THE PRESYTERIAN UNIVERSITY OF EAST AFRICA

DEPARTMENT OF THEOLOGY
COURSE TITLE: INTRODUCTION TO BIBLICAL THOUGHT AND IT’S LIFE
APPLICATION :
COURSE CODE : UCC/030 / 103/122

Credit hours :3
Contact hours : 45 hrs
Prerequisites : None
LECTURER: STEPHEN NG’ANG’A NJOROGE DIPTH.BTH.MA.MDS. (PHD).

1
Course Purpose:
 The ultimate goal of this course is to ensure that the church's proclamation and the
individual's life are faithful to God's revelation of Himself in Scripture.
 For students to appreciate the value of Christian Maturity in every day life including
professional life
 Furthermore to expose students to Biblical teachings which needs to be observed and
applied by Christians in their daily life
Expected Learning Outcomes

At the end of this course, the student will be able to

i. Identify Biblical images in the life, worship and ministry of the Church
ii. Understand the Biblical Theology
iii. Relate the Biblical scholarship to major life issues
iv. Explain a constructive, personal stance of Christian faith
v. Discuss how culture affected biblical revelation which in turn dynamically affects
time space and context in the contemporary society
vi. Evaluate a personal Christian worldview in daily life
vii. Critique their own personal lives, so as to distinguish those values that are distinctly
Christian from those that the secular world espouses.
viii. Demonstrate skills that enable one to take into account the original linguistic, literary,
historical, and cultural contexts of the Bible.

COURSE CONTENT
This course enables students to explore the content and concepts of the Bible. The course
equips students with skills that enable one to take into account the original linguistic, literary,
historical, and cultural contexts of the Bible. Students will be able to consider critically
religious traditions, beliefs, and practice in order to bring them into conformity with biblical
revelation and to evaluate all of life and thought from the perspective of biblical principles.
The course enables one to ensure that the church's proclamation and the individual's life are
faithful to God's revelation of Himself in Scripture. Because of the diverse denominational
and theological traditions that enrich our faculty and make up our student body, the course
brings a variety of approaches to the question of the church's role and the individual’s role in
social and moral transformation.
 Introduction to World religions
 Christianity

2
  The development of Christian Canon as it is
 Major subdivision of both the Old and new Testament
 Major Biblical periods
 Exploration of Biblical teaching in light of scriptural criticism and culture.

 An engagement with the Bible after other critical approaches have weighed in among
persons seeking the word of God for Church and Society today.

 Critical examination of the uses of scripture by theologians, ethicists, ministers, laity,

denominations in social ecclesial contexts including the reception of the Bible in
popular culture and lay theology.
 Examine theological and ethical dimensions of Biblical texts, while attending to
cultural and philosophical issues raised by these practices.

Instructional Methods
Methods of instruction will include, but are not limited to: lecturing, discussions and
interpretation of primary documents, Study groups and guides or examination reviews.

Instructional Materials/Equipment
Instructional materials and equipment includes: chalkboard, whiteboard, markers, laptops and
projectors and Internet websites.

Course Assessment
Continuous assessments, 40%
Final examination 60%
Total 100%

TERM PAPER
Discuss how you feel this Course (Biblical Thought and It’s Life Application) will impact
your spiritual life now as a students and future life.
Degree programs
Eight pages excluding cover page
1.5 spacing
For Diploma class: five pages
Deadline for Submission, final tutorial
Requirements:

3
 1) Face to face sessions: There shall be three (and twelve for regular) face to face
sessions in the trimester at the dates to be discussed in the class.
2) Attendance policy: Abseeintism will result in a significantly lower grade or even
failure, if absent for any reason, the student is responsible to review the material
covered in complete on the time agreed.
3) Late penalties: please note even deadlines for assignment submission are part of
exam and therefore late work will not be accepted except by previous arrangement
with the lecturer.
4) Academic Honesty: Academic dishonesty will not be tolerated, including plagiarism.
Plagiarism is the use of ideas and information from a specific source without giving
credit in some manner to the source. Such an acknowledgement use of another
person’s intellectual property or submitting other peoples work as one’s own, it
includes an attempt to defraud, deceive or mislead the instructor in arriving at honest
grade assessment and may include coping answers from other students or using an
authorized notes during test, violations of the cheating policy will result to a grade of
0 for the assignment in question.

5) Academic Writing : Times New Roman, font 12, double space (pages will vary)

Margins: Left 1.5 inches, bottom, top and right 1 inch each. Don’t over write or
under write stick to the given pages. Harvard format when referencing, Wikipedia is
not considered scholarly. Books from recent publications are encouraged (1-5 years
old) every term paper should have at least one eBook and a journal article sources.
For new students don’t write your name in the final exam answer booklet and stick to
all the instructions in the booklet.
6) Responsibility
Students are responsible for reading and consulting the syllabus, doing weekly
reading, participating in class discussion and timely completion of assignments
Failure to do assignments will lead to disqualification to sit for the final exam as well as
failing to attend at least two tutorials for ODL students 75% classes for the regular class.

Core Text Book:

Chemorion, D. C. (2014). Introduction to Christian Worldview: Meaning, Origins and
Perspectives. Nairobi: Nairobi Academic Press.
Text Books for Further Reading:

4
Bénézet, B. (Ed.). (2005). African Theology in the 21st Century: The Contribution of the
Pioneers. Volume 2. Nairobi: Paulines Publications Africa.
Ernst, T. (2006). Christian thought, its history and application. Germany: Walter de Gruyter.
George, H. G. (2011). Read the Bible for Life: Your Guide to Understanding & Living God's
Word. Nashville, Tennessee: B&H Publishing Group.
Johnson, M. D. (2002). Making Sense of the Bible, Grand Rapids. W. B. Eerdmans
Publishing Co.
Roland, E. M. (2002). The Tree of Life: An Exploration of Biblical Wisdom Literature.
Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing.

5
 WORLD RELIGIONS

 The word religion comes from a Latin word meaning to “tie or

bind together”
 It is an organized system of beliefs and rituals centering on a
super natural beings and rituals
 Region is belief in and a worship of superhuman controlling
power especially a personal god or gods.
 It is a set of belief about God or the supernatural.
Kenya is a multi-ethnic and multi- religious society with so many religions as shown below:

Religion Date Founded

a) Judaism 2000 BC
b) Hinduism 1500 BC
c) Zoroastrianism 1000 BC
d) Shinto 660 BC
e) Taoism 604 B C
f) Jainism 599 BC
g) Buddhism 560 BC
h) Confucianism 551 BC
i) Christianity 4 BC
j) Islam 570 AD
k) Sikhism 1469 AD

Living in a religious pluralistic society need to live in peace without conflict observing the
golden rule of loving one another. All world religions are rooted in active non-violence.

- Islam means peace

- Judaism uphold shalom
- Buddhism calls for compassion towards all living things
- Hindu and Christians calls for the love of neighbor.

6
 WHAT IS CHRISTIANITY

The Term Christianity was coined from the word Christ meaning; followers of Christ/
someone who was like Christ/belonging to Christ.

The disciples of Jesus were first called Christians in Antioch in 43AD acts 11:26

Christians were previously called themselves, disciples, believers, saint, brethren, or people
of the way.

