The Book of Genesis is the first book of the Bible. Placed at the opening of the Hebrew Scriptures, Genesis is the first of the five books of Moses, known as the Pentateuch. Genesis is the book of beginnings. Genesis describes such important beginnings as the Creation, the fall of man, and the early years of the nation of Israel. The beginning of salvation history, the story of God and man, sin and grace, wrath and mercy, covenant and redemption also begins in the Book of Genesis. The Book of Genesis may conveniently be divided into four major parts: (1} the Creation and the early days of mankind, (2} the story of Abraham and Isaac, (3} the story of Jacob and Esau, and (4} the story of Joseph and his brothers. The first major part of the Book…
The prophetic book takes its name after the prophet who received the vision. The name Obadiah means “servant of the LORD”. It is the smallest book in the Old Testament. There is no information about the author. Sanhedrin 39b (Talmud) said Obadiah was Ahab’s servant. Pseudo-Epiphanius said he was King Ahaziah’s military official (thus the book must have been written in 842 B.C.). John Calvin said he could have been an eyewitness to the destruction of Jerusalem which suggests that the book must…
Author: Paul is clearly the author of the book of Romans as it is stated in Romans 1:1 that he is the author of this book. Before Paul’s salvation, he was known as a great persecutor of the Christians the evidence of this would be in Acts 7:58, Acts 8:1, Acts 9:1-2, and Philippians 3:5-6 all of this scripture furthers the truth that Paul was known for being a persecutor of Christians at this time in his life. His salvation came at the Damascus Road in Acts 9 where his name changed from Saul to…
Total Depravity A God. A man. A woman. A fruit. A choice. A separation. A disease. One of the most widely known stories of the Bible is of Adam and Eve. It is the story of creation by God who gave Adam and Eve a single rule-- don’t eat the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. However, they do anyway. This cataclysmic event triggered the end of life as they knew and would change the future for all of us. Sin was released upon the earth like ink spilled over a white paper. This…
Hi everyone, This was an interesting topic. There is tons of information in the Bible, as well as in commentaries. There wasn’t that much in our text book that pertained to this passage of reading, Romans 14 – 15:13. The only thing Gundry (2012 p. 444) had to say on this topic of weak versus strong Christians was, “Paul indicates that believers must allow one another freedom to differ on ritual questions so long as damage is not done to weaker, uninformed people.” You can say that in a…
The book of Ecclesiastes is somewhat an anomaly in the Bible. It focuses more on philosophy compared other books, but nonetheless still has a continuing focus on serving God. The work considers the meaning of life and how one is to go about living it. The author of Ecclesiastes is traditionally thought to be King Solomon, due to the references to being king in Jerusalem and son of David, and having great wealth and numerous written works (Bullock 183-85; Ehrman 203). Women are discussed in a…
There are many different views on whether the biblical book of Romans accurately displays an accurate display of the gospel through the use of the “Roman Road” dialog. The Roman Road utilizes specific scriptures throughout the book and lays the foundation for the non-believer to get a glimpse of our sin and God’s grace and forgiveness. The method starts by declaring humans are sinful people, Romans 3:10 “as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one;” Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and…
The Book of Revelation is the last book of the Bible, and one that has been the topic of many debates over the years. Revelation is the prophetic book written by John the Apostle around A.D. 95, while he was exiled to the island of Patmos. The purpose of this book was to encourage Christians to remain faithful while we wait for Christ's return and to offer hope that we have the victory in the end. The key themes of this book include Christ's return, the faithfulness of Christians, God's…
The book of Matthew portrays Jesus as the promised Jewish Messiah and the fulfillment of Old Testament hopes and prophesies. For example, Matthew 1:1 states, “This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son Abraham.” From the beginning, Matthew writes to a Jewish audience and clearly states his purpose to depicts Jesus as the King of the Jews. He continues on to describe Jesus’ entire Jewish genealogy, which clearly portrays Jesus as Christ of the Jews. Additionally, in…
whale for God’s purpose. He was being punished for not being aligned with God’s plans. The sea would play a role because it stored the beast that saves Jonah. It is miraculous and that is what makes it so memorable. How would you describe your relationship to Jonah I see Jonah as I see the rest of the Bible’s books as sacred text that goes along with the whole history of humanity. I can honestly say I have overlooked the prophets and have stayed primarily in the New Testament or the…