Biblical Interpretation

Before I deal with an individual passage it would be better to outline the axioms and rules of the normal grammatical historical interpretation.

The grammatical historical method may be summarized as follows:

"The fundamental principle is to gather from the Scriptures themselves the precise meaning which the writers intend to convey. It applies to the sacred books the same principles, the same grammatical process and exercises of common sense and reason, which we apply to other books."




The axioms are:

1. The true object of speech is the impartation of thought.

2. Human Language is a reliable medium of communication.

3. The Scriptures were written in the normal language of the people meant to be understood by all.

4. Usage determines the meaning of words.

5. The function of a word depends upon its association with other words.

6. Truth must accord with truth; and statements of truth apparently discrepant can be harmonized if the facts are known.

7. An assertion of truth necessarily excludes that to which it is essentially opposed and no more.

8. On cannot interpret without understanding that which he interprets.

9. The interpreter must allow the text to speak for itself. God has authority through the word over the interpreter, and not the other way around. To the best of his ability he should lay aside his own bias. His attitude should be that of Samuel who said to the LORD "Speak, for Your servant is listening" 1 Sam. 3:10. He must not read into the Scripture what he wants to be there. He must draw out the meaning resident in the text.

The five general rules of interpretation are:

1. The rule of normal interpretation: The words of the Scripture are to be interpreted according to their common meaning unless such meaning is shown inconsistent with other words in the sentence, with argument or context, or with other parts of Scripture. The interpreter must do the best he can to ascertain the exact meaning of the words of Scripture and their relationship to one another in the original Biblical languages.

2. The rule of context: The words of Scripture and their meaning are to be understood according to the context in which they occur. This includes both the near context (the passages immediately before and after) and the far context (the chapters, book, and even the whole of Scripture).

3. The rule of scope and design: The scope of a book is the end or purpose the writer has for writing his work. To the best of his ability the interpreter is to discover this purpose.

4. The law of circumstances and customs: The interpreter should take into account the social circumstances and customs as they bear upon the interpretation of the text.

5. The law of the analogy of the faith: The interpreter should interpret the truth of each passage in light of the entire Bible. Understanding that God is consistent in truth and that there is no contradiction of His truth as revealed in Scripture.
The additional rules of interpretation are:

1. The rule of obscure passages: The interpreter is to interpret obscure passages in light of clearer passages.

2. The rule of one interpretation: For any given passage there is only one interpretation though there may be many applications of the text.

3. The rule of the checking principle. After the interpreter is done drawing out the meaning of the passage he should check his interpretation and compare his understanding with the understanding of others of like faith.

4. The rule of induction. We should be careful to discover the meaning of the text rather than impose a meaning on the text.

5. The rule of cross references: The interpreter must be sure he cross references the meaning of the given text with other texts of like meaning.

Illumination

I. We have studied the major doctrines in the communication of God’s word to man:
A. Revelation is God disclosing information about Himself to mankind.
1. General revelation is information about God that God discloses to man through nature, conscience, and history.
2. Special revelation: Special revelation is the information about God that God communicated directly to man by supernatural means.

3. God’s means of special revelation today is through His inspired word, the Bible.

B. Inspiration is revelation and the means used by God to record his previous revelation. We defined inspiration as: Inspiration means the Holy Spirit so guided and controlled the human authors of Scripture, using their own individual personalities and styles, that they wrote all He wanted them to write without excess or error.

C. Canonicity: Canonicity is the process by which the church recognized (not determined) the books that God inspired.

II. Turn in your Bibles to Hebrews 2:1-4. In this verse it is important to note that the writer to the Hebrews is saying something very significant. He indicates that the N.T. message was confirmed by those who heard. It means that even at this point that the writers of the N.T. understood that the period of revelation and inspiration were coming to and end. God did bring the period of revelation and inspiration to a close with the death of the apostle John in approximately 100 A.D. Revelation and inspiration are finished for now.

III. But how does God speak to us today? We understand that the Bible is the word of God, but how does God use the Bible in our lives today to speak to our lives and our hearts. The answer to this is through the ministry of the illumination of the Holy Spirit. The illumination of the Holy Spirit is that act of the Holy Spirit in enlightening the mind of the believing Christian to understand and apply the truth of the Scriptures to their own individual lives so that they grow in respect to their relationship with God and are built up in the faith.

