THE 2013 Final Project

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THE BIBLE AND THE CHURCH By Wendbe Josue Koudougou 035003138 A Project Submitted to the Faculty In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for THE 2013 The Bible and the Church 05.2201 Global University January 2024

Wendbe J. Koudougou, 035003138 The Bible and the Church, Fifth Edition 2

Wendbe J. Koudougou, 035003138 The Bible and the Church, Fifth Edition 3 The Bible and The Church Part 1: Revelation, Inspiration and Illumination 1. Definition of Biblical Terms Understanding biblical terms is a key for understanding the message of the Bible. According to the authors of the Independent Study Textbook, the term revelation is “the act of revealing, that is to say the act of making know what has been hidden or unknown before.” (Suwandoko & Duncan 2000, 8). By revelation, God reveals Himself to human beings. He also brings to men and women uncover truth they did not know before, and provides a way for them to fellowship with Him. They are two kinds of revelation: general revelation, God revealing Himself through nature and history, and special revelation, when God reveals Himself through Jesus Christ (John 1:14) and through the Bible (Deut. 31:24-26, Rev. 1:11). Biblically, the term inspiration refers to “ the spiritual influence – the power of the Holy Spirit- that came upon the writers of Scripture, enabling them to record God’s message with complete accuracy” (Suwandoko & Duncan 2000, 18). The inspiration of the Bible has been subject of many controversies. The term illumination “is defined as the “spiritual or intellectual enlightenment or understanding” (Suwandoko & Duncan 2000, 27). To contrast revelation and inspiration, revelation refers the communication of the truth, while inspiration refers to recording of the truth. Revelation results from inspiration. To contrast revelation/inspiration with illumination, we can notice that revelation and inspiration has to do with the production of the Holy Scriptures while illumination has to do with understanding of the Holy Scriptures.

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Wendbe J. Koudougou, 035003138 The Bible and the Church, Fifth Edition 4 2. Divine Revelation The biblical terms previously defined are involved in bringing divine truth to the person reading the Bible. Revelation, inspiration, and illumination function together, and while distinct, they relay on each other to form an important doctrinal set. In revelation God takes His words to man. In inspiration, man takes the words, and puts them on papers, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Finally, in illumination, the words go from papers to men’s heart, by the power of the Holy Spirit. received from God help the Bible’s reader understand what he is reading. 3. Biblical Inspiration A person’s belief of biblical inspiration might affect his or her discipleship and fruitfulness in the kingdom. “Our heartfelt belief in plenary inspiration determines our attitude toward the Bible, and it affects the way we live.” (Suwandoko and Duncan 2000, 25). The more we believe in biblical inspiration the more effective is our discipleship and fruitfulness. We believe that the Bible is the infallible, the sufficient, and the authoritative Word of God. Therefore, not only we follow the Bible as a disciple of Christ, but also we teach those we are disciplining to follow and apply what the Bible teach in their life. We can lead people along a discipleship journey to study the Bible only if we believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God. Part 2: Authenticity of the Bible 1. Unbiblical Claim Some unbelievers claims that the Bible is just one ‘holy book’ among many other books. The Bible is just a loosely compiled book of stories, poems, and letters, written by human beings. Therefore, the Bible cannot be the authentic Word of God as declared by Christians.

Wendbe J. Koudougou, 035003138 The Bible and the Church, Fifth Edition 5 Humanists reject the fact that the Bible is the Word of God. Convinced that the Bible was written solely by humans in an ignorant, superstitious, and cruel age, they believe that, because the writers lived in an enlightened world, the Bible contains many errors and harmful teachings. Skeptics also claim that the Bible is not the Word of God because of the so many inconsistencies and contradictions in the Bible. For instance, while in the book of Genesis Moses said that he has seen God face to face (Gen. 32:30), apostle John declared that no man hath seen God at any time (John 1:18). Other example found in James chapter 1:13, where it is written that God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone. But in Genesis chapter 22 and verse 1, some versions the Bible proclaims that God tempted Abraham. 2. Proofs of Authenticity Christians believe that the Bible is more than just one holy book among many. The Bible is the authentic Word of God. The following are the most important facts proving the Bible worthy of being called the Word of God. Firstly, the inspiration of the Bible is a proof that the Bible is the Word of God. The Bible is the inspired Word of God (2 Tim. 3:16,17). God communicated His Word to men who wrote it under the direction of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, the author of the Bible is not the men who wrote it, but God Himself. Secondly, the unity of the Bible is another fact that the Bible is more than one book (2 Pier. 1:21). In fact, the Bible is written by some forty different authors over a period of 1500 years. These writers were of different social, historical, backgrounds. Despite of this diversity, the Bible presents a perfect unity. The central theme of the Bible is the relationship between God and man through the person of Jesus Christ, who the central figure of the Bible.