Jews used to refer to them as Nazarene, Act 24:5, Mk14:67, John 1:46

• Christianity is a major world religion,

– The largest world religion today (ca. 2 billion)
• It is based on belief that Jesus of Nazareth is
the “Christ” ( “Messiah”) & the “Son of God.”
• Like most other major world religions, Christianity has several core aspects:
– I) History & Development
– II) Core Beliefs & Practices
– III) Structures & Regulations

1) Historical Background:
Abraham, Israelites, Hebrews, Jews, OT
2) Historical Foundation:
Jesus of Nazareth (crucified ca. AD 30)
& his first disciples/apostles
3) Historical Development:
Tradition preserved/adapted 2000 years (interplay of both old &
new, ancient & modern

1) Major Christian Branches:

(Eastern) Orthodox, (Roman) Catholic, Anglican, Protestant,
Reformation, Pentecostals etc.
2) Orthodox
O: by nation & language: Greek, Russian…
7
 A: by nations: esp. former British colonies
P: by leaders/theologies: Lutheran, Reformed…
3) Reformation – Anglicans, Presbyterians, Reformed, Methodist
etc
4) Pentecostals – Ministries and several stand alone groups
5) Groups within Catholicism:
Religious orders & societies (monastic, mendicant, apostolic,
etc.), lay groups

INTRODUCTION TO BIBLE

The Old Testament is divided into two major divisions, Old and New testaments.

The bible is a collection or library of many small books written over a period of more than
1000 years. The Hebrew Bible known to Christian as the Old Testament is largely a record of
the Hebrew deity’s dealing with the chosen people Israel.

 Old Testament is longer and concerns events and personalities through which God
was working prior to the time of Christ.
 The second division deals with the events surrounding the life of Christ and the
subsequent beginning of earthly experience of the church of faith See community
 O.T 39 books N.T 27 books = 66 Books Catholics –OT has 46 books ,See the
Apocrypha in Greek meaning hidden Books
 Bible, Greek Biblion, meaning Booklet
 The word holy means separate, set apart, the bible is uniquely separate
 The bible is the work of men who were divinely inspired.
The bible as literature

The Bible is composed of variety of types of literature, see poetry, Biographies of some
people, sermons etc figurative language.

The Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew language and Aramaic in some parts
of Ezekiel while the New Testament was written in Greek

The meaning of revelation

 Revelation means disclosure, it is unveiling.

 Revelation has simply meant that God has made himself Known to us.
 NB: Revelation is not illumination
 General revelation : See the nature.

8
Special revelation

- Direct communication with God as in Old Testament and the revelation Jesus Christ
is referred to as special revelation. (Hebrews 1:1)
INSPIRATION

There two types of inspiration which are :

a) Dictation inspiration/verbal inspiration. It is the view of inspiration that holds that

the words themselves are truly, God’s words.
b) Dynamic theory: The Vew that the Bible was written by man through the help of the
Holy Spirit.
c) The word of God is infallible and inerrant, meaning that it is unquestionable. It is
true and has no errors.
Validity of the Old Testament

 Jesus Christ believed in it and taught it

 We trust in his teachings
 Apostles believed in it and kept or quoted
 NT is the fulfillment of OT
NEW TESTAMENTS

The New Testament confirmed the fulfillment of most of the prophecies in Old Testament.

 Apostles testified about the New Testament see testimony of Revelation.

 See the apostolic office
 Testimony from the early church father clement, bishop of Rome
 Ignatius of Antioch
 Polycarp Ireneaus, Tertullian papias.

Preservation of the Old Testament

Moses and others wrote this Book between 1000-1400BC

9
These scrolls were controlled by the Temple Priest partly under the supervision of the king
and prophets. The bible itself contains internal evidence about its own composition and
preservation. Some stories, histories and poems were preserved in the imperishable clay
tablets of Mesopotamia. In Egypt writings were done on papyrus. The last Old Testament
Book was most likely written 400BC. The discovery of the Dead Sea scroll in 1947
provided a wealth of new textual materials. Traders from the Palestine bought the Egyptian
papyrus in exchange of cedar wood and olive oil. Papyrus were convenience but could be
destroyed during the rainy season. As the old scroll worn out, they had to be recopied. During
the middle ages, the Hebrew Old Testament was preserved by the jews.

Dead Sea scrolls

In 1947 an Arab shepherd threw a stone into a cave near the Dead Sea and heard the tinkle of
breaking pottery, seven manuscripts were found in that cave.

The bible has been written by different people who were all in harmony some were prophets,
tax gatherers, scholars. Its background changed from Bronze age to the iron age and to the
Roman times. It was written over a period of 16 centuries.

The translation of the bible

The first translation of the Hebrew Bible begun in Alexandria Egypt in the mid third century
before Christ was born; this is after the Jewish colony found that the young generations were
not understanding classical Hebrew. Seventy two/72 scholars were appointed to translate
the scriptures into Koine Greek and after laboring for seventy days, seventy identical
versions this land marks translation is also called Septuagint abbreviated LXX (after
the seventy or seventy two elders who translated the word)

The next version was Latin vulgate commissioned by the Bishop of the Rome around 385-
405 AD and became the official bible of the Roman Catholicism. By 1500 a reformer
William Tyndale made translations from the original Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek.

CANNONICITY OF THE BIBLE

a) The term canon refers to a list of books officially approved for use in a given
community. It also refers to the standard of measurement by which books are included
or excluded from the authoritative list.
b) In Greek Canon means “a straight stick by which something is ruled or measured,
it simply means measuring rod”

10
 c) Is derived from Greek word Kenon which refers to a standard or measurement, the
norm by which something is evaluated or Judged acceptable.
The New Testament Canon

The word Testament is a synonym for covenant which means an agreement or promise in
the Old Testament God introduced the covenant in which Israel which gave the old testament
its name. At MT Sinai Yahweh promised to be the God of Israel and they vowed to obey him
and hence Mosaic/Sinaic/Herobic covenant. Christians believe that Jesus initiated the new
covenant of the last supper, Mathew 26:27-28 .The New Testament came to effect around
367AD (canonical of the 27 books). The chief criteria of the New Testament were:

a) The association with apostolic tradition and hence apostolicity.

b) Books written by the one of the 12 apostles were considered to be of more
importance.
c) 2nd criterion was orthodoxy or true doctrine writing was considered authoritative if
their teachings were in line with the faith of the apostolic church.
d) The third criterion was antiquity meaning that it was written in the apostolic age that
is while the authors could have had contact with the apostles.
e) The forth criteria was inspiration all the individuals in the early church who
suggested a canon believed their list of writings was inspired.
f) The fifth and most important was the wide spread use by the early church. Those
texts that were used widely and met the needs of the Christian community were the
ones that eventually won acceptance as a holy scripture.

Canonicity of the Old Testament

a) Torah was the first books to be accepted by Jews.
b) Prophets were the second group to be given authoritative status
c) The 3rd criterion which led to the closing of the Jewish canon was the conformity,
inspiration, Hebrew language and widespread use. Works that were accepted as
authoritative had to conform to the teachings of the Torah and other writings that were
already normative for Jewish believes and practice.
d) Works that were accepted had to have been written by divinely inspired prophets.
e) Works that were not originally written in Hebrew were excluded.

11
 f) Widespread use: the works that were eventually recognized as authoritative within
Judaism were those that had already found general acceptance among the people on
the basis of their contents as they were the works that conveyed most clearly the
Jewish understanding of God’s dealings with the Jewish people.
FORMATION OF THE CHRISTIAN BIBLE

The fact that Christians arose from within Judaism, the early Christians naturally accepted the
Hebrew Scriptures as authoritative.

Oral stage

Some of the materials especially that incorporated into the Gospel circulated orally for
several decades, these included the teaching of Jesus and the stories about him were valued in
the early church and were used in preaching and in teaching.

