Introduction to the Bible
Class One
1) Opening Prayer – (Advent Two) – BLESSED Lord, who hast caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning; Grant that we may in such wise hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that by patience and comfort of thy holy Word, we may embrace, and ever hold fast, the blessed hope of everlasting life, which thou hast given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
2) Why study the bible?
a) Hosea 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.
3) What is the Bible? What is it about?
a)
b) So, what is the bible?
i) History
ii) Laws (both moral and ritual)
iii) Philosophy
iv) Genealogies
v) Poetry
vi) Wisdom – ‘rules of life’
vii) It is a love story – the story of God’s loving creation; His work of redemption; and finally salvation for a fallen creation through His work in the death and resurrection of His Incarnate Son, Jesus Christ.
c) Again from Stott – “The Bible reveals a God who, long before it even occurs to man to turn to him, while man is still lost in darkness and sunk in sin, takes the initiative, rises from his throne, lays aside his glory and stoops to seek until he finds him” (
4) Holy Scripture was central to the Protestant reformers and especially to Cranmer and the English reformers.
a) The first five articles deal with Faith in the Trinity (1), the person and work of Christ (2, 3,4) and the Holy Ghost (by whose power the Bible was inspired).
5) VI Of the Sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures for Salvation.
Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation: so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man, that it should be believed as an article of the Faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation. In the name of the Holy Scripture we do understand those canonical Books of the Old and New Testament, of whose authority was never any doubt in the Church.
Of the Names and Number of the Canonical Books
Genesis, The First Book of Samuel, The Book of Esther,
Exodus, The Second Book of Samuel, The Book of Job,
Leviticus, The First Book of Kings, The Psalms,
Numbers, The Second Book of Kings, The Proverbs,
Deuteronomy, The First Book of Chronicles, Ecclesiastes or Preacher,
Joshua, The Second Book of Chronicles, Cantica, or Songs of Solomon,
Judges, The First Book of Esdras, Four Prophets the greater,
Ruth, The Second Book of Esdras, Twelve Prophets the less.
And the other Books (as Hierome saith) the Church doth read for example of life and instruction of manners; but yet doth it not apply them to establish any doctrine; such are these following:
The Third Book of Esdras, Baruch the Prophet,
The Fourth Book of Esdras, The Song of the Three Children,
The Book of Tobias, The Story of Susanna,
The Book of Judith, Of Bel and the Dragon,
The rest of the Book of Esther, The Prayer of Manasses,
The Book of Wisdom, The First Book of Maccabees,
Jesus the Son of Sirach, The Second Book of Maccabees.
All the Books of the New Testament, as they are commonly received, we do receive, and account them Canonical.
4. VII Of the Old Testament.
The Old Testament is not contrary to the New: for both in the Old and New Testament everlasting life is offered to Mankind by Christ, who is the only Mediator between God and Man, being both God and Man. Wherefore they are not to be heard, which feign that the old Fathers did look only for transitory promises. Although the Law given from God by Moses, as touching Ceremonies and Rites, do not bind Christian men, nor the Civil precepts thereof ought of necessity to be received in any commonwealth; yet notwithstanding, no Christian man whatsoever is free from the obedience of the Commandments which are called Moral.
5. General problems in use and understanding of the bible today:
a. Ignorance – today’s Christians are much less familiar with the bible then previous generations
i. Augustine’s 43,000 quotes from scripture in his writing
ii. Canmer’s Prayerbook
Not that these two and others like them were ‘normal’ for their day, but their use of scripture presumed and understanding most in the church today do not have.
b. The Fundamentalist extreme
i. Literal infallibility of Scripture
1. Literal in all aspects – i.e., Six-day creation etc.
a. Generally, we should understand that the Bible is a theological work telling God’s plan and story of salvation….it is not an attempt to be science or even history in the way we understand and use historical texts today.
2. Rejects and effort to study and understand way in which texts came together.
ii. May tend to put use of the bible above worship of Christ
1. Christians spent the first 4 centuries converting thousands or millions without use of the bible as we have it today.
iii. Fails to recognize the different types of text in the bible and the way those texts need to be understood.
c. The Modernist Extreme
i. The bible is a collection of ancient stories and myths and should in no way be taken literal
1. Especially discounts the miraculous.
2. Leaves the text open to new understandings and interpretation.
a. Scripture is viewed simply through the perspective of the reader
3. Views the bible as suspect since it was “written by the church to prove its own theological claims”.
