Bible Study Lessons
The first three chapters of Genesis are theological dynamite. They were explosive in the ancient world and they are still explosive today. Genesis 1 Summary: God creates everything. There’s only one God, Creator of everything. Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (NIV). “The heavens and the earth” means … Read more
As I read through Colossians, I found myself fastened on the word mystery. Paul says God commissioned him to present “the word of God in its fullness—the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people” (Col. 1:25b-26, NIV). Prior to reading those words, I had … Read more
Updated November 2023 Divine violence in the Bible is a huge challenge. Here’s the problem in a nutshell. Christ—the perfect revelation of God—taught and practiced nonviolence, even to the point of allowing himself to be mocked, beaten, and killed. We don’t have a single example of Christ causing physical harm to another human being. And … Read more
Slavery is evil. It is wrong for one person to own another person. While people argue in favor of various moral issues, no one is arguing in favor of slavery. The issue is clear-cut: slavery is wrong. That brings up a problem for readers of the New Testament. Why is slavery mentioned in several places … Read more
There’s a lot of ways to summarize the Old Testament. Here’s one of my OT summaries: Divine Creation (Gen. 1-2) Human Rebellion (Gen. 3-11) Divine Judgment/Curse (Gen. 3-11) The Universal Blessing Begins: God’s Promise to Abraham (Gen. 12-25) The Universal Blessing Continues: The Story of Abraham’s Descendants (rest of OT) a. Israel’s Slavery, Freedom, and … Read more