Bible survey videos online

Bibledex

Bibledex is a project by the University of Nottingham's Department of Theology and Religious Studies in conjunction with video journalist Brady Haran.

The videos are by no means comprehensive - rather they're a curious assortment of academic insights into what is probably the most famous collection of books in history.

Brady, who is not a scholar, produces similar video projects about Chemistry andPhysics.

Filming with various biblical scholars and theological experts, he hopes the same "outsider's perspective" comes across in Bibledex.

http://www.bibledex.com/index.html

https://www.youtube.com/user/bibledex

The God Who Is There by DA Carson
This is a 14 part series taking you through the whole sweep in the bible.


The God Who Is There - Part 1. The God Who Made Everything from The Gospel Coalition on Vimeo.

There is a book and a study guide as well.

Skipping through the bible using books

A good book that will help us skip through the bible.

Try Route 66 by Krish Kandiah

Route 66 is book that helps you to discover how the 66 books of the Bible help us to know God and how to live for him. This book is a crash course in enjoying the breadth and depth of the Bible, packed full of practical help.http://krishk.com/route66/

48 lessons in a Bible study series

Firm Foundations is a Bible study series based on a unique missionary proven method centered on God's progressive revelation of His character and redemption plan...from Creation to Christ.

• Adult Series - the full featured 48 lesson Bible study with maps, charts, student workbook and digital presentations.
• Book studies in Acts, Ephesians, and Romans
• Secure in Christ
• Maps, Charts, Bible Pictures and Posters
• http://www.ntmbooks.com/firm_foundations

About skidding through the bible

These studies were first called "Bible Overview" and were written by two TSCF fresh graduates Esther Lim and Stevie Walker. They took a year out to do a TSCF internship programme affectionately called Mintern. This is really cool because TSCF students learn to:
lead small groups,
prepare bible studies,
lead studies and
then go on to write studies
at university, polytechnic and later elsewhere.

There are many ways to write a bible overview. Here is an overview that takes a minute.

Did you get that? If not here are the words

Here's an overview in 5 minutes

Compare that to this one

Walk through the bible has created an action-packed overview of the Old Testament.

New Testament

This overview will take 11 sessions  The challenge is to read through the whole bible as a group and alone and create your own overview while slowing down at moments to examine some sections in detail.

Introduction for leaders

The aims of these studies are to help small groups have an understanding of how the Bible fits together and to grasp the whole gospel from the whole Bible. The Bible is God’s self-revelation to humankind, so it is important that we learn about God from the breadth of the Bible and to realise that the Bible paints a consistent picture of God.

Having an understanding of the Bible should help us have a bigger picture of who God is and the extent of God’s mercy. It will also set a foundation for everyone to understand how each book of the Bible fits into the bigger picture.

This study was written with non-Christians in mind as well. It is important that non-Christians get a feel of how the Bible fits together and the big picture of God so that if they leave university (or New Zealand) without making a decision for Jesus, they still have an understanding of who God is and a basic foundation should they wish to keep reading the Bible (and maybe not have much contact with Christians).

Preparing to Lead

Pray

This is no ordinary book we are looking at, it is the very words of God, and all the authors were inspired to write by the Holy Spirit. And we need the same Holy Spirit to speak to us and to help us understand as we sit down to prepare to lead our group.

Work

Studying the Bible is not always easy. To understand what the Holy Spirit is saying to us today we need to work very hard at understanding what the authors are meaning to communicate, and how their first hearers/readers would have understood it.

Listen

It is vital that you have worked through the study each week beforehand. As a matter of integrity, before we lead and teach others, as leaders we need to have applied God’s word to our own lives.

If there are other small group leaders doing the same study, a great way to prepare is to get together to do the study together as leaders first. This time will hopefully feed you from God’s word, get you excited about God speaking through the Bible, bounce creative ideas for your group around, straighten out any questions which don’t seem to work well, and pray for each other and for your groups. You can also ask a staff worker to help you with your preparation or to answer any questions you may have.

