We are doing a survey of the Bible in my Thursday night Bible study, hoping to engage the text at a level deeper than Sunday School and to approach the depths achieved in some seminary courses.
Time prevents me from given an in-depth summary of each evening’s exploration of the Bible. What I hope to do instead is provide a running commentary on our studies for the benefit of anyone wanting a review or, for those who have missed some or all of the meetings, an idea of what we’ve been doing and what we will be doing. Of course, anyone can read the summaries and (I hope) profit thereby.
We have spent eight sessions so far and have covered the first six books of the Old Testament. Here is a synopsis of what we’ve done to this point. It must be noted that most of the material for this study comes from Bruce Waltke’s excellent text Old Testament Theology.
February 11, 2010: Creation as Salvation
The opening study looked at the overall picture of the Bible. The purpose of history, I suggested, was twofold: to bring glory to God and to restore the Kingdom of God to the earth.
In looking at the Book of Genesis, we noted that the book falls into two major sections. The first, covering chapters 1-11, looks at what might be called primeval history in the Bible; the second, chapters 12-50, begins the story of God’s work through Abraham and the people that will come from him.
My own understanding of the creation account in chapters 1-2 is not the one usually heard in church. I maintain that, while God did create the earth and all that is from nothing, the account in Genesis describes an already-existing world that is described in 1.2 as being under judgment. God’s rule and dominion were usurped, perhaps by Satan, and the resulting judgment left the earth “formless and void.” Given this perspective, what follows are God’s repeated acts of redemption as He begins to reclaim what was always His.
The story of the Bible, then, is God’s work to redeem His creation and to bring salvation to it. This is the common thread from Gen 1.3 to the end of the Bible, where it is finally achieved.
I did write a more detailed summary of our first session (it was the only one I did) and it can be read here: “In the Beginning . . .”
February 18, 2010: The Formation of a Nation
Our second study was entitled “Exodus,” but it referred back to Genesis frequently to explain what was transpiring in the second book and why God took the measures He did.
A recurring “mantra” for our study of the Pentateuch (”five books”: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy) emerged as (more…)
