Week 1

What is the Theme of the Bible? 

-  We want to look at the Bible as a coherent story and see how it all fits together.  Typically we look at the Bible from the perspective of exegesis or systematically.  Both approaches are valuable but they have their deficiencies.  Exegesis focuses on only a small portion of the Bible, whereas systematics looks at topics extracted from the story.  One sees the trees and misses the forest, the other zooms out and misses the forrest. 

-  The benefits of this approach will be to:

    1.  Get more out of our own reading of scripture.  If we understand the overall theme 

     then we can see how passages fit together.  

    2.  Understand the Old Testament better and hopefully make it relevant. 

    3.  See the gospel throughout the whole Bible and see God’s plan of redemption 

    woven throughout the Bible even in parts like the genealogies.  

    4.  Communicate the Old Testament to our children better.  

Q.  What are some problems you have teaching the Old Testament to your children?

 

-  In many ways the Bible is a difficult book particularly the Old Testament.

Q.  What are some things that are difficult for you as you study the Bible?

-  How does the Old Testament with its emphasis on law and land fit in with the New  Testament?   On this side of Christ, most of it seems unimportant and even irrelevant. 

-  It is difficult to connect the historical story of the Old Testament with Christ.

-  How does the law, land, sacrificial system, and temple find its fulfillment in the person and work of Christ?

-  It mostly contains the history of an ancient people with language, customs, and thoughts very different from our own.

-  It contains a hodgepodge of different literary styles and genres (poetry, genealogies, prophecy, and history) most of which are foreign to us.  

-  The Bible is probably not the book we would have written if we were God.  

Q.  If you wanted to communicate the message of redemption how would you have written it?

-   We would have written a neat, orderly, systematic theology in an outline form with lots of bullet points.

-   It seems like the topics are scattered and jumbled.

Our goal is to assume that God is wiser than us and try to take the Bible on its own terms and for the most part the Bible is not written as a systematic theology.  The Bible is a narrative history written in a chronological fashion and the reason it is written this way is to tell a story.

Q.  Why use a story?

-  Stories are actually a great way to communicate, even a child can understand them.  In many way 
   easier to understand than a systematic theology.

-  Stories have a beginning, middle, and end.  They are coherent and have a point.  

The key to solving this problem is to organize the story of the Bible under an overarching theme.  That is what I want us to accomplish today.  

Q.  What do you think is the theme of the Bible?  Does it have one?

-  Death and resurrection of Christ?

-  Justification by Faith?

I think the key is to discover what the New Testament views as the theme of the Bible and I think the New Testament teaches that the Kingdom of God is the theme of the Bible.  We are going to spend the rest of this class using the grid of the Kingdom of God to interpret the Bible.  I am going to use Luke & Acts to demonstrate this.  Luke & Acts act as a bridge connecting the Old Testament to Paul.  This will also give us a taste of the method we are going to be using in small group to show how the Bible fits together as a coherent story.

1.  Luke begins with stories of pious Jews like Elizabeth & Zechariah and Simeon & Anna and others awaiting the consolation of Israel - when Israel's true Davidic king would come and restore the Kingdom of Israel.  

Luke 1:31-33   Mary is told that her son will inherit the throne of David and be king and that the kingdom that comes will have no end.  These are the promises of the Old Testament that these pious Jews were looking for.  Christ is described using royal terminology and so in His kingdom, God’s purposes for Israel are being fulfilled.  

Luke 1:54-55, 1:68-75 

Q.  How do Mary and Zechariah connect the birth of Jesus to the Old Testament?  

-  He is the royal king who will bring about the promises of the covenant with Abraham.  

Luke 2:8-11 

Q.  Why is the birth of a king good news to a bunch of shepherds?

  -  This king is also a savior and his kingdom brings with it what Israel had been waiting for - the fulfillment of the Old Testament promises about the restoration of Israel and you poor, dirty, marginalized shepherds will benefit from the work of this King.   

Jesus’ baptism is an anointing where Jesus is declared the Son of God just as David had been anointed at Hebron.  Son of God is actually not a divine term but a term of royalty.  

Luke 8:1  

Q. What is the content of Jesus’ preaching?

How do we know the Kingdom of God is here - because the king is here - and why is that good news - because the king is a savior.  

Q. During Jesus’ ministry what does he do?

 -  Heals the sick, casts out demons, forgives sins.  All the kind of things the Old Testament prophets described would happen when the Kingdom of Israel is restored.  They also demonstrates Jesus’ authority as king.  

Luke 7:18-23

-  John is discouraged because he expected the Kingdom of God to come and yet here he is imprisoned.  Jesus responds by quoting Isaiah 29 which is a prophecy about the restoration of the Kingdom of Israel.  

Luke 11:20

-  Jesus asserts his authority as King by casting out demons.  No more is man under the rule of Satan.  That is why the birth of a king is good news because this king is a savior.

Acts 1:6-8 

-  Now that Jesus has risen, the disciples want to know when the restoration of the Kingdom will happen.  Jesus starts telling them about being witnesses and talking about the Holy Spirit

Q.  Does Jesus answer their question or is He changing the subject?

-  The Holy Spirit and the preaching of the Gospel is the restoration of the Kingdom of Israel.  

Q.  When does the Holy Spirit come upon them?

-  At Pentecost, and in Peter’s sermon he explains Pentecost as a fulfillment of the prophecy of Joel which is a prophecy about the restoration of the Kingdom of Israel.  So Jesus was not changing the subject He was saying that the Holy Spirit is the Kingdom of God.

Acts 8:12  

-  For Phillip what is the content of the good news/gospel?

Acts continues with the apostles preaching the good news and the good news is what Jesus taught in Luke 8 - the Kingdom of God.  

Acts 28:30-32  

-  Acts end with Paul imprisoned in Rome and preaching to a group of Jews - and what is he preaching?  The Kingdom of God.

-   A lot of people find it disappointing that Acts ends right here.  We don’t find out what happens to Paul.  According to church history, he was released and then killed by Nero.  However, for Luke’s purpose it makes perfect sense to end here.  How does Luke begin his work?  With pious Jews awaiting the consolation of Israel and the Kingdom of God and it ends with Paul proclaiming to the Jews that the Kingdom of God has arrived through the person and work of the Jesus Christ the King whose birth is good news because He is a King who is a savior and His Kingdom is the restored Israel, the Kingdom of God that will come about through the Holy Spirit and preaching.

-  We see how Acts & Luke acts as a bridge.  We start with Old Testament Jews speaking in Old Testament Jewish concepts like the covenant of Abraham and the restoration of Israel.  Then we see Jesus come and how He fits in with this story but then He fulfills this story visibly demonstrating the fulfillment of these prophecies.  Paul’s preaching shows how Jesus’ teaching and works fit in with the Old Testament organically and so Luke links the Old Testament with Paul through Jesus.