How to use these studies

Word box in blue

The word box can be a useful tool for the group, even if your members all speak English as a first language. Note that although the words may seem simple, its meaning in the Bible may be different from its meaning in daily conversations. Depending on your small group, you don’t have to have all the words in the word box. But, please use your discretion as to which words you want to include or delete

from the word box for your group’s use.

Passages

Some of the studies have the Bible passage with it. If any of your small group members don’t have a Bible, print out the passage for them so that they can follow it easily.

Preparation – yourself

PLEASE NOTE: The leaders’ notes are not comprehensive and are not a substitute for working through the passage yourself beforehand. It is best to work through the passage with the questions first without looking at the notes. The notes will help with particular tricky bits in the passage and give any relevant background information. All this is to help you in your preparation, not to read out to your group! It is suggested that you do not take the leaders notes into the study because the temptation will be to read off the sheet. When you have worked through the study in your preparation jot down the key things you need to remember on your copy of the Bible study and have this sheet in your Bible to prompt you if you need it. You should give out blank copies of the Bible study sheet to your group for discussion.

Preparation – your group

Encourage your group to come prepared. It is really helpful if they read the suggested passages at the end of some of the studies. It will help them to understand much more clearly the flow of Biblical story and they will have had a chance to start thinking about the passage before they come to the study.

Leading the studies

The most important aim for each week is that your group goes away enriched and invigorated through studying the Bible together and excited by how it can help you share about Jesus.

When reading the passages for the first few studies, remember that people read differently. Some are better at reading it silently and some are better when hearing it read out loud. It would probably be quite helpful for the first few studies to encourage everyone to read out loud (taking turns to read out loud is normally a good way to encourage everyone to participate) and then allowing some silent time for them to read the passage again.

You will need to keep an eye on the time. You probably need to watch out that the first section of each session doesn’t over-run – allow 10 minutes at the very most. As a group leader you will know your group so feel free to tailor what you look at to fit them. When you recap at the beginning of each week ask people to share how they’ve applied what they learnt last week – the point of the Bible is to change our lives.

Be aware of those in your group who are not Christians. Be sensitive to this and help the Christians in the group to be sensitive to this too. Meet up with them one-on-one if necessary.

Books and commentaries you may find helpful for further reading:

• God’s Big Picture, Vaughan Roberts (IVP)

• Drama of Scripture, Craig Bartholomew and Michael Goheen (Baker Book House)

• The Symphony Of Scripture, Mark Strom (Pand R Publishing)

• Various commentaries of the particular book for the passage you are looking at

• New Bible Dictionary, Marshall I Howard (Ed), Millard A R (Ed), Packer J I (Ed), Wiseman D J (Ed) (Apollos) [or other Bible dictionaries for background information]

A rough gauge on how it would take a person to read the whole bible out loud:
(presumably reading books silently takes less time)

General Guide

1. When reading the passages for the first few studies, remember that people read differently. Some are better at reading it silently and some are better when hearing it read out loud. It would probably be quite helpful for the first few studies to encourage everyone to read out loud (taking turns to read out loud is normally a good way to encourage everyone to participate) and then allowing some silent time for them to read the passage again.

2. The word box is quite a useful tool for the group, even if your members all speak English as a first language. Although the words may seem simple, its meaning in the Bible may be different from its meaning in daily conversations.

3. It’s quite a good idea to recap the study from the week before as well as to go through the homework. Ideally, you should have read the passages given as homework as well as some extra information about it. Be prepared to give a short summary of the passages as well as its importance to the overall gospel story.

4. When asked a theological question, it is quite good to try and answer it based on a passage or draw their attention to a Bible passage they had studied before. It can be quite confusing if you offer too many complex statements with jargon. Before trying to explain any theology, make sure you have thought through it well and can articulate it too. Otherwise, it might be good to say you’ll get back to that question next week.