Writing stage

i. When some of the disciples started dying the church became aware to preserve the
records of the eye witnesses to Jesus’ life in written form.
ii. Second the end time did not appeal as some early Christians expected and some
instructions was needed to interpret both the present and the future.
iii. 3rd as the movement spread problems arose in the churches that demanded the
attention of knowledgeable church leaders who wrote then to serve the problems
iv. Fourth, as the number of converts increased, documents were written to instruct the
new believers in the rudiments of the Christian faith.
The first written materials of the New Testament were the letters of Paul beginning around 50
AD.The first Gospel of Mark was written in around 70AD, then Mathew 85-90 then Luke 85
– 90 and John 90-100. 2 nd peter could be the last of the New Testament perhaps as late as
125-150

The process of translation

The first complete English Bible appeared in 1382 and it was the work of John Wycliffe who
made translation forms the Vulgate. This version was staunchly resisted by the church
leadership saying that English was so vulgate and that the Bible could fall in the hand of
false teachers who could misinterpret it and introduce heinous doctrines and the desire of the
church to maintain authority over the people. This Bible was condemned and after forty years
of his death his body was exhumed and burnt in retaliation for his work as a translator,
however his Bible was welcome by the masses and enjoyed a wide range for over 150 years.

12
William Tyndale published his English Translation of the New Testament in 1526 from
Germany where he had fled to escape persecution from the church in England; he was later
on arrested and burned at stick as a heretic.

Apart from papyrus leather scrolls made from treated animal hides stitched together were
used to make copies of individual Books of the bible

Between 6th – 10th centuries certain European Jewish scribes called masoretes worked
carefully to preserve the Old Testament as they transmitted from copy to copy. The Hebrew
word masora means “that which is transmitted, that which is handed down hence the name
masorete

Twenty years or more after the death of Jesus Christ, the Christians testimony about him was
entirely oral. Eyewitnesses, memories about Jesus deeds and words were transmitted by the
word of mouth without any consistent reference to the time plate or circumstances of their
origin. As preserved in the Christian keryguma (Proclamation) individual sayings
circulated independently of one another so free floating that when later incorporated into the
Gospel each evangelist placed them in a different narrative setting, compare the four
strikingly different concepts given to the story of the women who anointed Jesus with oil
Matt 26:6-13, Mark 14:3-9, Luke 7:36-50 John 12:1-8.

The term New Testament is connected with the Hebrew scripture in Biblical terms testament
is a synonym for covenant which means an agreement, contract or bond. In Hebrew Bible
God was often making covenants with human beings see the Mosaic covenant.

Moses acted as the covenant mediator between Yahweh and the people where Israel swears to
uphold all the laws and commandments that Yahweh enjoins upon them.

Jesus instituted the new covenant at the last supper he held with his disciple “and he took the
cup and gave thanks and gave it to them, saying Drink ye all of it, for this is my blood of the
New Testament Math26:27-28

The New Testament are arranged in a way that approximately the order of Hebrew Bible
called Tenaka
Old Covenant (testament) New Covent (Testament)
T Law books (5) Moses Four Gospel (Jesus)
A
N Neviim (Prophets Book of Acts

13
History of Joshua –Kings Church History
Books of the prophecy letter of Paul’s and other church
Leaders
A
K – kethium (Writing)
Books of Poetry, wisdom and an apocalypse Catholic epistles and an apocpuse
(Daniel) (Revelation)
Most of the New Testament books were written between the half century 50—100CE (canon
Era) also see BCE Before the Common Era A.D” Annodomini Latin for “in the year of the
lord”)

Paul’s letters span between 50-62 CE while most of the others spanned including the Gospel
and the Book of Act spunned from 66-100CE

GOSPELS

Refer to the first four books of the New Testament, the term gospel is translated from the
Greek word evangelion meaning Good news about Jesus. The Gospel tells the story of Jesus
ministry, death and resurrection. The term Evangelist refer to the writer of evangelion
(Gospel) the Gospel is about the story of Jesus deeds and teachings.The four Gospel do not
give us the complete life of Jesus e.g. from the age of 12 to 30 (Luke) 3:32) The significance
of Jesus’ suffering and death known as the passion) is the central concern of each evangelist.
Gospel writers are theologians who wrote to primarily voice their individual understanding of
Jesus religious or theological significance.

A history of the church (historical books)

The historical narratives cerebrate the deed of a few early Christian leaders written by Luke
the book of Luke continues the story of Christianity’s origin. Beginning with an account of
Jesus ascension to heaven and ending with apostle Paul’s preaching activity in Rome. The
book narrates a series of critical episodes in Christianity, early development covering the
thirty years form about 30 to 0CE

Letters/Epistles

There are twenty one letters ascribed to influence leadership of the early church, this includes
Paul who wrote thirteen of them, John wrote three, peter wrote two, Jude James one and
Hebrew.

14
An apocalypse

The title revelation is derived from the Greek apokalypsis which means apocalptive literature,
revelation features, visions of an unseen worked inhibited by spirit creatures both good and
evil. It highlighted the cosmic struggle between God and Satan, a conflict involving both
heaven and earth that ultimately sees evil defeated. God’s kingdom triumphant and the
creation of new earth and heaven(Rev 12:16 20-21)

FOUNDATION TEXT
1) The Bible:
official collection of books, in two parts:
both Old Testament & New Testament

2) The Creeds:
short professions of faith, defined by first two Ecumenical Councils: Nicea &
Constantinople

3) Other Writings:
writings of Church leaders throughout history,
esp. founders of orders & denominations
CORE THEOLOGICAL BELIEFS

1) One God in Three Persons (Trinity):

Father / Almighty / Creator
Son / Jesus / Christ / Savior / Lord
Holy Spirit / Giver of Life / Paraclete

2) World & Humans:

created by God, in God’s image, with free will;
originally good, but corrupted by sin/death;

3) Church, Salvation, Eschatology:

community of believers; body of Christ; resurrection of the body; eternal life

CORE ETHICAL TEACHING

Foundational Principles:
do good & avoid evil; love God, others, self;
develop an “informed conscience”

15
Sexual Morality:
dual purpose of sex; consistent ethic of life;
for pleasure of the married; central role of family

Social Ethics:
dignity of each person; common good; care of the poor/needy; work, participation, property

Christians use the Bible in many different ways, for example:

 To give inspiration, perhaps through praying using Bible passages, either alone or
with a group.
 To look for God’s help and to find out how we should live our lives, perhaps through
Bible Studies.
 In church services the sermon is usually based on Bible passages in some way.
 The Bible helps Christians to feel part of the wider Christian community.
 All Christians believe that the Bible is the Word of God in some way. This is why for
all Christians, the Bible has authority.
 2 Timothy 3:16 ‘All Scripture is inspired by God.’
They hope to read the Bible and to hear (in some way) the voice of God within it.

Literalists
Literalists believe that it is word for word the word of God and must be taken

literally in all ways.This means that the Bible cannot contain any mistakes.

Everything in it is true. In some way it was God that wrote the Bible, not humans.

16
 Fundamentalists
– Fundamentalists are very similar to literalists, but they believe that we can
interpret the words a bit. All the Bible was directly inspired by God and so
cannot contain errors.
– The Genesis story is correct, but the word for ‘day’ might mean ‘a period of
time’.

Conservatives
– Conservatives believe that the Bible is inspired by God but written by human writers.

– It is God’s message in human words.

– Some of the personal beliefs and interests of the writers has come into their
books.

– The Bible is not a science book – there is no problem in believing in evolution

and seeing the creation story in Genesis as poetic.

– Conservatives look for truths in the message of the Bible. Some of these are
that God created the world, spoke through the prophets, came to earth in Jesus,
who died and rose from the dead and so on.

Liberals
Liberals believe that the writers of the Bible were inspired like any good writer.

– The Bible contains spiritual truths not literal truths.

– The Bible can help people to come closer to God in some way because the
writers are sharing their experiences of God in some way.

– Many parts of the Bible are symbolic and poetic.

