Literal Translations: try and keep as close as possible to the exact words and phrases used in the original language. (E.g. KJV, NASB).
Free Translations: try and translate ideas. Sometimes called a paraphrase. (E.g. Living Bible).
Dynamic Equivalent translations: try and translate words, idioms and grammatical constructions into precise equivalents. (E.g. NIV).

The best translational theory is the Dynamic Equivalence. Versions that come within this category include New International Version, Today's New International Version, New American Bible, New English Bible. The New Revised Standard Version comes slightly to the literal end of dynamic equivalence translations, while the Good News Bible and the Jerusalem Bible come towards the Free end of this group of translations.

The choice of which translation(s) to use will ultimately be yours. As a first choice I would recommend (T)NIV, GNB or NAB. In addition to one or all of these you may want to add the NASB or the NRSV.

What about the KJV? "... for study you should use almost any modern translation rather than the KJV" Fee and Stuart page 34 (of second edition).

The Bible Story

2008-01-05T23:17:00.003Z

When many people look at the Bible they see 66 books that don’t really relate to each other. There is no overarching story that runs for start to finish. But the Bible is essentially a single story.

Genesis 1-11 introduces us to human sin – the problem. Then Geneses 12 – Revelation 22 reveals God’s solution to that problem.

If you attended or listen to the course you will hear a run through of the entire Bible story, with a timeline.

This story, following the introduction of sin, begins with the calling of Abram (later to become Abraham), and follows with the stories of Isaac and Jacob (who will later have his name changed to Israel). One of Jacob's sons, Joseph, ends up as Prime Minister of Egypt, and the whole family come to live in Egypt, where they prosper and multiply. This goes on for years until the point where the Egyptians are concerned for their safety and begin to oppress these people - now know as the Israelites. The people cry out, and God hears, and after 400 years, the people are led out of Egypt by Moses. Then because of their disobedience they spend 40 years wandering in the desert until, under the leadership of Joshua they are finally led into the 'Promised Land'. What follows is a cycle of rebellion against God, the people being oppressed by the Philistines, Midianites etc., the people remember God, God sends a 'judge' (e.g. Gideon, Samson, Deborah) to rescue the people, the people turn back to God, everything is good again...the people rebel against God...

This cycle (recorded in the book of Judges) continues until the people say that rather than follow God they want to follow a king - just like everyone else. Saul becomes their first king, followed by David and then Solomon (who built the temple in Jerusalem). These were great days for Israel. Then, following Solomon's death, the kingdom divided: ten tribes in the north, known as Israel, with the capital Samaria; two tribes in the south, known as Judah, with Jerusalem as capital. All of Israel's kings 'did evil in the eyes of God', most of Judah's kings weren't much better. God sent various prophets to warn the people, and finally in 722 BC the inevitable happened to Israel, and the people were taken into exile by the Assyrian Empire. Then in 586 BC Jerusalem was destroyed and the people taken into exile at the hands of the Babylonians (Daniel was one of those taken to Babylon).

No more is heard of the northern tribes, but after seventy years of exile the people are slowly able to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple, begin worshipping again (Ezra) and finally the walls are rebuilt (Nehemiah).

Between the end of the OT and the NT there is a gap of about 400 years. The Gospels, Matthew-John tell us of the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus (5/6 BC to about AD 30). Following the resurrection of Jesus and the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost the disciples begin to spread the good news about Jesus. This brings opposition, and one of these first opponents to Christianity, Saul, is miraculously converted, has his name changed to Paul, and becomes a prolific evangelist and church planter. Churches begin all over the Roman Empire as these first Christians take their story with them wherever they go. This story is told in the book of Acts.

As these first Christians and churches work out what it means to be a Christian in a hostile world they are helped by letters of instruction and encouragement from people like Paul and John (who was one of Jesus' disciples). These letters make up the rest of the NT and are also valuable to us as we seek to work out what it means to live as a Christian in a hostile world - albeit 2000 years later.

If you want your own Bible timeline a good one can be purchased from Christian bookshops. See, for example, David Payne's, 'Bible Timeline' (Candle Books) available from Wesley Owen for about £3.50.

Inside the Bible

2008-01-05T23:16:00.000Z

When you look at the contents page of your Bible you'll see that it is divided into two sections. The first part is called the Old Testament, and the second part is the New Testament. If you open your Bible at the end of the OT and the beginning of the NT you'll see that the OT is much bigger than the NT.

The OT is then divided into 39 smaller books (Genesis, Exodus...Malachi). The NT is divided into 27 books (Matthew, Mark...Revelation). So a total of 66 books altogether.