5. A number of the questions have appropriate references to help your members figure out where to look for answers and generally help them move down the passage. If you find that they are coping well with chapters and verses (some find it very confusing), then you can erase the hints)

6. There are homework passages for almost every study. If your members don’t own a Bible, please remember to print out a copy of the homework passages so that they can read them

Study 1: How it all began

People have different ideas about how the world started. What are some ideas that you hold or you have grown up with about how the world started?

 The ‘Big Bang theory’

 God created the world

 A higher being created the world (but not God)

 Evolution

 A mixture of some of the ideas listed above

 Other ……………………………

Read Genesis 1 – 2

words

 Hover – to remain floating in the air

 Vegetation – all the plants

 Govern – to have responsibility over something that does not belong to you

 Cultivate – to prepare and work on the land in order to raise crops (plants, vegetables, fruit)

 Shame – a painful emotion caused by a strong sense of guilt, embarrassment, unworthiness, or disgrace

 LORD God - a more personal way of referring to the covenant and creator God of Israel

1. What are the repeated words or phrases in 1:1-31?

2. What do they tell us about:

a) How God made the world?

b) What God made?

c) God the Creator?

3. What do you think being made in God’s image means (1:26-31 and 2:4b - 25)?

4. What is different about the seventh day compared to the other six days (2:1-3)? What does this tell us about who God is?

5. What do we see about the relationship between:

a) God and human beings?

b) man and woman?

c) human beings and creation?

The world during the time of Genesis believed that there were many gods. These gods are believed to have needs. They needed humans to provide food and shelter and to offer them praise. They were also unpredictable and were portrayed to be chaotic.

6. How does this story portray God to be different from the gods of the other cultures of that time?

7. How does it make you feel knowing the “goodness” of all creation as told in Genesis 1 & 2?

8. Look at Revelation 22:1-5. What are some similarities with the garden of Eden?

How is the world today different from the world described in the passage?

Genesis 1 & 2 (NLT)

The Account of Creation

11 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.

3 Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good. Then he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light "day" and the darkness "night."

And evening passed and morning came, marking the first day.

6 Then God said, “Let there be a space between the waters, to separate the waters of the heavens from the waters of the earth.” 7 And that is what happened. God made this space to separate the waters of the earth from the waters of the heavens. 8 God called the space “sky.”

And evening passed and morning came, marking the second day.

9 Then God said, “Let the waters beneath the sky flow together into one place, so dry ground may appear.” And that is what happened. 10 God called the dry ground “land” and the waters “seas.” And God saw that it was good. 11 Then God said, “Let the land sprout with vegetation—every sort of seed-bearing plant, and trees that grow seed-bearing fruit. These seeds will then produce the kinds of plants and trees from which they came.” And that is what happened. 12 The land produced vegetation—all sorts of seed-bearing plants, and trees with seed-bearing fruit. Their seeds produced plants and trees of the same kind. And God saw that it was good.

13 And evening passed and morning came, marking the third day.

14 Then God said, “Let lights appear in the sky to separate the day from the night. Let them mark off the seasons, days, and years. 15 Let these lights in the sky shine down on the earth.” And that is what happened. 16 God made two great lights—the larger one to govern the day, and the smaller one to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17 God set these lights in the sky to light the earth, 18 to govern the day and night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.

19 And evening passed and morning came, marking the fourth day.

20 Then God said, “Let the waters swarm with fish and other life. Let the skies be filled with birds of every kind.” 21 So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that scurries and swarms in the water, and every sort of bird—each producing offspring of the same kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 Then God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply. Let the fish fill the seas, and let the birds multiply on the earth.”

23 And evening passed and morning came, marking the fifth day.

24 Then God said, “Let the earth produce every sort of animal, each producing offspring of the same kind—livestock, small animals that scurry along the ground, and wild animals.” And that is what happened. 25 God made all sorts of wild animals, livestock, and small animals, each able to produce offspring of the same kind. And God saw that it was good.

26 Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.”

27 So God created human beings in his own image.

In the image of God he created them;

male and female he created them.

28 Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.”

29 Then God said, "Look! I have given you every seed-bearing plant throughout the earth and all the fruit trees for your food.30 And I have given every green plant as food for all the wild animals, the birds in the sky, and the small animals that scurry along the ground—everything that has life.” And that is what happened.

