Whats Inside

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Whats Inside?

• Week 2

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Course structure

• Week 1 (Thu 10 May) Whats insidethe Bible?
• Week 2 (Thu 17 May) Righteousness and Sin
• Week 3 (Thu 24 May) The Old and New Testaments
• Whitsun break (Thu 31 May)
• Week 4 (Thu 7 June) Introducing Jesus Christ
• Week 5 (Thu 14 June) The Kingdom of God
• Week 6 (Thu 21 June) What does God want from us?

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Whats Inside Week 2

• How to Read the Bible
• Righteousness and Sin
• The Bible Interprets itself

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How to read the bible
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How to read the Bible

• Worthwhile Why?
• And we have the word of the prophets made more
  certain and you will do well to pay attention to
  it, as to a light that shining in a dark place,
  until the day dawns and the morning star rises in
  your hearts Above all, you must understand that
  no prophecy of Scripture came about by the
  prophets own interpretation. For prophecy never
  had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke
  from God spoke as they carried along by the Holy
  Spirit.
• 2 Peter 1 19-21

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Tips on Reading the Bible

• - Follow the Steps
• Step 1 ask yourself what you want to achieve
• Step 2 find your way there
• Step 3 what to do when you get there
• Step 4 take some things away with you

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Tips on Reading the Bible

• - Step 1 decide what you want to do
• learn about a character
• find out what the Bible says about a subject e.g.
  salvation
• reading for comfort, hope
• a daily pastime or routine

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Tips on Reading the Bible

• - Step 2 find your way there
• in order of effectiveness
• the index
• use a Bible dictionary and/or Commentary
• use a Bible Concordance
• continued use

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Tips on Reading the Bible

• - Step 3 what to do when you get there
• start with a prayer
• read it slowly and carefully
• compare different versions for the same text
• ask lots of questions

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Tips on Reading the Bible

• Step 4 take something away with you
• make a note of
• - basic facts, names, places, background
• - difficult words
• - recurring words
• - unresolved questions
• - discoveries

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Bible Versions
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Bible Versions

• Versions Translations
• The Bible was written in which languages?
• So it needs translating
• What ways can you go about translating a
  complicated and ancient book like the Bible?

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Versions of the Bible

• Word-for-word" translations.
• These are translations where each original word
  is translated as accurately as possible into
  English.
• Bibles of this type are-
• The Authorised Version (also called the King
  James Version)
• The Revised Version
• The Revised Standard Version
• The New King James Version
• The American Standard Version

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Versions of the Bible

• "Phrase-for-phrase" translations.
• These are translations where the principle of
  "dynamic equivalence" is used in translation.
  This means that the translators put difficult
  phrases into modern English in an attempt to give
  what the translators believe is the meaning of
  such phrases.
• Bibles of this type are-
• The New English Bible
• The New International Version (of which there are
  four versions)
• The New Revised Standard Version
• The New American Standard Version
• The Revised English Bible

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Versions of the Bible

• Paraphrase translations.
• These are versions where the principle of
  "dynamic equivalence" has been carried a stage
  further from the "phrase-for-phrase" versions.
  They make very easy reading, but they are most
  likely to reflect the biases and opinions of
  their translators
• Examples of paraphrase versions are-
• The Living Bible
• The Message Bible
• J.B. Phillips (Minor Prophets and New Testament)

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Youngs Literal Translation

• 1In the beginning of God's preparing the heavens
  and the earth --
•  2the earth hath existed waste and void, and
  darkness is on the face of the deep, and the
  Spirit of God fluttering on the face of the
  waters,
•  3and God saith, Let light be' and light is.
•  4And God seeth the light that it is good, and
  God separateth between the light and the
  darkness,
•  5and God calleth to the light Day,' and to the
  darkness He hath called Night' and there is an
  evening, and there is a morning -- day one.

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New International Version

• 1 In the beginning God created the heavens and
  the earth.  2 Now the earth was formless and
  empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep,
  and the Spirit of God was hovering over the
  waters.
•  3 And God said, "Let there be light," and there
  was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and
  He separated the light from the darkness. 5 God
  called the light "day," and the darkness he
  called "night." And there was evening, and there
  was morningthe first day.

