Introduction to the Bible: Structure, Inspiration, and Purpose

1 C hronicle of Dr. Keith B. Cowart Dr. Keith B. Cowart graduated from Southern University of New Orleans with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Business Administration. Asbury Theological Seminary with a Masters in Theology in 1996 and a Doctorate of Ministry in 2002, Christian Bible College in 2002 with a Doctorate of Theology, University of Phoenix in 2005 with a M.B.A. in Business Administration. Dr. Cowart received Teacher Certification to teach from the Sunday School Publishing Board Education Department in 2006. Dr. Cowart serves as an associate minister of the Greater Tulane Baptist Church, Rev. Hosia Gardner - Pastor. Dr. Cowart is author of the book entitled “ REACH ” , and is presently working on his second book “ Back to Basics ”. Dr. Cowart has had the privilege to serve in official offices in the: Recording Secretary, Amite River Baptist Association President of the Sunday- School Congress, Amite River Association Foreign Mission Board Member, National Baptist Convention Vice President of the Late Night Committee, Louisiana Baptist State Convention Teacher -Congress of Christian Education – 4 th District Association Board Member – L.M. Lockhart Center Financial Committee Member, B.M&E State Convention And presently serves as Second Vice President of the First District Evangelical Board.

2 COURSE SYLLABUS COURSE TITLE: The Bible 1001 COURSE INSTRUCTOR : Dr. Keith B. Cowart COURSE DESCRIPTION : This course serves as an introduction to the nature and origin of the Bible, as well as a preparation for more advanced theological studies. Students will learn about the Bible’s overall structure and storyline, its divine inspiration and authority, the development of the canon, and the transmission of the Biblical text. Course Textbooks: The Bible: Book by Book - G. Coleman Luck, Back to Basics – Dr. Keith B. Cowart, The Bible: The Bible : An Easy-to-read Guide to Its Purpose and Origin – Dr. Geoffrey V. Guns. The Authority and Inspiration of the Bible The Purpose of the Bible God is primarily concerned with his creation understanding the purpose of his divine word. We as believers error when we try to use His inspired book for purposes it was not designed for an out of context. The primary purpose of the Bible is its message about salvation, and that is its primary sphere of authority. It is a sufficient guide that tells us how we might be given eternal life with God. The Bible truly reveals the whole counsel of God to mankind, the belief of the Christian towards God and the requirements that God has for the believer. In it we find God and His will and glory; our relationship to Him laid out and established in terms of creation, fall and redemption, faith and life. It's purpose is to bring Salvation to men, to re-establish their relationship to God, and to accomplish this purpose it has to reveal God to man, reveal man's heart and need, establish the covenant of redemption in Jesus Christ, and nurture the soul as the Holy Spirit makes it the Word of life. “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.” I Peter 1:23

3 Revelation, Affirmation, Inspiration and Illumination Revelation Revelation means that God has chosen to reveal his nature and his will to us through the Bible. The Bible was written so that God could show us what he is like and what he wants us to be like. An understanding of God comes solely through his decision to reveal himself to us. And so I will show my greatness and my holiness, and I will make mysel f known in the sight of many nations. Then they will know that I am the LORD. - Ezeki el 38:23 Affirmation We accept the Bible as the inspired Word of God. The writers were inspired, moved by the Holy Spirit ( 2 Pet 1:21 ), and the resultant writings are inspired, as if breathed or spoken by God ( 2 Tim 3:16 ). The Bible is therefore useful as a guide to salvation through faith in Christ, and sufficient for doctrine, correction, moral and ethical instruction ( 2 Tim 3:15-17 ). Inspiration Inspiration is the process through which God gave us the Bible. God worked in the hearts of human writers to inspire them to write down his words. God's words written through these people are perfect, infallible, arid trustworthy. II Timothy 3:16-17 16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 17 That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. Inspiration means God wrote the Bible through __________________ No prophecy ever came from what a person wanted to say, but people l ed by the Holy Spi rit spoke words from God. - 2 Peter 1 :21 (NCV) Inspiration means the Holy Spirit is the _____________ The Scripture had to be fulfilled which the Holy Spirit spoke long ago through the mouth of David - Acts 1:16.