– There is a big range of beliefs among liberals.For example, some may believe
all Jesus’ miracles are symbolic – others may believe that the healing ones
happened, but things like the walking on water did not.

17
 SUMMARY
• The Bible is made up of the Old Testament and the New Testament: each has a
variety of different types of book. The Bible is a central part of Christian worship.
• The Bible has authority for all Christians.
• Literalists believe the words of the Bible are to be taken literally.
• Fundamentalists believe the Bible cannot contain any errors.
• Conservatives believe the Bible is inspired but written by humans.
• Liberals believe the Bible needs to be interpreted in ways that are relevant to our
personal lives.
• We are all encouraged to reacquaint ourselves with the primary written source of our
faith, by reading through scripture, “opening ourselves to the Spirit of God to speak to
us afresh through the written witness to Christ as to how we might live out Christ’s
message in our lives today.”

Development of the Old Testament Canon

Meaning of the Old Testament

The Old Testament, abbreviated OT is the first part of the Christian biblical canon, which is
based primarily upon the 39 books of the Modern Bible or twenty-four books of the Hebrew
Bible called the Tanakh. It is a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the
Israelites believed by most Christians and religious Jews to be the sacred Word of God.

The Old Testament includes the books of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) or protocanon, and in
various Christian denominations also includes deuterocanonical books. Orthodox Christians,
Catholics and Protestants use different canons, which differ with respect to the texts that are
included in the Old Testament. Martin Luther, holding to Jewish and other ancient precedent,
excluded the deuterocanonical books from the Old Testament of his translation of the Bible,
placing them in a section he labeled Apocrypha meaning hidden .

To counter Luther's so called heresy by the Roman Catholic Church, the fourth session of the
Catholic Council of Trent in 1546 confirmed that the deuterocanonical books were equally
authoritative as the protocanonical in the Canon of Trent in the year Luther died,
reconfirming the inclusion of the deuterocanonical books made almost a century earlier at the
Council of Florence. Following Jerome's Veritas Hebraica meaning truth of the Hebrew

18
principle, the Protestant Old Testament consists of the same books as the Hebrew Bible, but
the order and division of the books are different.

Protestants number the Old Testament books at 39, while the Hebrew Bible numbers the
same books as 24. The Hebrew Bible counts Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles as one book
each, and the 12 minor prophets are one book, and also Ezra and Nehemiah form a single
book. Today The canon of the Common Bible’s Old Testament also known as the Proteasant
Old Testament is made of 39 books written at different times in History
Classification of the Books of the Old Testament

The books of the Old Testament are grouped into six classes namely:
1. The Pentateuch
2. Historical Books
3. Poetic Books
4. The major Prophets
5. The minor Prophets
The Pentateuch

Pentateuch means the first five books of the Bible. In 1878 Julius Wellhausen, a German
biblical scholar, suggested that the Pentateuch evolved through four stages called JEDP
hypothesis

1. Yahwistic history written in the time of Solomon (J)

2. Elohistic history written in the Eighth Century B.C. (E)

3. Deuteronomic history, the book discovered by Josiah in 621 B.C. (D)

4. Priestly history. Around 450 B.C. priests compiled the above and added legal
materials (P).

The word Pentateuch comes from two Greek words that mean five books or five scrolls.
According to tradition, the books were written by the Israelite leader, Moses. They are:

1. Genesis
2. Exodus
3. Leviticus
4. Numbers
5. Deuteronomy

19
20
Historical Books

The historical books are one of four divisions in the Christian Old Testament. They are
historical in nature because they mainly deal with the History of Israel. They are:

21
1. Joshua
2. Judges
3. Ruth
st
4. 1 Samuel
nd
5. 2 Samuel
st
6. 1 Kings
nd
7. 2 Kings
st
8. 1 Chronicles
nd
9. 2 Chronicles
10. Ezra
11. Nehemiah
12. Esther

Poetic Books

Also called books of Wisdom are poetic in nature or in form of songs. They are:

1. Job.
2. Psalms.
3. Proverbs.
4. Ecclesiastes.
5. Songs of Songs
6. Lamentations

Major Prophets

The Major Prophets is a grouping of books in the Christian Old Testament, but not occurring
in the Hebrew Bible. These books are centred on a prophet, traditionally regarded as the
author of the respective book. The term major refers only to their length, in distinction to the
Twelve Minor Prophets, whose books are much shorter and grouped together as a single book
in the Hebrew Bible. They are:

1. Isaiah.
2. Jeremiah.
3. Ezekiel.

22
 4. Daniel.

Minor Prophets

The Minor Prophets or Twelve Prophets occasionally is the last book of the Nevi'im, the
second main division of the Jewish Tanakh. The collection is broken up to form twelve
individual books in the Christian Old Testament, one for each of the prophets. The terms
minor prophets and twelve prophets can also refer to the twelve traditional authors of these
works. These are:

1. Hosea
2. Joel
3. Amos
4. Obadiah
5. Jonah
6. Micah
7. Nahum
8. Habakkuk
9. Zephaniah
10. Haggai
11. Zechariah
12. Malachi

Apocrypha: Apocrypha are works, usually written, of unknown authorship or of doubtful

origin. Biblical apocrypha are a set of texts included in the Septuagint and Latin Vulgate but
not in the Hebrew Bible. These include:

1. Ecclesiasticus
2. Wisdom
3. 1 Maccabees
4. 2 Maccabees
5. Tobit
6. Bel and the Dragon
7. Judith
8. Esther (additional verses)
9. Baruch
10. The Prayer of Manasseh

23
11. The Song of the Three Holy Children
12. The History of Susanna
13. 1 Esdras
14. 2 Esdras

CLASSIFICATION OF THE BOOKS OF THE NEW

TESTAMENT

The 27-book canon of the New Testament has been almost universally recognized within
Christianity since at least Late Antiquity. Thus, in almost all Christian traditions today, the
New Testament consists of 27 books classified as:

1. 4 Canonical Gospels

24
2. The Acts of the Apostles
3. 13 Epistles of Paul
4. 8 General Epistles
5. The Book of Revelation

The Canonical Gospels

The term Gospel originally meant the Christian message, but in the 2nd century it came to be
used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense it includes the four
canonical gospels of:
1. Matthew
2. Mark
3. Luke
4. John
The gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke are referred to as the synoptic Gospels because they
include many of the same stories, often in a similar sequence and in similar or sometimes
identical wording. They stand in contrast to John, whose content is largely distinct. The term
synoptic which is derived Latin synopticus meaning seeing all together or synopsis
specifically applied to these three gospels, of giving an account of the events from the same
point of view or under the same general aspect is a modern one.

The Synoptic Problem

The Synoptic Problem is the problem of the literary relationships among the first three
Synoptic Gospels. The three gospels contain many of the same stories and sayings, often
related in the same relative sequence. However, there are also important differences in the
wording of individual stories and sayings, in the ordering of some materials, and in the
overall extent of each gospel.
In some instances, the degree of verbatim agreement or the sequential agreement in the
arrangement of episodes and sayings is so strong that one must posit some kind of literary
relationship among the gospels. By contrast, there are often marked differences in wording
between any two gospels, and sometimes among all three.

25
The Acts of the Apostles
The Acts of the Apostles is a narrative of the apostles' ministry and activity after Christ's
death and resurrection, from which point it resumes and functions as a sequel to the Gospel of
Luke. Examining style, phraseology, and other evidence, modern scholarship generally
concludes that Acts and the Gospel of Luke share the same author.

Pauline Epistles

These are letters written by Apostle Paul. There are epistles written to churches and
individuals.

