The Bible
Notes
Transcript
Handout
What is the Bible?
The Bible is the written Word of God made up of 66 individual books, written by 41-46 different authors, over a period of 1500 years, in 3 different languages, and all revealing the character and work of the one true God and united by His plan of redemption spanning the entire Bible.
The Bible is truly unique among any other book that has ever been written, primarily because it is the only book that has been divinely inspired by the Creator of the universe.
16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
What is the difference between the Old Testament and New Testament?
The Bible is separated into two parts: The Old Testament and the New Testament.
The Old Testament records the creation of the world, the fall, and the effects of living in that fallen world, while also pointing forward (through prophecy) to the hope of a messiah that would come and redeem and restore humanity from their fallen state.
The New Testament records the fulfillment of God’s promises through the person and work of Jesus Christ, making those promises available to all people and all nations, and gives us a practical guide to living our new life in Christ through the “already” but “not yet” state that we are currently in.
What is the purpose of the Bible?
It unveils the mind of God.
It reveals the will of God.
It describes the work of God.
It calls the reader to faith in God.
The Bible answers all of life’s most meaningful questions.
It tells us who we are:
27 So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
Why we exist:
6 yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.
Why the world is the way that it is:
6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.
8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
God’s solution to the problem:
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
In short, the purpose of the Bible is to know God and to know ourselves.