A. John 14:26
B. John 16:12-15
C. Luke 24:25-27
D. Luke 24:44-45
E. 1 Cor. 2: 1-16

IV. Examples of Illumination:

A. Mark 8:14-26: When the disciples of Jesus lack spiritual understanding and only see dimly spiritually, they need to go to Jesus so that he can give them perfect spiritual sight for the work He has called them to do!

B. Mark: 4:35-41: While Jesus is in the ship of our lives there are times he appears to be inactive, asleep. At these times, Christ is calling us to a faith in His deity that knows He will not have us perish, or His plans thwarted.

C. John 6:26-64 Jesus is the bread of life. The means of internalizing Jesus is faith in His person and work, specifically faith in the sacrifice of His body and blood on the cross

D. Mark 1:21-28: Jesus came to overthrow, conquer, and displace the kingdom of darkness and replace it with the kingdom of God.

E. John 6:15-21: The Christian life is not a stormless life. It is a life that guarantee's storms and difficulties. But if we receive Jesus into the ship of our life during our storms, he will see us safely through to the other side as we continue on mission with Him.

V. Illumination verses revelation: Modern day Pentecostals/Charismatics/third wave/etc have a problem with the concept of revelation and inspiration being over. They believe that prophecy, miracles, tongues, and interpretations etc, must still be going on today. Because God does not change and the gospel comes with as much power today as it ever has. They believe that for God to speak today, prophecy must still be going on.

What is wrong with this assertion?

1. If God is still speaking in Charismatic/Pentecostal churches through prophecy then all of our Bibles must get bigger.

2. If God is still speaking then we should see the kind of miracles we say in the N.T. time going on today taking place through his spokesmen.

3. The messages of prophecy need to meet all the tests of canonicity and be accepted into the canon of Scripture

4. This is additional revelation, and when you have the Bible plus anything else, you always have problems!

Canonicity

I. The charge: The Roman Catholic Church removed from the Bible the books it did not want Christians to read. So Christians are not getting all the information about Jesus that was written by the early church.  Have you ever heard of the Gospel of Thomas? Have you heard of the Gospel of Peter? The teaching of the Twelve? The first epistle of Clement? All these were early Christian writings. There were over two-hundred accounts of the life of Christ committed to writing. They were considered Scripture by many early churches. But you have never heard of them because the bishops of the early church robbed you of these important works.

II. How do we answer such a charge? By understanding the process of Canonicity. The Process of Canonicity is the process that the early church used to recognize the books that God had inspired and reject those books that, while they may have claimed to be inspired, actually were not.

A. The word Canon comes from the Greek word kanon which originally referred a staff a stick or a reed. It came to be known in time as a standard by which things were to be measured. Finally in the Christian Church it came to be known as the standard or collection of writings that were recognized by the Church as those writings that God had inspired.

Question: From our discussion on Inspiration lets ask the question; who determined the books that would comprise the canon of Scripture?

Some say the Church determined the canon. Like the argument from The Da Vinci code. What is wrong with this argument?
The truth is that God determined the canon by virtue of the books He inspired men to write!

What would happen if we had the same situation today that we did in the early church. What if we had over two-hundred accounts of the life of Christ to wade through and try to recognize the true from the false?

We could do this because the principles of Canonicity the church used to recognize the canon are resident in the Scriptures themselves.

B. Turn in your Bibles to Galatians 1:1, 11-12. Paul is asserting that His message came to him directly from God not from man. The message of his opponents came from man and not God.

1. The first principle of recognizing a book as inspired is was the book written by an apostle or prophet of God or an approved associate of an apostle or prophet?

Turn in your Bibles to 2 Cor. 12:12, and Hebrews 2:3-4. The writers of Scripture were confirmed by miracles. They did only the things God can do. So why did God give these abilities to the lives of the early church?

Was it because God wanted everyone to be healed?

Did God want to prove His power to the world?

Should all evangelism  come with this power today?