Epistles to Churches: There are nine epistles written to various churches. These are:

1. Epistle to the Romans

2. First Epistle to the Corinthians
3. Second Epistle to the Corinthians
4. Epistle to the Galatians
5. Epistle to the Ephesians
6. Epistle to the Philippians
7. Epistle to the Colossians
8. First Epistle to the Thessalonians
9. Second Epistle to the Thessalonians

Pauline Letters to Persons: The last four Pauline letters in the New Testament are addressed
to individual persons. They include the following:

1. First Epistle to Timothy

2. Second Epistle to Timothy
3. Epistle to Titus
4. Epistle to Philemon

All of the above except for Philemon are known as the Pastoral epistles. They are addressed
to individuals charged with pastoral oversight of churches and discuss issues of Christian
living, doctrine and leadership. They often address different concerns to those of the
preceding epistles.

26
General Epistles

There are eight epistles referred to as general epistles. They include:

1. Hebrews
2. Epistle of James
3. First Epistle of Peter.
4. Second Epistle of Peter
5. First Epistle of John
6. Second Epistle of John
7. Third Epistle of John
8. Epistle of Jude

The Revelation

The final book of the New Testament is the Book of Revelation, also known as the Apocalypse
of John. In the New Testament canon, it is considered prophetical or apocalyptic literature.

WHO IS AN ETHICIST?
An ethicist is someone who uses judgment to find the correct ethical decisions in a specific
situation. Generally, ethicists use the tradition of ethical codes to provide advice and
guidance to organizations and communities from a position of authority. Most of the time,
but not always, the concept is merged with that of moral principles. Some of the most
prominent fields that use ethicists are the medical, legal and religious communities. Most
ethicists are considered to operate within the parameters of the philosophical discipline.

Ethical codes vary drastically between different cultures, making the role of an ethicist a position
of controversy between different groups. What may be morally and ethically viable to one
set of people may not be to another. This has created a situation of cultural tension between
certain factions of humanity. Additionally, it has also led to a rise in the late 20th century
and early 21st century of many prominent debates between theologians and legal
historians, especially when it comes to topics like the influence of religion in society. The

27
 Bible rightfully enjoys a place of honor in doing Christian ethics, not only for its moral
teachings, but also for providing an appreciation of the communal life of early Christians,
their theological explorations, and their lively sense of the power and presence of Jesus
Christ.

but also pleading the way of love. How could one do Christian ethics without the Ten

Commandments, cry of the prophets for justice, the “Sermon” on the “Mount,” the Great

Commandment, and the pastoral Paul, sometimes hurling thunderbolts of condemnation

and consideration for the weak of conscience

THE PENTATEUCH
• We begin with the well-known Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17).
• These commandments prohibit the worship of other gods than Yahweh, the God of Israel;
prohibit the making and worship of images; prohibit the unworthy use of the divine
name, Yahweh; specify the Sabbath (the seventh day of the week,
• Not to be confused with the Christian Sunday, the first day of the week) as a day of rest;

require respect of parents; prohibit killing (usually understood as murder); prohibit

adultery; prohibit stealing; prohibit perjured testimony; and prohibit covetous attitudes
(which might prompt theft or adultery).
• We note also the commandment to love your neighbor as yourself (Leviticus 19:18), not
to mention the less well known commandment to love the stranger in your land as
yourself.
• Leviticus 19:34 The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you;
you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the
LORD your God
• In addition to these general or apodictic commandments we also find case law, statutes
which deal with specific situations, as shown in this sampling of topics:
• Dietary regulations (Leviticus 11)

28
 • Regulations for gleaning ... Not cursing the deaf or putting stumbling block for blind ...
Judicial probity ... Not hating brother in your heart ...

No vengeance against one’s own people ... Case of intercourse with slave who is
betrothed ... Not eating flesh with blood in it ... omen and witchcraft ... Tattoos

Just weights (Leviticus 19)

• Due process ... Witnesses ... Life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth [lex talionis]
(Deuteronomy 19)
• In war, against some cities, males to be slaughtered, women and children taken as loot;
other cities, genocide of all (Deuteronomy 20)

Inheritance rights of children in case of a man with two wives ... A stubborn son to be stoned
(Deuteronomy 21)
• An escaped slave, not to be returned to master ... No lending upon interest, except to a
foreigner (Deuteronomy 23)
• Divorce procedures (Deuteronomy 24)
• Forty stripes, as punishment ... Levirate marriage (Deuteronomy 25)

MAJOR DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE

1. The Doctrine of God

2. The Doctrine of Jesus Christ
3. The Doctrine of the holy spirit
4. The Doctrine of creation
5. The Doctrine of man
6. The Doctrine of Salvation
7. The Doctrine of the Church
8. The Doctrine of Scripture
9. Doctrine of Heaven
10. Doctrine of Hell
11. Doctrine of sacraments
12. The Doctrine of Angels

29
 13. The Doctrine of the last thing

1. Diverse meaning of the word doctrine

i. The word doctrine is derived from the Latrine word “ Doctrina” meaning “teaching” “
Instruction” or doctrine
ii. It refer to a belief or set of beliefs held and taught by , a religion, political party or other
group
iii. Church Doctrine refer to a written body of teachings of a religious group that are
generally accepted by that group
iv. Biblical doctrine help us to understand the will of God for our lives, it teaches us the
nature of God and the Character of God Psalm 90:2, 97:2 John 4 :24 .
2. Basics of the Bible
This section will help the theology students to know the basics of the Bible since it is
Christian Manual. Without the word of God Christians can not be able to form any reliable
teachings.

The students will learn:

i. The importance of studying doctrine in the church with examples of misused

doctrine and how dangerous it can be
ii. what the Bible is,
iii. The major sub division of the Bible ie the Old and New Testament, as well as various
genre of the Bible
iv. Canonicity of the Bible
v. Biblical languages , exegesis / eisegesis
vi. Factors that contributed to the writing of the New Testment

DOCTRINE OF THE SCRIPTURE

30
The word scripture is used interchangeably with word Bible or the word of God. In this chapter
Students will be able to learn the following:

i. The universal church acknowledges the scripture of the Old and New Testament to be
the unique source of Christian doctrine. Jesus equated the scripture with the word of
God, he quoted the Old testament more than 150 times in the Gospel alone
ii. The inspirations of the Scripture
iii. Preservation of the Scripture
iv. Translation of the scripture
v. The confirmation of the scripture
vi. The authority of the scriptures
1. The Bible
The English word Bible was derived from the Greek word Biblos or biblion meaning a book
( Mathew 1: 1) Ancient books were written upon the Biblus or papyrus reed and from this
custom came the Greek name biblos which finalry came to be applied to the sacred book.

The Bible is also called the scripture ( Mark 12 :10, Luke 4:21, John 2:22, Mark 12 ;24)

2. Meaning of inspiration
All scripture is given by the inspiration of God ( 2Timothy 3:16). The word inspire literally
means “God- breathed” see Greek theos for God and pnein meaning to breath . Therefore we
can say that inspirations is strong conscious inbreating of God into men qualifying them to give
utterances to truth . it is God speaking through men. ( 2nd Peter 1:21)

2.1. Theories of inspiration :

2.1.1. Dictation theory: means that God spoke to men directly as they wrote word by
word.

2.1.2. Dynamic theory: This theory indicates that men wrote the Bible inspired by the --
Holy Spirit.
3. Distinction between and illumination
Spiritual illumination refer to the influence of the holy ghost common to all Christians, it
help the man to understand about the truth. It is the only the spiritual man who can
understand the spiritual things ( 1st Corinthians 2:14)

31
 Revelation: mean God’s self disclosure to humanity

DOCTRINE OF GOD

Universality of Belief in the Exisitence of God

Man everywhere believes in the existence of a supreme being or being to whom, he is morally
responsible and to whom propitiation needs to be made.