31 Then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was very good!

And evening passed and morning came, marking the sixth day.

2 1 So the creation of the heavens and the earth and everything in them was completed. 2 On the seventh day God had finished his work of creation, so he rested from all his work. 3 And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because it was the day when he rested from all his work of creation.

4 This is the account of the creation of the heavens and the earth.

The Man and Woman in Eden

When the LORD God made the earth and the heavens, 5 neither wild plants nor grains were growing on the earth. For the LORD God had not yet sent rain to water the earth, and there were no people to cultivate the soil. 6 Instead, springs came up from the ground and watered all the land. 7 Then the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person.

8 Then the LORD God planted a garden in Eden in the east, and there he placed the man he had made. 9 The LORD God made all sorts of trees grow up from the ground—trees that were beautiful and that produced delicious fruit. In the middle of the garden he placed the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

10 A river flowed from the land of Eden, watering the garden and then dividing into four branches. 11 The first branch, called the Pishon, flowed around the entire land of Havilah, where gold is found. 12 The gold of that land is exceptionally pure; aromatic resin and onyx stone are also found there. 13 The second branch, called the Gihon, flowed around the entire land of Cush. 14 The third branch, called the Tigris, flowed east of the land of Asshur. The fourth branch is called the Euphrates.

15 The LORD God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it. 16 But the LORD God warned him, “You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden—17 except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die.”

18 Then the LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him.” 19 So the LORD God formed from the ground all the wild animals and all the birds of the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would call them, and the man chose a name for each one. 20 He gave names to all the livestock, all the birds of the sky, and all the wild animals. But still there was no helper just right for him.

21 So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. While the man slept, the LORD God took out one of the man’s ribs and closed up the opening. 22 Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib, and he brought her to the man.

23 “At last!” the man exclaimed.

“This one is bone from my bone,

and flesh from my flesh!

She will be called ‘woman,’

because she was taken from ‘man.’”

24 This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.

25 Now the man and his wife were both naked, but they felt no shame.

Study 1: Leader's Guide

How It All Began

Intro question:

This is a starter question that is to help break the ice and to create a safe space for people to share their opinion. There is no real right answer to this question. It might be helpful to emphasize from the start that you are not there to judge their answers.

Question 1:

This is a low-order question, mainly aimed at helping people familiarise themselves with the passage and the use of the Bible (i.e. familiarising with the concept of chapters and verses…)

Take note of the repeated phrases as they give structure to Genesis 1.

Question 2:

a)     An important aspect of creation we see especially from the repeated phrases is that God brought order from disorder. God brought a function and a role as God’s will and purpose is imposed on the world. Although the work of creation seems to be done, God does not disengage from creation. Instead, God takes the place behind the helm of the cosmos and maintains the equilibrium that God had established and calls for people (man and woman together) to care for the garden and its inhabitants as God’s stewards.

b)    The main point here is that what God made was good.

c)     This passage grandly establishes the respective roles of God as Creator and everything else, people included, as creation. Everything that we have ultimately belongs to God who has created it. It is in God’s nature to create good things not just so that God could enjoy it, but has also invited us to share and enjoy God’s good creation.

Question 3:

It is important to establish that the “image of God” is not physical. The concept of being made in the image of God is quite complex. It helps to look at the passage and see what accompanies the pronouncement that man and woman are made in the image of God. Several components of being made in the image of God that we see highlighted in this passage:

-       Authority over creation. This authority is not to be abused but establishes our responsibility to care for God’s creation well. Essentially, we are God’s stewards, caring well for creation that belongs to God

-       Note that both man and woman are created in God’s image. The word helper in 2:18 in fact is better translated as “counterpart” and “partner”. If the woman is to be the partner and both are created in God’s image (1:27), there is a great sense of partnership and relationship within the concept of God’s image.

-       To be human is to bear the image of God. To bear the image of God is to have huge freedom and responsibility, to respond to God and be held accountable for that response.