Wendbe J. Koudougou, 035003138 The Bible and the Church, Fifth Edition 6 Thirdly, the infallibility of the Bible (John 17:17; 2 Peter 1:19). Infallibility means without error. The Bible is the true Word of God, without any error. Because God is infallible, so is His Word. The fact that the Bible is inspired by God guarantees his infallibility, since God cannot inspire error. Fourthly, the way the Bible resisted to the test of time (Mat. 5:18; 24:35). Although the Bible has been written thousands of years ago, il still remains the same. The Bible does not need to be updated or changed. On the other hand, many have tried to destroy the Bible and to prevent his spread, but the Bible still remains. No one can destroy the Bible. Finally, the positive way the Bible transforms people lives and changes their mind (Heb. 4:12). Rebels and all kind of people of bad lives has been transformed by the Word of God when reading the Bible. The story of Nicky Cruz is an excellent example. This man who was a rebel in prison, has been transformed by the Word of God preached by evangelist David Ray Wilkerson, the founder of Teen Challenge, an addiction recovery program. Later after his conversion, Cruz served as the Director of Teen Challenge in New York, before founding another ministry in California. Only the Bible can change a person life in this way. The Bible teachings positively influence the opinion of many politicians and religious leaders on issues involving nuclear war, overpopulation, women’s rights, gay right, racial equality, abortion and so many critical subjects across the world. Part 3: Organization of the Church 1. Organism Versus Organization Organism and organization are two critical concepts for Christians to understand. These two terms are related to the church and to one another. The term organism can be defined as all the organs that make up a living being. For the authors of the Independent Study Textbook, an

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Wendbe J. Koudougou, 035003138 The Bible and the Church, Fifth Edition 7 organism is a “living being or thing” (Suwandoko and Duncan 2000, 124). The term organization refers to the action of organizing, structuring, arranging, fitting out. For Suwandoko and Duncan, an organization is “the framework that binds persons together in different actions to achieve a common goal” (Suwandoko and Duncan 2000 ,123). The Church as the Body of Christ is both an organism and an organization. The church is an organism because it is a spiritual living being. All the church members that compose the church are spiritual living beings, because of the Holy Spirit dwelling in everyone (1 Cor. 3:16-17; 6:19). On the other side, Church is also an organization because this organism is organized according to three necessary factors as parts in an organization, which are persons, actions, and goals. That persons are all the believers or the members of the church, and the actions are the exercise of spiritual gifts and ministries given to everyone, and the goal is that the church becomes the perfect and holy bride of Christ (Ephes. 5:23-27). The terms organism and organization are related to one another. In fact, organization binds organisms together. “Organization helps combine many individual organisms into a large organism” (Suwandoko and Duncan 2000, 125). An organism without an organization leads to anarchy. Organization helps the organism to perfectly accomplish the task and effectively reach the goal. 2. Hypothetical Statement Some people who denied organization used to state that we need to do away with organization and get back to being a New Testament church. They believe that organization kills the spiritual life of the church. As we read the Scriptures, from Genesis to Revelation, we confirm that organization is biblical and spiritual. In the Old Testament, we noticed that Israel, the people of God, was