The Cosmological argument

This has to do with nature, when we see, mountains, rivers, valleys, rain etc, we tend to know
their origin, this bring us back to God.

The Argument From Scripture

The Bible History is sufficient to satisfy every reasonable demand, Jews history is not sufficient
without God.

The Nature of God

The Spirituality of God: God is spirit ( John 4:24). God can not be confined to any one place
(Acts 7:48, 17:25, 1st Kings 8:27). Since God do not have material body, so he can not be seen
with the physical eye ( Colossians 1:15, Luke 24:39) I mages were forbidden to describe God in
the Bible because he has no material body, ( Deuteronomy 4: 15-23, Isaiah 40:25, Exodus 20:4)
Man being created in the image of God does not mean the physical aspects but in spirituality and
intellectuality, righteousness, holiness, truth and knowledge . It has to do more of moral likeness
but not physical resemblance (Colossians 3:10, Ephesians 4:24).

God is the creator of the Universe and man ( Genesis 1:1 , John 1:1-3) God uphold all
things “ by him all things hold together “ Heb 1:3, Colossians 1:15-17, Psalm 104: 27 -30. How

32
is God? Consider this text. Let us make a man in our own image (Genesis 1:26) . Therefore we
can draw the following inferences:

 God is spirit John 4:24

 He is incomprehensible
 You can not see the face of God and live
 We know God in bits as he reveals to us
 You are not supposed to make any image about God
The Natural Attributes of God

Attribute of God are also called characteristics. They make God unique from human beings.
They have to do with questions like who is God, what is God like and what kind of God is . An a
tribute of God is something true about him

Leading text : Genesis 1:26-27, Isaiah 66: 1-3 , John 5 : 25_27

1. Omnipotence Psalm 33:6, This means that:

The word Omni means “ALL” & potent means “POWERFUL” and hence God is all
powerful.
 God is all powerful
 Have super power
 He can do what he wants
 He is not subject to physical limitation like man
 Have power over world, water & gravity
 His power is infinite or limitless
 Nothing is impossible before him under the sun
 Nothing can prevent his plan
 He is strong and almighty , Psalm 24:8
 Nothing is to hard for him to accomplish Genesis 18:14, Jeremiah 32:17, Luke
1 :37
 He is able to do immeasurable more than we can ask , Ephesian 5:20
 Scripture references: Job 42:2. Genesis 18:14, is there anything to hard for God?
Psalm 107:25-29, He is so powerful that he just command for things to happen,

33
 Nahum 1:5,6, Exodus 4:11, James 4:12, Luke 12:16-21, even Satan is under the
control of God ( Job 1:12,2:6).
2. Omniscience : This means that

 God is aware of the past , present and future

 Nothing can take him by surprise
 He knows all what can be known
 He knows even the mysterious things
 He is the only one who knows the end of everything
 Scripture reference ; Job 11:7, 37:16, I Isaiah 40:28, Psalm 147:5, 1 st John 3:20
Romans 11:33, Proverb 15:3, Psalm 147 : 4 He knows all the number of stars in
heaven and can call them by name
3. Omnipresence : This means that

God is possible of being every where at the same time.

 The psalmist asked where can I go from your spirit. Where can I free from your
spirit? Psalms 139 :7-10
 God fills heaven and earth Jeremiah 23: 23-24
 God is every where and in every place, his center is every where, his
circumference is no where, this presence is spiritual but not material. Jeremiah
23:23, Job 22:12-14, 26:2, Jonah 2:2,
4. Eternity :

 His existence is beyond time, Psalms 90:2

 He has no beginning, end or succession of moment in his own being
 Scripture reference : Hab 1:12, Rev 1:8
5. God is infinite : This means that :

He is self existing, in him all things hold together, Col 1:17, Exodus 3:14
6. Immutability of God : This means that

 He never changes , Malachi 3:6. James 1:17, 1st Samuel 15 29

 His attributes are the same from the before the beginning of time to eternity
 His plans do not change

34
  His character never changes
 He never get better or worse
 His promises do not change

The Moral Attributes of God

7. God is self-sufficient: This means that :

He has no need, John 5:26

8. God is wise : He is full of perfect , unchanging wisdom, Roman 11:33

9. God is faithful :

 He don’t change his promises

 He is upright and just
 His kindness and patience never run out
 He is always approachable
10. God is good

11. God is just

12. God is merciful : Psalm 103:8

 The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and plenteous in mercy
 Instead of inflicting us with pain, poverty and death which are the wages of sin-
God has spared our lives, given us health, increased our blessing and comforts
and given us the live of the ages,
 Deut 4:31 , Ps 86:15 he is always ready to forgive us
 The Lord is long suffering ton us not willing any one to perish but that should
come to repentance 2nd Peter 3:9, Nehemiah 9:31, Phil 2:27
13. Holiness: Synonymous for holiness is: perfect, righteousness, goodness, purity, sinless,
sacredness, clean. It refers to the state of being spiritually pure or virtuous.

35
  Holy means to separate from sin, some of the verses that support holiness are :
John 17:11, 1st Corinthians 2:10, 1st Peter 1; 14 to 17, Exodus 15:11
 This means that, there is no sin or evil thought in God as he is pure and
righteousness. He is free from all sin
 The character of God is un impeachable
 He can not be charged with any wrong
 He has infinite love
 He can not tolerate sin
 Isaiah 6:3, Isaiah 45:5-7, 57:15, Ps 99:9, Hab 1:13, Jon 17:11, Job 34:10
14. God is love : 1st John 4:8 -16

 Love is the expression of God personality corresponding to his nature

 It is the nature of God to Love
 He dwells always at the atmosphere of love
 Jesus Christ, God’s only begotten son is the special object of his love ( John 3:16,
Mathew 3:17, 17:5), Luke 20:13, Isaiah 49:15-16

THE DOCTRINE OF CREATION

 See the story of origin
 From different tribes
 See the two stories of creation
 See the order of creation God well satisfied and then went to the other ground.
 What is the nature of God?
 See the premedical period
 When did the world begin
 Who brought the world to be?
Col 1:16 for him, all things in heaven and earth were created by God, visible and
invisible things.
Creation was made by God and for God.
CREATION
To create is to establish, to bring into being something previously without existence.

36
 The model of creation by commanding or calling into being by word s requires some
qualification of theology.
Heb 1:2 see the creation of the world (1:26)
Essential ingredients of the Christian
Doctrine of creation
a) God is the creator of the world
b) It was created out of nothing.
c) The world is eternal.
d) Christ involved in the work of creation.
e) Humanity is created in the image of God
1 Peter 3:15
Be always ready to give an answer to any man who always ask a reason for hope that is in you
with.

God created everything in the beginning and ended with man who he gave the
responsibility to cater for every thing under the son. However the same man have become enemy
number one of the same creation. Poor deposal of waste, deforestation, building on water paths,
farming in the water catchment areas have become the order of the day not forgetting poaching

“Theology of the Old Testament is seen through God’s speaking and the recepients’ response
and experience of these events. The talk about God reveals some two recurrent principles
through the Old Testament: Interaction between God and man (more precisely between God and
his creation, his people, the humanity which includes speaking and acting on both sides; and
Both saving and blessing belong to God’s acts from the beginning to the end for Old Testament
people. What moves history takes place between God and humans.” (Class Notes)

“The above relation has its roots in creation. “God created man in his own image, in the image of
God he created him; male and female he created them.” (Gen.1:27) So God created humankind
in his image to corresponding with him, so that something may happen between God and his
creature. God’s activity here is universal, that is it encompasses the entirely of what happens
from beginning to the end. For example history occurs in three circles: The history of the people
of God corresponds to the political, portrayable history of one people among others.