Question 4:

The main point of this question is to highlight the idea of Sabbath and its importance. We take our example from God, our Creator, who worked (work is a good thing) and rested (rest is also a good thing). The rest is not “needed” because God was tired, but that Sabbath rest implies God enjoying God’s good creation, where the world has been created and lies in perfect and good order.

Question 5:

a)     There is a relationship between God and people and it is good. God sees people as God’s creation who have been created in God’s image and are to be his stewards in the world. There is a sense of provision and intimacy in the relationship

b)    The relationship between man and woman is good. Note that this is not just about the one man and one woman in the garden but is reflective of what relationships should be like between people: whole and good. The man and woman are partners in the execution of their responsibilities.

c)     The relationship between people and creation is good. Although the words used to describe the responsibility is “govern” and “reign”, it does not legitimize a ruthless mastery over nature and creation. In God’s own creation, God acts for the good of what has been made and not for selfish pleasure, i.e. creating a perfect home for humankind. Hence, God calls man and woman to serve as steward, to embody God’s own care for, and protection of, his good creation in his sovereign rule over the earth.

Question 6:

There is a famous ancient Mesopotamian creation account called Enuma Elish. Whilst the Genesis creation account bears similarities to that account in terms of literary style, the thrust of the Genesis account is truly contrary to Enuma Elish. Enuma Elish portrayed the many gods to be unpredictable who lived in a chaotic mess and needed people to serve them. The Genesis account clearly shows that there is one God who is the Creator, self-sufficient, infinite, eternal and uncreated, and one who brings order out of chaos.

Question 7:

This is an open question that is aimed at allowing some time for your members to process what they have been discussing as well as to address some new ideas that may be contrary to what they are familiar with.

Question 8:

The passage from Revelation bears great similarities to the garden of Eden. In many ways, we are trying to provide the bookends of the gospel story. We now know that when the world was first created it was good, but something went wrong and we now live in a world that is broken. But that we live in hope of that future garden, one where all wrong is undone and is once more whole and good. It would be helpful to explain a little bit about Revelation, mostly that it is a book written about 1500 years after Genesis was written. The passage we are looking at in this question is ‘prophecy’.

The book of Revelation records the vision God gave to a man named John to encourage and strengthen Christian communities who were facing persecution because of their allegiance to King Jesus, rather than to the ruler of the Roman Empire. The book uses a lot of imagery and metaphors to ‘reveal’ the reality of what is happening and what God will do in response. A lot of the imagery in Revelation is taken from the Old Testament.

Last question:

This question can either be used at the end of the study if you have time, or you could also encourage your members to take the week and go home and think about the question. Remember to ask them the question the next week

General tips:

1. At some point, you will notice that Genesis 1 and 2 overlap. They are in many ways the same story, but written with different purposes. Genesis 1 looks at the Creator and the created cosmos. Genesis 2 however, looks at relationships, focussing on the relationship of the man and woman and theirs with God and creation.
2. Although a lengthy discussion about evolution vs. creation can be stimulating, it is not always the most helpful thing to do. Be aware of where discussions about evolution and creation is heading to and keep in mind that the point of the study is to look at what the Bible says about the beginning of the world. The Bible was not written as a scientific text, so that we all might know how the world was created (or not). The Bible is God’s story. It is about God and the fact that God is Creator. How God creates is not the main issue here. 

Study 2: Rebellion in the world

Everyday someone gets hurt, people die of disease, children are the casualties of natural disasters, and animals are going extinct. These stories of pain and suffering are common to everyone and often quite personal. Why do you think there is pain and suffering in the world today?