Some of these books are narratives or stories, some provide an historical record, others contain songs and poems, some are prophesies, others are letters... These different kinds of writings are called genres. When you read a novel, you don't read it in the same way as you read an autobiography. When you read a poem you don't necessarily take it literally. Wandering lonely as a cloud has nothing to do with becoming fluffy and white and floating off somewhere in the atmosphere - t isn't literally true but it still conveys meaning.

Have a look at each of the following quotes from the Bible and briefly note down what kind of writing it is (genre) and how you know. [Don'tscroll down to the answers until you have answered them all].

a) In the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was brought for him, I took the wine and gave it to the king.

b) Hear my prayer, O Lord;
Let my cry for help come to You.
Do not hide Your face from me
when I am in distress.
Turn Your ear to me;
When I call, answer me quickly.

c) Better the poor whose walk is blameless
Than a fool whose lips are perverse.

d) Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, to Philemon our dear friend and fellow-worker, to Apphia our sister, to Archippus our fellow-soldier and to the church which meets in your home: Grace to you and peacefrom God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

e) If a man seduces a virgin who is not pledged to be married and sleeps with her, he must pay the bride-price, and she shall be his wife. If her father absolutely refuses to give her to him, he must still pay the bride-price for virgins.

f) Hear the word of the Lord, all you people of Judah who come through these gates to worship the Lord. This is what the Lord God Almighty, the God of Israel says: Reform your ways and your actions, and I will let you live in this place.

g) There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.

Scroll down to my answers which are given at the bottom of this page.

Just as you would not read a novel in the same way as an autobiography so with the different genres in the Bible – we need different skills to read and understand and then use them. [E.g. when you read a novel you don’t take what is said as fact – a novel can say anything about the Prime Minister without if affecting the way you may vote for example – but if allegations are made in an autobiography the whole situation may end up in the courts etc.]

This is why it is important to understand the genre of the passage you are reading because you will interpret and use it in a different way to other genres.

Over the rest of the course we will look at each of the different genres and pick out some key lessons that will help us to understand and use the Bible.

Answers:
a) Nehemiah 2:1. History/Narrative.
b) Psalm 102:1. Prayer/poetry.
c) Proverbs 19:1. Wisdom.
d) Philemon 1:1-2. Letter.
e) Exodus 22:16. Law.
f) Jeremiah 7:2-3. Prophecy.
g) Luke 16:19-21. Parable (or narrative).

What is the Bible

2008-01-05T23:09:00.000Z

By the end of this session, you should be able to:

say what the Bible is and identify its main story line,
identify some of the different kinds of writing to be found in the Bible,
know how to choose among the many Bible translations available,
explain the importance of responsible interpretation of any Bible passage.

To download audio of this first session click on the links below. To download the course notes for session one click here.

Session One Audio Part One

Session One Audio Part Two

Session One Audio Part Three

So what is the Bible? Obviously it is a book. But what kind of book is it? I have heard the Bible described in lots of different ways.

Some people say it is a map or guide book, that will guide us through this life. The trouble with this view is that where do I look in the Bible to find out where I should work, who I should marry, whether I should marry in the first place, what A levels to do.

Others describe it as a manual - instructions by the inventor/creator. But all the manuals I have at home have an index with a clear list of references for any issue. So when I have a leaky tap, I look up taps in the DIY manual. Manuals usually spend most of their time on the shelf - only used in a crisis.

Others think of the Bible as a rule book - rules to be obeyed if you want to get to heaven. But what about the rules in the Bible that we no longer take any notice of? How many of us wear clothing made of more than one kind of material (Leviticus 19:19)? [I've just checked and both my tee-shirt and jeans are 100% cotton!] But who chooses which rules still apply and which ones don't? On what basis are these decisions taken?

Although there are elements of each of these things in the Bible most of the Bible is narrative (or story). Ultimately the Bible is a story about God and how He has interacted with people throughout history. One of the most helpful ways I have found of thinking about the Bible is that it functions like the script of the first four acts of a five act play. We are the actors in the fifth and final act of the play. Unfortunately the script for Act 5 has been lost. But we have to ensure that there is consistency with what has gone before or else the play won't make sense as a whole. So as we read the Bible we submerse ourselves in the overall plot and story so that our contriution is unique and innovative and at the same time consistent with what has gone before.

The Bible functions as ...

an as yet unfinished drama, which contained its own impetus, its own forward
movement, which demanded to be concluded in the proper manner but which
required of the actors a responsible entering in to the story as it stood,
in order first to understand how the threads could appropriately be drawn
together, and then to put that understanding into effect by speaking and
acting with both innovation and consistency.[1]

[1] Wright, N.T. “How can the Bible be Authoritative?” in Vox Evangelica Vol. 21, 1991 pp. 7-32.