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4 Illumination Illumination is the Holy Spirit's work of bringing light to the words of the Bible as we read them. Illumination is the means by which we understand the Bible. Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures . - Lu ke 24: 45 Inerrancy and Infallibility The Bible was God breathed. God wanted to speak to us in words we could understand – and the Bible contains those words. Since the Bible comes from the mouth of God, it has abilities that other books don't have. “No prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:20-21). For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing where to I sent it. (Isa. 55:10-11) The Word of God is compared to rain. Rain brings life to earth; it causes plants to grow, trees to bear fruit, and grass to be lush and green. In the same way the Word of God brings life to people. It causes us to prosper and be blessed in every area of our lives as we hear it and meditate on it. The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life (John 6:63). Infallibility The word infallible means “incapable of error.” If something is infallible, it is never wrong and thus absolutely trustworthy. Similarly, the word inerrant , also applied to Scripture, means “free from error.” The Bible never fails; it always gives correct and specific advice for Christian living. 2 Timothy 3:16 – 17 , “All Scripture is God - breathed” and has the effect of producing servants of God who are “thoroughly equipped for every good work.” The fact that God “breathed” Scripture insures that the Bible is infallible, for God cannot breathe out error.

5 Worksheet How Do We Know the Bible Came from God? First: The _________________ evidence says the Bible is a historical book. Second: The _______________ evidence says the Bible is a unique book. Third: The ______________ evidence says the Bible is a powerful book.

6 The Old Testament Old Testament -- a total of 39 books and has 5 main divisions: Pentateuch (Genesis to Deuteronomy) Historical (Joshua to Esther) Poetic (Job to Song of Solomon), Major Prophets (Isaiah to Daniel) Minor Prophets (Hosea to Malachi). THE PENTATEUCH - The human author of the Pentateuch was Moses. The word Pentateuch comes from tw o Greek words that mean the "five volumes” or “five scrolls." The Hebrew Scriptures were divided into 3 sections: These five books (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy) are also called the Law. The Hebrew name is Torah, which is the Hebrew word for "law." Therefore they can be known as The Law of Moses or The Five Books of Moses. Genesis – The Beginning Exodus – The Departure Leviticus – The Book of the Levites – The Book of Laws Numbers – The Bureau of Census Deuteronomy – The Law Continued \

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7 The Books of History Old Testament is known as the Historical Books of the Bible. After 40 years of wandering in the desert and the death of Moses, God began to move the Israelites across the Jordan River. Under the leadership of Joshua and Caleb into the Promised Land, these books tell of their journey to and life in the land of Canaan. It was not easy as they lived encompassed by antagonistic nations with superstitious, blasphemous practices, and cruel customs. The Israelites were sucked into a life of spiritual decline. Historical Books are comprised of 12 books: Joshua, Judges, and Ruth tell the earliest history of the Jews; 1 and 2 Samuel with 1 and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Chronicles cover about five hundred years reporting the fall of Judah to Babylon. The next three books, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther are about their life in captivity, release from it, and the restoration of Jerusalem The Books of Poetry The five Poetic Books of the Bible are Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon. These books do not continue with the history of the Hebrew people, however, they are considered to be a transition from the History Books. These books explore questions of suffering, love, wisdom, and the nature of the God of Israel. It examines inquiries of life, daily practical living, and relationships with others. Thus, they are also sometimes labeled the writings of “wisdom” especially found in Job, Ecclesiastes, and Proverbs. The remaining books are a collection of songs (psalms), love stories, and worship prayers.  Job - Trials of extreme suffering emphasize God’s great omnipotence .  Psalms - Collection of petitions, prayers, songs, and beautiful poetry.  Proverbs – w ords of knowledge and experiences God has for us today .  Ecclesiastes - Deals with vanity and shows that fullness of life is found only in God.  Song of Solomon - The compilation of songs is of marriage, purity, and morality.

8 The Books of Prophets (Major and Minor) The Major Prophets are described as “major” because their books are longer and the content has broad, even global implications. The Major Prophets were men divinely designated to be spokesmen for God. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, and Daniel make up the books of the Old Testament that are in this category. The Minor Prophets are descr ibed as “minor” because their books are shorter and narrow in focus. These servants are called Minor Prophets not because of the importance of their prophecies, but due to of the length of their messages compared to the Major Prophets. These spokesmen for God functioned in three ways:  As preachers, their words explained the Mosaic Law and fulfilled their task of admonishing, denouncing sin, warning of judgment, calling for repentance and bringing comfort and promise of pardon.  As foretellers, they announced the impending judgment, deliverance, and the coming Messiah.  As watchmen over Israel, the warnings were issued about alliances with military/political powers and against religious apostasy. Cultic worship and rituals of sacrifice were in the region; the temptation to fall in with their Canaanite adversaries was great (see Ezekiel 3:17 ).