Read Genesis 3

words

• Shrewd – clever at misleading others

• Wisdom – good sense

• Deceive – intentionally mislead someone

• Curse – wish evil on/cause of harm/punish

• Hostility – intense anger or aggressiveness

• Offspring – children or descendants

• Thistles – weeds that are hard to remove

• Banish – to send someone away as punishment

• Cultivate – to prepare land for growing crops

• Cherubim – angel in the service of God

1. Who are the characters in this story? How are they described? (2:25, 3:1)

2. How does God’s words (2:16-17) compare with what the woman says about God (3:1-3)?

3. How does the serpent paint an appealing picture for the woman? (3:4-5)

4. What did the man and women do that was wrong? (3:6)

5. Immediately after, how does the man and woman react (3:7-13)

a) to God?

b) to each other? (compare with 2:22-25)

6. What do their actions result for (3:14-24)

a) the serpent?

b) the woman?

c) the man?

d) all human beings?

7. Compare Genesis 1-2 and Genesis 3. What are the changes we see in these relationships?

Before (Gen 1-2) After (Gen 3)

People and God

People and people

People and creation

8. What are some signs of hope we can see in this passage?

Please read Genesis 4:1 – 16 and Genesis 11:1 – 9 before the next study

Genesis 3

1 The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the LORD God had made. One day he asked the woman, "Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?"

2 "Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden," the woman replied.3 "It's only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, `You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.'"

4 "You won't die!" the serpent replied to the woman.5 "God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil."

6 The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too.7 At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves.

8 When the cool evening breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the LORD God walking about in the garden. So they hid from the LORD God among the trees.9 Then the LORD God called to the man, "Where are you?"

10 He replied, "I heard you walking in the garden, so I hid. I was afraid because I was naked."

11 "Who told you that you were naked?" the LORD God asked. "Have you eaten from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat?"

12 The man replied, "It was the woman you gave me who gave me the fruit, and I ate it."

13 Then the LORD God asked the woman, "What have you done?"

"The serpent deceived me," she replied. "That's why I ate it."

14 Then the LORD God said to the serpent,

"Because you have done this, you are cursed

more than all animals, domestic and wild.

You will crawl on your belly,

grovelling in the dust as long as you live.

15 And I will cause hostility between you and the woman,

and between your offspring and her offspring.

He will strike your head,

and you will strike his heel."

16 Then he said to the woman,

"I will sharpen the pain of your pregnancy,

and in pain you will give birth.

And you will desire to control your husband,

but he will rule over you."

17 And to the man he said,

"Since you listened to your wife and ate from the tree

whose fruit I commanded you not to eat,

the ground is cursed because of you.

All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it.

18 It will grow thorns and thistles for you,

though you will eat of its grains.

19 By the sweat of your brow will you have food to eat

until you return to the ground from which you were made.

For you were made from dust, and to dust you will return."

20 Then the man—Adam—named his wife Eve, because she would be the mother of all who live.21 And the LORD God made clothing from animal skins for Adam and his wife.

22 Then the LORD God said, "Look, the human beings have become like us, knowing both good and evil. What if they reach out, take fruit from the tree of life, and eat it? Then they will live forever!"23 So the LORD God banished them from the Garden of Eden, and he sent Adam out to cultivate the ground from which he had been made.24 After sending them out, the LORD God stationed mighty cherubim to the east of the Garden of Eden. And he placed a flaming sword that flashed back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.

Study 2: Leader's Guide

Rebellion in the World

If you did not discuss the last question from Study 1, remember to start with it. Also, it would be good to recap the previous study (either just summarizing the main points of the last study or asking your members to try and recap).

Intro question:

This starter question is aimed to help your members just explore some theories of the origin of evil/sin, or even to help you assess whether they believe that evil is an intruder in a good world or if evil/sin is merely part of life and will always be part of life. Study 1 (and the recap) should help them recognise that the world today is not how it was created to be.

Question 1:

Straight forward question: man, woman, serpent, God.

Question 2:

Again, very straight forward question. The woman added the warning about touching the tree.

Question 3:

This question is slightly tricky as you might need to highlight the situation that the man and woman are in. An important thing to remember is that the man and woman have always lived in a perfect world, one that is good and unblemished, in complete obedience and whole relationship with God. What the serpent was tempting them with was not that the fruit would make them know what is good and what is evil (remember that they had never experienced evil or know of it) but that they could decide what was good and what was evil. This is what it meant for them to eat the fruit and disobey God: they could stop living under God’s rules and make their own. The serpent tempted them with supposed “freedom” and “authority”.