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The Message Bible

• 1First this God created the Heavens and
  Earth--all you see, all you don't see. 2Earth was
  a soup of nothingness, a bottomless emptiness, an
  inky blackness. God's Spirit brooded like a bird
  above the watery abyss.3God spoke "Light!"And
  light appeared.4God saw that light was goodand
  separated light from dark.5God named the light
  Day,he named the dark Night.It was evening, it
  was morning--Day One.

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Bias in translation?

• 7For there are three that bear record in heaven,
  the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost and
  these three are one. 8And there are three that
  bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water,
  and the blood and these three agree in one.. 1
  John 57 (AV)
• 7For there are three that testify 8the Spirit,
  the water and the blood and the three are in
  agreement. 1 John 57 (NIV)
• Late manuscripts of the Vulgate testify in
  heaven the Father, the Word and the Holy Spirit,
  and these three are one. 8 And there are three
  that testify on earth the (not found in any
  Greek manuscript before the sixteenth century)
  (NIV Translators note)

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Bias in translation?

• No man hath seen God at any time, the only
  begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the
  Father, he hath declared him. John 118 (AV)
• No one has ever seen God, but God the One and
  Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him
  known. John 118 (NIV)
• What led the NIV translators to choose such a
  radically different translation to the AV
  translators?

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Versions of the Bible

• Which is the best version?
• All have their strengths and weaknesses
• More literal versions are less prone to
  translators imposing their own religious views
• But literal versions sometimes obscure the true
  meaning
• The Best Bible Version is the one that you read
  regularly!

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Righteousness and Sin

• What is righteousness?
• What is Sin?
• What is the Devil?
• Am I a sinner?
• What are the consequences of righteousness/sin?

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What is righteousness?

• Two meanings
• General ethical and moral uprightness and
  goodness
• Hear, O LORD, my righteous plea        listen
  to my cry.        Give ear to my prayer      
  it does not rise from deceitful lips. Psalm 171
• Are we righteous like this?

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What is righteousness?

• Being truly right in Gods eyes - being perfect
  in the way He is perfect
• Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is
  perfect. Matthew 548
• Do you think this is possible without help?
• O LORD, hear my prayer, listen to my cry for
  mercy in your faithfulness and righteousness
  come to my relief.   Do not bring your servant
  into judgment, for no one living is righteous
  before you. Psalm 1431-2

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Righteousness a gift from God

• God can make ordinary people have this kind of
  righteousness as his gift
• the man who ... trusts God who justifies the
  wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness.
  David says the same thing when he speaks of the
  blessedness of the man to whom God credits
  righteousness ...  "Blessed are they   whose
  transgressions are forgiven,   whose sins are
  covered.   Blessed is the man    whose sin the
  Lord will never count against him Romans 45-9
• Well come back to this later

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What is Sin?

• Sin is disobedience to God
• Being sinful means being full of disobedience
• Why God hates sin when we choose to disobey him
• we reject what he stands fortruth, love,
  patience, justice, faithfulness, mercy and so on
• by sinning we are rejecting God himself
• See Romans 858

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Types of Sin

• Defiant sin
• Anyone who sins defiantly . . . blasphemes the
  LORD, and that person must be cut off from his
  people. (Numbers 1530)
• Deliberate sin
• The acts of the sinful nature are obvious sexual
  immorality, impurity and debauchery idolatry and
  witchcraft hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of
  rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and
  envy drunkenness, orgies, and the like.
  (Galatians 51921)

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Types of Sin

• Unintentional sin
• If a member of the community sins unintentionally
  and does what is forbidden in any of the LORDs
  commands, he is guilty. When he is made aware of
  the sin he committed . . . (Leviticus 42728)
• Sins of omission
• Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do
  and doesnt do it, sins. (James 417)

Do we ever sin in any of these ways?
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Am I a sinner?

• How did you answer the question on the previous
  slide?
• What does the Bible say?
• for all have sinned and fall short of the glory
  of God Romans 323
• There is not a righteous man on earth  who does
  what is right and never sins. Ecc 720

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Why am I a sinner?

• ...sin entered the world through one man, and
  death through sin, and in this way death came to
  all men, because all sinned Romans 512
• The Bible story of Adam and Eve is a story of
  free choice and its consequences.

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Why am I a sinner?