2. No the second principle of recognizing a book as inspired is was the writer confirmed by the acts of God?

Turn in your Bibles to 2 Cor. 1:17-18; Hebrews 6:18; Deut. 13: 1-13. It is impossible for God to lie or be the author of untruth. It is impossible for God to contradict Himself by revealing one thing to one generation and something contradictory to another generation. It is impossible for God to lie or be the author of untruth.
3. The third principle is Does the writing tell the truth about God?

Turn in your Bibles to Hebrews 4:12; 2 Tim. 3:16-17, John  10:25-27. The word of God comes with the power of God in the hearts of His people. It is able to build them up in the true faith. Jesus’ sheep hear his voice. This is one of the most important principles. We know the word of God because we are of God, we are of His sheep
4. The fourth principle is does the writing come with the power of God?

Turn in your Bibles to Hebrews 4:12.


5. Was it received by the people of God.

Turn in your Bibles to Col. 4:16. 1 Thess. 2:13. Paul knew that his letter would be received by the church as the word of God and he instructed it to be shared with other churches.

III The Process of Canonization. The process of Canonization for the NT took place from the writing of the first NT book (the book of James) at approximately 45 AD to the year 405 AD. The first authoritative list was Athanasius Easter letter in 367 AD which contained all 27 books that are contain in the NT.

A. During the process of Canonization, by applying the principles of Canonization resident in the text of Scripture four groups of books were identified:

1. Homologoumena: Books accepted by all. twenty of the twenty-seven books fall into this catagory.

2. Antelegomena: Books disputed by some. These were seven in number

a. Hebrews: Authorship
b. James: Theological issues in harmonizing with Paul’s writings on justification by faith
c. 2 Peter: Internal styling differences with 1 Peter.
d. 2, 3 John: Author identifies himself as an “Elder” not apostle these books had limited circulation and did not enjoy wide acceptance
e. Jude: Because in vv14-15 he quotes from and OT pseudopigraphical book of Enoch
f. Revelation: Because of the doctrine of chiliasm which by this time was rejected by the church though it had been held  by the church for three centuries before.
3. Psudopigrapha: Books rejected by all:

Gospel of Peter
Gospel of Thomas
Gospel of the Ebioites
Protoevangelism of James
Gospel to the Hebrews
And over 150 more!
4. Apocrypha: Books accepted by some: These were useful books that for a time were accepted in the canon for a limited time by some but were ultimately rejected:

1. Epistle of Psudo-Barnabas
2. 1 Clement to the Cornthians
3. 2 Clement
4. Shepherd of Hermes
5. Didiche
6. Apocalypse of Peter
7. The Acts of Paul and Thecla
8. The Epistle of Paul to the Laodicieans
9. Gospel according to the Hebrews
10. Epistle of Polycarp
11. The seven epistles of Ignatius

Basic Theology Part II

Basic Theology Part II

Bibliology

God has revealed Himself in the context of general revelation. In General revelation we learn God is all powerful, intelligent, holy, loving, merciful, and a being who has a plan. But such revelation is indirect. That is, this information is much like understanding something of the character of an artist from a sculpture. It is true we can learn a great deal about an artist by examining his or her art. But to actually know the artist as a person, we must have direct contact with him or her. In order to know the artist you must enter into a direct relationship with that person. General revelation shows God as the master artist. It proves his existence, some of His attributes, and to some degree His plan. But in order to know Him we must have a personal relationship with Him. We must have information communicated directly from Him to us. This is special revelation. Special revelation is the information about God that God communicated directly to man by supernatural means. 

I. The Scriptures: Proof the Scriptures are The Word of God

    A. The A Priori Argument: A Priori means that which comes before. In definition it means going from a known or assumed cause to its necessary effects. In this case it means God being what He is, and man being what he is, we assume that God will reveal Himself to mankind. We further expect this revelation to be a reliable and infallible source of divine truth. 

    It would make no sense for God to create man in His own image, with the capacity to communicate. For God to disclose the information about Himself that is resident in general revelation, and then to abscond and refrain from communicating Himself to man. An all powerful, intelligent, loving, merciful and holy Creator (all of which is shown in general revelation) will surly reveal Himself and His will directly to man.