37
The history of “family man”, and their individual members in generations are completely a
sphere of life as portrayed in the patriarchal history; and the history of humanity as a whole,
divided into nations on the earth as a whole. This corresponds to the conception to the Yawhist
of the primeval history (Gen.1-11) with the patriarchal history (Gen.12-50) and with the history
of the people from the Eodus the the conquest of Canaan. This is clearly manifested in the
patriarchal history (Gen.12: 1-3) in which the promise to Abraham is not limited to Israel, “the
people of God.” This looks back to the nations into which humanity branches out (Gen.10).
The promise of blessing includes the nations of the earth: “by you all the nations of the earth
shall bless themselves” (Gen.12:3b). Therefore, it is through the life of Israel that God blesses
others in their spheres of life, economy, culture, social life and politics hence what happence to
God and humanity is embraced here.” (Class Notes).

God is one, He is also the creator of Israel. This was the creed of Israel (Rad). As we have in the
Apostle’s Creed, “I believe in God…. the Creator of heaven and earth. This reveals that God the
Creator is the same as God the Saviour. The faith in the Creator is similar to the faith in Christ
as the Saviour. As far as Israelites were concerned, they believed in a Creator who originated
the world.

Old Testament belief is only seen in the context of where there is unbelief. It was God’s work to
create (bara) that is to fashion, to shisel and no other. Old Testament then, speak about faith in
the Creator or faith in being created. There are two stories of creation expressing this: The story
by the Priest ‘P’ (younger) found in (Gen.1:2; 4a and Ps.8) and The story of Yahwist ‘Y’
(older) found in (Gen. 2:4b-3 and Ps.139:7-12);

Westermann (1974) characterizes the types of creation as follows:- Creation by means of making
or some sort of activity; Creation means birth (divine birth); Creation by means of a battle;
Creation by means of the word – for xample: “Let there be light and there was light” ( Gen.1:3)
“The ‘P’ writer tells us: “In the beginning God created heavens and the earth” (Gen.1:1-3); 26-
31. He shows that the creation of the earth is as much by the power of Yahwe just as he even
handed over Judah to King Nebuchadnezar of Babylon (Jer. 27:5-62). Deutero-Isaiah promises
that God who delivered the Israelites out of bondage in Egypt led them into Caanaan, would
rescue them from Exile in Babylon (Isaiah 40-55) He is not only Lord of the Nations but also
creator and sustainer of the universe and Israel (Isa 45:12, 18-19).” (Class Notes).

38
In God’s work of creation, the crowning act, the pinnacle of that divine work, was the creation of
human beings. It was to humans that God assigned and stamped His divine image. That we are
created in the image of God gives to us the highest place among earthly beings. That image
provides human beings with a unique ability to mirror and reflect the very character of God.

However, after Adam and eve fell into sin, they distorted the image of God and as Aquinas puts
it, ‘man lost his supernatural endowment and he was alienated from God’. Man would no longer
be in relationship with God because he became a sinner and fell from his destiny. Man’s fall
prompted the plan of God for salvation of humanity. Man as God’s steward and representative
on earth, his relationship had to be renewed and reconciliation had to be sought. The Bible
teaches that humans cannot save themselves.

God settled real relationship and interaction through salvation, which man experience through
mercy and pardon of God.

DOCTRINE OF MAN
Gen 1:26 and God said let us make men in our own image after our own likeness of 1st
Cor 11:7 Eph 4:21-24, Col 3:10 James 3:9
a) The Image Of God does not denote physical likeness as God is Spirit.
b) Man was endowed in intellectual faculties: He had sufficient intelligence to give
names to the animals (Gen 2:19-20),He had the power of speech as well as the power
of reasoning and thought.
c) Men posses moral and spiritual faculties, He had power to resist or to yield to moral
evil.
1. The fall of man
1.1. Result of the fall
 The ground was cursed Gen 3:17
 Sorrow and pain to the woman in child bearing and subjection to man Gen 3:16
 Exhausting physical labour in order to subsist Gen 3:19
 Physical and spiritual death Gen 3:19, 3:2, 5:5, Rom 5:2
 The image of God consist in Knowledge righteous holiness moral and not
physical likeness Eph 4:23-24, Col 3:10

39
  The original man was endowed with intellectual facilities as he had sufficient
intelligence to give names to the animal as they were presented before him Gen
2:19-20
Adam had power of reasoning and thought in connection with speech he could
attach thought of ideas.
The purpose of Genesis narrates is not to give an account of the manner in which
sin came into the world but how it found its advent into the human race since was
already in the world as the existence of silence and chaotic condition of things in
the beginning striking testifies

THE DOCTRINE OF JESUS CHRIST

i. The humanity of Jesus Christ

a. Jesus had a human parentage, he was born of a woman the Virgin Mary Mathew
1:18, 2:11 John 1.14, the mother of Jesus was there. Roman 1:3, Galatian 4:4
ii. He grew in wisdom and statures as other human being do. He was subject to the
ordinary laws of human development in body and soul.
a. Luke 2.40.52 and the child grew in spirit filled with spirit and wisdom
b. -Grew in wisdom and the instruction given at the synagogue and the temple.
iii. He had the appearance of a man.
a. John 4:9, Luke 24:13 John 20;15, 21:14, Mark 7:34, 15:34 After resurrection and
ascension Jesus still had referred the form of a man acts 7:56 1 Tim 2.5 John 1:14
Heb 2:14 Matthew 26:12. Luke 23:46.
iv. He was subject to the sinless infirmities of human nature
 Mathew 4.2 could get angry
 Get thirst John 19.28
 Could get weared with the journey
 Mathew 83.24 but he was asleep
 John 19.30 he bowed his head
 Mathew 23.37 he moved over Jerusalem

40
 John 11:35 wept over his dead friend Lazarus Mathew 26:36 Got tempted in all parts like
as we are (Heb 4:15)
v. He was ascribed human name
 Son of man Luke 19:10
 He was called Jesus
 Jesus of Nazareth
 Jesus called himself 80 times son of man. His sinless nature made him unique son
of man

THE DEITY OF JESUS CHRIST

He is called God john 1:1 the word was God Titus 2:13 the great God and savior Jesus
Christ 1st john 5:20 his son Jesus Christ.
He was called the son of God: Matt 16:16, 17, 8:29, 14:33, mark 1:1, 14:61,
Luke 1:35.
He was called the Lord: Act 4:33, 16:31, Luke 2:11, acts 9:17, Mathew22:43-45, Act
16:30, John 12:21
Other divine name ascribed to God
Rev 1:17 the first and the last
Rev 22:13 Alpha and omega
Divine worship ascribed to Jesus Christ
Mathew 4:10, Acts 14:14,15, Luke 24:52, 5:8
Rev 22:8, John 20:28, Mathew 14:33, John 5:23,24, Heb 1:6,
Divine attribute found in Jesus

i. Pre-existence

John 1.1 in the beginning gen 1.1 john 8.58 before Abraham was I am John 17.54 Phil 2.6

col 1.16.17

ii. Self existence

John 5.21 Heb 7.16 john 17.3-5

iii. Immutability

41
 Heb 13.8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever

All the fullness of God dwelt on him col 2.9

iv. Omnipotence: All power is given to him for heaven and earth, Mathew 28:18, Rev. 1:8.