Question 4:

This is a straight forward question. The point of this is to identify the outright action of disobedience against God.

Question 5:

a)     The man and woman hide from God as they are afraid. The man seemingly blames God for creating the woman who has caused him to disobey God.

b)    Whilst they were once partners, the man now blames the woman for his error and the woman blames the serpent. Their relationship is now broken.

Question 6:

God makes a statement that essentially declares the consequences of their disobedience. Their disobedience has significant effects for man, woman, serpent and the world.

a)     Verses 14-15. There are possible tones of a messianic passage here (v15). It might be useful to point out the prophetic statement here, in some ways pre-empting the coming of Jesus. Nevertheless, don’t make too big an issue of it as it may be confusing with the hostility between a future offspring and serpent.

b)    Verse 16. The pain of pregnancy is not just physical here, but is also the emotional as there is now an urgency to procreate (since death is now a threat whilst it was not before). The declaration that the husband will control the wife is not a declaration of how things should be (this is not justification for man to abuse the woman or that woman is secondary to the man), but is a declaration of the consequences of our disobedience. Essentially, this is how things are going to be rather than this is how things should be.

c)     Verse 17-19. Whilst the creation previously provided food readily for the man and the woman (refer to Genesis 2), it now requires sweat and toil. Again, the threat of death is imminent and hence the search for food becomes desperate and harder.

d)    The banishment of the man and woman from the garden of Eden (and hence access to the tree of life) means that all people are now subject to death. We all suffer from the consequences and we all face death at the end of our lives. The world we live in is broken, filled with pain and suffering.

Question 7:

The major gist here is that the relationships that were once good and whole are now broken and suffering. People are disconnected from God, we are disconnected from each other and creation has been exploited.

Question 8:

Whilst everything seems dismal, we see some signs of hope in this passage. God clothed the man and woman even though they had betrayed God. In some ways, death here is a good thing. If people were to live forever in rebellion in the garden, it would be like living forever disconnected from God (i.e. hell). Contingently, death is release from hell although death is still a tragedy. With verse 15, in many ways, we see hope there as we look forward to the victory gained over death through Jesus.

Homework:

The passages show the spread of sin. From the first murder to a unified effort in perpetrating that God is less than who God is in the Babel story. It might be helpful when going through the homework to just briefly discuss “sin”. By now, everyone should be quite settled with the idea that the world is not as it should be because people disobeyed God in Genesis 3. It would be good to explain ‘sin’ in terms of what happened in Genesis 3 as well as the consequences of it, which is the state of brokenness and disconnect that we live in. As much as possible, you should base your answers on the passages and not offer too many long and complex statements filled with jargon.

Study 3: God chooses Israel

What do you remember from reading Genesis 4 and 11? How do we see the spread of sin in these passages?

Read Genesis 11:27 – 12:5a

words

• contempt – a manner that is generally disrespectful

• covet – A strong desire for something that does not belong to you

1. Who are Abram’s relatives?

2. God makes a covenant (formal agreement/contract) with Abram. What are the promises God makes under these three headings?

a) People

b) Land

c) Blessing

The remainder of Genesis traces the four generations from Abram (who is later known as Abraham) through the sons of Jacob, who were the patriarchal originators of the 12 tribes of Israel. When Abraham was 100 years old and his wife Sarah was 90, a son, Isaac, was born to them. Although Isaac’s wife Rebekah was unable to have children for a time, they eventually had twins, Esau and Jacob. Although Esau is the older twin, Jacob is the one who receives the father’s blessing and is later named Israel (Israel means he struggles with God) by God. Israel’s family end up in Egypt as his son Joseph is appointed second in command through an extraordinary story. However, his descendants eventually become slaves in Egypt later, but God sets them free from slavery through the leadership of a man named Moses.