    The fact however, that it is reasonable to expect the Creator to communicate Himself to mankind is not lost on the those steeped in the false religions of mankind. There are ever competing holy books: The Upanishads of Hinduism, the Koran of Islam, the teachings of the Buddha, The book of Mormon. 

    B. The Congruity of the Scriptures: If we were to pass around a one sentence story around this room to each person, what are the chances of the story being the same when it got back to me? Not real good. But not so with the Bible. The Scriptures have not changed in their entire history. The text of Scripture has not changed in its transmission to us in its 4500 year history. It is one book with one story that has never changed.

    C. The Bible as a book in history: When we judge the truthfulness and veracity of books in history there are usually two tests. Assuming there are no original copies the test are: How many copies of the book in its original language exist? And what is the time interval between the time of writing of the original and the earliest extant copy?

        1. By comparison to another early document Homer's Illiad is an ancient document in Greek (the same language as the N.T.). There are roughly 600 copies extant today. 

        2. The earliest copy is dated at least 1000 years after the original.

        3. But we possess over 5000 copies of the N.T. in Koine Greek.

        4. The earliest extant copy is the John Ryland's papyrus fragment dated around 125 AD. About thirty years after the original writing.

    This makes the N.T. the best attested to document in all of ancient history.

    D. The argument from fulfilled prophecy:

        1. In Ezekiel 26:3 God says "therefore thus says the Lord GOD, 'Behold, I am against you, O Tyre, and I will bring up many nations against you, as the sea brings up its waves." About 5 to 10 years after the prophecy Nebudchadnezzer came up against Tyre. The people of Tyre escaped to an island just off its coast so as to avoid being destroyed by the the enemy. God then goes on to say "They will destroy the walls of Tyre and break down her towers; and I will scrape her debris from her and make her a bare rock. She will be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea, for I have spoken,' declares the Lord GOD, 'and she will become spoil for the nations." vv. 4-5. In 332 BC Alexander the Great laid siege to the city of Tyre. Once again the residents tried to escape to the island off the coast as they had done previously. But this made Alexander angry. So he ordered his men to scrape the stones and debris of the city (just as the prophecy foretold) to make a causeway out to the island where he killed all the people of the city with the edge of the sword. Do you know what you will find if you go to the site of the ancient city of Tyre today? You will find a fishing village. It has literally become a place for the spreading of nets just as God said it would three hundred years beforehand. 

        2. On the day Jesus was crucified alone, on that single day He fulfilled over 33 O.T. prophecies...The state of Texas filled with silver dollars, just one with a red x, the chances that one man fulfilled all those prophecies by chance is the same as if you were blindfolded and on the very first try you chose the silver dollar with the red x.

    Fulfilled prophecy shows that the Bible is the one and only book that is the revelation of God. It shows that all competing books claiming the same are simply false.

    

   E.  Lets review: General revelation (information about God that He has revealed in nature, conscience, and history) proves God exists and is: All powerful, intelligent, loving, merciful, holy, and One who has a plan for humanity. It also leads us to expect that He will reveal Himself directly to us by means of special revelation. 

    Special revelation is the information about God that God communicated directly to man by supernatural means. The Scriptures are the special revelation of God to mankind and can be proved to be such by the above given proofs. 

    Since this is true mankind is under obligation to believe the truth of God's revealed word and adjust their lives accordingly, which is that very thing that they do not want or will not do "For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed." John 3:20.

II. Special Revelation

    1. Special revelation is the information about God that God communicated directly to man by supernatural means. Turn in your Bibles to Hebrews 1:1. How did God speak to the ancient Jewish fathers?

        - In various portions and ways.