• 9 But the LORD God called to the man, "Where are
  you?"
•  10 He answered, "I heard you in the garden, and
  I was afraid because I was naked so I hid."
•  11 And he said, "Who told you that you were
  naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I
  commanded you not to eat from?"
•  12 The man said, "The woman you put here with
  meshe gave me some fruit from the tree, and I
  ate it."
•  13 Then the LORD God said to the woman, "What is
  this you have done?"       The woman said, "The
  serpent deceived me, and I ate." Genesis 3
• Does free choice always lead to sin?
• In human beings it eventually always seems to

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Why am I a sinner?

• Adam is used as a Type of all humans
• He was punished
• By the sweat of your brow        you will eat
  your food        until you return to the ground,
         since from it you were taken        for
  dust you are        and to dust you will return.
  Genesis 3
• All people inherit death as a consequence of
  Adams sin
• But all people who live long enough earn the same
  punishment themselves
• death came to all men, because all sinned

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Who or What is the Devil (or Satan)?

• In any consideration of Sin, the Devil always
  seems to rear his ugly head (the picture is a
  13th Century Manuscript illumination)
• Popular ideas about the Devil and Satan are
  surprisingly difficult to find support for in the
  Bible
• The words translated devil and Satan have
  slightly different meanings in the Old and New
  Testaments

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Who or What is the Devil (or Satan)?Old
Testament

• A snake?
• A fallen angel?
• In the Old Testament the Hebrew word satan is
  used. It means adversary, and is used of men,
  angels and God Himself. Sometimes it is
  translated as adversary or similar and
  sometimes it isnt translated and is used as a
  name Satan
• In the Old Testament, Satan just means
  Adversary.

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Who or What is the Devil (or Satan)?New Testament

• Satan - A Chaldean word carried across to Hebrew
  and Greek literally an opponent, adversary,
  hater or accuser. The same original word is
  translated "adversary" or transliterated "satan"
  in different Bible passages. (Matt1623)
• Devil The Greek words daimon and daimonion are
  translated "devil" in the King James Version.
  These words are translated "demon" in most modern
  translations. This is the word used to describe
  the state of people who have what we would now
  recognise as mental illness or neurological
  diseases such as epilepsy. (Luke 942)

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Who or What is the Devil (or Satan)?New Testament

• The other word translated "devil" in most
  translations of the New Testament is the Greek
  word diabolos. It is often used of people and it
  means "slanderer" or "false accuser". (John 670)
  (Titus 230)
• In many passages in the Bible the word diabolos
  or satan are used to symbolise all that is
  opposed to God people nations political
  systems (Rev 23)

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Who or What is the Devil (or Satan)?Personificati
on

• The Devil (and Satan) often is portrayed as
  though it were a real being
• This is a Bible idiom called personification
• Wisdom (Prov120)
• Folly (as a harlot - Prov711)
• The Devil / Satan
• The Holy Sprit (The Comforter - Jn1416)
• Jerusalem (Rev212)
• There is no place in the Bible where the
  personified Devil or Satan cannot be understood
  as a literal human, or nation, or angel, or even
  God (compare 2Sam241 and 1Chron211 same event
  who is Satan here?)

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What are the consequences of sin/righteousness

• Therefore, just as sin entered the world through
  one man, and death through sin, and in this way
  death came to all men, because all sinned Romans
  512
• Who was the man?
• Sin leads (directly and indirectly) to our deaths
• For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of
  God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our
  Lord. Romans 623

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What are the consequences of sin/righteousness

• But now a righteousness from God, apart from law,
  has been made known, to which the Law and the
  Prophets testify. This righteousness from God
  comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who
  believe. Romans 321-22
• ...those who receive God's abundant provision of
  grace and of the gift of righteousness will
  reign in life through the one man, Jesus
  Christ...so also grace might reign through
  righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus
  Christ our Lord. Romans 5
• Gods gift of total righteousness leads to
  eternal life
• A gift offered through Jesus

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the bible interprets itself
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The Bible Interprets itself

• It is vital to realise that the best approach to
  interpreting what the Bible has to say is to use
  the Bible itself to guide the interpretation
• The worksheet takes you to a range of Bible
  passages to explain this idea

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Week 3 The Old and New Testaments

• Tips on reading the Bible (2)
• Study tools (concordances, cross-references)
• The Old and New Testaments
• Why two testaments?
• The Promises of God
• The Law of Moses its purpose
• The Prophets
• The Gospel in the Old Testament
• Do I need saving?
• Defining saved and salvation
• Recap Am I a sinner?
• How can I please God?