John 17:2, Ephesian 1: 20-22. Has power over diseases Luke 4;38-41, Death John 11 :

nature ,he changed water into wine (John 2 ) power over demons Luke 4 :35, power over

all things ( Ephesian 1:20-22, given power over all things ( Heb 2:8 , 1:3 : Mathew

28:18).

v. Omniscience: Jesus knows all things in detail, both past and future. This
knowledge comes from his original perception of the events but by the events
John 16:30, 2:24,25 Mathew 24:25, Col 2;3 John 4 :16-19.
vi. Omnipresence: He is everywhere at the same time. For where two or three are
gathered together in my name , then I am in their midst Mathew 18:20
Divine offices ascribed to Jesus
 He is the creator John 1.3
 He is the holder of all things
Jesus name is coupled with that of God the father
i. See the apostolic benediction : 2nd Corinthians 13:14
ii. The baptismal formula ( Mathew 28:19 : Acts 2:38
iii. We will come, “ the father and I ‘ ( John 14 :23).
iv. Other passages 2nd Thessalonians2:16, 17
Other things you need to know about Jesus
i. He was the son of God as revealed in his baptism ( Mathew 3: 13- 17, Mark 1: 9-11,
Luke 3 :21
ii. The work of Jesus Christ is in atonement
iii. As a ransom Mathew 20:28, 1st Peter 1:18, 1st Timothy 2:6, Galatians 3:13, the
meaning of ransom is clearly set Leviticus 25 : 47-49. It means to deliver a thing or a
person by paying a price , to buy back a person or a thing by paying the price by
which it is held in captivity

42
 iv. A propitiation: Roman 3:25 1st John 2:2, Heb 2:17. Christ is a propitiation of our sin
that means mercy seat or covering as used in Leviticus 25:22, Heb 9;5. It is that by
which God Covers , over looks and pardons the sin of a believer
v. As a reconciliation: Romans 5:10, 2nd Corinthians 5:18, 19,Ephesians 2:16,
Colossians 1 :20 . We are reconciled to God by the death of Jesus Christ.
vi. As a Substitution: Isaiah 53:6, 1st Peter 2:24, 3 ;18 2ND Corinthian 5:21. Substitution
means one given instead of another. God made Christ who knew no sin to becomes
sin for us. Christ bore our sins with his own body on the tree, this is a substitution ,
he died in our place , bore our sins, paid the penalty for our sins willingly but not by
force ( John 10:17,18). Mathew 20:28,
vii. The fulfillment of the scriptures
viii. The enmity between man and God has been removed : Roman 5:10, Col 1;20-22
ix. A propitiation for the world sin has been provided : 1ST John2:2, 4:10
x. Satan power over the race has been neutralized John 12 :31,32
xi. The question of the World’s sin has been settled

THE DOCTRINE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IS ALSO REFERED TO AS

PNEUMATOLOGY
1. Names given to the Holy Spirit
a) He is called breath ,wind, power
b) Symbols used in speaking of spirit are: oil, fire, water etc. see John3:5-8, Acts 2:1-4, John
20:22, 1 John 2:20
c) The holy spirit is the third person of the three God head as illustrated in 2nd cor 13:14
d) The “spirit” in Greek is neuter meaning wind
e) The holy spirit is divine person, a comforter John 14:16 , 16:7
2. personal pronouns are used to the holy spirit
Twelve times in these verses the Greek masculine pronouns “ekeinos”(that one he is used of the
spirit John 16:7 ,8 13-15) the same word is used of Christ in 1 john 2:6, 3:3,5,7,16 N/B The
Greek word for spirit is (pneuma)) all the three personalities of the three Godhead are equal see
the baptismal formula from Mathew 28:19, See the apostolic benediction 2 cor:1314
Identification with the Christians Acts 15:28 romans15:13, 8:26

43
 3. Personal characteristics ascribed to the holy spirit
a) The spirit is said to have mind Romans 8:27 minds is an attribute of personality
b) Personal acts are ascribed to the holy spirit
c) The spirit speaks: Rev :2:7 (matt 17:5)
d) The spirit maker intercession Rom 8:26, Heb 7:25, 1 John 2:1
e) The holy spirit may be grieved (Ephesians 4:30 insulted (Heb 10:29 ) lied to (Acts 5:3)
blasphemed and sinned against(Mathew 12:31,32)
f) Sinning against the holy spirit is much more gravious matter than the sin against the son
of men
4. The deity of the holy spirit
 The holy spirit is God
5. Divine names are given to the holy spirit
 The spirit is called the Lord in 2 Corinthians 3:18
6. The Holy Spirit possesses divine attribute
a) He is eternal in his nature (Heb 9:14)
b) Omnipresent psalms (139:7-10)
c) Omnipotent (Luke 1:35)
d) Omniscience ( 1 Cor 2:10,11).
7. Divine works are ascribed to the holy spirit
i) Creation Gen 1:2 psalms 104:30 Job 33:4
ii) Regeneration John 3:5-8)
iii) Resurrection Rom 8:11
8 The work of the spirit in relation to the believer
a) He regenerate the believer John 3:3-5, Titus 3:5 the returning of the holy ghost
b) The spirit in dwells the believers 1 Cor 6:19 your body is the temple of the holy ghost
which is in you 3:6 Rom 8:9
c) Every believer whether weak and imperfect, he may be or how immature his Christians
experience still has the indwelling of the holy spirit
d) The spirit seals the believer in the assuarrence of salvation Ephesians 1:13,14
e) The holy spirit infill’s the believer Acts 2:4 and they were filled with the holy ghost
f) The holy spirit empowers the believer to get constant and continual victory over sin

44
g) The Holy Spirit is the guide of the believers life. He guides him as to defend of his daily
life Rom 8:14 Gen 5:16 work in the spirit
h) The holy Spirit anoints the believer in three things
i. For knowledge and teaching 1 John 2:27
ii. For service Luke 4:18 the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed
me to preach Acts 10:38 God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy spirit
iii. Consecration three classes of persons in the Old Testament were anointed the
prophet, the priest and the king
iv. Spiritual gift are distributed to believers according the will of the spirit( 1 st Cor
12)
9. Relation of the Holy spirit to the Scripture
a) He is the author of the scripture: the holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the
Holy Spirit. 2 Peter 1:20,21, the scripture came by the breathing of God 2 Tim 3:16. It
was the spirit who was to guide the apostles into all the truth and show the things to
come (John 16:13)
b) The spirit is also the interpreter of the scriptures 1 Cor 2:9-14. He is the spirit of wisdom
revelation eph 1:17 John 16:14
10. The relation of the Holy Spirit to Jesus Christ
I) He was conceived by the holy spirit, born of the holy spirit Luke 1:35
II) He was led by the spirit Mathew 4:1
III) He was anointed by the spirit by service Acts 10:38
IV) He was anointed in the power of the spirit Heb 9:14
V) He was revised by the power of the spirit Rom 1:4 8:11
VI) He gave commandment to his disciples and church through the spirit Acts 1:2
VII) He is the Bestowed of the Holy Spirit acts 2:33
11. Offences committed by the unbeliever to the holy spirit
i) Resisting the holy ghost Acts 7:51
ii) Insulting despite doing into the holy spirit Heb 10:29 (luke 18:32) it is the
work of the holy spirit to present the atoning work of Christ to the sinner as
the ground of his pardon.

45
 iii) Blaspheming the holy spirit Mathew 12:31-32. It seems to be the most gravios
sins of all for there is no forgiveness of sins .Sin against the son of men may
be forgiven due to his humble birth], lowly parentage e.t.c
12. Offences committed by the believer
A) Lying to the Holy Spirit Acts 5:34 see the story of Ananias and his wife. What
absent when we say that the surrender all to Jesus, when we know very well that
we have not surrendered, Some lie to God when praying the lord’s prayer to be
forgiven our sins as we forgive others while we do not see the sin of Achin
(Joshua 7)and that of Gehazi (2 Kings 5:20-27)
B) Grieving the spirit Ephesians 4:30,31 isaih63:10 (to Grieve means to make sad or
sorrowful

46
47