       A.  God's means of special revelation:

    

            I. Theophanies: Theophanies are God manifestations These are supernatural and direct visions of God as opposed to natural revelation of God, they are given at a certain place in the history of God's people and often address a particular need of God's people, they are a partial and not full revelation of God's glory. 

                a. Isaiah 6

    

                b. Ezekiel 1

    

                c. Revelation 4: 1-4; 5:5-7

            II. Direct Communication: Face to face, voice communication

                

                a. 1 Sam. 3:1-10

                b. Exodus 33:11

            III. Dreams and Visions: 

                a. Daniel 2: 1-2; 31-35

                

                b. This revelation can be rejected Dan 3:

            IV. Prophetic Visions (Using prophetic language):

                a. Daniel 7 compared with Revelation 13

            V Incarnation: At a given point in time the Second Person of the blessed Trinity took to Himself a full human nature Hebrews 1:2; John 1:1, 14, Phip. 2: 5-11. The gospels reveal Christ as God in much the same way the O.T. theophanies do:

            I. Matthew 14: 15-21: When the disciples of Jesus do not have enough resources to meet the needs of God's people they need to bring those resources to Jesus and He will multiply those resources so that they are more than enough to meet the need.

            II. Mark 6:45-52: Jesus sends His disciples into the storm to show them that the Christian life is not a stormless life, but in the midst of the storm He will see them straining in the struggle and will come to them transcending and conquring the storm. If they then, in the midst of the storm, invite them into the ship of their lives, He will cause life's storm to cease and see them safely to the other side.

            III Mark 1:21-26 Jesus has come to overthrow, dis-place, and conquer the kingdom of darkness and replace it with the Kingdom of God.

III. Inspiration

    A. What is the means of God's special revelation today?

       I. The Bible.

    B. How did God give us the Bible? By means of inspiration. What is inspiration? 

 

    C. Inspiration means the Holy Spirit so guided and controlled the human authors of Scripture, using their own individual personalities and styles, that they wrote all He wanted them to write without excess or error.

    I. II Tim. 3:16-17: All Scripture is given by inspiration of God.

    II. II Peter 1:20: The human authors were "born along" by the Holy Spirit. The word indicates a stick from a tree being carried by a river

    III. Matt. 5:17-19: The smallest letter in Hebrew is the yod, the smallest stroke is a pin stroke used to distinguish between letters. Jesus here says that inspiration extends to the words of Scripture, even the choice of words and letters.

    D. Wrong theories of inspiration:

    

     I. Naturalistic Theory: The Bible is merely a human writing with no supernatural element at all. It is full of errors and contradictions.

        Problem: This theory does not account for the miraculous preservation or supernatural character of the Bible, nor does it account for the phenomena of fulfilled prophecy.

    II. Intuition Theory: The writers of Scripture had a higher degree of natural insight that all men possess to some degree. This means the Scriptures are to be classed along with other great religious works, the Koran, the Vedas, and literary works like those of Shakespeare. 

        Problem: This is contrary to the claims of Scripture which assert that Scripture alone is God's word in contrast to the works of men and it makes Scripture simply another work of many. Lends to syncratism. 

    III. Illumination Theory: The writers of Scripture had an elevation of the religious perceptions common to all Christians. They were illuminated by the Holy Spirit to understand and record religious truth.

        Problem: This theory confuses the illuminating work of the Holy Spirit which is His work in helping believer understand the word, with inspiration which is His work of recording God's revelation.

    IV.  Partial Theory: The writers of Scripture were inspired to the point that they were able to record those portions of the Bible that had to do with religious and spiritual truth. The rest of what they wrote is subject to error.

        Problem: Who gets to  decide what is inspired and authoritative? Men do. So they will naturally eliminate the parts  they don't like.

    V. Thought or concept Theory: Only the thoughts or concepts of scripture are inspired not the words. God gave the authors His message but left it to them to express this message in their own words.

        Problem: Yes the concepts are inspired. But so are the words. This is the teaching of Christ and the apostles. This also allows for a Bible that is full of errors and contradictions, and for men to simply pick and choose the messages they want to learn from Scripture and reject the rest.

    VI. Dictation: God dictated the Bible. The writers were simply his secretaries.

        Problem: This does not account for the differences in style and personalities of the authors in Scripture.

        

                

       

    

    

Basic Theology Part I

Basic Theology Part I

Theism/General Revelation

Lesson I

Introduction to Theology

    

    Theology comes from two Greek words "Theos" meaning God and "logos" meaning word. Theology is therefore words about God. In the Revelation of John God says  "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God,"who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty." Paul testifies of Christ "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together." Col. 1:15-17. 