Read Exodus 19:1-9

3. What did God do for the Israelites? (v.4)

4. What does God promise to do in the future? (vv. 5-6)

5. How do these promises relate to the ones He made to Abram in Genesis 12?

6. What do the people promise to God? (v. 8)

God tells the Israelites that they are His special people who are to show the rest of the world what it is like to live in relationship to the Redeemer Creator God. In order to do this, God gives the people a set of rules to live by. In all, there are 613 rules that God gives and these are found in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The 10 commandments are a summary of the rules that God gave the people to live by.

Read Exodus 20:1-21

7. How do these rules show how people are to relate to

a) God?

b) Each other?

8. Are these commandments still relevant today?

Please read Deuteronomy 17:14-20, Joshua 24:1-28 before the next study

Genesis 11

27 This is the account of Terah's family. Terah was the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran was the father of Lot.28 But Haran died in Ur of the Chaldeans, the land of his birth, while his father, Terah, was still living.29 Meanwhile, Abram and Nahor both married. The name of Abram's wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor's wife was Milcah. (Milcah and her sister Iscah were daughters of Nahor's brother Haran.)30 But Sarai was unable to become pregnant and had no children.

31 One day Terah took his son Abram, his daughter-in-law Sarai (his son Abram's wife), and his grandson Lot (his son Haran's child) and moved away from Ur of the Chaldeans. He was headed for the land of Canaan, but they stopped at Haran and settled there.32 Terah lived for 205 years and died while still in Haran.

Genesis 12

1 The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father's family, and go to the land that I will show you.2 I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others.3 I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you."

4 So Abram departed as the LORD had instructed, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran.5 He took his wife, Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all his wealth—his livestock and all the people he had taken into his household at Haran—and headed for the land of Canaan.

Genesis 19

1Exactly two months after the Israelites left Egypt, they arrived in the wilderness of Sinai.2 After breaking camp at Rephidim, they came to the wilderness of Sinai and set up camp there at the base of Mount Sinai.

3 Then Moses climbed the mountain to appear before God. The LORD called to him from the mountain and said, "Give these instructions to the family of Jacob; announce it to the descendants of Israel:4 `You have seen what I did to the Egyptians. You know how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself.5 Now if you will obey me and keep my covenant, you will be my own special treasure from among all the peoples on earth; for all the earth belongs to me.6 And you will be my kingdom of priests, my holy nation.' This is the message you must give to the people of Israel."

7 So Moses returned from the mountain and called together the elders of the people and told them everything the LORD had commanded him.8 And all the people responded together, "We will do everything the LORD has commanded." So Moses brought the people's answer back to the LORD.

9 Then the LORD said to Moses, "I will come to you in a thick cloud, Moses, so the people themselves can hear me when I speak with you. Then they will always trust you."

Exodus 20

1 Then God gave the people all these instructions.

2 "I am the LORD your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery.

3 "You must not have any other god but me.

4 "You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea.5 You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me.6 But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those who love me and obey my commands.

7 "You must not misuse the name of the LORD your God. The LORD will not let you go unpunished if you misuse his name.

8 "Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.9 You have six days each week for your ordinary work,10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the LORD your God. On that day no one in your household may do any work. This includes you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, your livestock, and any foreigners living among you.11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them; but on the seventh day he rested. That is why the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.

12 "Honour your father and mother. Then you will live a long, full life in the land the LORD your God is giving you.

13 "You must not murder.

14 "You must not commit adultery.

15 "You must not steal.

16 "You must not testify falsely against your neighbour.

17 "You must not covet your neighbour's house. You must not covet your neighbour's wife, male or female servant, ox or donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbour."

18 When the people heard the thunder and the loud blast of the ram's horn, and when they saw the flashes of lightning and the smoke billowing from the mountain, they stood at a distance, trembling with fear.

19 And they said to Moses, "You speak to us, and we will listen. But don't let God speak directly to us, or we will die!"

20 "Don't be afraid," Moses answered them, "for God has come in this way to test you, and so that your fear of him will keep you from sinning!"

21 As the people stood in the distance, Moses approached the dark cloud where God was.