9 Old Testament Worksheet 1. What are the books are the first five books of the Old Testament called. ________ a . Biblia b. Pentateuch c. Prophetical 2. Which books are also known as the Law of Moses: _________________________, __________________________, ________________________, ________________________, ________________________, ___________________________. 3. These books consist of rhymes , steeped in emotion. _________ a . Minor and Major Prophets b . P rophetical c . Messianic d . Poetry 4. Historical Books are comprised of _____________ books. a. 24 b. 12 c. 8 d. 5

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10 Contents of the Old Testament Old Testament Appearances of Christ a. Genesis 12:7; 17:1; 19:1 b. Isaiah 6 Old Testament Predictions of the Coming Messiah  Genesis 3:15 - Eve was promised in that a male descendant from her line would crush the head of the serpent, i.e., the Devil himself, and win completely over evil, as the prince of evil, Satan, would be finally vanquished.  Isaiah 7:14 —Isaiah prophesies that a pure young woman will give birth to God’s son.  Isaiah 40:3-5 – A messenger would prepare the way for the Messiah.  Micah 5:2 — Micah prophesies that Jesus will be born in Bethlehem.  Isaiah 53:3 – The Messiah would be rejected by his own people. Old Testament Covenants A Covenant is an agreement or contract between men, or between men and God. Generally it is based on certain conditions agreed upon. Sometimes, as between God and man, it is unconditional. God's covenants with man originate with Him, and generally consist of a promise based on the fulfillment of certain conditions. God has made eight Covenants with man. I. The Edenic Covenant - Gen. 1:28-30 ; 2:15-17 II. The "Adamic" Covenant - Gen. 3:14-19 III. The "Noahic" Covenant - Gen. 8:20-9:17 IV. The "Abrahamic" Covenant - Gen 12:1-3 V. The "Mosaic" Covenant – EX 31:12-18 VI. The "Davidic" Covenant - 2 Sam. 7:4-17 . VII. The "Palestinian" Covenant - Deu. 30:1-10 .

11 New Testament What is the New Testament? Luke 24:44; John 5:46; Acts 10:43).

12 The New Testament The New Testament is a collection of sac red writings that a re di s tinctly Ch ristian. Th ere are twenty- s e v en se p a rate books in the New Testament canon. The New Testament has been accepted by the Christ i a n church for m o r e than 1600 years as it s official canon of Holy Scripture. How did we get the New Testament? Eight different inspired men wrote various parts of the New Testament over a period of several years. Matthew Matthew Mark Mark Luke Luke Acts John John I John II John III John Revelation Peter I Peter II Peter James James Jude Jude Paul Romans Phillipians I Timothy I Timothy I Corinthians II Corinthians Colossians Titus I Thessalonians II Thessalonians Philemon Galatians Ephesians Undetermined Hebrews The book of Hebrews makes no direct reference to the author.  The author was probably a Jew:  The author was very familiar with the Old Testament Scriptures  The author was familiar with the practices of First Century Jews

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13 What is the New Testament? The New Testament or Covenant (anticipated in Jeremiah 31:31 was instituted by the Lord Jesus, 1 Cor. 11:25 ), describes the new arrangement of God with men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation who will accept salvation on the basis of faith in Christ. The New Testament affirms the inspiration of the Old Testament, including its function of pointing to Jesus Christ ( Luke 24:44 ; John 5:46 ; Acts 10:43 ). The old covenant revealed the holiness of God in the righteous standard of the law and promised a coming Redeemer; the new covenant shows the holiness of God in His righteous Son. The New Testament, then, contains those writings that reveal the content of this new covenant. Composition of the New Testament - Acts 2:14-36, Acts 4:10-12, 33; 5:42. The message of the New Testament centers on: (1) The Person who gave Himself for the remission of sins ( Matt. 26:28 ) (2) The People (the church) who have received His salvation. The New Testament is composed of twenty-seven books written by nine different authors. Based on their literary characteristics, they are often classified into three major groups — 1. The historical (five books, the Gospels and Acts) 2. The Epistles (21 books, Romans through Jude) 3. The prophetical (one book, Revelation).