    We, as a race, are in desperate need for words about God. Most of humanity spend their entire lives in willful ignorance of God and active disobedience to His person and His will. The apostle Paul said of the Gentiles "For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures." Romans 1:21-23.

    Theology is the study and science of God. It is the highest pursuit of the believer because it has as its aim the revelation of God and His will for our lives.

    There are four basic divisions of Theology:

        A. Exegetical Theology: Exegetical Theology is the direct study of the biblical text. This is the privilege and responsibility of each believer. Believers must study the Bible using the correct method of interpretation so that they can properly understand what God is telling them. "Exegesis" is a fancy term that simply means "to draw out the meaning" of the Biblical text instead of reading into the text a meaning that is foregin to it. The goal is to understand the message that God is communicating directly to them through each text. It is so believers can say with Samuel "Speak Lord, for your servant is listening." I have taught on exegetical theology before in my class in interpretation and will do so again.

        B. Historical Theology: Thiessen says "Historical Theology traces the history of God's people in the Bible and of the church since the time of Christ. It deals with the origin, development, and spread of the true religion..." p. 20.

        C. Systematic Theology: Systematic Theology is the truths of the Scriptures gleaned from exegetical theology arranged systematically and logically according to the great headings of theological study. Biblology is the study of what? The Scriptures. Christology is the study of? Christ. Pneumatology is the study of? The Holy Spirit. Harmatiology is the study of? Sin. Angelology is the study of? Angels. Soteriology is the study of? Salvation. We will be studying each of these subjects in detail as we progress through the course. 

        D. Practical Theology: This is truly the goal of all theology, and that being to affect the life of the believer unto sanctification. So that we can daily be conformed to the image of His Son! Practical Theology takes the fruits of the other divisions of theology and teaches the believer to apply those truths to his or her life so that sin is conquered and Christ is exalted and glorified.

Theism

    Thesim means generally the belief in a God, or gods, or supernatural power or powers. Christians are theists by this definition because we believe in God. In his book Lectures on Systematic Theology Thiessen gives four senses in which used:

    

    1. The belief in a supernatural power or supernatural powers, in a spiritual agent or agents, in one or many Gods.

    2. The belief in but one God, whether personal or impersonal, whether at present active in the universe or not.

    3. The belief in a personal God who is both transcendent and immanent and exists as but a single person. This is the view of modern Judaism, Islam, and Unitarian Christians.

    4. The belief in but one God, who is both immanent and transcendent, who exists eternally as three distinct Persons; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This is Christian Theism.

The Revelation of God

    How does man know that God exists? If we are to know that God exists we must have some information about Him. Take the proverbial tribal people in a distant land who have never heard the gospel. Do they have information about God? What information do they have about God? Turn in your Bibles to Romans 1:18-23. Someone else turn to Psalm 19:1-6.

    What is the source of the information about God in these verses? Nature. What information does it reveal about God?

        1. It reveals that God is powerful. Look at the sky at night, behold the stars. Look at the sun during the day, enjoy its warmth and light. Look at the power of nature. These teach us of an almighty Creator who is the pantokratos, the over all ruler.

        2. It reveals that God is an intelligent being. That there is purpose and design in His creation. It implies strongly that He has but one plan for His creation.

        3. It reveals that God good, benevolent, and kind. Paul said of God to the Gentiles "and yet He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good and gave you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness." Acts 14:17.

        4. It teaches that there is but one God because there can be but one almighty and all powerful One.

     

    What can this information not do. It cannot save. If a distant tribe accepts the information of God revealed in nature, it cannot save them. To be saved you must believe the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is God's special revelation in the Scriptures. It is only through special revelation that man can be saved. It will however prompt them to seek further revelation of God.

    This is your first step in becoming mature Christians and theologians. What I mean by that is that you lay aside sentimental devotional theology. Sentimental devotional theology will want to believe everyone, including distant tribes in unreached people groups can be saved via general revelation, that they don't need the gospel. God will save them and people like Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus based upon the "light they have" and that God would not condemn these billions to hell. 

