Three Tents: Biblical Survey: Theology of the Bible and Bible Study Tools

Worship
Prayer by Amah
Review of homework


We’ve now finished looking at the prerequisites, I hope you continue to share the gospel, continue to grow as a big brother or big sister in the church, and have a rich devotional life. Now we will go on to the first main course: Biblical Survey.. But before we do, I just want to remind you what the overall course is:

What I teach is called Biblical Theology. “Theology” is a big broad subject with thousands of years of development. Broadly speaking Theology can be broken into three major streams of study: Biblical Theology, Systematic Theology, and Applied Theology. (Other streams like Historical Theology, etc., also exist). These three streams of theology overlap in some ways and contribute to each other, but let me give examples of each kind of theology so you get an idea of what we are doing in this course.

Applied theology focuses on topics like: Missiology, Evangelism, Ecclesiology, Christian Counseling, Christian ethics, Discipleship, Leadership... It uses a variety of approaches to advance understanding and find practical solutions in these fields.

Systematic theology focuses on topics like: Christology, study of the atonement, Christian philosophy, etc. It generally starts with a question and then looks across the breadth of scripture to answer it. A good place to start learning about Systematic Theology is by learning catechisms. Here are a few in Indonesian.

NEW CITY CATECHISM (Indonesian)

WESTMINISTER CATECHISM (Indonesian)

Biblical theology focuses on topics like: hermeneutics, language studies, author studies, book studies, genre, discourse, etc. It generally starts with the Bible, and as we read it we learn things about systematic and applied theology, but the starting point is understanding the Bible.

Goals for the Biblical Survey Class

  • Learn basic theology of the bible

  • Learn basic apologetics about the bible

  • Learn the major themes of each of the books of the bible

  • Learn the context of the books in time and geography

  • Be able to study a passage at multiple levels using various resources

  • Be able to prepare small group bible studies for each major genre of scripture

  • Be able to look up commentary on difficult to understand passages to answer questions


Today we start with the basic theology of the bible and learning about study tool


Theology of the Bible

(1) Learning the Bible requires

  • You are a spirit-filled believer Lk 24:13-35

  • A pure heart Mt 5:8

  • Humility Ps 25:9

  • Application Mk 7:10-13

  • Purpose to become Christlike 2Co 3:18

The Bible belongs to the family of faith,
is by the family of faith,
it to the family of faith,
so that the family will grow in faith


(2) Attributes of the Bible

  • Inspired 2Tim3:14-17, 2Pet1:19-21, 2Sam 23:1-2

  • Authoritative: Everyone is subject to the Bible. Man is not above the Bible to interpret it, the Bible is over man to interpret man.

  • Sufficient: God has spoken all that we need for his revelation

  • Relevant: There is no one that can say the Bible is not relevant to me.

  • Clarity: The Bible generally means what it says in a way that we can understand. It is not generally understood to be allegory.

  • Inerrant: There are no mistakes in the word of God. (we will look at this more carefully next time… but there are some extra notes)


(3) How many layers of voices are there to the Bible?

What I will call here “voices” refers to things that influence the message that we are receiving. Let’s consider what is between us and God directly.

  1. ★ GOD

  2. ☆[Internal] The Bible interpreting the Bible (especially, New Testament authors quoting LXX)

  3. ☆[Internal] Apostolic author

  4.  [Internal] Intended author (‘voice’ of the author)

  5.  [Internal] First scribe

  6. ☆[Internal] Genre of the text (discourse? history? poetry? law? wisdom? prophecy?)

  7. ☆[Internal] Narrator in the text

  8. ☆[Internal] Character in the text (could be first, second or third person)

  9. ☆[Internal] Listener in the text (Job’s friends, Nicodemus in John 3, etc.)

  10.  [External] Original manuscripts (Urtext)

  11. ☆[Internal] Intended reader (direct recipient)

  12.  [Internal] Initial readers (first generation readers)

  13.  [External] Textual critics

  14. ☆[External] Translators, translation committees

  15. ★SCRIPTURE

  16. □[External] Publisher, app/digital platform developer

  17. □[External] Environmental conditions and personal state of mind

  18. ★ ME (the first person, and my response/application)

  19.  A second person and their response/application

  20.  A third person and their response/application

☆Be aware of and consider these levels

□ Be aware of and mute these levels


Levels of Bible Study

Examining the Forest, the Woods, the Trees, the Branches and Leaves
The Forest: Overall sections of the Bible
The Woods: Books, sections and discourse
The Trees: Sentences and verses
The Branches and Leaves: Language and word studies


Tools for every Level

Examining the forest

Examining the Woods

  • Outlining sections (let’s try Psalm 2)

Examining the Trees

Examining the Branches

Examining the Leaves


One Genre to Consider: Poetry

We already made an outline of Psalm 2, but in addition to an outline, for biblical poetry it can be useful to consider these points:

  • Repetition

  • Parallels/constrasts

  • Chiasm

  • Allegory/clarity

  • Negative/positive changes to the tone

  • Changes in perspective or pronouns

  • Overall meaning of the poem

  • How do the words/images help bring the overall meaning to life?


Preparing a Small Group Study

  • Prayerfully study a passage carefully using the tools: understand the book context, make an outline and/or grammar diagram, do word studies of key words

  • Consider how the passage represents a genre of text to deepen your appreciation of the text

  • Consider how the passage is connected to good news

  • Prepare several questions for the study that focus on the main theme

  • Read a commentary afterwards to learn more


Summary

  • We are studying Biblical Theology. Maybe you are also interested in applied or systematic. We will also answer those questions, but from a Biblical Theology approach.

  • The Bible is primarily for people of faith. The Bible is inspired and therefore infallible, authoritative, etc.

  • When reading the Bible, it can be useful to consider the many different voices to make sure we try to hear God’s voice.

  • We study the Bible on many levels, and there are good tools to assist us at learning at every level.

  • Poetry uses language in a special way to create memorable pictures that are often an allegory for something else.


Homework

  1. Prepare a small group study for a Psalm

  2. Practice memorizing the 66 books of the Bible

Let's let you ask questions now.

  • How much is lost in translation from Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek?

Prayer and worship to finish.