Biblical Literacy Podcast

In Lesson 2 Part 1 Mark Lanier poses the question, how accurate is the New Testament? Critics like Bart Ehrman, the scholar and best selling author and a previously-faithful-turned-agnostic casts doubt on the legitmacy of the New Testament. Is he right? Where do the facts come down on the New Testament as not only the truth but the inspired word of God?

In a continuation from last week, Lesson 1 Part 2 examines the roots of the New Testament through the Jewish writings during the Intertestimental period. What are the Apolcrypha and the Pseuodopigrypha and what do they have to do with you, you ask? While not part of the Christian Bible, they provide important context for both the Old Testament and New.

The Christian Bible contains the Old Testament (which contains texts writen prior to ~400 BC) and the New Testament (which contains texts that were written from ~100 AD forward). What was going on during this 'intertestimental period'?! In a multi part series on "Roots of the New Testament", in Lesson 1, Part 1, Mark Lanier begins the New Testament Survey summarizing the historical facts and contributing events during this period.

Join Mark Lanier as he conducts a warm and gracious interview with Edward Fudge, author of "The Divine Rescue." "The Divine Rescue" is the story of a perfect world gone astray, and of the God who stops at nothing to rescue that world and the people who inhabit it. This book is for anyone, from seeker to scholar, who has ever wept for a broken world, who has tasted pain and passion as a partner in the human plight, who has glimpsed a glory as yet unfulfilled and sensed that there is more to come.

The Bible often speaks about God in terms of humanized traits and ideas so that we can better understand certain aspects of his character and nature. What does the Bible really mean when it calls God our “Father”? For us to understand Paul’s usage of “Father” more fully we need to put ourselves into Paul’s time and culture as best as we can to understand what Paul’s concept of a Father was. So we start looking at “Father” in its context. We will then consider Paul’s verses that reference God as Father and try to make theological sense of them. This is our second lesson on Paul’s views of God.

Time breeds familiarity, and with familiarity we begin to take for granted those things that were once fresh and new. You're probably doing that right now as you read this on a computer whose technology didn't even exist a generation ago! For many of us, that has occurred with the label “Christ.” “Christ” is used so often in the Bible, the uninitiated might think it the last name of Jesus! As we study Paul, we properly stop and ask what it is about the term that was so important to Paul. Why does Paul repeatedly call Jesus the Christ? Why does the label “Christ” flow so effortlessly from Paul’s lips as he dictated his letters? Join us as we consider this in our fifth lesson on Paul’s theology of Christ.

Did you choose God or did He choose you? Though the debate has existed for centuries, today we take a fresh approach to discover what God, through Paul, has to say about it! Together we will discover why Paul wrote what he did, what it means and what it doesn’t mean. Perhaps you’ll find Paul has already answered some of our 21st century questions ! This and much more as we seek to examine Paul’s words on predestination, in part four of a four part series on Paul’s theology of salvation!

Trapped? Feel like you can't get away from sin? Or worse yet, can’t overcome it? You're not alone! Paul had those same feelings, and today we explore that very topic - sanctification! What does it mean, and how are we really set free to live a holy life that is honoring to God? Those questions and more, as we study Paul and sanctification!

Have you ever seen a time when justice was denied? Disregarded? Ignored? That is NOT the kind of judge that Paul understands God to be. It is not the kind of justice that God practices. His justice is not for sale; he is not swayed by the powerful; he does not need to be re-elected. This week, we turn to consider Paul’s theology on God as Judge as we examine Paul on God – Part 3.

Where is God? Have you ever asked that question? You can’t see him. You can’t touch him. But he is there. In fact, he is more than just ‘there’. God exists not only within the universe, but he also exists independently outside of the universe and outside of space and time. Two terms describe this for us: the immanence of God and the transcendence of God. Today, in our fourth lesson on Paul’s teaching on God we consider Paul’s theology of God as Creator, as a being both transcendent to the universe and yet also immanent. These are words and concepts worth knowing, so let’s get started!

How does God communicate? God is a God of revelation. God chooses to make Himself known. A primary tool of communication is the Bible, “the word of God” which reveals to us Jesus, the “Word” of God. God did not create us to be robotic, but to be relational. In speaking through Paul, God did not bypass Paul’s personality and experiences. Of all the New Testament authors, Paul is the one who has stamped his own personality most unmistakably on his writings. Join us as we discover God’s desire to make himself known to us through the writings of Paul in our first lesson on Paul’s views on God.

Christ in us; us in Christ. Jesus introduced this concept to the disciples during their final evening together before his arrest. Paul was clear on this truth that while we live on earth as Christians, we are not alone. In a real sense, Christ lives within us and we live within him. This is true on a personal as well as a corporate (church) level. Scholars sometimes call this our participation in Christ, and his participation in us!Join us as we look to the Bible to study what the scholars call Paul’s “participatory language!" Part three on Paul’s theology of Christ.

PAUL'S THEOLOGY Lesson 1 Overview and Approach "Theology" has always struck me as a powerful and impressive word. Even before I understood the meaning behind the word, I was under its spell as a word of significance and serious thought. As I aged and my studies progressed, the word took on more shape and meaning. Yet all that time, its effect and power never diminished, but grew, as I learned to appreciate its reflection of some of humanity's best thoughts of and understandings about God, his creations, past, present, and future.

Prepositions. Do they really matter? How might their use change the meaning of a sentence or phrase? Seven times in six verses Paul writes about the “faith of Christ.” Does Paul mean our faith in Christ or does he mean the faith that Christ has? Scholars around the globe are debating this issue. We join that debate today in our fourth installment of Paul’s theology on Christ.