    The first step to becoming a mature Christian is to set such devotional ideas aside and examine What the Bible actually says. Jesus said "I am the way the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father but by Me." John 14:6. Peter said "And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved." Acts 4:12. It means that men must believe the truth about Jesus in order to be saved. We must leave the judgement of the distant tribes to God but continue to insist that unless they hear and believe the gospel they cannot be saved.

Turn in your Bibles Romans 2:14-15.

    What is the source of information about God in these verses? Conscience. Conscience means knowledge together with. It is knowledge of self with regard to a given standard of behavior, of right and wrong. Conscience is an aspect of the image of God in man. It sets us apart from the animals and the rest of creation. It is not something that's origins in our development, though it is trained by parents. It is not a result of our culture, though it can be negatively affected by culture. It is a revelation of God in the soul.

    The activities of conscience are commendation for right behavior and accusation and guilt for wrong behavior

    What information about God do we gain from conscience?

    1. That God has standards of behavior for mankind. That right and wrong do exist and that there is joy in doing right and punishment for doing wrong. No animal feels guilt when it does something we would consider wrong. But man does! Because man is created in the image and likeness of God.

    2. That mankind both personally and corporately violate the standards of behavior and are therefore guilty and deserve punishment from God.

    3. That God is holy. Only a holy God would give such a standard in the heart of man.

   Again, what can this information not do? It cannot save. It informs man that God has a standard for human behavior and that man fall short and is liable to punishment. It tells man that God is holy and that man is unholy, but it cannot save his soul. It leaves man with no excuse for his sin.

Turn in your Bibles to Joshua 2:6-13. What is the source of Rahab's information? History. Word of the works of God among the children of Israel had reached the citizens of Jericho. What information about God did Rahab learn from God's revelation among the children of Israel

    1. That God has a plan for people.

    

    2. That God has a people that are uniquely His.

    3. That the God of Israel is a God of judgement and a God of mercy.

    Again, what can this information not do? It cannot save. It informs men that God has a plan for humanity, that he has a people that are uniquely His, and that He is a God of judgement and mercy, but it does not nor can it bring men into a personal relationship with God.

Examples:

    1. Biblical Example: Turn in your Bibles to Acts 10:1-48. Cornelius was a Gentile who basically had general revelation about God. He had been exposed to God's people and heard their history, much as Rahab had. The only difference is we know the source of his information from the Jews living in his midst. He began to pray to the God of Israel. What was God's response?

        A. He sent an angel who witnessed the gospel to him. No, an Angel to instruct him to find someone who would share the gospel with him

        B. Peter comes, shares the gospel, and Cornelius and those Gentiles in the house were saved.

        C. The lesson we learn when people respond positively to General revelation God will find a way, through humans beings to share the gospel with them so they can be saved.

2. Missionary Example: There was a tribe in a distant land who received missionaries for the first time. This tribe had never encountered anyone from the outside world before. The missionaries upon entering the village noticed that each family had their own hut as a home. But curiously there was an empty hut. They found that it had been built long ago. After the tribe found that these people were there to tell them about God they were invited into this hut. After a time of learning the language the missionaries asked the chief why they had built the empty hut. He said that it was for the people who would come and tell them about the one true God. Yes this is a people who had responded positively to general revelation and were ready to hear the gospel. In time the whole of the people accepted the gospel and were saved.

3. But we should not expect this to be the norm. Most people in the lands that have the gospel will not be saved. "Straight is the gate and narrow is the way that leads to life, and few there be that find it." And most people in distant lands will not be saved.

    General Revelation is the information about God that He has disclosed to us in nature, conscience, and history. It leaves man with no excuse for his sin because it reveals God's eternal power, His divine glory. It reveals that He is intelligent and benevolent Creator who is holy, just and a God who has a plan for humanity, and for those who He has chosen to be His own. 

    It cannot save, but it ought to become the motivator to move men to desire a greater and more perfect revelation of God. 

Arguments for the Existence of God:

1. Cosmological Argument: Everything that exist must have an adequate cause. The universe exists and therefore must have an adequate cause. The only adequate cause for the universe, life, and man is God. Hebrews 3:4.

2. Teleological Argument: The universe is characterized by order, design, and complexity. From all that we know order design, and complexity are only the result of intelligent beings. Psalm 19, etc.