14 Formation and Focus of the New Testament The preparation for the coming of Christ is the story of the Old Testament. The Jews were: Chosen of God from all the nations to be a treasured possession as a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation (Ex. 19:5-6), and the Channel of the Redeemer (Gen. 12:3; Gal. 3:8; Rom. 9:5). In that regard, beginning with the promises of God given to the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Gen. 12:1-3; Rom. 9:4), they were to be the custodians of God’s Word (the Old Testament -Rom. 3:2). The Old Testament, therefore, was full of Christ and anticipated His coming as a suffering and glorified Savior.

15 What it means to live under the New Covenant! What is a Covenant?  a relationship (often friendship or family), not merely a legal contract. The Old Covenant  God made a covenant with the whole nation of Israel in Old Testament times  He gave them a lot of laws and commandments o If they kept them, then he would give them  financial blessing  health and long life  lots of children o If then broke them then  He would punish them  He would take away all the good things  Ultimately the nation would be destroyed  What does it mean to be living under the Old Covenant? o They related to God as an authority figure  who would judge them if they failed  The Jews would never call God “Abba” (daddy)  Blessings and cursings: Deut 27, 28, 29, 30 (e.g. 28:1-2 & 28:15) o in fact, it was impossible for them to completely keep all the laws o God was actually very patient with them o but in the end the whole nation rebelled against God and all the curses came upon them

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16 The New Covenant  Hebrews 8:6-13 (quoted from Jeremiah 31:31-34) o Four promises (see overhead) A. God’s law written on our hearts  In Galatians Paul tells us that no matter how many laws you make, it can’t change the heart. o Just imagine that the government passed a law that everyone must love each other — no more hate!  But the Holy Spirit produces fruit in our lives: [Gal 5:22-23] o “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.”  However, it is not just that we have a new heart, the old one has been removed o we have had a heart-transplant —we don’t have to carry on with our old lifestyle o Two ways of thinking: old heart (legal) or new heart: Here is a key idea: what has changed is not the law

17 New Testament Homework Sheet Discovering Truths about Your New Relationship with Christ Many exciting things are true in your new relationship with Christ. Discovering these truths will help you build a firm foundation to your faith. Christ _______________________your sin. Read Colossians 1:13-14 . When you trusted Christ for the forgiveness of your sin, all your sins were forgiven...past, present, and future. What difference does it make to you to know that your sin is forgiven? a. Presented b. Forgave c. Charged Christ ______________ you a child of God. Read John 1:12 . When you received Christ, you began a loving relationship with God as his child. How important is that to you? a. Reserved b. Made c. Conformed Christ _______________ into your life and will never leave you. Read Hebrews 13:5 . Under what circumstances might Christ leave you? a. Came b. Left c. Abandoned

18 The Gospels The Gospels pr ovide us with information about Jesus' call of His first disciples (see Matthew 4 :1 8; Mark 1:16; Luke 5:1-10) . T h e Acts of t h e Apostles The bo ok of Acts tells us what happ ene d afte r J esus was raised from the dead. It cont inu es the story of God's act of salva tion . Acts te ll s us how the Christian church began and the factors that produc ed such rapid g r ow th. The c hur c h came into being on the Da y of Pentecost, the events of which are de scribed in Acts 2: 1 -39 . The Ep i stl es The 21 Epistles for m t he la rges t single type of writ in gs in the New Testament . The majority of these were written by Paul, an apostle "born out of due season." (1 Corinthians 15:8). He wrote 14 (if you assume that Paul wrote Hebrews). They were written to churches with problems (Corinth, Galatia, Colossians, Hebrews), to evangelists to help them deal with brethren (Timothy and Titus), for general edification (Ephesus and Philippia), and one dealing with a personal problem between two brothers (Philemon). Two were specifically written to warn brethren about the danger of going back to the Old Law (Colossians and Hebrews). Peter penned two epistles (1 and 2 Peter). He dealt with various problems. Two of the main ones was dealing with the second coming and the need for spiritual growth. John wrote three epistles. Two of these were written to Christians and one likely to a Christian family (3 John). He was concerned with blunting a false teaching that was making inroads into the church near the end of the first century, Gnosticism. James and Jude wrote single epistles. James wrote about everyday Christians living and Jude wrote near the end of the first century urging Christians to stand the for the truth "once for all received by the saints" (Jude 3). Revelations This book is often called the book of prophecy because it does reveal what will happen in the future. John pinned "The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants; things which must shortly take place.

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The Bible Student Edition Final (1)

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