Wendbe J. Koudougou, 035003138 The Bible and the Church, Fifth Edition 8 organized into twelve tribes, under the direction of Moses and Joshua. In the New Testament, the Early Church was organized with the institution of the ministry of deacons (Acts 6). So, the church needs to be organized, but such an organization must not go beyond what is needed for effective service. An organization led by the Holy Spirit is a good organization and a powerful mean for an effective exercise of the spiritual gifts and ministry. 3. Universal Church and Local Church Distinction is made between universal church and local church. The universal Church is the community of believers all over the world. The local church is the community of believers gathering in a special locality. While the local church is visible, the universal Church is invisble. Membership in a local church is very important for today’s believers, because of the following reasons. Firstly, in the Early Church, the believers regularly gathered as we read in the book of Acts: “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common.”(Acts 2:42-44, NIV) Secondly, God commands believers to come together for fellowship: “Not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching” (Heb. 10:25, NIV). In addition, when Christians meet together for fellowship in unity, they encourage and strengthen each other. Unity is source of victory and success in every team. Part 4: Ministries of the Church 1. Types of Church Ministries

Wendbe J. Koudougou, 035003138 The Bible and the Church, Fifth Edition 9 There are two main types of church ministries, the inward ministry, and the outward ministry. The inward ministry of the church is the ministry performed within the church, to build up the body. Also known as the internal ministry, it is the ministry of the church to the church itself. The inward ministry is focused on the believers in the church. This ministry in its nature is fundamentally spiritual and general. Spiritual because believers can only take part, and general for all believers participate in it. The purposes of the internal ministry are to glorify God, and to edify and purify the church. There are two aspects of the inward ministry of the church, which are the ministry of the leaders through the gifts of ministry (Ephes.4:10-11) and the ministry of all believers through the spiritual gifts (1 Cor. 12; Rom. 12) On the opposite side, the outward ministry of the church is the ministry that goes on beyond the church. Also called external ministry, the outward ministry is oriented to the unbelievers outside the church. There are two basic foundations of the outward ministry, which are the Great Commission (Mat. 28:19-20) and the Great Love of Christ for a lost humanity (John 3:16). Like the inward ministry, the external ministry of the church has two aspects, the ministry symbolized by salt, a symbol of the ways in which believers are to permeate and influence the world, and the ministry symbolized by light, a symbol of how believers are to enlighten a darkness world. God uses three instruments in the outward ministry of the church, individual believers, families of believers and all believers in a church. 2. Importance of Church Ministries The two ministries of the church previously discussed play a crucial role today. Both ministries are important to the church. In fact, believers in the church need spiritual care in others to growth, and to become disciples of Christ. And this is not possible without the inward

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Wendbe J. Koudougou, 035003138 The Bible and the Church, Fifth Edition 10 ministry. On the other hand, we should not forget the fact that we need to reach others with the Gospel in order to bring them in the church, hence the importance of the outward ministry. Both ministries are related to one another, and a balance should be maintained between the inward and the outward ministry of the church. The internal ministry of the church is necessary for its external ministry. The external ministry is the main goal of its internal ministry. 3. Hope of the Church The Second Coming of Christ is the blessed hope of the church. As we study the history of the church through the New Testament, we realize that the church has a bright future. However, for now the church is facing great challenges as we are reaching out to the end of the times. One of the greatest challenges is for the believers to live a holy life in an uncleaned world. We are witnessing a depravation of morals. The moral level of our society is very low. The legalization of homosexual marriages, and of abortion are signs of the lost of moral values. The help believers live in this world, the church should preach and teach infallible the Word of God. Only the Word of God when understood and practiced, can help the believers live a holy life. A second great challenge is the ability to effectively reach the unbelievers around with the Gospel. Every day, hundreds of unsaved people are lost without any opportunity to meet Jesus Christ. The percentage of Christians using any opportunities to share their faith is minimal. In order to meet this challenge, the church should train and equip the members to evangelize and make disciples. Equipped believers filled with the power of the Holy Spirit are great instruments to win the world for the Kingdom of God.

Wendbe J. Koudougou, 035003138 The Bible and the Church, Fifth Edition 11 REFERENCE LIST Suwandoko, Roslim and Duncan, David 2000. The Bible and the Church, Fifth Edition . Springfield, MO: Global University.

THE 2013 Final Project

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