3. The Ontological Argument: Mankind intuitively has the idea of God. That idea is greater than mankind itself and therefore could not have originated with man himself, and it must therefore have come from God. C.S. Lewis said in effect "If there is no God, I should have never come to know that there is no God. Since I know that there is no God, God must therefore exist. Because the very idea of God exists in my mind."

4. The Moral Argument: Every person has a conscience a knowledge of self with respect to a given moral standard. This moral standard resident in the heart of man is universal in all men everywhere. It is a sense of moral obligation and duty and a sense of guilt and accusation when violated. (Romans 2:14-16). This proves the existence of God.

5. The Argument from Congruity: The postulate that best explains the facts is probably true. The postulate that best explains the universe, man, and life is God as Creator. The chance that all of creation just arose by pure chance is scientifically and statistically impossible.

    

Great News Alert!

Brandon Yost's cancer numbers are looking much better and he is feeling much better! Praise the Lord!

Below are the marriage situations we have been discussing in class. Please look them over, talk between yourselves and families. Feel free to click "comment" to add comments or ask questions.

Jim and Nancy divorce

Jim and Nancy

 

 

              Jim and Nancy have been married for 5 years. Jim and Nancy were both non-Christians when they were married. Since their marriage Jim has become a believer, but Nancy has not. Jim loves Nancy and wants her to become a believer with all his heart. He has suggested Bible study together, but she has politely declined. Jim has started attending our church. He has put Nancy on the prayer chain asking us to pray for her salvation.

              As time passes Jim becomes more and more involved with church and less and less involved with Nancy. They grow distant because Jim is interested in the things of God, and Nancy is not. Nancy still wants to be married to Jim, but the relationship becomes extremely difficult.

              Jim confides in you that he feels as if he has been spiritually abandoned by Nancy and believes that per 1 Cor. 7:8-16 he believes that he has cause for divorce. He will continue to pray for Nancy and says he will reconcile the day she becomes a believer.

 

 

1. Based upon 1 Cor. 7:8-16 what would your advice to Jim be?

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. Is there anything you would suggest to Jim with regards to reaching out to his wife with the gospel?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. Does Jim have biblical cause to divorce his wife? If so, why, if not, why not?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4. How should the church try to help people in situations like Jim's? Is there anything our church should be doing for both Jim and Nancy?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jennifer and Tom Divorce

Jennifer and Tom

 

 

              Jennifer and Tom have been married for ten years. Two years ago, Tom lost his job and was forced to make a career change. This became an extreme source of stress for Tom.  Jennifer noticed a definite change in Tom. He has stopped attending church. Over the next year, he started verbally and emotionally abusing both Jennifer and their two children. He never spends time with his kids. And when he does he yells at them and calls them “stupid kids.” Tom’s attitude towards Jennifer is worse. He tries to control everything she does. Each time she goes to shopping he always criticizes how much she spends. She told Tom she would try to get job to try to take the stress of Tom but Tom said that was the stupidest idea he had ever heard. He yelled at her and said “I make the money around here and I always will.”

              Six months ago Jennifer had enough. She separated from Tom and began living with her Mom and Dad in Marysville. She started attending our church. While at church, she met a wonderful Christian man, Jim. He is everything Tom is not. He is considerate. He loves the kids and spending time with them. He treats Jennifer like a Queen.

              Jennifer confides in you that she and this new beau are considering a life together and that she is thinking about divorcing Tom.

 

 

1.    Based upon Matthew 19:3-10; Mark 10: 2-9; Luke 16:18; and 1 Cor. 7:8-16 does Jennifer have biblical cause to divorce Tom? If so why, if not, why not?

 

 

 

 

 

 

2.    Jennifer is sure that the course she has chosen is God’s will since Jim is such a godly man. They pray together each night. He has begun a Bible study with her kids, something Tom has never done. What would your advice to Jennifer be about Jim?

 

 

 

 

3.    How has the church failed in the case of Jennifer and Tom? What actions could the church have taken to avoid the situation that now exists?

 

 

 

 

4.    What would your advice to Jennifer be about the possibility of divorcing Tom?