The Bible, lesson 1

The Bible, lesson 1

by Tian Yan

​1. The truth club will run for 6 weeks, there will be 6 lessons total, one lesson a week

​2. After each lesson, students will be given assignment to work on individually and in pairs during the week

​3. Students will present their homework to the class before the start of each lesson

​4. Lesson will run for about 30 min, followed by a quiz at the end

​How the truth club will work

​Schedule

​Lesson 1: Chapter 1-3, Assignment: Chapter 11

​Lesson 2: Chapter 4-6, Assignment: Chapter 12-13

​Lesson 3: Chapter 7-8, Assignment: Chapter 14-15

​Lesson 4: Chapter 9-10, Assignment: Chapter 16-17

​Lesson 5: Chapter 22-23, Assignment: Chapter 18-19

​Lesson 6: Chapter 24, Assignment: Chapter 20-21

Poll

Who have read the entire bible? From Genesis to Revelation?

• I have read the entire bible, Gen to Rev

• I have only read the new testament, Matt to Rev

• I have read certain chapters here and there

• What's a bible?

​The Spirit within must be balanced with the Bible without

​-As Christian's we must be balanced in knowing the word AND experience the inner life.

​-Bias towards either side can cause problems

• ​Pentecostalism

• ​Methodist

​

​​The Spirit within must be balanced with the Bible without

​-As Christian's we must be balanced in knowing the word AND experience the inner life.

​-Bias towards either side can cause problems

• ​Pentecostalism

• ​Methodist

​

​To know the bible requires the exercise of the spirit AND the training of the mind

​-In order to understand the words of the bible, our mind needs to be trained.

​-But in order for the words to become life to us, we need to exercise our spirit too.

​-"Suppose I am here preaching in Chinese, and there is one sitting here who cannot understand Chinese. Nothing will get into this person's mind. How can his spirit be touched?"

​-The bible also contains many special terms and wordings with spiritual significance which requires training to understand.

Open Ended

Who wrote the bible?

​From God by men

• ​2 Tim 3:16

• ​2 Pet 1:21

• ​2 Sam 23:3

​The bible embodies God and reveals God

• ​John 16:13

• ​John 6:63

Fill in the Blank

The Word of God is His:

Origin of the bible​

​Recognition of authority - Old Testament

1. ​The Pentateuch of Moses recognized by Jews as from God with absolute and divine authority

2. ​Other Old Testament books eventually became recognized to be from God after a long period of testing

• ​Around 457BC, Ezra compiled most of the Old Testament books. This was verified by Josephus, a Jewish historian, and other Gentile historians

• ​Around 400BC, a group of Jewish scribes "The Great Synagogue" continued the compilation and verification of the Old Testament

• ​By 277BC, all the Old Testament books that we know today have been full compiled, verified and recognized of it's authority.

​Recognition of authority - New Testament

1. ​The Gospels were the earliest recognized books of the New Testament

2. Around 100AD, when the apostles died, people were confused and unsure of the authenticity of the Epistles. So the early "church fathers" collected these and added them to the gospels.

3. By 155AD, ​most churches viewed the New Testament the same. Except Hebrew, James, 2 Peter, 2 John, 3 John, Jude and Revelation.

4. ​By 397AD, at Carthage in North Africa, these books were also acknowledged to be part of the New Testament.

Multiple Choice

What languages were used in writing the Old and New Testaments?

• Akkadian, Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek

• Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek

• Hebrew, Aramaic and English

• Babylonian, Aramaic and Greek

• Hebrew and Greek

Multiple Choice

Who wrote the earliest book in the bible?

• Adam

• Moses

• Job

• Abraham

• Noah

Open Ended

Why did it take so long for certain books to be verified and recognized as the Word of God?

​Subdivision of the books

​-Old Testament:

1. ​Pentateuch

2. ​History

3. ​Psalms/Poetry

4. ​Prophets

​-New Testament:

1. ​Gospels

2. ​Acts of Apostles

3. ​Epistles

4. ​Prophecy

Assignment

1. ​In pairs, read the assigned chapters in the lesson book together (this week is lesson 11)

2. ​In pairs, decide who will present which books of the bible (this week: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy)

3. ​Individually, study and prepare to present your books (minimum: writers, place, time, subject, background, central thought, and general sketch)

4. ​Resources: The first page of the bible, footnotes in the bible, google